after taking a year off, i've jumped back into the tomato game. last year my excuse for not planting tomatoes was ripper fatigue. when she sees freshly turned soil, she starts digging. i don't mind filling in holes but i don't like when she trots into the house with muddy feet. the other thing that makes me reluctant to plant tomatoes is her fascination with bees. she'll stand in front of the tomatoes and snap at any poor unsuspecting bee.
since the rip does her best to keep the garden free from bees, pollination can be a problem. this year i planted 2 patio tomato plants and 2 "pineapple" tomato plants. the patio tomatoes seem to be self pollinating:
the "pineapple" tomatoes are probably just ordinary old tomatoes that someone decided to label "pineapple" because it sounded cool and would probably attract a few lunatics who thought they were going to get pineapples rather than tomatoes. i have to admit that i'm curious to see what kind of tomatoes i end up putting on a burger.
when watching several you tube videos on how to hand pollinate tomatoes, i learned that standard good old tomato plants are called "indeterminates". that's because they can grow to an indeterminate height. apparently they can reach 50 feet in height under the right conditions. so far the patio tomato plants are a lot easier to look after, minimal pruning.
and here's the bee slayer:
billy says he loves you sons of bitches.
I have given up trying to grow much where I live. It is just to intense and everything burns. Good luck with your burger garnish.
ReplyDeletethank you for your well wishes. make burgers great again!
DeleteMine don't do well in this Texas heat but sunflowers do great so I'm planting more of them next year.
ReplyDeletethe king of texas should be able round of a few sharecroppers to do the heavy lifting.
DeleteI'd like to see them when they're ripe, before and after you've sliced them. That might get my tummy growling.
ReplyDeleteDid your dog eat any bees? I once saw a cat eat one and was very impressed.
yes, the bee slayer usually eats her kill. and she often gets stung which caused me stress for about the first 100 stings but now it's business as usual.
DeleteYour tomatoes look lovely, Elliot. I'm glad getting stung does make Ripper too ill. My daughter's dog snaps at them, but isn't very successful. Pollinating is a great skill to have. Thinking about fresh tomatoes makes my mouth water.
ReplyDeleterip shakes her head and puts on a pretty good show when she gets stung, but it doesn't stop her.
DeleteI've had great luck raising tomatoes and even eggplants in patio pots. I love making raw tomato marinara sauce with them. The best thing about summer!
ReplyDeletei put one patio tomato in the garden and one in a planter as my summer science project. so far the garden plant has 18 tomatoes and the planter one has 4 tomatoes.
DeleteHey Rip. Good to see you again. It's been awhile. Best of luck with the tomatoes, Mr. Rosewater.
ReplyDeletethank you for your continued support mr shife.
DeleteI got tomatoes in my garden, but the rats usually eat them before we can. Peppers are our best bet because rats can't get them. Peppers are going berserk right now.
ReplyDeleteDoes your dog eat the bees?
yes, she eats all sorts of insects. ruby ate insects too. i think orphan/homeless dogs learn to eat any and every thing when they live on the street.
Deletemy patio tomato in the planter suddenly has so many tomatoes, it fell over!
ReplyDeleteI've had great luck raising tomatoes and even eggplants in patio pots.
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