Tomatoes and tomatoes

Tomatoes, Solanum lycopersicum - which kitchen gardener can avoid them. One of the easiest and also, very challenging fruit/ vegetable (?) to grow . They have their share of pests; many sites are dedicated to tomato growing problems
You have to be really patient for growing toms; I read on a site that after a flower has bloomed and been pollinated, it takes roughly 1-2 months for harvesting a ripe tomato.
I have generally at least one type of tomato growing in my garden at any time. Right now I have orange cherry tomato and a normal sized hybrid tomato specific for growing in container- Tumbler tomato.
All the plants are in flowering and fruiting stage.
Hopefully the cherry toms will not take that long, they don't have to grow so much ;)
Now for a few pictures of the plants and fruits...

These are the cherry tomato blossoms,and one fruit developing...

Unripe fruits..

And I have 5-6 bunches developing

Yippee, RIPE and you just cannot stop from plucking and eating off the plant.
Contrary to the color, the taste is surprisingly sweet and just a little tart; makes for a good 'pop-in-the-mouth' snack. Incidentally my son is an avid fan of these tomatoes :))))

This is probably the Tumbler tomato. I think I have mixed up the seedlings. I had grown the 'Tumbler tomato' last year and the fruit was definitely different in shape. And they are taking very long to ripen.


I found that some of the fruit is split from the blossom end. It is probably due to a deficiency in the soil which I will have to look into. I don't want to lose my harvest :(.
One action I need to take is to plant beneficial companion plants in my tomato containers for eg mint, garlic and onions. These have been reported to repel pests and also alter the flavor of the harvest. An added advantage will be the fresh herbs that I can use in my cooking.

Hope that my next post will be of red juicy tomatoes

Till then happy gardening
Chitra