The Garden, Week 17: I'm Starting To Think This Was A Terrible Idea

The tomatoes keep blossoming and then dropping the blossoms. They shrivel up, turn brown, and fall off. I have two tomatoes growing on my Amish Paste plant and six teeny tomatoes growing on my Yellow Pear plant. But the other ten plants have bupkis. Lots of blossoms! Lots of leaves! About four feet tall! NONE TOMATOES.

This is discouraging.

If I'm to be eating ripe tomatoes sometime in the next few weeks, green tomatoes need to be forming. It feels like my vines should be heavy with small green baby tomatoes by now. I'm starting to have visions of getting through this entire summer and only eating a handful of small yellow tomatoes, which would be SO UPSETTING. (Also it would positively kill the rate of return I'm aiming for on spend.)

I know I'm growing heirlooms, I know they're not easy and are actually kind of fussy, I know I started them from seed and they'll take longer to set fruit and ripen, I know I have no idea what I'm doing and my strategy is largely "put it in the ground, add water and cross my fingers," but HOLY MOSES GUYS, THIS IS LOOKING BAD. 

I think the blossom drop problem is because it's too hot, which is infuriating because I thought tomatoes LOVED HOT. It's not even THAT hot yet (90's!). I should have done more research on which heirloom varieties do best in Texas, but I just didn't have that kind of spare time on my hands last January and I was such a newbie I didn't even know it was a question I should ask. 

So. I'm not really sure what to do about this, if there's even anything to be done. Should I shade the plants for part of the day? (As someone once told me I might need to do, as full Texas sun seems to be too much sun OMG THIS IS SO ANNOYING I CANNOT BE EXPECTED TO CONTROL THE SUN.) Should I water a crap ton more than I do? Should I cry a little? A few tears of tomato-grief, perhaps? I will do that, if someone thinks it might help. In my wildest dreams I did not imagine I'd grow these plants for four months and they'd get big and they'd blossom and then...refuse to set fruit. I figured if I made it this far the tomatoes would come on their own, as they are supposed to, but this appears to not be the case.

The cucumbers are blooming too, no cukes yet but they just starting blooming a few days ago. The okra is getting tall, but no blossoms on that either. The pepper plants are TINY still (about 8 puny inches), but they're blooming so I guess I'll have some quarter-size bell peppers later (wooo?). The basil is huge, though. The basil is my gold-star student. One million gold stars to Basil.

I'm constantly picking grass out of the beds, plus little shoots of Bradford Pear tree. The root system is still alive on the tree we cut down (otherwise the entire yard would have been shaded, which I am sure would also spell tomato doom, I just cannot win), and the tree is trying to survive but I wish it would just DIE already and stop growing in my garden. Seriously Tree, you're not going to win this one.

Comments

[little miss mel]

I am going to have a huge area to grow a garden next year and have no idea what to do. It seems I am going to fend of deer, let alone other normal critters. SOUNDS FANTASTIC.

I hope you get some tomatoes for all of your hard work! I had one or two grow for me last year. Quite discouraging to say the least!

[K]

Dude, that Bradford Pear tree is HAUNTING YOU. And also maybe being a little bit of a dick.

[HereWeGoAJen]

All my cucumbers died. Poor cucumbers. My tomatoes are doing okay, but they are the only thing really. And something is eating my strawberries.

[Meaghan]

Miracle Gro? I think you are organically minded, but I used it for the first time this year and it does help.
I am on my first real garden this year (tomatoes and peppers are not from seed and I have only three heirloom plants, some other veggies are from seed), but I have done tomatoes before.
It is so easy to get attached and heartbreaking when things don't work out. So I have been using the MG, sort of to ensure success so that I will be willing to try again next year. It is a bit of a labor of love because you can only control so much!
Also, I think I killed all of my carrots when I added mulch.

[Aferg22]

Just saw this today, and it made me think of you: http://blog.hgtvgardens.com/late-bloomer-why-wont-my-tomatoes-get-with-the-production/

Hope it helps!

[Natalie]

Micah says that you have to give it tomato food or it will never produce any tomatoes. I need to show you a picture of the tomato plant you gave me, then you'll feel much better!