Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Basil: Good; Cherry Pie: Good, Tomatoes: ???

So a while ago I wrote about my new plants: four tomato plants, four basil plants, and how ridiculously excited I was about them. Well, since that time, they've grown leaps and bounds. For example, if you look at the size of the basil plants in the last post, you'll see that they were probably only six inches tall. Here they are now:

And! That was after I had pruned off a bunch of leaves with which to make a yummy basil walnut spread (mmmm!). The basil is growing by leaps and bounds, is delicious, and brings me much joy (unlike the parsley plant you see in the corner of this picture which is dying a slow, painful death, but that's another story).

Another thing that brings me much joy, is the cherry pie I made the other day. Here's a picture of that, because I'll pretty much take a picture of anything, and this is a pie, one that actually turned out despite my inept-ness at making pie crusts:

No, the bottom crust is not the prettiest I've ever seen, but I made it myself and it tastes good, so that's what really matters, right? The top is a yummy sugary crumble crust and there are gooey delicious cherries inside. Also pictured, my new ceramic pie plate that I love, but you can't really see too much of that. Unfortunately the pie is no longer as pretty and is more than half gone. The last time I looked at it before tonight (2 days ago) there was one tiny piece that I had eaten missing. Well, I am reassured that Aaron really likes it because when I uncovered it tonight I was shocked by how much he had eaten since then. Not that it's a bad thing, just that I love when he loves my food, and he really loves this pie.

Anyway, on to the tomato plants. Here they are:

Beautiful, no? They're even bigger than that now, and this picture was just taken two days ago. Unfortunately if you look closely you should notice something important missing. Yeah, it's not flowering at all. You know, not producing anything that will lead to fruit, a.k.a. the plant's sole purpose in life. I'm pretty bummed that it's not doing anything but gaining height when everyone else that I know who has tomatoes planted already have little green fruit dangling from their branches.

So, how do I fix this, or is there anything I can do to fix this? I wanted to stay organic and not use fertilizer or bug spray. There doesn't seem to be any bug problem - the leaves are thick and full without any telltale holes. It gets plenty of sun and water, just like the basil plant. It just won't bloom. What am I doing wrong? If you have any suggestions, please leave them in the comments. I just can't figure it out - why would such a big, beautiful tomato plant not produce anything resembling fruit? Help!

2 Comments:

At 7/12/2006 11:24 AM, Blogger Sizzle said...

i've really got to get around to planting. your basil looks great!

 
At 7/12/2006 11:01 PM, Blogger Another Chance Ranch said...

Okay, you are going to think I am crazy. LOL Oh well! Here goes. Get a broom and beat them. Don't break them or anything, but beat them up a bit. Our neighbor swears by it. And she has tomatoes growing out her ears! :) She is not the only person that has told me that before.

Good luck!

 

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