The Brown Study » tomatoes http://brownstudy.littlesumrallacademy.com “Make sure you have a different opinion and people will talk about you.” Arab Proverb Sat, 10 Jul 2010 00:57:25 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Garden Diary: Fruit! At Last! http://brownstudy.littlesumrallacademy.com/2009/05/27/garden-diary-fruit-at-last/ http://brownstudy.littlesumrallacademy.com/2009/05/27/garden-diary-fruit-at-last/#comments Wed, 27 May 2009 21:06:13 +0000 Michelle Petit-Sumrall http://brownstudy.littlesumrallacademy.com/?p=1437 May 7: Roasting romasSo I was sitting in my office chair, looking out the window at the big girl tomatoes blooming like crazy from the upside down pot and suddenly let out a shriek:
“Tomatoes! There are tomatoes on the Roma!” I yelled excitedly.

Sure enough, two little Roma tomatoes are hanging there, about an inch and a half long, all green and healthy looking and all.

Not only that, we also have some banana peppers finally growing. Things are looking up! :)

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]]> http://brownstudy.littlesumrallacademy.com/2009/05/27/garden-diary-fruit-at-last/feed/ 0 Garden Diary: This, That, and the Other http://brownstudy.littlesumrallacademy.com/2009/05/20/garden-diary-this-that-and-the-other/ http://brownstudy.littlesumrallacademy.com/2009/05/20/garden-diary-this-that-and-the-other/#comments Wed, 20 May 2009 21:47:57 +0000 Michelle Petit-Sumrall http://brownstudy.littlesumrallacademy.com/?p=1398 Cilantro FlowersAll the big girl tomatoes are blooming. The Roma, on the other hand, isn’t looking so good. :( I’m not sure, but I think it might be too cool for it, so far: today’s high 24°C. In fact, a neighbor of ours has beautiful heads of cabbage that are happy as-all-get-out, where normally they’d be all burned out by this time of year.

The thrips are still all over my chives, and I’m NOT happy. Neither are the chives: they’re all droopy off the edge of the pot, and looking mighty sad. The red pepper spray isn’t working, so we’re going to try a castille soap/red pepper flake mix next. I don’t know what else to do!

I’m equally concerned about the garlic: their leaves are all brown. I think they might be the only plant actually sitting in a bit too moist a soil!

All my herbs, however, are pretty darn happy! You should see how tall the tarragon is now, as well as the cilantro. As for the summer savory, it’s till growing steadily. Did I mention I have a green bell pepper growing? If we could get warmer weather, I’d probably see more peppers of all varieties.

I still don’t see any marigold flowers, but the ones that are doing well and clearly growing more leaves. The tallest one is now 4 inches tall and loaded with leaves. I’d say at this rate, I should see my first flower in 3 weeks or so. Go, marigolds, go!

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]]> http://brownstudy.littlesumrallacademy.com/2009/05/20/garden-diary-this-that-and-the-other/feed/ 0 Gardening Diary: Big Girls and Wildflowers http://brownstudy.littlesumrallacademy.com/2009/04/29/gardening-diary-big-girls-and-wildflowers/ http://brownstudy.littlesumrallacademy.com/2009/04/29/gardening-diary-big-girls-and-wildflowers/#comments Wed, 29 Apr 2009 18:35:33 +0000 Michelle Petit-Sumrall http://brownstudy.littlesumrallacademy.com/?p=1191 TomatoesWell, we planted our Big Girls yesterday, planting two upside-down in one of the usual reusable grocery bags, and one right-side up in a corner of the mustard greens pot: nothing had quite taken there, I’m hoping the tomato won’t be quite so picky.

We struggled a little when it came time to hang our two plants, though: we had some technical difficulties with the bar we’re suspending them from, it bent just a bit under the added weight. We managed to make a shim to keep it propped up (this is where a picture would come in really handy!) and all is well now.

We’ll need more bags of soil, though.

In other news, Tainn’s wildflowers are positively exploding in her pot! We now count 21 separate little seedlings.

Remember the basil with the damaged leaves? They’re growing new, unblemished leaves, as is the tarragon, and the peppers are putting out a few more flowers, all of which suggests the problem wasn’t caused by a disease. Oh and the cilantro, too, has shot up some new shoots that are towering over the main plant.

I’m concerned about the tomatillos, though, although they aren’t wilting or anything, they haven’t grown a bit since we transplanted them. I also need to plant more summer savory (they never even came up at all), but I’m all out of soil! I need a ride to the Lowes…

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]]> http://brownstudy.littlesumrallacademy.com/2009/04/29/gardening-diary-big-girls-and-wildflowers/feed/ 0 Garden Diary: Summer is HERE! http://brownstudy.littlesumrallacademy.com/2009/04/25/garden-diary-summer-is-here/ http://brownstudy.littlesumrallacademy.com/2009/04/25/garden-diary-summer-is-here/#comments Sat, 25 Apr 2009 05:18:41 +0000 Michelle Petit-Sumrall http://brownstudy.littlesumrallacademy.com/?p=1121 Desert Moon RisingWhew did it ever get HOT today! Temperatures reached a sizzling 31 ° Celsius (that’s somewhere in the 90′s, for the non-metrically inclined). Literally overnight, we went from spring to summer.

Most of our plants showed signs of drying out as a result, so we ended up watering at high noon, generally a big no-no, but we couldn’t let them die from lack of water, now could we?

On a separate note, yesterday my Big Girl hybrid tomatoes arrived (YAY!). I’ve set them outside but in the shade so they can recover from their travels, and tomorrow evening or Sunday at the latest we’ll be planting them… upside down, of course! There are three plants and they look positively gorgeous already. I can hardly wait!

of COURSE i was a girl scout.Speaking of tomatoes, my Roma’s got a few yellow leaves, so yesterday I fed everything with 19-19-19 fertilizer. Here’s hoping that helps not just the Romas, but my poor cilantro and basil.

Tomorrow is expected to be even hotter than today, so I’ve watered the plants in anticipation of that. If necessary, I guess Rip and family can do it for me tomorrow. I will be out of town, at the Annual Girl Scout Adult Recognitions Reception. That’ll make a nice change! :)

Best get some sleep now, I leave early-ish, and I really prefer to have my eight. Night night.

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