Tomato Diaries

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The tomatoes in 2013 were pretty much a disaster. One plant succumbed entirely to diseases and white flies, while the other produced fruit, but was periodically ravaged by raccoons, birds and squirrels. I wound up buying pretty heavy duty metal mesh to surround and protect this last remaining plant until I could pick the remaining tomatoes. We didn’t do too badly after all, the fruit was sweet, and I wound up giving away a bag of tasty tomatoes to a neighbor. But then we went off Paris at the end of September, beginning of October. We did come back to a small harvest, although overall the crop was disappointing.

JANUARY 5, 2014

Here’s a picture of what the remnants of the tomatoes looked like on January 2, 2014:

APRIL 20, 2014

I cleared away the dead and dying plants, removed the old soil entirely and filled the planters with new earth, located two healthy starts, and planted them on March 23 of 2014. I intentionally planted before the end of March because the California climate, especially on the San Francisco peninsula, almost never experiences frost by the end of winter. I chose two rather sweet and prolific types of tomatoes, “Jet Setter” and “Amy’s Sugar Gem.” By April 19, they were flourishing.

JUNE 16, 2014

Tomatoes require a modest amount of work. They need to be sufficiently watered but not overwatered. The plants need to be pruned and checked for diseases and pests. Eventually, the work paid off, and the tomato plants started producing. Here’s how the crop looked by June 13-14.
The overviews were snapped on June 14-15.