An update on the tomatoes. Things are moving along and the vines are heavy with fruit. I decided to give them a little boost. Read on.
The tomatoes are doing so well this year I am hesitant to do anything to them. But I did not think it would hurt to give them all they need to produce as many tomatoes as possible. So I added a little fertilizer for tomatoes, fruits and vegetables from Miracle Gro.
These "shaker" style containers with small pellets of fertilizer are quite easy to use. They provide a schematic on the over-wrap which gives you a visual of how much fertilizer to use in any given area of your garden.
Based on the recommendation on the label, the amount of fertilizer added to the tomato garden should look like this.
Here is another picture that gives you a better idea of how much fertilizer should be added to the soil. You want to follow the recommendations on the bottle and not overfeed the tomatoes. Too much of anything is not good.
Here we have more of the black cherry tomatoes ripening quite nicely. We will harvest these most likely at week end.
Here are a couple more. There are tons more which are still green but will soon be ripe and ready for the salad or salsa bowl.
And of course a couple of our large heirloom tomatoes which are maturing so nicely. Part of the key to growing tomatoes is not to over-water. Over-watering causes the skin to split and that invites ants and then the fruit is done. I have been very judicious with the water this year on the tomato plants and it seems to be working. Although you would not know that by the most current water bill. Yikes!! That was quite a shocker. I should have known it was going to be bad. Every quarter the water utility leaves a notice on my front door that requires me to call in a meter reading. The meter is in the basement and therefore inaccessible to them. I go down and write down the seven digit number from the meter and call in the reading. The automated system would not accept the reading because it was so far out of line with normal, quarterly readings. So I had to speak to an agent and give her the reading. When I received the bill electronically a few days later I was stunned. But, I suppose it is to be expected. Remember, we moved the holly and pyracantha to a new garden in the front yard in the spring. There was plenty of rain in the spring to help the roots set, but once June arrived the rain stopped, which is becoming more and more the norm. This has necessitated a regular watering schedule to keep the transplants alive and healthy. Indeed they are, but certainly at a cost. We have had some issues with yellowing of the leaves on some of the hollies. I believe it is a soil pH imbalance and I took care of it. I will share more about that later in the week.
Fortunately, we received some much needed rain last night. This was the scene around 4:30 PM last evening. It looks rather ominous but we were spared any major upsets. Mostly just rain with some gusty winds.
The tomatoes are doing so well this year I am hesitant to do anything to them. But I did not think it would hurt to give them all they need to produce as many tomatoes as possible. So I added a little fertilizer for tomatoes, fruits and vegetables from Miracle Gro.
These "shaker" style containers with small pellets of fertilizer are quite easy to use. They provide a schematic on the over-wrap which gives you a visual of how much fertilizer to use in any given area of your garden.
Based on the recommendation on the label, the amount of fertilizer added to the tomato garden should look like this.
Here is another picture that gives you a better idea of how much fertilizer should be added to the soil. You want to follow the recommendations on the bottle and not overfeed the tomatoes. Too much of anything is not good.
Here we have more of the black cherry tomatoes ripening quite nicely. We will harvest these most likely at week end.
Here are a couple more. There are tons more which are still green but will soon be ripe and ready for the salad or salsa bowl.
And of course a couple of our large heirloom tomatoes which are maturing so nicely. Part of the key to growing tomatoes is not to over-water. Over-watering causes the skin to split and that invites ants and then the fruit is done. I have been very judicious with the water this year on the tomato plants and it seems to be working. Although you would not know that by the most current water bill. Yikes!! That was quite a shocker. I should have known it was going to be bad. Every quarter the water utility leaves a notice on my front door that requires me to call in a meter reading. The meter is in the basement and therefore inaccessible to them. I go down and write down the seven digit number from the meter and call in the reading. The automated system would not accept the reading because it was so far out of line with normal, quarterly readings. So I had to speak to an agent and give her the reading. When I received the bill electronically a few days later I was stunned. But, I suppose it is to be expected. Remember, we moved the holly and pyracantha to a new garden in the front yard in the spring. There was plenty of rain in the spring to help the roots set, but once June arrived the rain stopped, which is becoming more and more the norm. This has necessitated a regular watering schedule to keep the transplants alive and healthy. Indeed they are, but certainly at a cost. We have had some issues with yellowing of the leaves on some of the hollies. I believe it is a soil pH imbalance and I took care of it. I will share more about that later in the week.
 |
| The mighty Potomac River looking south to the Memorial Bridge and Pentagon City in the distance. |
