Well, so much for frequent posting!

This has not been the best year for me, gardening-wise. I bought new dirt, it wasn't good dirt. So it's very clay-ey and the water sits down there around the roots....it doesn't drain well. I know for tomatoes I need well draining soil.

Apparently leaf curl is caused by too-wet roots? That is what I've read, and what Neil told me (gardening expert at work). My mom and dad said it may just be the heat, though. Who knows why a tomato plant does what it does? Even though I go outside in the evenings, when it's nice, and talk to them...they never tell me their secrets. Maybe after many years of gardening, I will be able to decipher their secrets myself.

The days have been really hot here, but the evenings are fairly pleasant. I slather on the bug spray and head out to make my rounds. Sometimes I do this in the morning, before I shower. If I can drag myself out of bed! It's really one of the most pleasing things about my day. I love looking at the plants, talking to them, moving them around. I get in really closely and examine the blossoms, turn over the leaves, feel them, smell them. I love the way tomato plants smell.

Anyway, enough poetics! What I seem to have here this year are plants that seem fairly healthy (although most are growing pretty slowly; not nearly the big bushes I had last year), but not much fruit at all! I have tons of blossoms, but they don't set on fruit. I wonder if our toxic environment is killing all the pollinators? Perhaps. Maybe it's too hot? Maybe I'm not patient enough. I did plant my tomatoes so much earlier last year, so by this time in 2007 I had tons of fruit already. So maybe it will happen...I just need to be patient.

I seem to recall someone told me I need to shake the plants to help them pollinate? I don't remember where I read that. Maybe I'll try it. Shake things up a bit. Heh, heh.