Today was special.. This morning I harvested those much awaited tomatoes. Yes, the day had come. This is the day I was waiting since the day I sowed the seeds. Though I had done tomatoes earlier, this time was different. There is this much awaited cherry tomato, which bore lots of tomatoes in a single stalk. I always pluck tomatoes when they are green and ripe them indoors.
Apparently there are many who have interests in my tomatoes. The guests include squirrels, pigeons and workers in the building ;). I dont want them to be tempted. Who wouldn’t be..
Let me stop talking and let the pics do their job..
Its such a pleasure to see tomatoes with their stalk.
This is from an Indeterminate variety- Indam Naveen. My fertilizer regimen was not that very good. Inspite of that, these babies did a great job.
Here is the much awaited cherry tomato. There are more than one stalk here. This is the first batch of tomatoes whcih suffered some serious blossom drop. Once ripe, they will be so sweet not just to eat but to look too.
There is one tomato (bottom left) in the pic below, with a brown rot.This is a sympton of Calcium deficiency. Its called Blossom End Rot.
Tomatoes after their crowns removed. I will keep them in the rice sack that seems to speeden their ripening process.
I have blogged from the time I sowed the tomato seeds (Oct 12, 2008) till the day I plucked tomatoes(Jan 7, 2009) from it. Its has been a great learning experience. I thank everyone who encouraged/motivated me esp my blog readers who were curiously asking about the progress. I definitely will feel guilty to consume the tomatoes by myself.
I guesstimated the weight of the tomatoes I plucked and turns out its approximately 2kilograms.
Tomato seeds = Rs 50
2kg of tomato = Rs 60 (approx)
But the tomato stalk above = Priceless…….
Did I mention that my long wait for the potatoes saw its end last week. No It was not the right time for picking potatoes, its just that my patience ran out. I am known for my impatience …
This is actually from two plants. The potatoes from the first two plants never get to pose for my camera. 😉
I actually expected more from these plants considering the amount of hardwork i put. But with the very little sunlight we get in the balcony this is not bad. So.. better luck next time.
This time I left my tomato plants to get bushy and didn’t really prune them properly. There are lots of suckers that arise from the plant that result in the nutrition being spread across and not resulting in big friuts. I am planning to raise just two tomato plants of indeterminate plants following a textbook method to see if i can get bigger fruits.
At somepoint in life, everyone should garden and feel for themselves how harvesting from your own plants is like.
geek ‘Happy’ gardener.
20 Responses
hi gg,
nice to read your posts , congrats on the harvests.
at our nursery , mums are sold at Rs 150 per plant – thought that was quite exorbitant for a season !! what is the cost of such saplings in B’luru?
really appreciate the effort put in by you despite a busy schedule, keep up the good work, it will encourage all others to take up gardening as well.
hope to read your posts a little more often.
Hi Arundati.
Thanks for the compliments and constant motivation :).
I really cannot believe that they sell mums for Rs 150. Even if they are of some exotic kind. I bought those mums that are in my post from a road side shop/mobile hawkers for INR 20-40. Its was Rs 40 because they are in pots. In nurseries in B’luru it might go upto Rs 75, but that will be for a plant which has like 50+ blooms in a very neat pot.
Let me see If I can take cuttings from these plants once they are done with their flowering.
Whoa! That’s a hefty harvest! Congratulations on it gg! I’m always excited to see your posts. Did the potatoes flower yet?
And Arundati, Mums aren’t so costly in Chennai. I bought them for 10 bucks each – White, yellow, and violet varieties. You can mail me for address or for cuttings. I’ll be glad to share some cuttings with you. They’re very easy to grow from cuttings as they give out plenty adventitious roots.
Thanks chandramouli.
Of the 4 potato pots I had, one of them flowered and the others just quietly watched me waiting ;). Two weeks back, my patience ran out and i dug it open and got those whose pics I posted. So there are no more potato plants.
That was a nice gesture on sharing cuttings. Another secret to successful propagtion from cuttings is to host them in a mini greenhouse. Esp for hot chennai.
Happy gardening as always 😀
gg
Hi gg,
your posts inpired me to create my own blog please have a look:
http://fungardener.wordpress.com
It looks like you got a good harvest from your tomato plants, despite the competition for harvesting them. The little potatoes always taste good anyways, so tender. It’s fun to experiment, and always exciting to see the results after you wait.
hi all,
thanx for all the offers …please let me know where i can get the mums…i’d also be happy to share cuttings with others – many colours of portulaca and indoor plants..
by the way can someone help me in driving off whiteflies from my hibiscus plants ? Only the hibiscus seems susceptible to all kind of pests- atlast i managed to drive away the meaybugs but now the whitefly has taken its place !! I’m afraid to get new plants with this current infestation. btw , the whitefly seems to be restricted only to plants in my garden .. luckily it has not spread to neighbour’s plants…its at these times that one feels most depressed … have maintained a garden for close to 12 years but not very much to show for it…
inspite of my previous sabatham, i bought 7 rose plants – atleast buds are being produced but the flowers are not as large as when i bought the plants.
hoping for a prosperous new year and best wishes to all in their gardening efforts
Hi Arundati,
I will let chandramouli respond for the place where he got those mums. You might want to checkout the horticultural society in Chennai.Its in cathedral road.I am not sure if they have mums but might give it in reasonable price.
I wish i was in chennai to take part in plant swap… :D.
For the white flies, have you tried neem oil + dish soap mix ? There are several inorganic ways to get rid of them if they are really haunting your garden. I wouldnt suggest that since it needs very careful handling. Avoid watering the plants on the foliage.
Regarding your sabatham.. ha ha.. I always tell my folks here that I will stop buying plants for this season only to bring another handful the next week. Who are we kidding here. Gardening is in our blood .. Ain’t no stoppin..
Do you repot the rose plants you buy or keep them in the same pot?. Usually what happens is, in nurseries, they are fed heavily with fertilizer and once we bring them home the plants go into a starving mode. Side dressing of a handful of compost will make it bloom. Sunlight is very very essential for roses to bloom.
Thanks and Wishes to you for a great and amazing garden this year. 🙂
gg
hi,
thanx for all suggestions… tried all solutions literally !!!!- organic and inorganic… even tried fresh garlic extract spray….rogor, monosiv+ carbendazim solution, neem oil + soap, neem cakes , you name it , even turmeric powder….!!
as for roses , since the rose plant comes in a plastic packet ,i have to transplant it – sometimes i buy a ready mix from the nursery or i mix my own composition from red soil and compost bought from the local chap who brings it door to door!! For what it is worth i also daily add all the onion peels and tea leaves to the roses .. dont know if it is useful specifically for roses…
For all my plants ,flowering that is, i use vermizyme …somebody said that this only leads to a lot of foliage?????
the fun is in the endless experimentation …
I’m sure you must have seen the flowersofindia website…very useful for Indian gardeners since most sites pertain to US or australian gardens…
heres to more fun 🙂
Hi Arundati,
Looks like you have tried the entire spectrum. I have had mixed results with neem oil+soap. I am surprised that Rogor couldn’t cut it. I had used Chlorpyriphos on roses , other ornamental plants and It had managed to drive away all the insects. I am sure you would have given regular doses every 10 days or something like that.
Good to know that you get compost+red soil at your doorsteps. Here its a different story. I am not sure what vermizyme contains. With some googling, it appears to have vermicompost enriched with ‘good’ bacteria/fungi. I have bought something similar to that today in Bio Centre, Dept of Horticulture, Bangalore.The visit was a enlightening experience in multiple ways which deserves a separate post by itself.
I had visited that website very long back when I was searching for some flower variety. I didnt seriously browse through it but now I did. Very good one and a great effort by Tabish who runs it.
Wishing you more fun/luck in your future experiments..
Have you thought about starting a blog?
gg
hi,
With all the pesticide being used , i had sudden visions of my poor plants gagging and clutching their throats… maybe i’m being impatient ,cant expect the pests to disappear overnight….so i’ve decided to wait awhile….
as for the vermizyme it is described as 100 percent organic fertiliser with micro-nutrients… anyway after application , the mums have put out lots of buds, waiting to see the colour.. bought 2 more mums at the horticultural society and a couple of aralis which can be grown in pots..
actually ,i have a partner in crime – my next door neighbour , Lata ,who is equally crazy about plants.. both of us exchange notes on a daily basis much to the consternation of both families !!!!
as for starting a blog, havent given it serious thought… maybe at a later date…
till then,
arundati
Hi,
Modern day gardens are battle fields.
I have the experience of loosing my hibiscus to mealy bugs. Tried several organic remedies like neem oil, mealy kill, bio kill but they didnt help. Then I tried profenophos (40%) + cypermethrin (4%) and to my surprise the next morning the plant was free of mealy bugs all of them had died overnight could see the dead bugs on the soil of my container.
Never had white flies infestation on hibiscus but recently they had attacked my tuberose plant, applied the same formula mentioned above and it is free from the white flies now.
This chemical is very strong I killed one of my hibiscus, probably the solution was more concentrated than needed (wanted to get rid of them quickly). The plant leaves become pale, drop of and then the stem dries off. Be careful only add 2ml/lit and spray only when needed.
Hi gg,
Waiting for you post on ‘Visit to Dept of Horticulture’
hi fungardener,
where do you get these chemicals , are they available in the concentration mentioned by you ?
what plants do you have in your collection ?
Hi Arundati,
You get these chemicals in most of the fertilizer shops. Most of these insecticides’ name end with ‘phos’. They are organophosphates . I have chlorpyriphos 20% E.C which i use 2 ml /litre. But I use it only on flowering/ornamental plants
For fertilizer shops, there are few in the road parallel to Ranganathan street in chennai. ( When you go towards usman road, its a parallel road on the right of Ranganathan street). And there are few in Tambaram.
over to fungardener 😉
gg
Sir/Madam
where i will get bringal, tomato& chilli sapling. Kindly advise me throgh e-mail and maintaing of that.
Thanks/regards
s.Murali
Hi GG,
Was only 1 tomato affected by the blossom end rot? Did you take any corrective measures on observing this rot??
3 of my tomatoes (so far) have been affected by this problem… and im worried that many more might follow… it is so disheartening to see this, after waiting patiently for months to see the harvest 🙁
even if i add bone meal or any calcium dose to the plant at this stage, it might not help… any other suggestions GG?
Thanks,
GoodEarth
Hi Goodearth,
Sometimes I get blossomrot too. The reason being deficiency of calcium or irregular watering cycle. I dont think adding bone meal after you see a BER will be effective since Bone meal is slowrelease. The best solution is to do a spray of calcium chloride/calcium nitrate. You can also add superphosphate to soil before planting ( it has calcium in it) or Add bonemeal when planting.
can u tell me where will i get rose plant fertilizer in tambaram?
Hi Shriya,
In tambaram, near mudichur road, there is a fertilizer shop. He has it. Check it out. If you can’t find the shop. enquire around a lil bit . They will guide you.
gg
Binoy (aka me) follows your blog and started his own garden, went to your store and purchased the necessary items. Thanks a lot for the inspiration. Got lots of tomatoes, some potatoes and spinach. Sharing the photos of the outcome here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4974964692888.2194613.1262435602&type=1&l=ce80e3f06c