We are in for a heat wave this week so lots of watering combined with hot sun and I am hoping for tomato take off !
Moving through the garden is now a little like stepping into a tomato maze. I also have a tendency to lose my place when I stop to refill the watering can. My system is to work round the edge first and then into the middle but still I always seem to miss at least one plant.
Week 15 Summary.
Plants: All still growing fast. I’m sure they add on inches overnight. The average height of the cordons sown on the 16th March is now around 3ft.
Watering: The past week it’s been daily with a break on downpour days. It’s always nice to get a hand with the watering and never more so than when you’ve had a lovely long day out with not a drop of rain to dodge but the flipside of which will be watering in the dark when you get home ! But then on your return to find puddles and dampness in the air and realise that although you were only a few miles down the road, the day has delivered the perfect combination of not a drop ( of rain !) for you; enjoying a summery outdoor lunch alfresco but a very localised clould burst for your garden.
Flowers: All the plants now have flowers. Hurrah !
Fruit: Lots of the plants now have fruit. Double Hurrah ! Some like Carbon don’t . But Tumbler and Sungold are really getting into the swing of it and so I am now much more relaxed about everything getting round to it as and when.
Two weeks ago I also thought I needed to do my bit for pollination. But now everytime I step into the garden I am beaten to it by hard working Bumbles. They seem to follow a system as they appear to move round the flowers in a particular order, stopping on some and rejecting others, so who am I to interfere ?
Feeding: I am using multipurpose feed once a week for the plants in flower and then experienced the heady satisfaction of being able to move on to tomato feed for the plants which have set fruit !
Today’s pictures are an overview of the garden at around 11.30 on a sunny morning and of one of my favourite plants, a Tumbler. I don’t know if it’s normal to have favourite plants but this was the first to produce a flower, the first to set fruit and now has 8 trusses of green tomato promise . All this and from a makedo home in a pot when really it should be enjoying swinging in the breeze from a hanging basket !
