True to form, my neglectful gardening (to be fair I was gone for two weeks) has rendered me with a fairly shit garden so far.
Where I could have had trusses of lovely organic tomatoes, I have trusses of dry, dead blossoms that shrivelled up well before their time.
I have a handful of happy trusses and brand-new ones starting, but I should definitely have had more off the vines than two sad little cherry toms.
I’ve spent the last few days pruning and plucking out the suckers and re-staking and re-tying and generally faffing about as fast as I can before the heat knocks me sideways.
Last week I genuinely had to stop before I was ready in case I got sunstroke.
Anyway, I’ve pruned brutally in the hopes the plant resources get redirected to juicy tomatoes rather than leafy nothings, and who knows if I’ve shot myself in the foot but it will hopefully be worth the experiment.
The herbs are fine. Crispy, but fine.
And surprise violets bloomed from the random bromeliad I picked up from a church plant sale. That’s pretty fun.
And this rando thing I grabbed quickly from a free pile on someone’s front kerb turned out to be agapanthus. Now I match literally every other house in a 15km radius.
Sitting next to it was another gigantic plant I grabbed for the hell of it, only to find it’s some rando South American cactus. Who knows what I’m going to do with that.
And this, my friends, is what happens when your aunty visits and makes a bonsai out of your overgrown greenery. It looks remarkably good! I, of course, have taken a terrible photograph of it. Also did I mention I don’t have a proper camera any more? Yes, that is fun, thanks for asking.
Hopefully my experiment with the tomatoes this year will sort me out for a further garden next year – although I don’t know where we’ll be living by then. That’s the fun of rented houses, you really are quite limited even when you give it a red-hot go. And already I can see (if the birds/chickens don’t ruin my life) I will get a bigger haul of tomatoes than last year. Which numbered approximately six.
Your thoughts are appreciated at this time.
Reannon says
January 17, 2019 at 9:54 pmI will happily post you seeds of my best growing tomatoes if you’d like. Over the last few years I’ve found the varieties I like to eat & grow best so that’s all I have now. Let me know if you want some!
As for how to get bulk toms? No idea!!!! Last season was my worst by far, so sad. This year my plants are booming but they are very slow to ripen. I water every second day. Once a month I collect all the chook shit from the coop, put it in a bucket, full with water & then pour that water over the plants. This year I’m doing very minimal staking because I don’t have enough stakes & im sick of spending money on them which means the plants are falling all over themselves but also keeping their own roots protected. The other thing I’ve found that helps is having some shade in the afternoon. Over heat the sun is at its fiercest from about 2-4pm so if my plenary can get some shade then it really helps.
Good luck love. I totally know your garedeninh pain 😭🤬
Katie Writes Stuff says
January 18, 2019 at 12:41 pmI grew tomatoes for the first time ever this year (well, last year technically) and they have been both joyous and perplexing. Why is one of them dying despite being treated the same as the others? Why are those ones giving me a moderate harvest while the plants from the same set of seedlings are barely hanging on? I don’t get it. And they also seem to grow as soon as I’ve turned my back so that they’re outgrown their stakes and are now seeking to annexe new territory, possibly in the pond.
So all I can say is: good luck! I hope your efforts are rewarded with tomatoes soon.
Stacey says
January 19, 2019 at 1:00 pmIT IS A CONSPIRACY. The tomatoes will do as they please
Aunty Lisa says
January 19, 2019 at 10:06 amAlways a pleasure to Bonsai. I will definitely be back to trim it.
Stacey says
January 19, 2019 at 1:00 pmWill put you to work out the front
Emma Steendam says
January 19, 2019 at 11:07 amHmmm…well although your tomato crop may be dismal (not too bad though!) at least yours are ripening up and somewhat red?! I have oodles of tommies but all green still…despite this sunshine, come ooooooon. Every time I’m at the shops I think no I won’t get tomatoes, mine will surely be ready soon. Then I just end up in a no tomato situation! GAH!
Those violas are quite sweet, mine are fairly crispy, as are the herbs – burnt butter and crispy sage is an actual thing in my actual garden, before they reach the kitchen!
Stacey says
January 19, 2019 at 12:58 pmHahah I’ve got the makings for a lovely pasta without turning a single burner on
Tina Lacy says
January 19, 2019 at 5:51 pmThis is the first year we haven’t tried to grow tomatoes, I found that they never really ripened before falling to the ground and rotting, I have however got baby cucumbers (which turn into overgiant cucumbers if you don’t check them twice a day), strawberries and red onions growing nicely. Good luck for your tomatoes I hope you get enought to make sauce