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closeI am humbler this year than I was last year because my tomato vines this year have blight.
I really don’t know what blight is, but my tomato vines are sick and I read somewhere that blight had attacked tomato vines back East. So I’m assuming my vines have blight too. After all, in America these days we often base firm opinions on shaky information.
It’s also possible my tomato vines have wilt, but I don’t know what wilt is either.
Four of my tomato vines are dead, one is terminal, and the sixth is an outpatient. The outpatient is the one closest to the board fence, and so enjoys some morning shade.
I wrote a column last December eulogizing our tomato vines of that year. They gave us tomatoes for almost five months until a hard frost killed them Dec. 15. I described them as “lush, hardworking and leafy” before the frost.
That column was unjustifiable bragging. I was just lucky.
This year I overplayed my hand; I planted six tomato plants in the same space where I planted four last year. The container I bought this year held six plants and I couldn’t bear to throw any away. When I planted them in April they were small and seemed to have plenty of space, but they grew fast and were soon cheek to cheek.
For years I always bought Ace tomato plants and was satisfied with them. But last year by mistake I brought home a container of Beefmasters. They produced the vines I later described as “lush, hardworking and leafy.” Their fruit also tasted good.
They must also have a college degree. They have three letters after their name: VFN. That means they tolerate verticillium, fusarium and nematodes. I don’t know what those are either.
The Beefmasters did exceptionally well last year in my yard. So did I buy more this year? No, I bought Aces. Why? Because that’s what I always buy. Apparently I’m a conservative, at least about tomatoes.
This spring, I invested more heavily in my tomato crop. But the new tomato cages, the new pricey, skinny sticks to keep the cages steady, and the two sacks of chicken-manure mulch didn’t keep the vines healthy.
I’m not giving up, though. Next spring I’ll plant four Beefmasters in my side yard where, like a good Paso Roblan, I sacrificed the lawn this summer for water conservation.
I’ll plant them in a row near the fence so they can get some morning shade. I hope I live long enough to learn to grow tomatoes.
Contact Phil Dirkx at phild2008@sbcglobal.net or 238-2372.
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