Day 105: The Waiting Game

None the the tomatoes has ripened yet. The largest is a Fourth of July Hybrid that's slightly larger than a cherry tomato (grows to 4" supposedly). There are many cherry tomatoes on the cherry tomato plants and they are growing quite a bit larger, but not full size yet. Here are some pictures. First, the flagship:

And some of the cherry tomatoes...

Day 98: 35 Tomatoes and Counting

Current counts:

• Big Boy Hybrid: 4 flowers
• Fourth of July Hybrid: 5 tomatoes, 9 flowers
• Super Sweet 100 Hybrid: 24 tomatoes, 37 flowers
• Red Cherry, Large Fruited: 6 tomatoes, 29 flowers

I would like to get a scale so I can measure how many pounds of tomatoes we actually get. Ok, maybe ounces is more appropriate.

Here's what the hardneck garlic we planted a while back looks like.

Day 97: Taking Forever!

I guess it's a side effect of the insufficient light, but the tomatoes are taking forever to swell up. I've kept them well watered. They're just growing slowly. But growing nonetheless. Someone at work proclaimed, "You can't grow tomatoes indoors, there's not enough light." Incorrect! Although they're certainly not thriving the way the outdoor non-deer eaten ones did.

Day 92: Calamity and Chaos

So we're getting sprayed for termites. Which unfortunately takes place in and around the underground garden. My assistant tried to be helpful and moved three of the plants out of the basement in advance of the pest guy coming. In the move #4 (Big Boy) got broken about half way down the stem. My staking was sufficient for stationary plants, but didn't hold up well to a move. I suspect that that plant is done for. Although the stem isn't broken off, there is a break. I guess we'll see if it comes back.

And it turned out the pest guy couldn't come today, so it's not happening until tomorrow. Spoke with the guy and he recommended covering the plants. So I put up a tarp around them. I'm hoping it will keep the bulk of the poison out. At any rate they claim the poison won't hurt the plants at all. We'll be sure to wash the tomatoes before using them.

Here's what the setup looks like now, heh.

So the bad news is I've probably lost one plant. But at least the rest are battened down for the termite spraying storm.

Day 89: Three Months In

So, day 89, almost three months in, and my labors are starting to bear fruit. I counted a total of 18 tomatoes on three plants ranging in size from the head of a pin to about the size of a dime. In addition to the protomatoes, I counted a total of 60 flowers on four plants. I only counted flowers where I could see at least a smidge of yellow. The breakdown:

- Big Boy Hybrid: 2 flowers
- Fourth of July Hybrid: 4 tomatoes, 8 flowers
- Super Sweet 100 Hybrid: 10 tomatoes, 30 flowers
- Red Cherry, Large Fruited: 4 tomatoes, 20 flowers

Day 87: A Cornucopia of Tomatoes

This one is bigger than a pea.

Flowers give way to fruit.

This one is substantially larger than a pea. Maybe a third of the diameter I would expect from a cherry tomato. Although this plant is the Fourth of July Hybrid, so it's supposed to be 4" when mature. In addition to this one, the two cherry tomatoes have visible fruit on them, and the Big Boy Hybrid is not far behind.

Day 86: One.. Two... Three... Three Wonderful Tomatoes, Ah-hahaha.

Here are some quickie photos of my tomatoes, which now number THREE. The largest is smaller than a pea, so I'm not making salad plans just yet.

Day 84: Flower Power

The blossoms are coming on strong. We even have our first actual tomato, though it's the size of the head of a pin at the moment, so I won't crow too loud. To review, the remaining plants are:

1. Mortgage Lifter - culled.
2. Steak Sandwich - removed.
3. Burpee's Summer Choice - Growing, looks good. But no buds yet. Rather short. Seed packet suggests 73 days until first fruit.It'll be two more weeks before we see anything from this guy, and I'd be pretty surprised even then if it fruited.
4. Big Boy Hybrid - Looks great. Supposedly can get two lb fruits, though the ones we had in the garden last year never got that big. 78 days until fruit says the seed packet, but so far only two bud clusters. Still, I figure in maybe a couple weeks we could have some tomatoes from them.
5. Fourth of July Hybrid - Doing fabulous, but well off schedule for its purported 49 day first fruit. Four nice blossom clusters.
6. Early Girl Hybrid - Passed on.
7. San Marzano - Possibly the least impressive tomato plant left. It seems at least a month behind the others. Supposedly 82 days until first fruit, not even close.
8. Super Sweet 100 Hybrid - This one is doing great. Four nice blossom clusters, growing like a weed. About 127 cm tall. This one also has the distinction of being the first one to bear visible fruit. Tiny, but visible. 70 days until first fruit, we've blown past that mark, but still, it's doing amazingly well, so I won't quibble.
9. Red cherry, Large fruited - Also doing fabulous. This one is the tallest of the plants, and also has 5 blossom clusters. It's 130 cm tall. 70-75 days until first fruit, again, we're well past that mark.
10. Super Beefsteak - Super compot heap.

Blossom montage! Bonus points if you spotted the teensy tomato on the right hand side of the final picture.

Day 77: The Pollinator

Halloween was nice, although our pumpkin ate too much candy and got sick.

I counted 15 blossoms on the tomatoes - that's counting every one that I see even a hint of yellow. There are maybe twice as many where I see buds but not yellow yet. Here's another picture of the blossoms.

To ensure pollination I have been running the fan the last few days. But we've had so many issues already I didn't want to take and chances, so I used a technique I found online of touching the stems of the flowers with an electric toothbrush. I did see some little clouds of pollen, so I suspect it worked.