This weather brings to mind the song "Summer in the City" - not that this is the city, but the song captures the feeling of heat pretty well...and I guess I am dating myself as well! I am definitely in my summer schedule of gardening work between 9 and noon...then afternoons recovering, updating my growing information, blogging.
I've been tracking a few tomato plants in terms of increases in height, just to get an idea of the vertical growth rate of indeterminate tomatoes. It is quite interesting - on May 19 I planted Sungold and Cherokee Purple in the front of my side yard garden. Sungold was at 6 inches tall after planting, and Cherokee Purple at 6 inches tall as well. I've recorded the height each day. Today, Sungold was at 59 inches - a gain of 53 inches over 33 days. Cherokee Purple was at 45 inches tall, a gain of 38 inches over that time. (I am tracking a few more, but don't want to bore you with too much data). The punchline - in general, the plants grow over an inch to nearly 2 inches per day on average...which means that a staked indeterminate tomato plant will grow approximately one foot each week. There are many variables at play - the location of my plants (hours of full sun per day is an important factor here), soil quality, and weather, just to name a few. But think of that - at one foot per week, that's 4 feet per month....a mid may planting will be at 12 feet tall by mid August. No wonder the 3 foot tall cone-shaped "useless tomato cages" are so useless for indeterminate varieties!
I've now got fruit set on 75 of my tomato plants....as well as 48 pepper plants and 11 eggplant. The first cluster on Mexico Midget tomato is blushing! Planted on May 17, this would put first ripe fruit on that plant at less than 40 days......
Below are a few selected pictures showing progress. The top row shows a few eggplant - the first is from my "Green Ghost" project - all from a Casper X ??? cross that happened a few years ago. The goal is pale green fruit with lavender striping - meaning that first one is a successful hit...there could be slender or teardropped versions. This first looks very much like a pale green tinted Antigua. The second two are examples of the Midnight Lightning/Twilight Lightning/Skinny Twilight selection work, all out of the Orient Express hybrid. I am growing quite a few and will wait to see all of the results before I decide where to go next.
Second row shows a couple of Dwarf varieties - Sleeping Lady (released), and Tennessee Suited (in progress), as well as another really nice eggplant plant.
I've been tracking a few tomato plants in terms of increases in height, just to get an idea of the vertical growth rate of indeterminate tomatoes. It is quite interesting - on May 19 I planted Sungold and Cherokee Purple in the front of my side yard garden. Sungold was at 6 inches tall after planting, and Cherokee Purple at 6 inches tall as well. I've recorded the height each day. Today, Sungold was at 59 inches - a gain of 53 inches over 33 days. Cherokee Purple was at 45 inches tall, a gain of 38 inches over that time. (I am tracking a few more, but don't want to bore you with too much data). The punchline - in general, the plants grow over an inch to nearly 2 inches per day on average...which means that a staked indeterminate tomato plant will grow approximately one foot each week. There are many variables at play - the location of my plants (hours of full sun per day is an important factor here), soil quality, and weather, just to name a few. But think of that - at one foot per week, that's 4 feet per month....a mid may planting will be at 12 feet tall by mid August. No wonder the 3 foot tall cone-shaped "useless tomato cages" are so useless for indeterminate varieties!
I've now got fruit set on 75 of my tomato plants....as well as 48 pepper plants and 11 eggplant. The first cluster on Mexico Midget tomato is blushing! Planted on May 17, this would put first ripe fruit on that plant at less than 40 days......
Below are a few selected pictures showing progress. The top row shows a few eggplant - the first is from my "Green Ghost" project - all from a Casper X ??? cross that happened a few years ago. The goal is pale green fruit with lavender striping - meaning that first one is a successful hit...there could be slender or teardropped versions. This first looks very much like a pale green tinted Antigua. The second two are examples of the Midnight Lightning/Twilight Lightning/Skinny Twilight selection work, all out of the Orient Express hybrid. I am growing quite a few and will wait to see all of the results before I decide where to go next.
Second row shows a couple of Dwarf varieties - Sleeping Lady (released), and Tennessee Suited (in progress), as well as another really nice eggplant plant.
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