Tomato Worm Assassin

This is how we take care of tomato worms around here!

We really like birds in our yard anyway and it appears these guys really like tomato worms. We try to encourage them as much as possible.

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Pink Grape

Our tomatoes are doing great! This is a Pink Grape Tomato and they are delicious.

We had a 'bout with tomato worms and other things trying to eat them. We are trying to keep them organic and in doing this we are getting a real appreciation for how hard organic farmers must have to work. Fortunately, we found crawling rosemary to deter the snails, cut pantyhose around the pots and tied up around the plant to keep other creepy crawlies out and something special for the tomato worms! Check back tomorrow and I'll show you how we handle them.

Wednesday, June 7, 2006

First Tomato of the Season!

I am sooo excited, this year is our second attempt to grow tomatoes in our small back yard. And I think my wife has figured out the secret as you can see. This guy is beautiful and smells perfect! (smell is one of THE most important things in picking a good tomato IMO) It is a "Pink Grape Tomato" it is only about an inch long, which is about how big it is supposed to be. And as you can see there are more on the way.

Feedback for grape tomato photos:

Carmen	March 20, 2007 12:36 pm
Nice tomatoes
I know these are from last year, but kuddos anyway. I'm going to try to grow tomatos for the first time this year, but I was wondering if you knew anything about container grown tomatos.

S_Heller	March 21, 2007 5:50 pm
Tomato tips
All of our tomatoes are in containers. I don't know what's in the soil around here, so anything I eat is grown in containers. So here's the story. I grow them in the containers they come in until the roots come out the bottom. Then they graduate to the next size pot probably a 10". When they out grown the 10", I cut the bottom off the pot, so I don't disturb the plant and put it on top of a 16" pot that is full of soil. It's a kind of tiered pot effect, one pot on top of the other. that way the roots just go down into the bigger pot. I usually give them a high nitrogen fertilizer like Miracle grow until they get nice and big. They also like the left over tea and coffee (dilute with water). Once the plants are the size I want, I give them Jobes tomato food spikes. I get them at the hardware store, they are pretty common. You can get them online too. I have the same tomato plants from last year. I just trimmed them back in the winter and now they are ready to start popping out tomatoes. They already had their root structure from last year. I live in a mild climate, so it's not really a big deal for them to survive the winter. Well that's all the tricks I have. Depending on your area you might want to find tomatoes suitable for the climate. For instance if you get hot weather in the summer you may want the heat tolerant variety. Tomatoes don't like the weather over 90 degrees, it makes the pollen sticky and the tomatoes won't set fruit. You may want to try having them under a patio umbrella if you get hot summer days. Good Luck

Carmen	March 22, 2007 11:37 am
RE: Tomato tips
Thank you so much Bill and Sharyn, I really appreciate the advice, especially the hot eather tip. I'm in Texas so we ALWAYS have 90 degree weather in the summer. My tomatoes are going to be on my patio in a container as well. I planted cherry and regular tomatoes in the same pot. Do you think that will work out, or should I get a different pot for the cherry tomatoes? I'm looking forward to having my 2 daughters picking them right off the vine. They are 3 and 5 so I can't have the tomatoes get too tall I think. Again, I'd like to thank you for your advice. I will send tomato pics, so you can grade me, on a sliding scale of course. You know, since it's my first time as a gardener and what not. ~~Carmen

Bill Heller	March 22, 2007 12:30 pm
Re: Tomato tips
Glad we could help! Sharyn said they are probably fine in the same pot and she would not disturb them if you already have them in. Just so you know depending upon the varieties they may cross-pollinate. So you may end up something between a cherry and a regular one. (which actually could be kind of interesting) Just don't get discouraged, there will probably be a lot of other things that find your tomatoes tempting. We actually had to put nylons around the base of the pots, and tied them up to the tomato cages to help keep things out. Some of our bigger ones actually needed metal cages around the individual tomatoes to keep them safe. Sharyn usually picks a lot of them when they are just about to turn, still green, but soft and starting to lighten. Then she lets them finish on the window sill. We did a bit of a taste-test and found that they are actually better that way than the totally vine ripened ones. And, Sharyn says, that gives the plant more energy to start growing more. As far as the height, some tomatoes need a cage to stand up at all, they are called "indeterminate" they keep growing like a vine and keep setting fruit until the frost kills them (or at least kills the part above the ground). One of Sharyn's happiest indeterminates is actually in a big twisted pile in the corner. It survived all winter and has been giving us tomatoes all along, even through the rare frosts that we had in Santa Barbara this year. Probably because it is right up against the house and got a little warmth. Your cherries are probably indeterminates. The other varieties are not surprisingly called determinates. They grow to a pretty specific height and have a set season when they bear fruit. Thats not to say they won't need a cage or at least strong stakes once they get heavy fruit on them but they are less vine-like and will probably get out of reach for your girls (our biggest was around 8-9 feet last year.) It should say on the tag or on the seed pack when you buy them which variety you have. If you don't see the full word look for "DET" or "IND" All this knowledge of course comes from my wife, she is extremely intelligent and teaches me things all the time. I am mainly the taste tester and photographer. :-D Of course when we first met she even taught me a lot about photography! Can't wait to see your tomato pictures! -Bill Heller

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A Photo a Day by Bill Heller

Grape tomato Photos

Tomato Worm Assassin

Pink Grape

First Tomato of the Season!