Miss Chybil, as my name suggests, I *love* tomatoes and (almost) love (almost) growing them! I have a neighbor who doesn't have a clue what she's doing and *her* tomato plants look great and produce like crazy. Meantime, I'm lucky to get a plant through a season despite all the wisdom (?) I've garnered by reading and listening to advice from folks on this site. I've concluded that growing tomatoes is a lot like buying a lottery ticket; the odds are against me from the start. So buck up, don't conclude that you've committed some heinous gardening sin and try again. That's what I'm gonna do, by golly, till I get at least ONE big ripe tomato!

LOL! Tomato Freak, my whole gardening adventure started with tomatoes. I bought a little seed starter tray from Burpees, back in January, and some tomato seeds - three kinds: cherry, roma and Bloody Butchers. I started 72 plants! Can you believe it? 72 tomato plants! I didn't have anywhere to put them, when they grew too big for the seed starter tray, so my husband built me some boxes to use until we had the money to rent a tiller and get them in the ground.

The money took too long in coming, but it came. We went to Home Depot, bought some landscaping bricks - the kind you build a wall with. We got enough for one row, 20 feet long and two feet deep. We also bought some "composted mulch" and rented the tiller. As we tilled our little garden, we mixed in the composted mulch. (Obviously, I didn't know the difference between compost and composted mulch.)

My tomatoes were very tall and skinny and very root bound in their boxes. I had way too many for the little garden spot, so I gave a bunch to my son. He planted them and his dogs promptly killed them. I picked out the best of the bunch I had left and planted those. I think I had 15 plants by then. I watered them every day and gave them plenty of Miracle Gro, until I learned Miracle Gro doesn't help the soil. Remember, my soil was half mulch. Stopping the fertilizer was probably quite a shock to the plants.

After several weeks, my tomato plants were out of control, but I only had a few tomatoes and if they didn't get blossom end rot, it was a miracle. I found out about bone meal. That ended the rot problem, but still my tomatoes were few and very tiny. The Bloody Butchers were as big as cherry tomatoes. The cherries were smaller than grapes and the romas... actually, now I think of it, I never could get them to quit rotting. Still, everyday, throughout the summer, I went out with my hose and sprayed. I ate what little tomatoes I could find during the process. It was very exciting.

Somewhere, I learned about dirt and I realized composted mulch wasn't compost. Someone told me I might have better luck, if I put in tomato transplants. I found this site and read about Early Girl tomatoes being so good for the area. When the fall plants showed up in the nursery in August, I bought four Early Girls, a soaker hose, some top soil and some real compost. I dug up my entire tomato patch and started over. (I did keep four of the old plants, just to see what would happen. I'm down to two old plants and they don't look good.)

I have three Early Girls left. Remember, I assassinated one last week, thinking it might be contagious? I also have four Anaheim chile plants, one jalapeno, a watermelon patch, a pumpkin patch, I had a canteloupe hill. I've got four roses, a vinca, a star flower, a Mexican pansy (from the garden party), three drumstick trees growing on my window sill. I just planted five royal poinsiana seeds, a clivia seed and five hyacinth bean seeds. (Those are from the garden party, too.) I have spearmint, sage, oregano, basil (out the ying-yang), and cilantro. I just started some lettuce, spinach and brocolli. I've built a wall for a raised bed out of rocks. I fertilized the grass and started feeding and watering my orange tree. (Which, of course, caused most of the oranges to split, as it's not used to being taken care of.) I know the names of everything growing in my yard. Oh, and this doesn't count the jasmine I fried and the begonia I choked. ALL of this, because I wanted some tomatoes!

I will say, the tomatoes that are on the vine look BEAUTIFUL! But, this morning, when I had my breakdown over the top leaves, I thought to myself, if I could just get ONE, BIG RIPE TOMATO! That's all I want... and some chiles... and some lettuce... and brocolli... and...

My tomato plants are doing something similar, the only difference I've seen is the massive amount of white flies on mine. My hibiscus are looking the same, new leaves small and mangled, etc. Do you have white flies "bugging" your tomato plants?

Kevin

Yes, I think it may be the white flies. A GW'r wrote me seperately and mentioned the same thing. Now, I'm sad I killed one of my plants over white flies. Will they ruin the plants permanently? I was reading there isn't much you can do about them, except hose them off and put out sticky traps. What a battle... Us against nature... (Sigh) Maybe, I should have taken up knitting. LOL! Not really. And miss all this excitement? Not a chance.