"How's Your Tamaydas Doin'?"

[so lucky]

There used to be this local small town character that would sit on his front porch and wave at everyone who drove by. He was called Wally the Waver, although I don't really know if he was a Wally. Anyway, he grew tomatoes, presumably taking enough time from his waving to plant, care for, pick and sell his crop. He called them Tamaydas. Kind of a whiney southern drawl mixed with "marble mouth syndrome."
When he went out amongst people, his main conversation was about his tamaydas. "My tamaydas ain't doing too good this year." And "My tamaydas are really puttin' on."

So, how are your tamaydas doin'?
Here, the Kellogg's Breakfast are big and tasty. The Big Beef are small, sparse leaved, and have white pith. The San Marzano are plentiful and getting BER. Other odd ones are not producing yet. Wally the Waver would say "My tamaydas ain't doing too good."

 

[ninnymary]

Some good, some not so good.

Juliet has produced tons of tomatoes.

The San Marzano, like yours, has blossom end rot. They also didn't grow so big.

My Japanese Black Triefle has done super. Tomatoes are the biggest they've been!

Sun gold didn't produce much.

I really need to add more compost next year. Also need to cut back on the number of plants but it''s sooooo hard. They are too crowded.

Mary

 

[catjac1975]

The smaller tomatoes are just beginning to ripen. If you have never tried Sun Peach put that on next year's list. Soon I will be cursing at too many tomatoes when I get out to the garden. My sauce lasted until just a month ago.

 

[Smart Red]

Some of the cherry-sized plants have given up a few fruits, but the real tamaydas 'taint far enough along yet for me to give a favorable response.

 

[seedtrader-teg]

Slow start, but they're really starting to try now.

I had to fill beds, and build beds this year.

No blossom end rot on anyone, but some are just barely starting to ripen.

Quite a few varieties, but not huge yields.

I'm going to buy a soil amendment a month, over the winter, then till them in in the spring, except for lime and phosphorus which take time to become available.

I make Scrap Frappes, instead of composting.

I take banana peels, potato skins, squash rinds, coffee grounds, etc, put them in a blender, with some rain water, buzz it up on the highest setting, then dilute it in 10 gallons of rain water or more. Then water the garden with it.

The soil microbes love it, and lil' mushrooms show up, and the plants look better.

The lil' mushrooms next to a Chinese Kale (Kai Lan) seedling.

The blender is washable, no pile to turn, no wasted space for a compost pile, no time wasted messing with a compost pile.

This is an idea for those with no room for compost piles too.

The bulky matter is buzzed up so small that the worms, and soil critters can eat it right away.

If I have a lot of scraps, I freeze them, then buzz them up later.

If the plants are given a scrap frappe once a week, the micro buffet is available on a regular basis, to keep soil colonies hanging around.

I also run plant matter through pet rabbits, then put their "fertilizer" out in the poor, sandy soil areas, and eventually, bare spots lessen, as nutrients get into the sand, and grass starts to creep in.

 

[Lavender2]

Mine are not the greatest this year either @so lucky, so far anyway. I think they need a Super Frappe!

We had our first BLTs about a week ago. Dh picked, so I don't know what kind it was, but it sure was delicious!

I moved my tomatoes to a different area this year, planted them deep, then it rained for a month. The water level was so high, I'm sure their feet were submerged for a while. The plants still look horrible but I got half a bowl this morning. Early Girls and a couple not so whopper whoppers.



I may have to learn to like cucumber/garlic salsa.

 

[journey11]

My tamaydas ain't doing too good this year, either! Despite all the weeds and having never gotten staked, they are sprawling around and the plants I got in early have lots of tomatoes on them. But any fruit that have touched the ground are rotting as they ripen. I have gotten a couple out of them so far. Got to eat my first Black Krim last night...as delicious as I hoped it would be. Getting a lot of Sugar Plum Fairies. They are small and not so heavy as to touch the ground. I had tons of Tumbling Toms hanging in clusters on one of the 3 hanging baskets and Ava and her playmate next door took a notion to pull off all the green tomatoes and squash them. Whyyyyyyyy would you do that, I asked her. She had no answer for me. She planted them. I surely wouldn't have expected her to squash them. Argh. Kids.

I am going to trim down the grass among some of the better looking tomato plants I have and mulch them individually with cardboard and straw and see if that helps. I think it will be dry/normal from here on out. My brain tells me I should probably just go ahead and till the whole patch, plant something else, but I don't have it in my heart to kill them just yet. I am still holding out hope! They are not really diseased for the most part, but I believe they have suffered from drowning roots in all of this rain. Clay loses its airspace and compacts when it gets that wet. It's just not a good year for tomatoes. I think I will make a point to always hill my rows from now on and see if that helps.

I can totally understand your neighbor's obsession with his tomatoes. They are the defining element of summer for me.

 

[Lavender2]

A real bad tomato year usually shoots the season for me too, @journey11 . Saving me from total disappointment; I helped my daughter put in a garden at her house this year. (the daughter that barely knows a daisy from and dahlia ) The tomato and pepper plants I started for her are huge and loaded, and they are excited to have a garden. I will be excited if they end up with too many tomatoes.

I hope the weather is more cooperative next year, for those in the damp zone this season.

 

[Carol Dee]

Slow start here too. DH brought in 2 ALMOST ripe ones last night. Time will tell.

 

[so lucky]

We have that clay soil to contend with here, too, @journey11. You would think after many years of adding compost and mulching with straw, and using chicken litter, my garden soil would be "to die for." But I think the good composty stuff washes out and blows away, and leaves the clay.
But layering cardboard and straw under/around the tomatoes is really proving to be helpful. You will be glad you did. At least the straw can dry out if given a chance. And the weeds are almost non-existant. (except where my "helpful" DH was practicing his knife throwing skills in the garden---puncturing the cardboard barrier I had just layed down )
Oh, and I found out that I can get big sheets of cardboard at the feed store for free. It is put between the layers of bags on the skid. They said "anytime" just come and get it. The cardboard is thin, but two layers can be used if necessary. Like if your DH is a knife thrower.