"Dan Abel" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"D. Arlington" wrote:

Kris wrote:
Hi all,

I've been accessing my tomato patch this year with dismay. I've had
few tomatoes compared to last year.

What is also puzzling is that some plants are doing much better than
ones right next to it! They all received the same amount of water.

Someone told me there was "tomato blight" (not sure what that is) this
year. We also had a record cold July, which didn't help I'm sure.

Did anyone else experience this?

Kris

Late blight struck ours but many had already ripened by then, or were
near
ripe. I canned several dozen quarts, pints and half pints of sauce.
I'll
have enough to last us over a year. The freezer is full of greens and
peppers. Also canned many quarts and pints of green and wax beans.

Interesting. I live in an area that isn't great for tomatoes, although
one of the biggest US tomato growing areas is less than 100 miles away.
This year our big tomatoes ripened first, early and often. The first
year I grew big tomatoes, they didn't ripen until November, and they
were horrible ugly due to cracks and deformities. They are perfect this
year.

Or tomatoes seldom get really large for some reason. I get the soil checked,
add what's needed, water, spray if necessary.... and still get tomatoes on
the small side. I just grow more plants. The Roma's will reach full size
but are very prone to early and late blight. Our summers are generally hot,
humid and lacking in rainfall. Peppers do well here, especially the
cowhorn/banana types. Also, the Japanese eggplant.


--
Dan Abel
Petaluma, California USA

In article ,
"D. Arlington" wrote:

"Dan Abel" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"D. Arlington" wrote:

Kris wrote:
Hi all,

I've been accessing my tomato patch this year with dismay. I've had
few tomatoes compared to last year.

What is also puzzling is that some plants are doing much better than
ones right next to it! They all received the same amount of water.

Someone told me there was "tomato blight" (not sure what that is) this
year. We also had a record cold July, which didn't help I'm sure.

Did anyone else experience this?

Kris

Late blight struck ours but many had already ripened by then, or were
near
ripe. I canned several dozen quarts, pints and half pints of sauce.
I'll
have enough to last us over a year. The freezer is full of greens and
peppers. Also canned many quarts and pints of green and wax beans.

Interesting. I live in an area that isn't great for tomatoes, although
one of the biggest US tomato growing areas is less than 100 miles away.
This year our big tomatoes ripened first, early and often. The first
year I grew big tomatoes, they didn't ripen until November, and they
were horrible ugly due to cracks and deformities. They are perfect this
year.

Or tomatoes seldom get really large for some reason. I get the soil checked,
add what's needed, water, spray if necessary.... and still get tomatoes on
the small side. I just grow more plants. The Roma's will reach full size
but are very prone to early and late blight. Our summers are generally hot,
humid and lacking in rainfall. Peppers do well here, especially the
cowhorn/banana types. Also, the Japanese eggplant.


--
Dan Abel
Petaluma, California USA


You in the Bloomfield Gap or near the estuary? Humid doesn't make any
sense. I'm on the north side of a hill in Forestville and I get large
Brandywines and Striped Germans, not many but some. I had some blossom
end rot on my San Marzanos but it is a minor problem.
--
³When you give food to the poor, they call you a saint. When you ask why the poor have no food, they call you a communist.²
-Archbishop Helder Camara

http://tinyurl.com/o63ruj
http://countercurrents.org/roberts020709.htm

Billy's sig was:

³When you give food to the poor, they call you a saint. When you ask why
the poor have no food, they call you a communist.²
-Archbishop Helder Camara

Heh... I hear that quote (using "I" and "me" instead of "you") frequently.
It's programmed into a game called "Sid Meier's Civilization IV". When your
civilization finishes researching communism, Leonard Nimoy's voice is heard
declaiming that quote.

Bob

In article
,
Billy wrote:

In article ,
"D. Arlington" wrote:

"Dan Abel" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"D. Arlington" wrote:

Kris wrote:
Hi all,

I've been accessing my tomato patch this year with dismay. I've had
few tomatoes compared to last year.

What is also puzzling is that some plants are doing much better than
ones right next to it! They all received the same amount of water.

Someone told me there was "tomato blight" (not sure what that is) this
year. We also had a record cold July, which didn't help I'm sure.

Did anyone else experience this?

Kris

Late blight struck ours but many had already ripened by then, or were
near
ripe. I canned several dozen quarts, pints and half pints of sauce.
I'll
have enough to last us over a year. The freezer is full of greens and
peppers. Also canned many quarts and pints of green and wax beans.

Interesting. I live in an area that isn't great for tomatoes, although
one of the biggest US tomato growing areas is less than 100 miles away.
This year our big tomatoes ripened first, early and often. The first
year I grew big tomatoes, they didn't ripen until November, and they
were horrible ugly due to cracks and deformities. They are perfect this
year.

Or tomatoes seldom get really large for some reason. I get the soil checked,
add what's needed, water, spray if necessary.... and still get tomatoes on
the small side. I just grow more plants. The Roma's will reach full size
but are very prone to early and late blight. Our summers are generally hot,
humid and lacking in rainfall. Peppers do well here, especially the
cowhorn/banana types. Also, the Japanese eggplant.


--
Dan Abel
Petaluma, California USA


You in the Bloomfield Gap or near the estuary? Humid doesn't make any
sense. I'm on the north side of a hill in Forestville and I get large
Brandywines and Striped Germans, not many but some. I had some blossom
end rot on my San Marzanos but it is a minor problem.

Who are you responding to? You posted right underneath my name and
address, but the text above that was from somebody who complained about
humidity but didn't say where they lived. I've got no daytime humidity
here in Petaluma, but the nights are cool (and the humidity is up but
not stifling) so tomato plants don't always set fruit reliably. I'm not
close to Bloomfield or the Russian River estuary, but rather right smack
in the Petaluma Valley, in the flatlands within 1/2 mile of the Petaluma
River (which isn't actually a river at all, since it is brackish water
and flows backwards when the tide is coming in and there is no rain).

--
Dan Abel
Petaluma, California USA

In article
,
Dan Abel wrote:

In article
,
Billy wrote:

In article ,
"D. Arlington" wrote:

"Dan Abel" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"D. Arlington" wrote:

Kris wrote:
Hi all,

I've been accessing my tomato patch this year with dismay. I've had
few tomatoes compared to last year.

What is also puzzling is that some plants are doing much better
than
ones right next to it! They all received the same amount of water.

Someone told me there was "tomato blight" (not sure what that is)
this
year. We also had a record cold July, which didn't help I'm sure.

Did anyone else experience this?

Kris

Late blight struck ours but many had already ripened by then, or were
near
ripe. I canned several dozen quarts, pints and half pints of sauce.
I'll
have enough to last us over a year. The freezer is full of greens and
peppers. Also canned many quarts and pints of green and wax beans.

Interesting. I live in an area that isn't great for tomatoes, although
one of the biggest US tomato growing areas is less than 100 miles away.
This year our big tomatoes ripened first, early and often. The first
year I grew big tomatoes, they didn't ripen until November, and they
were horrible ugly due to cracks and deformities. They are perfect
this
year.

Or tomatoes seldom get really large for some reason. I get the soil
checked,
add what's needed, water, spray if necessary.... and still get tomatoes
on
the small side. I just grow more plants. The Roma's will reach full size
but are very prone to early and late blight. Our summers are generally
hot,
humid and lacking in rainfall. Peppers do well here, especially the
cowhorn/banana types. Also, the Japanese eggplant.


--
Dan Abel
Petaluma, California USA


You in the Bloomfield Gap or near the estuary? Humid doesn't make any
sense. I'm on the north side of a hill in Forestville and I get large
Brandywines and Striped Germans, not many but some. I had some blossom
end rot on my San Marzanos but it is a minor problem.

Who are you responding to? You posted right underneath my name and
address, but the text above that was from somebody who complained about
humidity but didn't say where they lived. I've got no daytime humidity
here in Petaluma, but the nights are cool (and the humidity is up but
not stifling) so tomato plants don't always set fruit reliably. I'm not
close to Bloomfield or the Russian River estuary, but rather right smack
in the Petaluma Valley, in the flatlands within 1/2 mile of the Petaluma
River (which isn't actually a river at all, since it is brackish water
and flows backwards when the tide is coming in and there is no rain).

Sorry. By the way, brackish water that flows backwards when the tide is
coming in is called an estuary.
--
³When you give food to the poor, they call you a saint. When you ask why the poor have no food, they call you a communist.²
-Archbishop Helder Camara

http://tinyurl.com/o63ruj
http://countercurrents.org/roberts020709.htm

In article
,
Billy wrote:

In article
,
Dan Abel wrote:

in the Petaluma Valley, in the flatlands within 1/2 mile of the Petaluma
River (which isn't actually a river at all, since it is brackish water
and flows backwards when the tide is coming in and there is no rain).

Sorry. By the way, brackish water that flows backwards when the tide is
coming in is called an estuary.

Didn't know that. I've heard it referred to as a "slough", but my
dictionary doesn't support that. It used to be the Petaluma Creek.
There is a lot of tonnage that travels on the river. That's mostly
because it's gravel, which is very heavy. When the creek got silted up,
the city asked the Army Corps of Engineers to dredge it. They just
laughed. They didn't dredge creeks, just rivers. So the city got the
state to change it to a river. So the Army Corps of Engineers dredged
it, and does it about every three years.

--
Dan Abel
Petaluma, California USA

In article ,
"Bob Terwilliger" wrote:

Billy's sig was:

3When you give food to the poor, they call you a saint. When you ask why
the poor have no food, they call you a communist.2
-Archbishop Helder Camara

Heh... I hear that quote (using "I" and "me" instead of "you") frequently.
It's programmed into a game called "Sid Meier's Civilization IV". When your
civilization finishes researching communism, Leonard Nimoy's voice is heard
declaiming that quote.

Bob

I'm glade you like the sig. I think it sums up our condition quite well.
Sorry, I don't play games much. I've never heard of this game. Maybe the
Archbishop played it.
Does anyone find the observation in error?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hélder_Câmara
There seems to be a lot of lobbying for crops that use petroleum
fertilizers, but none for green manure and/or crop rotation. Why would
that be?
--
³When you give food to the poor, they call you a saint. When you ask why the poor have no food, they call you a communist.²
-Archbishop Helder Camara

http://tinyurl.com/o63ruj
http://countercurrents.org/roberts020709.htm

Sorry to hear you've had a bad year. I myself had a good season for tomatos, but my rhubarb didnt grow as much as I would have hoped for some reason. The best thing you can do is learn from the experience and plan for next year!