My condolences, Fran.

Have you been getting a lot of tomatoes? I was just starving to get that first ripe one. They started to ripen when we got home from vacation, last week of July. In the heat most all ripened at once. I ate so many I'm getting sick of them. Convenient, because they're suffering like everything else in the garden, putting out very few now.

Karen

Thanks Karen,
Our weather has been so bizzare here in MA. Cold weather, warm weather, hot weather, never stays the same. My plants look like they are the local jungle, have been ripening at a steady rate but I have to pick them half ripe or the chipmmunks take them first.

These are pics of "my jungle", before the strong winds started blowing down some of the tallest vines and breaking them. Hubby had to cut them down for me and I took the green tomatoes in the house to ripen, I hope. The tallest vines where 18 inches and are growing in pots that have nothing but miracle grow potting mix. The pots hold 1 1/4 quarts of potting mix, have bark mulch on the top and a marigold in each to keep the bugs away. guess I should have stuck one in the pot with the tiny tim.

Notice the location is perfect for growing, but not for getting the house painted.

Fran
{{gwi:426175}}


{{gwi:434391}}


{{gwi:356444}}

Aw, I am so sorry!
What evil boogers!
Glad they haven't invaded the jungle.

Oh, Fran, poor plant! And poor you! Ugh, those ugly tomato horn worms, I hate them.

Keep your eyes peeled for evidence of them in your big tomato pots. My toms are a jungle too. Not sick of them yet though.

spent three hours with a flashlight and magnifying glass in "the jungle" just to be sure. so far none. I thought that this was too late in the season for them, but our weather has been so crazy, guess not.
Can you imagine the size of the moth from them? I read on line that the moth is the size of a hummingbird.

Fran

I've been watching for hornworms here, and now will be doubly alert. I hate those things; you work and wait all year for tomatoes, and they can destroy a fruit or plant in record time. As you noted from my earlier postings, my harvest hasn't been too great this year (from what I've read from others in MA, I suspect my problem is not enough water), so I'm jealously guarding what few tomatoes I have! Good luck with those chipmunks, Fran.

Wow, that thing did quite a number on your poor plant. I'm not sure if it's the angle of the photo or if that worm is really that gigantic! I hope that's the last you see of its kind.

My biggest problem right now is my puppies digging in my raised garden bed. The big established plants are fine, but the little ones I try to plant don't make it. I've got to figure something out.