grow, marvel, eat, laugh, persevere

Saturday, July 28, 2007

I've Got News And I've Got Bad News

Isn't this the most beautiful broccoli you've ever seen? Okay, so maybe I'm biased but this is so damn cute, right? It's my first broccoli! YAY ME! After reading many blogs I noticed that most people seem to have already harvested their broccoli so I figured I just planted it too late. I actually gasped when I spotted this today. I finally got around to planting the strawberry pot. It's not nearly as cute as the lady's on the garden walk but I like it. I want to get some kind of stand so that it's off the ground. Also, the side ones are way too long for the pot. Can I just chop them off? Will they grow back? I need them to be shorter and closer to the pot.
What the heck happened here? I'm not having too much luck with my Big Boy tomatoes. I had one red one and the rest are just growing bigger on the vine and now beginning to crack.


Isn't this gross??? What the hell am I suppose to do with this? Pick it and throw it away? What about the rest of them? Should I pick them while they are still green and un-cracked and let them ripen inside?

I hope this is not caused by some neglect on my part.

7 comments:

  1. I'm not sure, but the cracks in your tomatoes may be caused by too much water. I had the same problem last year, and a friend of mine said that was probably what was wrong. I will certainly, however, defer to the wiser and more experienced commenters who wlil probably follow. This year I had whitefly carrying some sort of virus so my first plants all croaked. I have replanted and live in hope...!

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  2. I don't grow toms but I figured it was because of the watering too.

    Congrats on the broccoli.

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  3. Gina, I had the same problem with my first couple of tomatoes and I asked my mom. She said it was too much water, probably the heavy rains we were getting around then. It's tough to know how much is just enough and how much is too much water. Doesn't it seem like anything we do could kill our plants?

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  4. I've also read that inconsistent watering can be the cause. My tomatoes are doing the same thing. We've been in a moderate drought for a while, but we get occasional quick storms coming through that don't really give enough rain to be any good.

    I've tried to water every couple of days but I admit that with the heat, humidity and mosquitoes I have slacked a couple of times. That's when I started seeing cracked tomatoes.

    I haven't figured out yet if they are still edible or not. I'm going to pick one and cut it up to see how it looks inside. I'm hoping at the least I can cut around the cracked bit and use the rest.

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  5. marion - too much water seems to be the most popular culprit. Sorry to hear about your virus. Thanks for stopping by!

    MBT - the broccoli nearly bit the dust today with this Chicago heat. I may have spoken too soon.

    heather - my mom said the same thing. Have fun on your vacation!

    marvie - my mom said I could eat around the grossness too but I'm scared to cut into it for some reason. Can you let me know how yours looks when you cut into it? I usually get the boyfriend to try out very iffy stuff but there is no way he's gonna help me with this one. thanks for stopping by!

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  6. I have had cracked tomatoes in past years (usually due to uneven watering), but as long as there isn't any bugs or anything getting into the cracks you can just eat around it. Cut open the tomato and slice off the top part that is cracked. you may lose a chunk of tomato, but it is better than losing the whole thing!

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  7. AG Gina - thanks for the advice and thanks for visiting!

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