I have 5 nice size tomatoes growing on our plant now and the a few baby bell peppers are beginning to peek out at us too. The other day I went to the Fabric shop and bought some sturdy netting to help build a cover over the tomato plant so the birds can't eat them this year. Hopefully this will work. As I was telling the Sales Lady who was cutting the yardage on my netting about using it to protect my tomatoes....she told me another woman had come in a few days before me and bought some for her blueberry plants as the birds were eating the blueberries that were blooming forth from them. I hope this is working for her and I sure hope it will work for us too.
Boy, Babs, am I envious! We still have some snow on the ground and our soil is too wet and cold to even work it. I have a large greenhouse with raised tables that I have used for years to grow beans, herbs, and tomatoes. I went over there a few days ago (since the snow has gotten shallow enough to walk through without snowshoes) and discovered that one corner of one of my beds has collapsed. I will have to empty it and reconstruct the table. Do your birds have good access to water? I don't grow a lot of tomatoes outside but we always grow a few plants outside, and the birds have only bothered them in very dry years when they pole holes in the fruit to get the juice inside. Blueberries...and strawberries, currants, and cherries are a different matter. They will eat them all if given the chance. Good luck on sheltering your crops from the wildlife.
We keep two bird baths full of water daily. My Honey is really good about refilling them if they get anywhere near empty as we like to see the birds play in the water too. Last year was the first year we had any problem with our tomatoes being eaten and we found out it was only the Mockingbirds that were doing this. I'm hoping this netting will take care of the problem.
Well I'm got my netting around my tomato plant which now has six tomatoes growing. Hopefully the Mockingbirds will not be able to eat my tomatoes this year.
Something I have never had is birds eating my tomatoes. What I have had down my allotment for the last few years is tomato blight. It normal hits in early September so I just strip all the plants before then. "Allotment" is land I rent off the local council to grow all my veg.
Tom, try to find blight tolerant or blight resistant tomatoes. In September, it should be Late Blight. I don't know what varieties are available to you, but here is the U.S. there are plenty available varieties that will resist Late Blight. You could also spray with a fungicide or Bordeaux Mixture.
Even though my tomatoes turned red without any birds eating them...none of them ended up being good for us to eat. They were not the type I usually buy and every one that turned red was mushy and marred in one way or the other. This is the very first year I have had a bad tomato plant and growing tomatoes that aren't even good enough for us to slice and eat. I could have left the netting off and just given these to the birds for sure. In fact, I threw them in the flower bed around the oak tree and right under the bird feeders so maybe the birds will eat them. It's disappointing because I love home grown tomato slices on sandwiches and would have loved to put some on the burgers we are doing today. But it is not to be... On the other hand our bell pepper plant is doing producing good bell peppers and I have already been using some of them in our meals. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose...but either way there is always next year to try again.
You could have always made tomato jam with them, or used them in cooking something. When we go to the farmer market and they are selling out the blemished ones cheap, then I buy them and use them in jam or sauce or something.
We harvested most of the beets Sunday. Had enough greens for a couple of meals and put more than 4 cups of puree in the freezer. Not too bad for just a handful of seeds left from last year. Our asparagus bed is overgrown with weeds and asparagus getting too big. I've been too busy with other things combined with a lack of desire to get started on it. Peas, tomatoes, and cucumbers are looking good so far. Okra is just getting started.
Do you remember the variety name? Varieties vary a lot in taste, especially the heirlooms. Also, tomatoes require magnesium and potassium in the soil to develop taste, so dissolve some Epsom salts in water (try 1 tablespoon per gallon to start) and water your plants with it. See if that changes the taste. My tomatoes are just getting started, so you might find some plants in a nursery on sale that might give you a harvest later in the summer. In Louisiana, you might have to heavily mulch them to keep the soil cool enough for the plants to grow well.
Don I have been growing tomatoes for years now and until last year I never had a problem with them. Last year the Mockingbirds decided they were going to eat my tomatoes. This year I bought Early Girl because they did not have the Big Boy or any of the other varieties I have bought in past years. Even though I am doing all that I regularly do...this plant is evidently a lemon and I have taken the netting off of it and the birds can have it. I'm not going to worry about getting any more tomato plants this year as our Landlord says he has plenty of plants and will bring us all the tomatoes we want. That's how it is with the folks over here....we all share with each other. Next year I will find my Big Boy again.
We can't normally grow the long-season tomatoes here, so we have to settle for shorter-season varieties. I normally grow heirlooms, but sometimes grow hybrids like Early Girl. People who have lived their entire life in Alaska have no idea what good tomatoes, sweet corn or watermelons taste like when they are home-grown. I envy you the long growing season, but not the summer heat.
Have you thought about having an Aerogarden , or something similar, to at least start some of the longer-season veggies inside ? I use mine with the starting tray to start veggies inside, and then transplant them into containers when it is warm enough weather for them to be outside. I also grow cool weather crops inside during the summer when things like lettuce cannot be grown outside anymore. My daughter, Robin actually grew her tomatoes to full size in her Aerogardens, and the ones she had were good flavored. Some of the ones she grew were heirloom, like the Cherokee Purple, which is her favorite. I like that , as well as the Black Krim; but this year, I didn’t start any heirloom ones, I just bought small packs of started ones at Walmart, and planted those, and started other things in the Aerogarden, and in the Kratky jars.