Tomato = Pear?

One ripe, a few green pear tomatoes

A little bit about ourselves. We don't like the same old stuff every day. We appreciate ingenuity, creativity, spontaneity.  So here we were looking at our garden and thinking "it's time to try something new". So we went online and bought a bunch of seeds for plants we could not find locally (read: New Seeds on the Block for all the details). Some of these were tomatoes.

There are hundreds of varieties of tomatoes out there. You, my dear reader, know a few of them and probably every single one  is a red, juicy fruit with limited flavor. So today, we will talk about something different; a yellow tomato. That's right, there are fully mature, yellow tomatoes. There are also green, pink and even brown tomatoes but we'll leave those for another day.

The yellow pear is an indeterminate heirloom tomato. You remember what an indeterminate is, right? Considering we haven't posted in ages you probably forgot. <start encyclopaedic account>An indeterminate tomato is one that continues growing until disease (or other agents such as frost for our US readers) kill it. These tomatoes need to be pruned of suckers to maximize output. They also require a trellis or cage to support them. <End encyclopaedic account/> What you probably don't know is what heirloom means.  Heirloom tomatoes are older cultivars that are not used for mass production. They are less resistant to diseases but have a stronger flavor profile than supermarket tomatoes. They are sought out by home gardeners due to their uniqueness in color, size, and flavor.

As always we recommend growing from seed since seeing something being born is one of life's enriching experiences. Seeds can be acquired from a number of local (recommended!) or online suppliers. Growing pear tomatoes is simple. Lots of water, a balanced fertilizer application every week, full sun (at least 6 hours of direct sunlight), good soil. The same way you grow a cherry or slicing tomato. After two months or so you will start seeing yellow self-pollinated flowers and a few days later very small delicate pear-shaped tomatoes will appear. Harvest once the fruits start turning yellow or leave to fully ripen in the vine; your choice. We recommend using in salads for their color, taste and small bite-size.

So what are you waiting for? Get out there and start trying out new things for your garden. you won't regret it.

Attack of the Rotten Tomatoes

Blossom end rot on our roma tomatoes.

Dear reader, it seems we never run out of problems in our little garden (Good thing we never said we were experts). Our loss is your gain though. We planted a Roma tomato plant a few weeks ago. Everything was progressing nicely. The plant was growing, flowers were blooming, fruit was growing. How happy we were. That would soon change (yes, I'm being overly dramatic but editorializing is "in" these days).

We started noticing a small dark spot on the bottom of one of the fruits. "No big deal" I thought, probably a bird nibbled on it. It's salvageable. The next day the spot was larger. The day after that the spot was even larger and an adjacent tomato also had a similar spot. Houston, we have a problem. (Good thing I had foreshadowed this in the previous paragraph or you would be in for a surprise at this point).

The problem? Blossom end rot. Actually, if we were to go overly technical (which I tend to) the problem is calcium deficiency. "Blossom end rot" is just a description of what we see. Now at this point you are probably thinking "I'll just add calcium to the soil and fix the problem". Having proper amounts of calcium at the time the fruit sets prevents blossom end rot which is why we recommend placing crushed egg shells near the roots when transplanting tomatoes, peppers or any other member of the Nightshade family. However, more often than not the cause for the calcium defficiency is not a low amount of calcium in the soil but rather one of the following: uneven soil moisture, improper use of high nitrogen fertilizer, or high amounts of phosphorus.

This disorder typically affects the first fruits of the season and once it presents itself it is very hard to overcome. Therefore, the best strategy is prevention. If you use a high quality potting soil phosphorus shouldn't be a problem. Also, if you follow the manufacturer recommended dose and fertilize every other week excess nitrogen shouldn't be a problem. In any case we recommend light fertilization when the first fruit are being set. That leaves us with uneven moisture which is the most likely cause for blossom end rot in the tropics (sure enough this was our problem). Due to the large amounts of rainfall followed by very hot temperatures maintaining a constant moisture level is always a struggle. We offer the following three tips to help overcome this challenge.

1. Mulching - Mulch reduces evaporation and helps maintain moisture in the soil. 
2. Plant placement - Placing your plants in an area where rainfall doesn't fall on them will also help you be in control of moisture rather than being at the mercy of nature. 
3. Watering - Proper watering is very important not just to prevent blossom end rot but to achieve healthy plant growth. Watering is, in theory, simple. Don't overwater your plants and don't let them dry out. In practice, watering requires knowledge, skill, experience, and intuition. A good rule of thumb is to touch the soil. If it feels hot it needs water; if it's cool it doesn't need water. However, each plant has different moisture needs which is why we say several attributes are needed in practice.

We hope you never encounter blossom end rot but if you do we hope this post helps. Just remember to be patient. It takes time to heal after all. 

Hold Me Tight

We used a net to support our cucumbers

Let me come out clean and say this at least once: We haven't been the best planners when it comes to our garden. Partly because of inexperience, partly because of laziness and partly because of plain old stubbornness (that last one applies to me only). But our loss is your gain and we hope you learn from our mistakes. Today's topic is something we did not fully take into consideration when planning our garden. Trellises. A trellis is a structure made of metal, wood, bamboo, plastic, or even rope used to support vines or climbing plants. Trellises come in many shapes and sizes. What you choose will ultimately depend on your garden space and needs.

When planning your garden take into consideration the growing habits and final size of your plants. Common plants such as tomatoes, cucumbers, grapes, beans, climbing roses, and peas require a trellis for proper growth. Vines require a trellis for growth but also to support its fruits. How a vine climbs will determine the type of trellis you use. Some vines, such as cucumber, use tendrils to secure itself to any structure. Other vines use its leaves or stems to wrap around structures. As a general rule of thumb thicker structures are needed for "wrapping" vines while thinner materials may be used for "twiners". For our cucumbers (a "twiner") we used a net tied to our balcony posts for support (see picture above). We helped the plant by loosely wrapping the tendrils around the net. After a few hours the tendrils will coil and wrap themselves tighter thus securing itself.

Bamboo fence used as a tomato trellis

Tomatoes, on the other hand, are not a true vine. However, their stems are extremely weak and require a trellis or a cage to hold the plant (and fruits) in place. If you don't provide a trellis your tomatoes will grow on the ground or, as we can attest to (see the classic Man Down! post), your plant may break. We eventually learned our lesson and bought a retractable bamboo fence for our tomatoes. We tied the fence to our balcony posts using plain old tie wraps. Then we tied the stem and branches to the trellis using garden training wire.

It is always recommended that you secure your trellis to your pot or to a strong structure. Otherwise it may shift during strong winds, heavy rain, or under heavy weight. Also, metal trellises are not ideal to use in Puerto Rico because they tend to get hot and burn your plants.

Almost any material can be modified into a trellis. This post barely scratches the surface on trellises. The only limit is your imagination. So share with us what you've used to provide support for your plants and join us next time for more on container gardening in Puerto Rico.

What's mine is not mine...it's the birds'

Ripening tomatoes - Left is yours, right is mine

Remember that tomato trunk that had broken during a freak wind gust (Full story --> Man Down! - When Disaster Strikes)? The one we stubbornly wanted to save because it had tomatoes? Guess what. We were able to nurture it to health by following our anonymous reader's suggestion of placing it in a container with water until a few roots developed. This little trick worked because tomato plants are capable of growing roots anywhere in the trunk. We also removed a few branches to minimize water requirements and kept it in the shade. After a few days we transplanted it and acclimated it by letting it receive only a few hours of sunlight a day. At this point do not let the plant receive full sunlight (6 hours+). If this happens the leafs will start to wilt and the plant will die.

But here we were with a healthy looking plant that still had green tomatoes. So we waited and waited and just when I had given up hope that they would ever ripen I saw a hint of red at the bottom of two tomatoes. Success! We would finally be able to eat our first tomatoes. Or so we thought.

Today I woke up and did my usual routine of checking and watering the plants. Everything looked good. There was one tomato fully ripened so I made a mental note to pick it in the afternoon. Mistake. I came home at noon and the tomato was missing. WTF! No one had picked it, it had not fallen...something must have taken it. That's when I realized that what's mine is not mine, it belongs to the birds. Sneaky little bird came and took our tomato. Lesson learned. We picked the other ripe tomato and ate it right there and then. It tasted great. Go eat someone else's tomato, crazy bird.

After the storm

So it seems I jinxed myself. Two days ago I posted that Irene wouldn't stop us unless the internet went out. Guess what. The internet went out... for two days. Lesson learned: Choose your words carefully.

Speed round today

• Our plants are ok. We moved them outside today and they seem happy. 
• We're keeping inside the tomato that was broken to speed up its recovery. So far it's looking like it will recover. 
• On Saturday we picked our first cucumbers. They measured approximately 6 inches. They were delicious.
• Peppers continue growing. We have three growing right now with a bunch of flowers on each plant.
• Tomatoes keep growing too.  Hopefully we will be able to harvest them in a few weeks.
• We have a new addition to the garden: Lupin (aka Lupine). Lupin is a tall flowering plant that comes in many colors.

That's all for today. Our next post will be about fertilizers unless a storm pushes us off track again.

Man Down! - When Disaster Strikes

:-(

Fact: Mother Nature conquers all. Today our post was supposed to be a continuation on yesterday's topic: cucumbers. However, mother nature had other plans. Today we had a lot of rain and wind due to a tropical wave. I arrived home and, as usual, headed to our balcony to check on our container garden. I open the door and find myself before a disaster. Our cherry tomato plant had its trunk broken in half. The tomato was at least 3 feet tall with some large green tomatoes. So needless to say we're very sad.

The plant broke at the stake height

A slightly broken tomato trunk can be saved by splintering it; much like you would do with a bruised finger. This one, though, is damaged past the point of splintering. One error we commited when planting this tomato was that we did not provide a supporting structure or large stake to tie down the plant. Tomatoes can get very tall and top heavy so providing some support is recommended. We had a small 1 foot stake which actually contributed to the problem (see picture). Lesson learned!

Will it survive?

However, we're not giving up hope. Tomato trunks can generate roots so we're going to try and save it. What we did was cut off the lower branches to maximize trunk area and minimize water requirements.  We followed our standard procedure for planting tomatoes which includes inserting crushed eggshells (for calcium) and matches (for phosphorus) in the hole. Then we planted the trunk as deep as possible to stimulate root growth. We'll know in a few days if the plant survives.

I hope you all learned from our mistakes and take our advice on how to plan for growing tomatoes. Join us next time for more on cucumbers. I hope.

Roll Call

Time for a little roll call. Below are the plants we currently have in our garden. Photos taken by of our official photographer, my lovely girlfriend Jessica.

Verbena (right)

Culantro

Chives

Tomatoes

Pepper and parsley (at left)

Parsley

Mint

Cucumber

Chamomille

Lettuce

Romero

Miniature Rose

Oregano

Payasito

Basil (center)

Unknown flowering plant