How's your tomatoes doing?

Kelly-There is a livestock forum and a pet forum. But if I posted them there you all would miss them. I know, Darn.
Pigs are the 5th smartest animals in the animal kingdom, behind Dolphins and Apes.
Ok back to tomatoes or whatever this thread is about.

LOL - if you post them there just give a link so people can check them out. Is that forum only open to subscribers? That's important too as this is a free forum...

Back to 'maters... I still have plants setting fruit, but we've been 110°+ for the past couple days and humid. Fruit set will slow down and stop except for maybe the Phoenix (a hot set) and the cherries... We'll see... Have lots and lots of green ones.

I'm probably gonna rip my maters tomorrow, and try to save a few shoots to root for the end of August...

I'm in zone 8a. I had to go to a zone map to find out. I see we are in the same zone.

Gymgirl, I use composted gin trash when I filled my beds. I have to add to them every spring as they settle. They have become like a real loose soil over the past couple of years. This spring I had four rotten bales of hay that I tried to grow tomatoes in, in my green house and I scattered them in the two forty foot beds and tilled it in. The tomato experiment was a disaster but the rotten hay was great for the beds for water retention. I am probably going to get a few more bales and let them rot over the winter to use next spring. That is if it ever decides to rain in Louisiana again.

If pigs are the 5th smartest mammal I'm almost afraid to guess where humans fall....and please don't say #1 - there are waaayyyy to many examples of human stupidity for it to be us! Self-awareness does not equal intelligence!!!

And Jim - unless it's coming from the north-west you probably don't want any rain right now. Rain from the gulf ought to be good in about 100 years or so...:-(

A little oily rain would suit me fine right now.

Found my first hornworm today. I didn't discover it until the evening since we went for a nice drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway this afternoon. Rode up to Charlottesville and had Bagel sandwiches. Bought home 18 fresh boiled bagels for 2. Bought a pound each of Capicola and rare roast beef at the deli.Already have some great baby swiss and a block of sharp cheddar in the icebox! At least I won't have to heat up the stove for a couple of days.
anyway - back to the worm. The 4incher +/- ate the entire top spread from one of the German Johnsons. As I was plucking the stem he was still happily munching on a leaf. It was only when I poked him that he stopped...playing possum, no doubt! I relocated him to the front yard. He's got a helluva march to get back to the tomatoes. There might be more critters lurking in the patch since I saw some damage to a Cherokee Purple, which was shorter than the Johnson, when I was clipping the stem harboring the discovered marauder. Unfortunately dark was descending and other issues prevented me from inspecting further. I can only hope when I get out there in the morning that all will be cool. Last year the wasps(?) got the hornworms immediately and they were no problem. I hope the "colony collapse" hasn't spread to the secondary pollinators already.
After seeing two stink bugs on one of the Bull's Hearts I haven't seen anymore. Hopefully they're gone! I do have some tiny black bugs on some of my cukes. I mean pretty small but quick moving little buggers! And my Baby Lima's are starting to "pod", if that's a word!

I can not kill those worms but gave them to the kois with gloves. they Love them!!1 It is a treat for them. i give them slugs, worms, maggots from the compost and so far my kois are healthy!!!. I guess the high protein is working. Belle

Belle,
what is a kois? Is that a chicken?

I'm thinking it's the plural of koi, which is a fish.

Steph,
I THINK YOU'VE GOT IT! KEWL!

Steph,
You are right koi can be singular or pleural

Gymgirl,
koi are the fancy fish that are in my pond. Try goggling and check how they look like. belle

Belle, Belle, Belle.

LOL, I know what koi are!!! Just never saw the word "kois".

Remember, this Louisiana girl? I was putting an accent on it and turning it into some exotic bird hairdo! ^^_^^

LOL!!!! LOL!!!! Belle

My daughter's next door neighbor put in a koi pond. Last I heard, a Great Blue Heron had eaten most of them!

Hubby dug out an area in the front yard to let the rain water have a place to go. We call it the "frog pond" We didn't even have to put in a liner - that's how heavy and silty (is silty a word?) our red clay is.

Silty is a word...

Silty is very much a word. I use it every day. Clayey and gravelly also qualify. :)

Knarly!

and then there's Gnarly. Different coasts, I think...

uncle...

my tomatoes are popping up all over. I went away for 10 days and now they are so big they have toppled the cages, I probably should have bought the bigger ones. I think they are trying to escape the garden, they are all over, I can't see the other plants anymore! There are little green fruits all throughout and I only have 5 plants but it looks like I'm going to have a helluva lot of tomatoes. I only planted Romas, next time I will plan more variety! Right now I have a couple of them being held up to the fence with some old 10 speed innertubes so they aren't on the floor. its a little wacky.

prettymess - braggart!

overachiever! ^^_^^

I don't have any ripe tomatoes yet, but the one I fried last night was so good that I'm thinking about picking them all green!

Here are my first "black" tomatoes. Black Prince, 1 plant. I also have 1 plant of Black Krim, but they are still green. I was not sure when they would be ready to pick, but tonight I felt them and they were soft-ish and they were yummy too! The photo shows them next to a Celebration tomato and the few of those that have ripened are good too. I won't have to worry about needing to can tomato sauce or anything as my 11 plants are not THAT prolific. Lots of green Bush Cherry's on the vine. Cukes and tomatoes are mostly eaten right off the vine!!

Pulled two Lemon Boys today. They were the first to produce. We have a very healthy Bull's Heart, which I thought should have been plucked this evening but the better half wants to wait another day. The next few weeks look to be a frenzy from what I'm seeing on the vines now though!
And my baby Lima's are filling in nicely also. One question: This is my first year growing Lima's, when do I yank them?

Pull the beans by feeling the hull. If you can feel a good plump bean it is ready.

the seeds are the only roma variety sold by cornucopia seeds. They are available at all Orchard supply hardware stores in california, but it doesn't look like anywhere else yet? There is a number on the website, if you have trouble ordering them let me know and I will pick you up a packet on my next trip.

http://www.cornucopiaseeds.com/

I didn't mean to sound like I was bragging! I am a first time gardener so I am just REALLY excited!

I started eating tomatoes the first week in june . My wife has canned three quarts so far. I have black tomatoes from russia and san marzanos and three other that i would had to find out. memory. I find this year everything is a month early. and I only use grass clippings on my plants

How did you like the black Russian. I have some of those planted. Got them in late for us down here and the crop will be short because of the heat.

mine aren't ripe yet, they are little green guys still. I can't wait to eat them.

heres some tomatoes.

little guys

tons of em!

I was so overrun with cherry tomatoes that today I took some to work. I feel like I'm trying to give squash away! LOL

the black russian is one of the best tomatoes I have eating. hard to tell if there ripe ,you have to feel them.

One day before I die, I'm gonna have people running from my tomato giveaway...