Another item on the bucket list checked off

mensplace · July 1, 2010

This may seem like a small thing to some, but it surely meant a lot to me.
In preparation to take some tomatoes to our little market on Wednesday I went out early for for normal twice a week picking. I was pleased to end up my my normal two to three bushels of nice fruits, but among those I had twelve of the type that I have always dreamed of producing...each between 1.6 an 1.7 pounds. Since I don't have the means of watering my plants, these were all grown thanks to planting them about a foot deep. Since we haven't had any measureable rain in about three weeks, these were all grown using available water and no extraordinary steps taken to produce large specimens..just good varieties. Not adding the extra water has certainly resulted in a LOT of flavor and no cracking. No external BER either, though several nice fruits at ground level had turned to mush inside...not just a soft spot, but entire fruits that felt as though they had boiled. Fortunately, plenty had not. My main insect pest is something that looks like stinkbugs. However, since I pick twice a week and eat or sell the fruits, I am reluctant to add poisons. That said, these 12 fruits were gorgeous and have certainly justfied my many months of work. Can't help but wonder what either rain or watering might have added, but I'm not onto size for the sake of size. Thes fruits were all perfect specimens of round, flavorful tomatoes, not grotesque compound fruits. Too, they were each of different varieties.

July 1, 2010	#1
mensplace Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: USA Posts: 1,013	Another item on the bucket list checked off This may seem like a small thing to some, but it surely meant a lot to me. In preparation to take some tomatoes to our little market on Wednesday I went out early for for normal twice a week picking. I was pleased to end up my my normal two to three bushels of nice fruits, but among those I had twelve of the type that I have always dreamed of producing...each between 1.6 an 1.7 pounds. Since I don't have the means of watering my plants, these were all grown thanks to planting them about a foot deep. Since we haven't had any measureable rain in about three weeks, these were all grown using available water and no extraordinary steps taken to produce large specimens..just good varieties. Not adding the extra water has certainly resulted in a LOT of flavor and no cracking. No external BER either, though several nice fruits at ground level had turned to mush inside...not just a soft spot, but entire fruits that felt as though they had boiled. Fortunately, plenty had not. My main insect pest is something that looks like stinkbugs. However, since I pick twice a week and eat or sell the fruits, I am reluctant to add poisons. That said, these 12 fruits were gorgeous and have certainly justfied my many months of work. Can't help but wonder what either rain or watering might have added, but I'm not onto size for the sake of size. Thes fruits were all perfect specimens of round, flavorful tomatoes, not grotesque compound fruits. Too, they were each of different varieties.