Tomatoes; the good news and the bad.

First the good news; all the tomatoes are coming in now strongly, and picking 2 or 3 pounds isn't a rare event. Here is the Japanese Black Trifele, which has produced about 5 pounds so far, with obviously more to come (note the peach tree behind, about to get ripe anytime soon).


This is a Black Krim in a bucket (I have several plants of this), showing just how heavy the crop can get. Most of these I expect to ripen any day now, and they just keep on going. Ten pounds harvested so far, mostly from 2 plants (the rest were planted later, and in less ideal spots as the ground filled up fast). There is probably at least twice that waiting in the wings, already filled out.


Here is my forest of topsy-turvey planters, showing advantages and disadvantages. First, the one near the front, stitched up with insulating tape, is pretty much on its last legs. Two seasons and thats it. Not exactly the durable UV-resistant material promised on the box. The advantages are that these consistently crop well and are easy to manage - no staking, no crawling into festering jungles to pick. Despite nearly falling apart, this planter with a Red Brandywine has managed 6.5 pounds so far, with more on the way. Thats $20 in the shops folks! Despite all the talk about Brandywines, I haven't yet found a red one that really stands out in taste. The yellows, however, are delicious. Still, the reds are decent enough and give a nice thick, meaty slice.


So here is my main non-hanging tomato paradise - containers sitting on what passes for a lawn in our garden. I'm discouraged from ripping it up and turning it into a vegetable plot, but having plants in buckets soak up the sunshine isnt a problem. I think this is the way to go for now, and every year I plan to expand my bucket collection. The expense is the problem; first, the buckets at about $4 each, then the compost to fill them. Of course, the compost can be re-used and supplemented with home-made. Generally, I fill the buckets half full with my own stuff, then fill up with stuff out of a bag. This too should get cheaper with time, because I plan to throw these in the soil when finished, together with more of mine, and then refill the buckets with the mix for the winter season. And so on. I'll probably keep topping off with commercial stuff because it has wonderful goop in it like bat guano (yum!), but that should get proportionately less every time (depending on how many new buckets I start).



Finally the bad news; here is Hornworm number THREE. These are really difficult to spot. In fact, the damage is what brings them to your attention. They strip branch ends and even attack the tomatoes themselves. Fortunately, once spotted, they arent hard to deal with; squish or otherwise remove as you wish. They get to be the size of your thumb.

Brussels Sprouts planted out

I'm trying to manage the transition between summer and the cool season better this year, so about a month back I sowed some Brussels Sprouts seeds and later pricked them out into pots. So now came the hard part, ripping up crops that are still bearing to make way for something that isnt (yet). Fortunately, the french beans made it easy. They have been pretty much a disaster since the get go, and each plant has produced no more than about 5-10 beans each.



I need to work on why that was (there are several possibilities), but rather than have them take another month to produce one more meal, out they went.



Now there are 16 Brussels Sprouts enjoying the spot, hopefully to do a little better. One of the problems that may have caused poor bean growth is of course that this area only gets about 4 hours of direct sunlight a day, but hopefully, as Brussels Sprouts are a cool season crop, they wont mind too much. The shade will disappear in November when the leaves fall. I still have more plants to deal with, but there are more beans in other spots not doing much :)

The Zucchini have slowed down greatly, and as I used the last of the seed this year, I left one or two to go to seed. They dont appear to be an F1, so the seed should work. Overall, I suspect the slowness of the Zucchini this year is their rotation into the semi-shade beds, but to be fair, I wasn't short of them this year; I gave away two thirds of the crop. I'm beginning to notice some mildew spots appearing, and thats usually the sign of the season nearing an end. Maybe next year I'll try one in a bucket to see how well it does.

The Leeks are still too wispy to think of planting out, but there is plenty of time yet.