I swore off growing tomatoes a couple of years ago. We just don't get the right light and the critters beat me down. Between the stink bugs and the squirrels, we could never get a good tomato crop worth all the water and effort.
This year, I decided to try something a little different: tomatillos. They've been flowering for a while, and have just started to form these beautiful little papery lanterns, which I assume will begin to fill with the green fruit over the next months.
7 comments:
I LOVE growing these. Have had little problem with pests. Wait for them to be firmly fill out the husk to harvest. (they're good roasted btw too)
I've never had a problem with squirrels eating my tomatoes. Of course I also have dogs that like to chase squirrelsm so that might be why. I had to throw in the towel and uproot my plants last year because the drought was so severe I couldn't get any decent tomatoes even with a ridiculous amount of watering. I find the grape and cherry varieties are easiest to manage, as far as gauging the amount of water they need.
I've heard for birds you can hang red Christmas ornaments on the plants and they will try to eat them, realize they aren't food, and leave the real ones alone by the time they start growing. That probably wouldn't work for squirrels though.
I love the ornament idea! I've heard that tomatoes have limits with heat - if the daytime high is above about 95 or the nighttime low is above 75 they tend to not set fruit. So it probably wasn't the drought but the heat that caused the lack of fruit.
please, please try Porter tomatoes. I grew them in Gonzales and they are an old Texas tomato.
and I'll try tomatillos....maybe next year.
I agree about the Porter tomatoes. I grew tomatillos last year and they survived the demon squirrels. I made the best salsa verde I've ever tasted from them.
You idea about lanterns is awesome !! you are really a Genius.
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