tomato talk spring 2010

tomato babies 2010 

wow, i think last time we talked about the tomatoes they were still hanging out on the little table by the window. well they're all grown up now and trying to grow in the ground outside. as usual, i am completely worried and stressed that they will fail to thrive, develop some horrible leaf disease, become riddled with blossom bottom rot, or get tragically devoured by some sort of pest. but anyway, we'll deal with all that as it comes. so here's a little (little long maybe) post recapping the tomatoes thus far.

here's what the tomatoes looked like the last time we spoke.....

look at the little babies!

so they grew and grew in their little containers by the window (sorry folks, no fancy growing equipment here) getting water and turned every few days till they began to grow their first true leaves.

look at us, we love to grow.

here they have gotten their first true leaves. time to transplant to bigger individual containers. 
  

for god's sake woman, please get us into our own space. it's getting crowded in here. 

once they had grown their first true leave, i should have moved them to bigger containers right then. but, being me, it was at least a few weeks before i got around do doing so. also if look in the picture above, you can see all the little hairs on the tomato stem. when you repot the seedlings, remove any little leaves down near the bottom, and bury the stem almost all the way to the big leaves. in doing so, all those little hairs grow into roots, creating a much better root ball for when they head into the ground. that's pretty cool if you ask me. 

seedlings going into reused yogurt containers with holes poked in the bottom. when i'm done with the yogurt containers, i'll either save them for more seedlings, or since they are plastic #5, i'll wash them off and take them to the Preserve recycle box at wholefoods.

mr. keebs... protector of the plants. 

so the tomatoes continued to grow and grow again. all happy in their own spaces. and again with the watering, and the turning, and the watering, and the turning. then i unexpectedly went on vacation. luckily, pig girl was able to come over during the week to do a bit of watering for me. still, i was very concerned while i was away, hoping that all would not be lost when i returned. but as it turns out, they did just fine on their own. (oh the drama).

yeah, they survived.

looking good.

ok, so their a bit on the leggy and spindle looking side. but that kinda comes with the window treatment. if they have to reach to much for the light, they'll get that way. but i'm gonna bury them deep again to create an extensive root system, and as they get to growing outside, the leaves should fill out. 

wait a minute!!!! 

what the?????????

urgh!!!!!! tomato down!!!!!!

oh balls, one of my cherry roma has bit the dust. no worries, i've got a few more spare ones. 

holy crap!!!!!!!

seriously???!!!!??? 

second tomato down.

   cherry roma #2 eats it.  

not to mention that cherry roma #3 is looking mighty poorly herself. what happened??? everybody else looks ok. just the three cherry romas are ill. as it turns out, i'm experiencing cherry roma epidemic. the cherry roma plants that i gave away to co-workers have all bit the dust as well. weird!!!!! oh well. things could be worst. time to move on. 

so once i was back from vaca, it was time to send the babies outside during the day for a few days till they graduated to staying outside over night. i generally give my plants about a week to harden off. three  days, give or take, outside during the day and in at night. and then 3 full days outside before they go into the ground. some folks say you really have to do this to reduce the stress and shock when transplanting, other folks say, just stick them in the ground and go about your day.

hanging out with their homies the peppers.

yeah, sunshine. let's drink it in.

ok little cherry roma, let's see it you can make it.

it's really wishful thinking for this little guy. 

after a week on the front porch, the only thing left to do was to get those babies in the ground. i figured anytime after april 15th was safe. i also was doing some research on tomato planting and read somewhere that human or dog hair placed in the bottom of a pot works well for growing tomatoes. something about the slow release of nitrogen and such. well we got plenty of that around here. so off i went to the back porch to scalp me some dog.

maisy's contribution to the cause.

peas gone.... holes dug.... dog hair and compost ready..... 

into the ground you go!!!!

toilet paper roll placed around the stem to help ward off cutworms....

moat constructed to help contain and conserve water.....

homemade garden cloche to protect the plants.....

heavy wind and rainstorms a coming for the next few days...

 and we're all done!!!!

now i hope that they grow. i hope that i give them enough nutrients, but not to much nitrogen that causes them to grow big and mighty leaves but no fruit. i hope that they get enough calcium to ward of blossom bottom rot. i hope that i give them just the right amount of water to ease cracks on the fruit. i hope that it doesn't get to hot before the flowers can set the fruit. i hope that pest don't break through the organic barriers i will set. i hope that their structure is sufficient, and if not, i hope that i can find cheap (or really, free) cages. but most of all, i just hope that after all this work and effort, i get at least one glorious homegrown organic tomato for that perfect summer sandwich. 

p.s. in the end none of my cherry roma tomato plants survived. 

p.s.s rumor has it that pig girl might have a plant or two that made it. we'll see.

(stay tuned for the  next episode...... the pepper problems. dah dah daaaahhh.)