Changing colors...

Our red cherry tomatoes are kicking arse. Two out of three plants already have tomatoes that are ready to eat. Several of us hippies have already noshed on some of them (and were very pleased)! There should be enough of these to give each of us a couple a week (not much, but it's something for our labor). I'd say 2 of these plants would be about right per person.

As for our other tomatoes... all of them are flowering but...
Only the purple cherokee (one of them) has made any fruit. This little guy has been hanging their green as the day it was born for well over two weeks. (I'm not great at being patient... I thought the cherry tomatoes would never turn.) I'm secretly (well, not so much anymore I guess) hoping that we'll get at least 1 hillbilly tomato. They're kind of my pet plants. :shh:
We have already eaten two delicious cucumbers and have one more on the vine that will be ready any day now (and three more babies to boot!). Our beans are still coming surely but slowly. Our jalapenos are producing with a lust that our tastebuds can't keep up with.

And finally... our bell peppers...

We still only have the one fruit to show for all our hard work but it's finally starting to turn! It's a California Wonder and it sure is wonderous! I'd love to see some Blushing Beauties or Purple Beauties but I'll take what I can get.


I have to say that (as with our other hippies) I'm torn between disappointment that our garden hasn't been more productive (partly because of laziness, partly because of being beginners, and partly because that's just how it goes sometimes) and excitement at what is getting done and what we hope to do from here on out.

I guess that's the way it goes, huh?

Around the Commune: Meeting tonight!

We're having our follow-up meeting for garden and chickens tonight. I'm hoping it will be productive... we've fallen down on most of what we had planned to get done after the last meeting. (Of course, that storm changed a few things...)

In other news, our tomatoes are finally starting to turn, our cucumbers are cuking, and our pepper plants are peppering. :D

Two surprises and a contest!

A lot of our garden is sad after the storm. The side garden fared pretty well but the front garden and (especially) the container garden got hit pretty hard. The strawberries are on the brink of destruction, something has started attacking our beans and our lettuce was completely destroyed.

But...

All hope is not lost at tehCommune. NO. We are survivors. And here is our proof:
Grow, babies, grow!

And lastly, but not leastly, there is a GARDEN CONTEST being held over at Instructables! I know I'm going to enter something! Are you? If so, link to it in the comments so we can all see it and vote!

Problems...

Our poor poor Brussel sprouts were eaten alive by caterpillars. Unfortunately we found the culprits too late (they're pretty good at blending as you can see and they only show up in cooler temperatures). They have been RIPped out to make way for our next planting.


The strawberries (which are delicious and producing fairly well) recently turned white. Well, actually there is some white gunk on them. I don't know what it is, but I just washed it off when I watered and I'll see if that's all that needs to be done. (Maybe it's just bird poop. o_O)










Last, but definitely not least, our earliest tomato plant (who has several fruits that are full-size but still green) is turning yellow at an alarming rate! (Thankfully it's only this one plant! :whew:)

We thought they might just need more fertilization, so we used John's recipe on them a few days back, but alas no change for the better.

In my handy-dandy "The Veggie Gardener's Answer Book," someone else had a similar problem:

My tomato plants looked fine until just before the first batch of fruit was nearly ripe, then they turned yellow and wilted. Should I have fed them more?

... [Y]our plants probably didn't die because of insufficient fertilization. Instead, they probably succumbed to one of the major tomato diseases such as fusarium or verticillium wilt. While plants can become infected early in the season, symptoms often don't show up until fruits begin to ripen, and the plant is under stress.

The author then goes on to explain about early blight and late blight and how to identify them (concentric circles and black or purple spots, respectively). These diseases are supposed to show up on the lower leaves first. But we don't have concentric circles or black or purple spots (they are just sort of brown) and it didn't start on the lower leaves but rather the leaves nearest fruits. Here are what ours look like:





















So what to do about our poor plant?

Well after much more internet searching, it seems like it's likely to be early blight (even though I can't see the concentric rings). So the consensus seems to be to trim off all the infected leaves and avoid overhead water (something we're pretty bad about here at the commune).

I plan to do that right away and will keep you updated.

Green and More Green, Now With Even More Green!

Our yard/garden is looking amazingly green!

Front yard (w/ close-up):












Side garden:












In the side garden, we've got more green peppers than my excitement can tolerate!












And we have even more green tomatoes! I just love watching these little guys grow!

Tomatoes

We have several tomatoes (about 12) that we transplanted (about 3 to a bucket) when they were seedlings that were bound to be transplanted again into hanging buckets when we had our supplies ready.

For over a month now, we have had said supplies and have not made the needed transplants. This has led us to many unhappy tomato plants, root-bound to their comrades, wilting and dying.

Yesterday, we finally got enough motivation to at least give up on some of those plants and pull them out of their tiny overcrowded tubs, allowing room for a single plant to try to make it.


On top of that, we also managed to get another two (for a total of three) tomatoes planted in the buckets for hanging!


Yeah for productivity! Let's see if any of those plants can get a new start!

As for the tomatoes in the side garden, they are all growing amazingly. Our two cherry tomato plants have something like 40 tomatoes a piece on them right now (not ready to eat but tiny and growing nonetheless). Altogether, I counted 119 baby tomatoes that have started so far (and 40 baby peppers)!

Buckets and buckets of tomatoes... well, for tomatoes

Rb prepping the buckets