Tomatoes(before)

I posted these tomatoes to compare their growth with the same tomatoes today posted in Tomatoes sure do grow fast.

This is the supersweet tomato, image posted May 9th.This white queen photo was posted June 9th.

Here's the juliette, image posted May 30th

It is nice to see progress. That is one reason why gardening is so satisfying

Tomatoes sure do grow fast.

I think I'm gonna look up some 'before' pictures to compare to these 'after' shots even though these tomatoes haven't even peaked yet. OK, Tomatoes(before) is the link to see if you are not on the mainpage. All but the back door tomatoes are represented at an earlier age.

I did not post a 'before' picture for these guys. Really, these are my orphans, left pot-bound for far too long They seem to be doing all right now. Tomatoes can be fussy but they are resilient.

I am enjoying my driveway tomatoes now. Supersweet are great anytime snacks. Really, I end up eating more raw food when it's just a bit just in reach.

Where's the tomato? Uh, somewhere in with all those sunflowers. This is part of my obscure backyard. That's a white queen. I think I will let the sunflowers mature then chop them down to save for winter, then the tomatoes will get their space.

This tomato on my sidewalk has produced the earliest. I am pleased with its productivity and people walking by have complimented it. I do sort wish that this was the supersweet because this juliette is basically a mini-plum which isn't as nice to snack on. I want people walking by to fill free to snack on my tomatoes. It just isn't a great eating tomato. I mostly using juliette sliced on homemade pizza.

Homemade pizza is a wonderful way to use fresh produce. If you have basil and tomatoes, you are more than half there. Some fresh chives or other onion type plant is great too. I also LOVE fresh eggplant sliced on pizza too, which is one reason why I really enjoy the smaller varieties of eggplant.

First Tomatoes

My 1st ripe tomatoes are from this juliet from one of my wall plantings. You cannot really see the staples and velcro securing the vine to the wall but they are there. Everyday that I look at this I think to myself "God am I clever." I am pleased by the fact that not only am I clever but I am breaking some rules about how you are supposed to grow tomatoes.

Here's the evidence that yes, these are ripening! Juliette is not as easy going as supersweet. They take a little longer to produce and are not the candy that supersweet is but once they get going they are very nice and they are quite pretty, a nice contrast from other cherry tomatoes though I think of juliette as being a very small plum tomato. Already this plant is doing better than the one I had last year.

Wall Tomatoes and CATS

I am pretty happy with how these are growing. Tomatoes are basically a vine, if indeterminate. That's really why it is necessary to stake or cage them.

A few years ago, I had some supersweet on a stoop growing out of strawbales. This experiment ended up being fairly high maintenance as I lacked any soil and had to thoroughly water and very frequently fertilize them but still, the results were very spectacular. They grew much better than the ones in back. One major reason I believe is that they were growing on a very hot, tar paved alley, my place's front entrance was a crowded, alleyway, largely devoid of any life except litter, some weeds and irresponsible neighbor's dog poop. I swear the sweltering heat made them thrive.

I am happy to say that I have moved up a bit. Now my neighbors... well, I won't get into specifics, but my surroundings are closer to 'middle class'. I suppose it depends on your perspective. They do pick up after their dogs. Er, so out of this experience I realized that tomatoes will grow endlessly if the conditions are right and you let them. I imagined building a tomato hut.

I will return to the present. I am not keen on this railroad tie wall here not the globe arborvitaes. Arborvitaes are an interesting tree and shrub native to North America that the locals ate for its vitamin C content. I can't remember the specific history, but it has been used to prevent scurvy in many situation where fresh food was not to be found. So I do have some admiration for arborvitae.

I just don't have much room and these plants are in a very prime location as far as light and warmth are concerned. Rather than destroy them I compromised by trimming them back a bit and planting some things in spaces that they aren't supposed to grow.

If you click on either tomato picture you'll see a stake coming out of nowhere and a staple or 2 driven into the railroad ties with some velcro tomato ties attached. I've been limiting these from branching out a lot. I consider these tomatoes to be my 'guerilla style' tomatoes. Click on that link for more info and many fun pictures, like people planting cabbages while police lights flash. I thought it was pretty funny that they refer to a 360th anniversary of guerrilla gardening taking place at the same time of the G20 protests in London because the G20 is going to be in Pittsburgh in September. That doesn't have much to do with anything but I like the idea of people defiantly planting vegetables in 1649.

I probably should have made this 2 post but anyway, here's a couple cat pictures. The cheddarhead and abe aren't exactly friends but they do swat playfully at each other every once in a while. They have a rivalry over the catnip dome.

Sally prefers solitude but does tolerate others. She's just a little queen.

It's hard to decide

Which photographs to publish. My camera decides sometimes, like the coriander seeds forming I thought I had focused on came out blurry. Everyday my garden is different. Especially after lots of sun and warmth.

This faded sunflower still has a sort of beauty. There are now 5 others blooming in its place. I ponder whether when this is ready for the birds whether I should leave it standing, save it for myself, or saving it for the birds when it is winter again. I suppose with more than a dozen blooms I may do all of the above.

This broccoli must be harvested. Oh the burden of fresh vegetables.

I want to do a post on my 'wall tomatoes' as they grow up to the stakes I have poking into my shrubbery. I have a feeling that they will end up growing better than some of my tomatoes this year despite their unorthodox location.

These are 'juliette' what I think of as a cherry plum tomato. These are larger than the ones i grew last year which also were quite susceptible to blossom end rot. These don't seem to have this issue, at least not yet. I have been pretty vigilant about watching for that as I have had this problem with quite a few of my tomatoes over the last couple years.

These are tansy flowers. I think I got these at a garden swap. I got another variety at a garden event outside Trader Joe's. I like this variety better. I know that one of them had some babies in my garden which I chose to remove. I understand tansy can get pretty invasive. I ended up transplanting my other tansy to a part of my garden that is dark and less visible. This tansy here is more delicate looking so I might end up making it my only variety.

Tansy is one of those herbs that has been eaten by people but more so I believe during medieval times. Based on what I've read, I don't think I will. I mean, it is sort of poisonous. It could be handy if I had worms. I think it's one of those herbs that kills worms which would make it more useful in midieval times than now. It does have an interesting flowers and ants do not seem to like it very much.

I have so many kinds of plants in my yard. I should count them sometime. There are still a few I haven't documented.