Goodbye Cherry Tomatoes

Garden Update

I've picked cherry tomatoes till I'm tired of picking them. Some weeks I'd pick a gallon of them every other day. Although I remember picking cherry tomatoes as late as November last year. This year once the lower clusters ripened and were picked. The clusters ripened in turn following up the plant. Once only the tops were left the lower half of the plants began to wilt and yellow. Having picked another pint today I plucked up all twelve plants out of the garden. I also got rid of the last of my zucchini plants. Most of the cucumbers had died back as well, so they got tossed too.

I pruned my Heatwave Tomatoes back and liberally applied fungicide to all the tomatoes, which seems to have helped the blight problem. I transplanted the remaining jalapeños out of the way. I planted about a 12' x 12' square of Merit corn on four rows at the end of the garden. I'm planting about half a row of Blue Lake pole beans and a half row of speckled butter beans. This isn't a fall garden being that it will be ready for picking late August, but I planted my garden in early March this year before the last frost. I plan on replanting again in August for the fall with other vegetables. It's been fun but also a lot of work.

Giant Cherry Tomatoes

Garden Update:

Ok, I've got tomatoes coming out my ears. I'm picking about a quart of cherry tomatoes and at least two nice size tomatoes every day. There are usually four or five cucumbers ready every week. The bell peppers and jalapeños are shiny green and good sized. The squash and zucchini... Well, they taste great, but I've had a heck of a time with powdery mildew and yellowing leaves, although the blossom-end rot has subsided. The plants are just nasty looking and laying all over my other plants. I'm about to pluck up the zucchini and plant some pole beans or more cucumbers in their place.

Oh, my cherry tomatoes are over 9 feet tall, and that's after I cut them off. People have been accusing me of not pruning them when I say this, but I have pruned them constantly removing any "suckers," new shoots. The main stem is over 9' feet tall. I cut them off at the top of the new 10' PVC pipe I'm using for stakes now. Why cut them off any shorter when they're loaded with clusters all the way up to the top. I've just about picked all the cherry tomatoes on the lowest clusters up to about 2-3 feet up the plant. The newest clusters are still forming at the top. I can't give them away quick enough! It's been fun.

Garden Pictures

Thought I'd share a few pictures after my last garden update. The zucchini is producing well, as you can see. Almost overnight, they double in size to these giant 12" long 2" thick monsters, which are surprisingly still fairly tender. You will notice in the middle of the stems an example of the blossom end rot I blogged about. The fungicide and thinning have definitely improved the plants but some fungi is still a problem.

The tomatoes are producing like crazy. There are several large clusters of tomatoes on every plant, like the ones seen here. They are beautiful without any blemishes. The rust problem seems to be contained by carefully removing any affected leaves after they're spotted. The cherry tomatoes have grown over 7 feet tall and are loaded with tomatoes.

The jalapeños are about two inches long, bright, and shiny, just like the bell peppers, but my cucumbers are still struggling. I'm worried that they've got bacterial wilt caused by cucumber beetles early in the season, which is untreatable at this stage. We'll just have to wait and see.

Tomatoes Galore

Garden Update

Since I last posted about my garden, I've got tomatoes coming out my ears and have just started getting a few picked. I've got 4-8 large tomatoes per plant. The Super Fantastics are twice as tall as the Heat Wave II, but they both have about the same number of tomatoes and look large and delicious. I had a little bit more rust show up last week, but quick leaf pulling seemed to stop it from spreading. My cherry tomato plants have outgrown their stakes. After re-staking they're close to 7 feet tall now and loaded with about four large clusters of tomatoes per plant.

The bell pepper and jalapeños are loaded with buds and shiny new peppers.

The zucchini and squash have given me a hard time with powdery mildew and blossom end rot. Both are caused by fungi, as far as I can tell. The first fungicide I applied did not seem to eliminate the problem. I think part of the problem is that the plants were too close and stayed too wet, so I went drastic and pulled every other plant to give them room and keep them drier. A few days, water, and miracle gro later, they are perking up, and I got my first mess of zucchini pulled to eat. One zucchini was over 12 inches long and two inches in diameter! Maybe it is working. I applied a different kind of fungicide yesterday to fight off the powdery mildew. We'll see what happens.

We ate our first cucumbers last week. They were so good. Sometime late last week many of the leaves started turning yellow and brown before drying up. I worried that the fungicide burned the leaves, but clover near the cucumbers and near the house also were affected. I pulled all the bad leaves last night and applied a new fungicide. Time will tell.

In the meantime I have a window sill full of tomatoes!

My Garden

This is the best garden I've had so far. This is the second year that I've planted in this part of the yard with more sun and better drainage. As someone relatively new to gardening, I have a lot of questions. I've found a lot of answers online and at the local library. Maybe some of you out there would like to know the same things as me. I'll try to post updates on my progress and trial by error.

This year I have four rows over 20' long each. My rows are spaced good (except for the giant zucchini plants that are shading my bell peppers), but I planted the plants a little too closely. My plants consist of: twelve tomatoes, twelve cherry tomatoes, twelve green bell peppers, six jalapeno peppers, six zucchini, six yellow crook neck squash, and twelve straight eight cucumbers.

In years past I always waited till Good Friday to plant my garden, but then I had to contend with heat of the summer and watering needs even more. I planted early this year before Easter once soil temps were up but days were pleasant in early March. I gambled against a late freeze, but we got one around Easter with a touch of snow flurries. I was out of town and hadn't covered my plants, but they seemed only mildly affected by the freeze.

Couple days after the freeze my tomato leaves started turning yellow and shriveling up. I thought it was from the freeze, but it kept getting worse and spreading. Not knowing what it could be, I thought maybe it was rust. I still don't know for sure but pulled off every leaf with any hint of yellowing. I may have overpruned them, but a week later they were greener than ever and growing like crazy again.

Two weeks after planting my garden my Burpless cucumbers were turning yellow and dying quickly. It happened too fast to do anything about it. I thought maybe the cool days had an effect on them, but I'm not sure. I replanted the entire row with Straight Eight cucumbers instead, leaving only the last two or three Burpless survivors. I also planted Marigolds throughout my cucumbrit rows. I learned that they are a natural repellent for bugs that love squash, zucchini, and cucumbers. So far, no bugs, and the garden looks nice with the color.


I tilled 13-13-13 fertilizer into the soil when I tilled up the garden. Last year I put a small handful in each hole covered by a little dirt with the plant on top, but this year just let it slide. I have been regularly spraying the plants with Miracle Gro, especially early on then again once vegetables began appearing. I also mulched the garden this year for the first time to help with disease and drought prevention. I have soaker hose on each row set on a water timer. Since I'm out of town a lot, it doesn't get watered consistently otherwise. The timer works great. I generally water for 30 minutes every other day or every 3rd day when it hasn't rained, trying to water deep to stimulate root growth. I also didn't make raised rows this year. I know. I know. I'm lazy, but I also thought in this new spot the plants would have less of a struggle for water in the heat of the summer. I just have to make sure not to over water for now.

The only possible result of not planting in raised rows that I've been able to notice is that my zucchini and squash have developed wet rot on the blossom end. After the flower fell off the end nearest the flower turned a dark wet brown. After talking to the folks at our Cooperative Extension office, they recommended a fungicide to stem the problem. I just applied a product yesterday for wet rot. Before I applied it, I noticed that it wasn't a fugicide after all but actually an aid for calcium deficiency that can cause wet rot. It is recommended for tomatoes and cucumbrits, so I thought it couldn't hurt. I'm going to watch to see if it corrects the problem. If not I'm going to find a fungicide to try also.

I'm having fun watching it grow. I've always had good luck with cherry tomatoes and bell peppers, but my tomatoes and squash are doing better than ever this year. I've never seen zucchini plants so big ever. We'll have plenty to eat if I can stay on top of everything. If you have tips or ideas to share, please post a comment. I hope you find something helpful when you stop by. Good luck!