Monday, August 23, 2010

Rainy weekend update: tomato havoc

Ugh! We returned from a wet weekend away to find all of our tomato plants knocked over by the weekend storm and sprawled on the terrace. This was not a pretty sight! Every year, towards the end of summer, as the plants get taller and bushier, we go through disasters. This summer, we'd gotten away pretty much scott free thanks to such hot, dry weather. Not any more.
We arrived home at about 8 pm this evening and discovered the fallout zone. Because it was already dark, it's hard to assess the total toll of lost fruit. But a look with a flash light revealed plenty of ripe tomatoes that had burst their skins. And our orange pepper plant got crushed by the falling tomato plant, lopping off two large branches full of new growth. That's a shame cause those peppers tasted great. 
Now, I'm wondering if next season we ought to grow smaller, determinate tomatoes that don't get quite so tall and top heavy. It really is stressful to come back to so much destruction!

1 comment:

meemsnyc said...

I'm with you, I'm re-thinking my tomato strategy. I'll have to try determinate tomatoes as well!