First San Marzano Tomato

Our San Marzano plant has produced its first little tomato. This plant has had a rough time of it, having had its stem broken on two occasions and almost wilting away from some sort of blight at another time. The new tomato may not have time to grow large and ripen, but I now feel like the plant's a success nonetheless.

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November Tomatoes

I thought I'd start off November with a few pictures of what our tomato plants are producing. The Sunmaster that survived the Summer is doing the best by far. It has about 15 or so tomatoes growing and more starting. We're also getting tomatoes on the two Early Girl plants and the Hawaiian Tropic. The Black Prince, Black Krim, Ace 55, German Queen, and San Marzano all have blooms, but no tomatoes yet.

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Sunmaster

more Sunmaster

Hawaiian Tropic

Early Girl

San Marzano and Bell Pepper Update

The stem repair to our San Marzano plant seems to be holding up. Rather than wilting above the break, the plant is green and putting on more leaves. I'll give it a few more days and take off the tape.

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Also, while I'm doing updates, here is a look at our incredibly slow growing bell pepper plant. It's a whopping four inches tall now. I planted this thing back in July with the expectation of it having peppers by late October or early November. It looks like I missed that by several months.

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Tomato Plant Repair

Yesterday either the wind or its four-legged counterpart Tessa (it wasn't that windy) flattened our only surviving San Marzano tomato plant. In the process, the plant suffered some pretty severe damage to its main stem. As you can see in the picture below, it was creased at the point where it was bent over. There was also a split on the opposite side of the stem.

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In an effort to save the plant, we retied it securely to its stake, and taped up the damaged portion of the stem. We're hoping the stem will regrow where it was damaged, allowing the plant to survive. So far it looks promising. As of this morning, the leaves above the repair showed no signs of drooping or wilting.

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repairing the damaged plant

looking good so far

Tomato Plant Mystery

Two days ago I walked outside to find one of the two tomato plants that I've planted in the ground dead. Something had decapitated the Hawaiian Tropic plant by boring a hole completely through its stem. I couldn't find any bug, worm, or otherwise guilty-looking party anywhere around the plant.

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Then, yesterday morning I walked out and found the same thing had happened to the other in-ground plant. This time the perpetrator chewed multiple holes through the plants stem, basically leaving it in pieces on the ground. I still haven't seen any bugs or worms that might be responsible. I hope whatever it is doesn't find its way to my container plants. Any ideas?

San Marzano Tomato Plants

It's really strange how plants grow at different rates when treated exactly the same. I planted the seeds for both of the San Marzano seedlings pictured below on the same day using the same soil mixture. Since then, they have been watered at the same times, and exposed to exactly the same amount of light under the grow lamp. Yet one is doing very well, while the other is growing at a snail's pace.

These Italian heirlooms are said to be among the best paste tomatoes and highly desired by pizzerias. Hopefully we'll be able to perform our own taste test to find out just how good they really are.

Tomato Seedlings Update

The tomato seeds that I planted on July 24 (see Tomato Olympics post) have really taken off. Both of the Black Krims emerged from the soil first, with the Hawaiian Tropics following closely behind. The San Marzanos took a little more time, but they eventually made it. All of the plants have now grown to about three to four inches and put on quite a few leaves. Yesterday I transplanted them from their seed starting pods to larger pots. After they've grown in these for a couple of weeks I'll move them into their permanent containers.

Seedlings in Seed Starting Pods. From Left to Right: Black Krim, San Marzano, Hawaiin Tropic

Seedlings Transplanted into Larger Growth Pots

Tomato Olympics

With the Beijing Olympics approaching, and the spirit of competition in the air, I thought it might be fun to have our own race here in the Desert Container Garden. So, I now introduce the first ever tomato seedling biathlon. Over the next 4 week period, we'll judge the plants on the rate at which they come up and the amount that they grow. Pictured above you will see the contestants. In the left two pods we have our Russian entrants, Black Krim #1 and #2. In the center two pods, the Italians might be tough to beat with San Marzano #1 and #2. And on the far right, the Americans will attempt to bring home the gold with Hawaiian Tropic #1 and #2. Thanks to my WONDERFUL WIFE of one year (today) for making the cool markers.