As of a few days ago, I thought I only had fruit set on 2 out of 13 plants, but tonight I found tiny tomatoes on 10 out of 13, with one outlier:
Monday, June 29, 2015
Megabloom3
I confirmed that all but one of my megablooms shriveled up and died. The remaining possible megabloom is on a non-giant variety.
As of a few days ago, I thought I only had fruit set on 2 out of 13 plants, but tonight I found tiny tomatoes on 10 out of 13, with one outlier:
As of a few days ago, I thought I only had fruit set on 2 out of 13 plants, but tonight I found tiny tomatoes on 10 out of 13, with one outlier:
Sunday, June 28, 2015
Megabloom2
Megabloom on a Zac.. This appears to be two flowers.. Look for the ribbed stem behind the flower.
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
Megabloom
Zaczilla has a mean looking blossom on it. It's hard to tell if these are actually fused, or just a tight clump. Time will tell.
Manual pollination has not been going well. Or at least, it doesn't seem like my attempts have done much. I'm curious to know if anybody else has figured it out.
BTW, Big Stack was down to his last big blind, but he recently added some chips, saving himself from a one-way trip to the compost pile.
Manual pollination has not been going well. Or at least, it doesn't seem like my attempts have done much. I'm curious to know if anybody else has figured it out.
BTW, Big Stack was down to his last big blind, but he recently added some chips, saving himself from a one-way trip to the compost pile.
Thursday, June 11, 2015
All in
I'm finally all planted. I have 16 tomato plants in play, but just 4 that I'm banking on for giants. 2015 is the year of containers for me - they may not produce as many or as big, but I'm hoping they have more flavor.
My giant hopefuls are in the garden. I had a hard time giving up the family farm for some hungry tomato vines, so I'm making them compete for a living. There are 3 healthy plants in this picture, plus a Big Zac from Aaron which is teetering on the verge of death. I haven't written it off yet, though. They say the sight of the gallows clarifies the mind, and I think this plant may get focused on growing yet.
The 4 varieties I'm growing are Mega Marv, Domingo, Big Zac, and Zaczilla. I've dubbed them Captain Marvel, The Dominator, Big Stack, and, uh, Zaczilla. Hard to improve on that name.
My giant hopefuls are in the garden. I had a hard time giving up the family farm for some hungry tomato vines, so I'm making them compete for a living. There are 3 healthy plants in this picture, plus a Big Zac from Aaron which is teetering on the verge of death. I haven't written it off yet, though. They say the sight of the gallows clarifies the mind, and I think this plant may get focused on growing yet.
The 3 healthy plants all have their first truss of blossoms. Captain Marvel has one blossom that is much bigger than the others. I don't know if this is a megabloom or just a big, fat blossom, but I'm keeping my eye on it.
Tuesday, June 2, 2015
Guess the tomato weight contest
All the guesses are in, and this contest is now closed to new entries. There are 21 entries, so we're playing for $42, winner-takes-all. Please double-check that I copied your guesses correctly.
As contest organizer, I emailed my own guesses to myself before I accepted anybody else's, so there was no tweaking of my entries. In hindsight, I wish I had made some nerdy guesses like e and sqrt(2). I was happy to see that Aaron guessed pi.
Aaron and Travis tied for the most digits of precision at 10. I can't help but wonder if there is a scale in the world that can resolve a billionth of a lb out of 4 lbs. There are certainly scales that can measure such tiny weights, but I think they would be crushed by a tomato!
Nobody guessed the same weight, so the odds of a split pot are minimal. The closest 2 guesses were me and Aaron, separated by 4 thousandths of a lb.
Now that the guesses are in, I will share my thinking. I've been growing a handful of tomato plants each year for the past 7-8 years. Maybe 40+ plants in that time? The biggest tomato I've ever seen was 1lb 9oz, and it was a monster. Granted, I didn't do anything special to increase the size of the tomato, and it wasn't from a variety with a history of producing monsters. Just sayin' that 1.5 lbs is a BIG tomato. I noticed that Dale from Utah, who some of us ordered seeds from, produced only one tomato over 2 lbs in 2013. Presumably, he grows in hot, dry conditions similar to ours, and he grows many plants with world class genetics. On the giant tomato forums, people celebrate their first 2-pounder. 2 lbs seems to be hard to achieve!
So given all that, I like the guesses in the high-1 to low-2 pound range. I have a feeling that the winner of this contest is going to be named either Fred, Mark, Aaron, or Paul. But of course, that's just my biased thinking. I hope I'm wrong and somebody brings in a scale-crushing football-sized tomato.
Here are the bets:
As contest organizer, I emailed my own guesses to myself before I accepted anybody else's, so there was no tweaking of my entries. In hindsight, I wish I had made some nerdy guesses like e and sqrt(2). I was happy to see that Aaron guessed pi.
Aaron and Travis tied for the most digits of precision at 10. I can't help but wonder if there is a scale in the world that can resolve a billionth of a lb out of 4 lbs. There are certainly scales that can measure such tiny weights, but I think they would be crushed by a tomato!
Nobody guessed the same weight, so the odds of a split pot are minimal. The closest 2 guesses were me and Aaron, separated by 4 thousandths of a lb.
Now that the guesses are in, I will share my thinking. I've been growing a handful of tomato plants each year for the past 7-8 years. Maybe 40+ plants in that time? The biggest tomato I've ever seen was 1lb 9oz, and it was a monster. Granted, I didn't do anything special to increase the size of the tomato, and it wasn't from a variety with a history of producing monsters. Just sayin' that 1.5 lbs is a BIG tomato. I noticed that Dale from Utah, who some of us ordered seeds from, produced only one tomato over 2 lbs in 2013. Presumably, he grows in hot, dry conditions similar to ours, and he grows many plants with world class genetics. On the giant tomato forums, people celebrate their first 2-pounder. 2 lbs seems to be hard to achieve!
So given all that, I like the guesses in the high-1 to low-2 pound range. I have a feeling that the winner of this contest is going to be named either Fred, Mark, Aaron, or Paul. But of course, that's just my biased thinking. I hope I'm wrong and somebody brings in a scale-crushing football-sized tomato.
Here are the bets:
Amateur would be generous...
Ok, so we all know I'm not the world's best gardener. I try, but typically, I'm not that great.
However, what I CAN do is bake, cook and make jams. And cooking with fresh ingredients is the best way.
So, here's my deal for everyone...
I will try to grow a tomato, or I should say more like my husband will. But if anyone would like to bring me extra veggies from their gardens, I will trade you for zucchini cobblers, breakfast burritos with peppers, jams, pickles and other not yet created items.
Any takers?
However, what I CAN do is bake, cook and make jams. And cooking with fresh ingredients is the best way.
So, here's my deal for everyone...
I will try to grow a tomato, or I should say more like my husband will. But if anyone would like to bring me extra veggies from their gardens, I will trade you for zucchini cobblers, breakfast burritos with peppers, jams, pickles and other not yet created items.
Any takers?
Wham's Latest
Ok - So with a little breathing room after DCS release, here are my stats at the Wham Farmette:
The competition for the Giant Tomatoes (Beef Steaks), still too wet to put into a new bed with good sun, but I have put 1 into a container and another into a spot where I lost a pepper. Will see.....
A few pictures of the cold weather stuff (fava beans and garlic)
Peas and leeks, horseradish
Various Brassicas (broccoli, cabbage, brussel sprouts)
Can't see much here, but early peppers and tomatoes.
Unplanted, last years leeks, Kale, Chard.
Leeks (leeks grow great in my garden..)
Mid summer greens getting started
Early cheery tomatoes
more peas
black berries (thornless)
The competition for the Giant Tomatoes (Beef Steaks), still too wet to put into a new bed with good sun, but I have put 1 into a container and another into a spot where I lost a pepper. Will see.....
A few pictures of the cold weather stuff (fava beans and garlic)
Peas and leeks, horseradish
Various Brassicas (broccoli, cabbage, brussel sprouts)
Can't see much here, but early peppers and tomatoes.
Unplanted, last years leeks, Kale, Chard.
Leeks (leeks grow great in my garden..)
Finally warm enough to get the cactus out!
Mid summer greens getting started
More brassicas..
Early cheery tomatoes
black berries (thornless)
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