May 16, 2013

First Tomato Blossom

The first tomato blossom of the season. Can you see it?
Here's a closer look at the blossom in case you missed it in the first photograph.
Putting up the rest of the tomato fence supports took more time than I anticipated, so I didn't get as much planting done as I had hoped. The tomato plants at the end of the fencing will be supported by bamboo poles.
 The eggplants are slowly getting bigger.
The Bangladeshi Long eggplant has been nibbled on by slugs. I went ahead and sprinkled all the plants with Sluggo, an organic slug bait.
 This Hungarian Hot Wax pepper has also been chewed on by slugs. All the peppers seem to be gaining size ever so slowly.
In comparison the tomatoes are sizing up much faster than the other plants. This is the Pantano Romensco tomato that is blossoming. My gardening friend usually pinches off the first blossoms to let the plants get bigger before fruiting. Does anyone else do this?

I normally just let the plants fruit in their own time because I like having early tomatoes, but not if that inhibits growth and fruit set in the long run. Has anyone noticed a difference when they pinch off the first tomato flowers?

The tomatoes are being sandwiched between fencing to keep the plants off the ground. The fencing got trimmed a little short, so the tomatoes at the end will have to be supported with bamboo poles. There's Agribon floating row covers over most of the garden, it seems to help keep the birds out.

2 comments:

Annie*s Granny said...

I see it! I have you beat, though. I saw a tiny tomato on one of my plants yesterday! I never, ever remove any blossoms.

Insect problems continue to plague my garden. My pole beans all germinated and the leaves were promptly eaten. It looks like earwig damage.

Phuong said...

You are going to have ripe tomatoes in June! How amazing, especially with the crazy spring weather everyone has been having.

I hated earwigs when I used to garden in Boise, they would borrow in all the root vegetables. I planted marigold plants one year and that seemed to get rid of them.