The Waiting....

[rsg2001]

It's been 8 weeks since the containers were planted, followed by the ground garden.... The containers are hopping; the cherry tomatoes (Sungold, Black Cherry, Green Zebra Cherry, Honeydrop, and VinceP1) are nearly all at the top of their cages (including some with cage extensions) and loaded with fruit. The Green Zebra Cherries are gigantic as are the Black Cherries. Wish they were ready....

In the containers, Eva Purple Ball is dependably decked out with a dozen or so tomatoes from mid to full size but still quite green. Dr. Wyche's Yellow is loaded (if we can beat the BER which has taken more than a dozen) and I'm looking forward to tasting them for the first time. Marizol Purple has one tomato that is more than a pound, still green... and a few others on the way. Cherokee Purple, like it did last year, has one sizeable tomato and little else because of the heat wave that dried up the flowers. Orange Minsk has several new little tomatoes, after BER took 5 midsized ones. Missouri Pink Love Apple has two gigantic greenies and has some new clusters of flowers. The Dwarfs from the Dwarf Project are setting fruit (There are 13-14 plants in all). But the waiting goes on.

I know some people say not to plant indeterminates in containers, but I have had good luck with them, at least till August rolls around and the plants get unwieldy. (Last year I tied several of the container plants to the brick pillars in the patio for support.)

The ground garden was planted three weeks behind the container garden so there is not too much to report, other than two Black tomatoes and a Lemon Boy and a few cherries in progress. We are just starting to see flower clusters on most of the ground plants. And the cucumber plants are climbing up the tall square cages but nothing to show yet. The hot peppers though are fruiting, led by Serrano.

In some ways it's a race against time to stay ahead what with the weather we are having this year, but each year it is always a different challenge. Other than a few Sungolds, we are still at least a couple of weeks off from being able to taste the new varieties and the old favorites... Waiting....