Garden update 2004-07-15

The big news is that I'll be eating tomatoes soon! My Better Boy has five big, ripening tomatoes, and just today I noticed the first reddish tomato on my Stupice.

Click the small photos to enlarge them.

Intruder alert!

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Look at this rascal! He's tearing up the yard! I'll have to keep an eye out for this guy.

Tomatoes

Here's the update on my tomatoes.

Better boy

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Better Boy is loaded with tomatoes, five of which are turning ripe. (This plant had about a month's head start on the other plants.) Floating row-cover–material protects against sunscald.

Brandywine, Sudduth's strain

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My Brandywine hasn't set many fruit, but the few it has set are large.

Cherokee Purple

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Here are my three Cherokee Purple plants. All are mighty and vigorous. If they don't look as big as my other plants, it's because they were planted about a month later.

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Here's a close-up of an unusual flower. It appears to be fasciated, with three flowering stems joined. Apparently this is not uncommon for beefsteak tomatoes.

Gold Medal

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Now, this is interesting – a big, vigorous plant which has resisted flowering until just recently. Only in the last few days has it started to set fruit. (What makes Gold Medal flower so much later than the other plants?) Will this late-set strategy pay off with a greater harvest? Only time will tell.

Green Zebra

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Respectable growth and fruit set. Just look at the beautiful stripes on the fruit. They'll have a pinkish cast when they're ripe but otherwise will remain green. Can't wait to taste the first one. I have heard that the taste is unusual.

Mexican Midget

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This one is a performer! Its reaching growth habit has long ago exceeded the containment of its cage. Fruit set is plentiful – you can see fruit everywhere in the second photo. I'll be growing this one next year.

Stupice

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If you look at the close-up of the bottom truss, you'll note that the tomato just right of center is starting to turn red. I'll be eating it soon. Woo hoo!

Trophy

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Trophy hasn't been a great performer so far. It's small and has set only a few fruit.

Strawberries

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My container-grown strawberries are doing well and starting to produce berries in abundance. Apparently the local birds figured this out, too, because I noticed a half-eaten berry today.

Creative Commons License

Copyright © 2004 Thomas G. Moertel.
These images are licensed under a Creative Commons License.