An update on our tomato plants. Since the last episode, many of the plants have been staked. Some are ripening, some are setting fruit, and some are blossoming.
Zone 10b / San Gabriel Valley / Los Angeles / Southern California / USA
Music: E’s Jammy Jams, “Shine On Harvest Moon”
Video production is another hobby in the many list of hobbies that I wanted to get into. This is meant to be a fun video documenting the real life challenges that many gardeners experience.
On the last gardening outing, one tomato plant in particular looked a little thirsty. It was very strange as it should not be. A closer inspection revealed a desiccated trunk. Worst of all, it was the tomato that I had looked forward to the most– the Weissbehaarte heirloom sweet tomato. Luckily there is a back up plant. It was only a matter of digging it out of the ground and moving it. The back up plant was only transplanted a couple of days ago; leaving little concern that its roots would be disturbed.
As far as to what caused the original plant to be damage is anyone’s guess. I could not put my finger between: pill bugs gnawing the trunk, a furry animal or cat trampling the plant, the strong winds from a couple of days ago, or one of the kids accidentally knocking into it.
Zone 10b / San Gabriel Valley / Los Angeles / Southern California / USA
Music:
Doug Maxwell, “It Happens”
Quincas Moreira, “Bongo Madness”
Rondo Brothers, “Bravado”
The heirloom Black Prince tomato is ready for harvest. Let’s see what it looks like inside!
Heirloom Black Prince indeterminate tomatoes grown from seed. Grown in Zone 1 (Permaculture) so as to allow them to vine ripen with lesser chance of rats and birds chewing on them.
Pest management is a hands-on and observation approach. The tomato plant naturally grows a dense cover for itself. Many tomato growers prune their plants as a result. Even with pruning, there is still enough foliage to go around for pests like tomato horn worms and katydid. These pests have been spotted and have not been removed. When they become a problem, they will be removed and turned into fish food.
This observe and interact approach requires less labor and external outputs (like needing pesticides). Forgoing the use of pesticides frees the budget up. Further, it does not attack the beneficial insects. Insects like spiders find the plant home and their hunting ground.
I like to live dangerously through my heirloom black prince tomato by leaving them on the vine to ripen. Hopefully the next update will be: “Vine Ripen Tomatoes!!” and not “Boo hoo hoo, something ate my tomato (sad face).”
The weather has warmed up for a couple of weeks now. Night temperatures have not fallen below 60 degrees. Now there is finally time to start more seeds. While it does not look time consuming, it was a bit of a surprise that this took a over an hour to do. One of the tasks was mixing up the 50/50 soil mixture of clay and peat moss. Then filling up the containers. Continue Reading
