Something is eating my tomatoes and it's not me

For all of you who read my joyful post about my newly growing tomato will take part in my heartbreak.  Just this morning, I had to resort to euthanasia of the tomato for a suspicious black growth at the bottom (see image).  The leaves on the large plant had also started growing black spots and the yellowing and dying.  I've been cutting them and tonight, I noticed that my newly potted 3rd pot has become infested with a population of tiny little bugs (tiny, knat size) crawling around.  By biggest worry is that whatever this thing is, it will infect the rest of my garden and goodbye dreams of tomatoes this season or beans.  I started growing cucumbers in the 3rd box and they are coming in very nicely, but now, they might also have to be sacrificed along with the infected tomato plant.

Now what?  Do I chug the window box and start over? How do people do this for a living?  Thank you to the farmer's at our farmer's market who bring fresh, bug free produce to our market every week.

Small City Garden Week 4 - 1st harvest

I am proud to say that my husband and I enjoyed two very small string beans last night. My first harvest, produced in an urban jungle with barely any growing space.

The rest of the garden is starting to come together very nicely also. The sage, mint, oregano and lavender are in. I am not sure what happened to the parseley, so I've planted some more in the 3rd window box I have acquired. I also planted a large tomato plant donated by a friend (she noticed the sad size of my tomato plants and expressed concern about them being able to produce anything this year - I still have some hope, although it's starting to wane.) The great news is that the donated tomato plant seems to be doing very well, and is even growing - gasp - a tomato. It's twice as big as it was yesterday (the tomato, not the plant), which still puts it at about pea size, but it's great! I am so excited for a real, fresh, tomato. I also planted 3 bushes of cucumbers, which should be mature in mid August. Hopefully, I can have at least a couple of cukes before the fall frost kills them off. Note to self, start plantings in March and April so that by the summer, they are mature plants.

If you look at this picture closely, you can see that one of the wilted flowers is a little bigger than others. That's yesterday, and today, you can clearly see the tomato.

My goal this summer, in addition to those stated in previous posts, is to break even. I am not going to count the cost of pots, since I plan to use them next year, and I can discount most of the soil cost, since all I will have to do next year is re-fertilize it. That puts me about $30 in the hole. I figure each basket of tomatoes is $5 at the market (organic), a basket of beans is about $3, plus cukes. I need to grow about 4 baskets of tomatoes (cherry tomatoes, that is), plus about 2 lb of cukes and a lb of beans. Then I will break even. I am not counting the herbs, because I rarely buy herbs fresh.

Parenting on the playground

I visit our local playgrounds on a daily basis and I often see the following take place:

11am Mom, nanny, etc. asks a tired hungry toddler "Jimmy, do you want to go home and have lunch?". The toddler scans all the fun playground structures and replies "No!" (that's because he's a toddler).

11:15 Mom has been negotiating with Jimmy that it's really time to go home and have lunch and we have such yummy food, etc. The more she tries to convince him to go and eat, the more reluctant he is.

11:30 Now, everyone is tired, hungry and cranky. Mom, nanny, etc. finally loses it and says "Jimmy, get in the stroller right now, it's time to go." Jimmy is now ticked because his opinion was obviously asked for and then ignored, which like any human being will make someone angry. He bursts into a tamper tantrum that ends in the mom being completely crazy and embarrassed, and a really terrible lunch, nap, etc.

Let me give a different scenario.

10:55 Mom says: "Jimmy, in 5 minutes, we have to go home." (assertively)

11:00 Mom says: "Jimmy, it's time to go home" and starts picking up his toys and putting them away. Jimmy, reluctantly, considers coming and then seeing that there is no arguing (and last time when he argued, he had to go home anyway when mom said that it was time to go), gets into the stroller or at least allows the mom to put him in.

Victory Garden, Week 2

I have plants! Well, it seems that my gardening efforts have not been in vain. I have now 3 beautiful bean plants and 2 sorry looking bean plants. The sorry looking plants I had transplanted, which they didn't like, but they are producing beans so I don't have the heart to rip them out and start over. There are 6 small beans, which are getting bigger every day, especially if we have some sunshine. The 3 newly planted bush beans are looking very hearty. We've had a lot of rain and not too much sun mixed with cool weather. My heart goes out for the farmers who make a living on this. It's hard going when the weather won't cooperate.

The tomatoes have not benefited from the increased rain and lack of sun. They are still the stumpy 4-5 inch plants that I had transplanted. I should have started them earlier. Note for next year!

The rest of the herbs are coming in and I am curious to see which ones are which. Of course, I forgot to write down what I had planted where, so I'll have to wait for real leaves to grow before yield can be determined.

I've included a picture of my alpine strawberry bush which I grow inside. Since I've started watering them at night, they've increased 50% in size and produce easily 2 strawberries a day, sometimes even more. Yummy!

Victory Garden, Week 1

Oh me, oh my, how many funny things grow by! Or don't grow at all. I spent my evening 2 nights ago seeding and planting my wonderful magical garden, only to be heartbroken over the next few days to see the leaves on my bean plants dry out and wither away. I've called an expert to give me some advise and I am hoping she will return my plea for help before the last vestiges of life escape my plants. Does anyone know if I have to prop them upright?

On the positive side, the tomatoes I have planted don't seem to be succumbing to the same fate as quickly (yes, their leaves are also starting to wither at the ends). On the yet more positive side, it seems that although the bean plants are losing their leaves, they are producing beans! This is incredible. The tiny purple flowers of a few days ago are turning into thin, tiny little beans, which are growing very quickly.

No sign of anything else I've planted. Neither the extra bean plants or the herbs.

Here is a funny aside on parenting: after a particularly awful sleepless night with a toddler, I was staying horizontal as long as possible in the morning while my ever energized toddler ran circles around me. I was finally roused from my half sleep by her proud announcement that she did just like mama did with the seed packet and seeded the oregano seeds into the already overfull rosemary pot. Oh, well. Maybe that will be the oregano that actually grows!