Houston Lawn & Garden

Early Girls planted on 3/23/10

Ah yes, it was just like yesterday when we brought home 12 little Early Girl plants from the farmer’s market at Airline Dr. & the I-610 loop.  They look so fragile in their little plastic 6-pack cups, but we were hopeful that with the right ‘parenting’ they would grow into productive members of our garden society.  Here we see one of them right after it was planted in the ground.  It just like a toddler learning to take its first steps.  You provide them with a nurturing environment and the support they need and then you just have to cross your fingers and hope for the best.

Early Girls on 3/30/10

Here we are just 1-week after being planted.  We have our cages in place as you can see.  It’s always easier to set the cages while they are still small so that they’ll have something to grab onto when the time comes, and then you wont have to twist and bend them after the fact which can be quite traumatic for them.  There is already quite a bit of new growth.  The existing limbs have about doubled in size and some new shoots can be seen at the base of the stalk.  If you look closely, you can see that we’ve dusted the plants to keep the pests away.  We’ll give them just one little dusting right now and then another when the fruits start to develop.

Early Girls - 4/4/10

Look at these guys.  They are busting at the seams!  They are just about to reach over the first bar of the cage.  We’re getting some good bushiness working which is exactly what we want.  At this stage and moving forward, the thing we like to watch for is what we call ‘suckers’.  These are leaf growths that come in at the joint right between the main stalk and a defined branch.  We pluck those out the minute we see them because they will never develop into anything, and they’ll just use us the nutrients that we want to save for the fruits.  Now we just need to keep our eyes open for the buds!

Early Girls - 4/13/10

Here we go.  if you zoom in on this picture you’ll be able to get a good look at the little yellow flowers that typically last for about 5-7 of days before they fall off and the fruits come in right behind them.  These buds are showing up on al of the plants in groups of 5 and 6.  As the plants continue to grow we’ll see more groups of buds in various stages.  It wont be unusual to see 20 or more fruits per plant developing before too long!  The limbs are clearly above the first ring of the cage right now and if conditions stay good then these guys can grow to about 7 feet.  Mid April is very sunny and still a bit cool to things are looking pretty good.

First Tomato - 4/18/10

Here it is.  As soon as the flower falls off the tomato starts growing right behind it.  You can see the flowers still attached to the two buds on the lefts and the tomato growing on the one on the right.  We just need to cross our fingers that it doesn’t turn too hot and dry too quickly.  We’re giving the a good soaking of water every 3 to 4 days.  The only plant food that we’ve used is when they were originally planted.  The plant food only helps with the growth of the plant and not the fruit.  Early Girls are also reported and a good breed for dry conditions because the dryer the soils conditions the more they will develop their roots deeper looking for water.

Early Girls - 4/28/10

Here we see an overview shot of all 12 of the plants, each with about 3 to 4 tomatoes growing.  We’re also seeing new bud clusters beginning to develop.  The plant have just about reached the second ring of the cages.  Now I’m sure that you all are wondering what those silver things are hanging from the cages.  These are aluminum stove guards that we’ve chosen as pseudo-”Scare Crows” to keep the birds away who otherwise would come and peck at the fruit.  We like these because they reflect the light and make noise and in general get the job done.  Some people use old pie tins to do the same thing.  These stove guards are a lot easier to work with since you don’t have to punch holes in them.

Early Girls - 5/4/10

This is a nice cluster of 4 tomatoes on a beautiful Tuesday afternoon.  As you can see by the size of these at this early stage that things are looking very promising for an excellent crop.  The winds are starting to pick up and the forecast for the next week is for windy conditions with little to no rain which means that things will dry out faster than usual.  We’ve put in a Weeper Hose as you can see in the background and well be using it daily to keep the plants watered as longs as these conditions persist.  We are very pleased with how things have progressed to far and we don’t want any slight changes in the weather to slow down our progress.

That’s our story for now.  I’ll put out an update when it’s PICKIN TIME or if there are any significant changes between now and then.  Have a great one!