Tomatos, Pumpkins and Carrots

Disaster. Complete and utter disaster. The upsidedown tomato that I did produced like three tomatoes. That's it and it has withered and died with no hope of spawning anymore. The tomatoes were the most delicious ever, but we got only three from our pathetic little plant. My father laughed at me when I told him of the disaster. But its better than nothing!

The carrots were coming right along and were getting *huge*. Last week something ate every single one of them. *sigh*

And the pumpkins. Don't get me started on the pumpkins. The plants were healthy. They were producing beautiful blooms.

Something ate them, too. I have little stubs where my pumpkin vines used to be.

How utterly depressing. All week it has been just depressing.

But I learned something important. I can grow stuff and grow it well enough for critters to take a chance that my dogs will eat them alive if caught sneaking into my fenced area. That thought lifted my spirits.

And there is always indoor gardening. I've been thinking more and more about hydro, aero and aquaponics. I suppose we'll have to see about a aeroponic system. I've been browsing around town and finding very little support for such things in Knoxville. Something that irritates me more than I care to mention. I'm going to figure out something to get on track with an aeroponic system.

More on that later!

Garden Outlook

It is amazing to me how a tiny seed can just sprout a plant. My pumpkins have a wild will of their own. We planted them in this one 15 gallon container knowing that we'd get a good yield. They have just excelled in their growth so much. We're going to have a great time when these guys yield some pumpkins. Pumpkin pie for us is an autumn tradition. I start making it as soon as the pumpkins come on the market and put up enough to get us through the holidays making many many many pumpkin pies, most of which never go used for their original intent due to the fact that I have little dervishes tearing silently through the house when everyone thinks I'm not watching. They devour the pie in two seconds flat and hum a tune as they stroll away reeking of my pumpkin pie spice. Kinda makes me feel good that my pie is so loved.

On the other hand, I'm glad I have plenty of kelp. These guys are just moving right along. I'm hoping the other blooms will give some berries soon. Having two at a time would not do very much around here. We're excited none-the-less!

Tiny as they are, they are still going strong. We have true leaves! At last count we had about 38. We're jabbing our fingers at them and counting. It's a family event, you know.

And everyone got a hefty dose of DE.

The bell peppers sprouted. We're looking forward to getting them planted as soon as they have grown a tad bit more. We're just moving right along. No major pest problems, unless you consider the dog trying to chomp down on anything my hand touches a problem. It is. But he hasn't yanked my plants out so we're good there.

Having Faith

You know that tomato plant I was really starting to fear wouldn't do anything? Well, he has friends! We have tomatoes! Those little suckers sneaked up on me and man we're just proud of them. I called my father almost immediately and told him and he boasted that he'd picked five today. Well, I'll see his five with my two organically grown any day!

This little guy was getting a spray down with kelp and DE when we noticed he managed to hide the fact that his blooms turned tomatoes sometimes last week.

I'm pleased as punch. I should have never doubted my poor tomato plant. Now if only I could get the bell pepper to do more than look like a tiny blade of grass.

Pumpkins and Tomatoes

My pumpkin has a single beautiful bloom. I'd love to show you a picture, but its dark and I can't get out there at the moment. My tomato plant has an additional three blooms. I'm excited that it is doing so well and my experiment with the upside down tomato in a hanging pot is doing well. I do have a couple of yellow leaves but I think that is because I missed watering for an extra two days, it seems to be fading now that regular water is resuming.

Since I don't have pictures of the plants, I'm just going to substitute with pictures of the kids and dogs.

Ok, I was going to substitute with pictues of the kids and dogs, but photobucket is not loading.

You'll just have to suffer.

Tomatos and Pumpkins

Our planted pumpkin is doing well in its new home outside in the ground. We had a cause for concern when one of the true leaves whithered and died, but the rest of the plant is thriving and just moving right along. All the rain has been helpful for this. The tomato plant is slowly growing. My neighbor who swore he wouldn't plant tomatoes this year, planted two little plants and they doubled the size of mine in a week. I know this could be due to the type of the plants he has are different from mine but I can't help feeling that with mine being upsidedown in the pot and getting less sun due to it being hidden under the pot during the noon hour is the reason mine isn't as large as his. It is definately healthy and I expect that it will produce well, but next year, I'm thinking a four way post with long hangers for the hanging basket will do better. More sun, better thriving plant. We shall see next year!

Woo Hoo!

I have my very first bloom on my tomato plant!



I'm very excited. Upside down tomato gardening is beginning to become a nice success.

Mary, Mary Quite Contemporary, How Do Your Tomatoes Grow?

My father has 75 tomato plants. That is a lot. And is planning to buy more. More importantly, he is going to grow some hanging upside down. I'd made the suggestion to him a few months ago after I saw the commercial for it, you know the one, space age technology! Yea, ok. But the idea here is that it will save room for those of us that don't live on 5 acres, or even an acre for that matter. So you hang these up on your back porch and you grow some tomatoes hanging upside down and you have room to grow everything else... like eggplant and okra and ten different lettuces for a real good salad and four different kinds of carrot to really kick that salad! But we'll see what happens, I've demanded that he take pictures for me.