Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
  #1   Report Post  
Old 10-09-2005, 08:19 PM
Justa Lurker
 
Posts: n/a
Default Status of Tomatoes grown in Central NJ (Monmouth County) garden [willthey ever get red ?]

I was also one of those people wondering if/when my tomatoes would ever
ripen and be ready for picking. I had almost given up hope....everyday
I would check the garden and they would still be green :-(

BTW, I planted them around the last week of May or thereabouts.

Finally, the holdouts have suddenly begun to ripen. Perhaps it's the
cooler (relatively speaking) weather lately ? We sure haven't had much
rain these last couple of weeks.


I posted two digital pictures (taken this morning) for you to see at

http://m-r-baker.blogspot.com/

One is of today's "harvest", and the other is fairly representative of
the dozen or two remaining on the vines.


This is my first year gardening with any kind of serious intent, so
everything is "new" to me. If you have any comments or suggestions
after taking a look at the photos, then I'd be glad to hear them. Maybe
they will be useful to some of the other beginners too !

P.S. My wife ---and the friends with whom we have shared the
tomatoes--- assure me that they taste great which is nice to hear :-)
  #2   Report Post  
Old 21-09-2005, 03:20 AM
---Pete---
 
Posts: n/a
Default

On Sat, 10 Sep 2005 18:19:46 GMT, Justa Lurker
wrote:

I was also one of those people wondering if/when my tomatoes would ever
ripen and be ready for picking. I had almost given up hope....everyday
I would check the garden and they would still be green :-(

------
JL,
I'm also in central NJ and I've been gardening here for the past 8
years or so. This year was TERRIBLE! I planted April/Early May
as usual but my tomatoes & peppers took an extra 2 or 3 weeks to
begin producing. I didn't start harvesting until late July. Not only
that, but most of the tomatoes and peppers were much smaller in size
than previous years. I only got a fraction of the yield compared to
precious years. I'm not sure if it was the hotter dryer weather
this year or the fact that had added lots of wood & coal ashes to
the soil in April this year. I never did that before.

Anyone from the NJ or PA area care to share their
experience this year?

---pete---

  #4   Report Post  
Old 21-09-2005, 03:20 PM
---Pete---
 
Posts: n/a
Default

On Wed, 21 Sep 2005 07:55:05 -0400, Boron Elgar
wrote:

I am in Northern NJ and this is the best year I have ever had for
tomatoes. No cracking, no blossom rot, unusually huge and sweet yields
of several different varieties. Some were grown in large tubs and
others directly in the garden.

It's been tomato heaven up here.

------
Boron,
Let me ask, did you do a lot of watering this year?
How about fertiziling?

I'm trying to figure out why my garden produced such small
tomatoes this year. I know I didn't water enough and I also
didn't add any side feedings of 10-10-10 fertilizer to each plant
in July as I usually do. Then there is the fact that in April I added
about a 10 gallon container of wood & coal ashes to my 100 sq ft
garden plot and turned it into the soil before planting. My Garden
started great with 6 foot tomato plants and 3 foot pepper plants
by early July. But the fruits were only about half the size of
previous year. Hmmmmmmmmm.

---pete---

  #5   Report Post  
Old 21-09-2005, 05:29 PM
Boron Elgar
 
Posts: n/a
Default

On Wed, 21 Sep 2005 13:20:15 GMT, (---Pete---) wrote:

On Wed, 21 Sep 2005 07:55:05 -0400, Boron Elgar
wrote:

I am in Northern NJ and this is the best year I have ever had for
tomatoes. No cracking, no blossom rot, unusually huge and sweet yields
of several different varieties. Some were grown in large tubs and
others directly in the garden.

It's been tomato heaven up here.

------
Boron,
Let me ask, did you do a lot of watering this year?
How about fertiziling?


I watered every day when the heat was on, especially in the tubs. Each
garden plant had a circle and mound around it & was watered within
that area, so no "sprinklers," only direct to base of plant.

I used Osmocote Vegetable & Bedding (14-14-14) and organic matter from
the compost of last year's garden. I toss in some peat moss and a bit
of packaged manure. My only "new" add-in was Epsom Salts. That may
have been it, or I was just lucky.


Oh, I still got wilt that dam near killed a few plants in tubs (even
though they had been scrubbed & were filled with "fresh" bagged
potting soil.) but I still got a good yield.

I'm trying to figure out why my garden produced such small
tomatoes this year. I know I didn't water enough and I also
didn't add any side feedings of 10-10-10 fertilizer to each plant
in July as I usually do. Then there is the fact that in April I added
about a 10 gallon container of wood & coal ashes to my 100 sq ft
garden plot and turned it into the soil before planting. My Garden
started great with 6 foot tomato plants and 3 foot pepper plants
by early July. But the fruits were only about half the size of
previous year. Hmmmmmmmmm.

---pete---


In all my years of gardening, I have learned that some years are
great, and some are just ok, and others plain old suck eggs.

The entire garden was very productive this year. In addition to the
tomatoes. the cukes, radishes, lettuce, beans, corn, zucchini, herbs,
and flowers were all lovely. I have an Earth Box with 6 Brussels
sprout plants that are humongous. I am looking forward to a frost to
harvest them.

Boron


  #6   Report Post  
Old 22-09-2005, 01:16 PM
---Pete---
 
Posts: n/a
Default

On Wed, 21 Sep 2005 11:29:15 -0400, Boron Elgar
wrote:

I watered every day when the heat was on, especially in the tubs. Each
garden plant had a circle and mound around it & was watered within
that area, so no "sprinklers," only direct to base of plant.

-----
Good idea!
That's how I do mine too.
Only this year, I didn't do much watering so
I suspect that was part of my problem.


I used Osmocote Vegetable & Bedding (14-14-14) and organic matter from
the compost of last year's garden. I toss in some peat moss and a bit
of packaged manure. My only "new" add-in was Epsom Salts. That may
have been it, or I was just lucky.

------
Sounds like a good plan.


In all my years of gardening, I have learned that some years are
great, and some are just ok, and others plain old suck eggs.

-------
I usually get a pretty consistant yield, but something was dramaticaly
different this year. I suspect that I may have offset the balance of
Nitrogen-Phospherous-Potash by adding too much in wood
& coal ashes this year. Oh well, I guess I better test the soil
and make any needed amendments before planting next year.

Thanks for sharing!
Happy Gardening.

---pete---


Reply
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules

Smilies are On
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Press Release from Travis County Master Gardeners-Travis County Extension Servic [email protected] Texas 0 27-03-2006 06:40 PM
Has anyone ever grown tobacco? [email protected] Gardening 1 05-04-2003 09:20 PM
Have you ever grown Jerusalem Artichokes? Mike Davis Edible Gardening 7 13-03-2003 03:20 PM
Has anyone ever grown tobacco? DGiunti Gardening 9 22-02-2003 12:39 PM
NJ orchid show at Monmouth Mall BetsyB Orchids 2 21-02-2003 07:15 PM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 02:10 PM.

Powered by vBulletin® Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 GardenBanter.co.uk.
The comments are property of their posters.
 

About Us

"It's about Gardening"

 

Copyright © 2017