(Raising fist to sky) Just when my tomato plants are looking fantastic after a good feeding and some warm weather, I start hearing words like “thunderstorms” and “temperatures dropping.”
Was it because I was dissing coastal tomato growers? I guess I had it coming…
It’s the heat, ‘Stupice’ by Lynette Evans, S.F. Chronicle.
“Wah, wah… we live in the sophistimicated urban wonderland that is the Bay Area, yet our home-grown tomatoes taste like paste wrapped in cardboard… wah, wah.”
You can’t have it all, ya big babies.
Just give up and go down to the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market and buy a sizzlingly delicious Valley-grown tomato.
You’ll also want to get this book.
I’d first purchased this as a cut flower, then ordered it from Easy to Grow Bulbs so I could try it in a pot. I really love the cantaloupe orange color and lantern-like flowers. So dainty!
Sandersonia aurantiaca
Common names:
Chinese Lantern Lily,
Christmas Bells
Genus: Sandersonia (san-der-SON-ee-uh)
Species: aurantiaca (aw-ran-ti-AYE-kuh)
Of the nine tomato varieties I planted this spring, ‘Lemon Boy’ was slain in a brutal snail attack and yesterday, ‘Copia’ lost half its limbs when a trellis I was moving fell on it like a guillotine. Doh! I hope it recovers.
Who knew the life of a tomato could be so treacherous?
Dead: ‘Lemon Boy’
Wounded: ‘Copia’
Doing fine: ‘Black’, ‘Black from Tula’, ‘Costoluto Genovese’, ‘Sungold’, ‘Sun Sugar’, ‘Celebrity’, ‘Early Girl’
Great article and a hint of what’s to come in her new book, Flower Confidential : The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful in the Business of Flowers.
Click here for the New York Times article.
Here’s one ecologically aware florist you might want to try after reading her article:
So far, my containerized tomatoes are winning the growth-rate race. The ones in containers are being spoiled with Black Gold Organic Potting Soil, while the in-ground plants are thinking, “Uh, Angela? When’s the last time you added compost to these beds? Our roots can barely breathe down here! And would it kill you to feed us more regularly? Sheesh!”
Actually, I think the in-ground soil temperature hasn’t caught up with the pots yet. Later in the season, it’ll be trickier keeping the containers watered often enough.
Will the in-ground tomatoes catch up? Which plants will be the healthiest and put out the most tomatoes? The tastiest tomatoes?
Stay tuned!
What they looked like on planting day, April 27, and today, May 13. Growing nicely.
Rosa ‘Chicago Peace’
bearded iris
‘Mahogany’ nasturtium
Million Bells (Calibrachoa)
Million bells, nasturtium and Sandersonia
I didn’t protect my tomato plants from snails and slugs because they seemed preoccupied with my basil and peppers, but overnight my ‘Lemon Boy’ plant vanished. Snails, it appears, judging from the slimy beheaded plant left in the ground. Unless I see a replacement at a nursery in the next few days, I won’t bother replanting ‘Lemon Boy’. I have other varieties to look forward to. My containerized veggies are more established and less bothered by pests so far. It’ll be interesting to see how everything’s faring later in the season.
All of a sudden, it’s warm here, and by warm I mean hot. We skipped spring and went straight from winter to summer. All that rain and chill and then… boom… time to sit in the shade drinking lemonade. Where’s my cabana boy? Where’s my cabana, for that matter?
On the bean front, I got sporadic germination from my tricolor bean packet and of the few that did germinate, most were munched. I re-ordered two packs of seeds from Renee’s and replanted today. Soaked the seeds this time and added more compost to the soil. The poor bean show is partly my fault and partly the snails’ fault. With twice the number of bean seeds planted, greater care and vigilance, I am pretty confident I’ll see these damned purple, yellow and green beans climbing up my damned bean poles soon. Damn it. I wonder if Dan and Annie (dogs) will eat beans right off the vine like they did snap peas. Weirdos.
Oh, I also resurrected my tile sconces. Just in time for all those summer parties that happen mostly in my mind.
