Tomato not doing well

I wonder if it's alright to keep using my little vegetable garden because the area being cultivated is big. It is not too big to be called a farm, but definitely it's way beyond what's normally referred to as backyard vegetable garden  here in Malaysia. I was tempted with the luxurious space the moment we set foot here last year. The garden design is ambitious. However time available to do gardening is limited. So some plants, some corners are not receiving adequate attention.

It's our tomato now, second generations because seeds used were taken from ripe tomato of the first planting early this year. The leaves don't look too good. I am not going to pull out yet. Lets see how far the current tomato will go.

tomato

tomato, leaves a bit brownish - not good

I would be lucky   if the plants survive.

bangchik and kakdah

johor

Tomato in noodle soup

Finally our own tomato ended  in a nice juicy noodle. The satisfaction is a lot more than a similar noodle with tomato bought from the market. There is a lot more to gardening than just just germinating, planting and harvesting, and if I can share here, gardening is like a classroom teaching about emotions, strategies, problem solving, handling success, coping with failure, thankfulness, multi-tasking, short term and long term planning, social engagements and more and more.

The second harvest of tomato wasn't great with 5 sizeable tomatoes. Two ended in noodle soup, one for me and one for kakdah. It was the best noodle on earth ever!

Tomato second harvest

Tomato second harvest

The best noodle soup on earth!

It was special, as we ate slowly taking our sweet time, taking twice the length of time we used to finish a bowl of noodle. How we play around with the tomato in the mouth, pushing it to one side and another, refusing to swallow, describing the taste and remembering the journey that particular tomato had to take.

bangchik and kakdah

Tomato, sweet kakdah said

It is sweet in the middle.

 That's the way
Kakdah describes the recent harvest of tomato.

tomato in a bowl : pic1

tomato in a bowl: pic2

tomato in a bowl: pic 3

tomato in a bowl: pic4

tomato in a bowl : pic 5

Three plants to start with,  one  died of wilting within the first month, the other died also of wilting with tomato already formed. Only one survived to the end. And this is the first harvest of six tomato. I am expecting another harvest within a week or two. The ripest tasted quite sweet kakdah said.....

bangchik and kakdah

johor

Tomato, three but one is wilting.

It is more of the limited space to grow plants and the intention to try out as many vegetables as I can, that it ended up as only three tomato plants this season. Many germinated, more than a dozen...., I let them stay in germinating tray for a week, until I am sure those transplanted on the ground grow without problem. That has always been the case with seedlings, there will be extra, and eventually end up as mulch.

I am trying something special as stakes. Electrical conduit cut into 4 ft lengths. They are equipped with caps, to avoid mosquito breeding in the conduits.  It would be nice, if conduits come in all sort of colour, green, orange, blue.....

Tomato: three tied up to electrical conduits. [31.1.12]

Tomato: buds already appearing [31.1.12]

Tomato: White hairs protecting the young buds. [31.1.12]

Tomato: tiny buds  on  third tomato plant [31.1.2012]

Conduit: with cap on 

Conduit

.
.
One tomato plant wilting

Today, out of a sudden one wilted. Kakdah noticed that while walking through the garden to the cloth lines. She texted me this " satu tomato udah layu..." or one tomato had wilted.   I have seen this before, tomato plants deciding to end early, without signal, wilt, dry up and die over days. At the beginning, it looks normal wilting during hot weather. When only one plant suffers out of many, definitely that is not normal hot weather wilting......

Tomato wilting  [3.2.2012 at 2.30pm] 

Three tomato plants to start with, 

one is already suffering from verticillium wilt (I think) and 

with spare seedlings all gone into compost heap, I am already thinking what to do with soon to be empty spot.... kale?, onions?, zinnia?, marigolds?......[ these are little seedlings waiting to be transplanted on designated locations.]

bangchik and kakdah

Pasir Gudang, Johor

Tomato tears of joy.

No rain last night, so  the air was dense and heavy. In the morning  I saw tears of joy, crystal clear , so beautiful. Tomato must be happy indeed to last this long. It's like saying "Thank You". Both plants are doing alright, no wilting, with pear shaped fruits......

tomato, ripen happily, and the tears of joy.

tomato on another plant

When the skin of tomato is cool, the moisture in the air condenses on the surface, and as the air gets warmer, it will evaporate to where it comes from. Its  more of tears of joy than dew.


Earlier post:

•  June 23, 2011    Tomato in two pots

bangchik and kakdah

Tomato in two pots

This is the first attempt with tomato over at the new garden in Tanah Merah. The approach is different. Over in Putrajaya Home, they were grown in the ground, once a while I will put one or two in container. I have been so familiar with growing vegetables in the ground. Container is a different ball of game.

Now we have two growing in brown ceramic pots, watered five times a day automatically. I wasn't very consistent with fertilizing lately. I sprayed EM lavishly  three days ago. It will be fun to see if EM can spring them back to better fruiting.  The two  are bearing thumb-sized tomato now...., and more will be coming.

tomato

tomato

the two potted tomato

tomato

bangchik and kakdah

Tanaman dalam pasu: sekali imbas

(First time I put the whole piece in Malay language. Its about growing plants in pots / containers)

Bila orang mahu bergiat dengan tanaman, selesanya jika mula dengan pasu. Disitu kita berjinak, memahami ragam pokok, tanah, air, baja, sinaran matahari, serangga perosak dan cuaca. Kemudian bertambahlah koleksi pokok dan pasu.


Kebanyakan pasu yang kami gunakan adalah jenis plastik sebab ringan dan murah. Pasu seramik pula boleh dibeli dalam pelbagai bentuk, saiz dan warna. Koleksi pasu seramik Kakdah tidak banyak, tidaklah sampai beratus. Namun ada pasu seramik Kakdah yang sangat besar, hingga tak terangkat.



Kami menanam sayur ditanah dan dalam pasu. Pasu tetap menarik, sebab boleh dialih-alih mengikut cuaca dan citarasa.

 pak choy
Pokok ini menarik sebab cepat cambah dan tumbuh. Target awalnya hanyalah untuk peroleh 10 pokok sahaja. Waktu semai, dilebihkan biji benih dalam pasu semaian.., sekitar 5,6 biji dalam satu pasu semaian kecil. Kesemuanya bercambah, dan tidak sampai hati untuk buang anak pak choy yang lebih itu. Tidak mengapa, kami boleh makan pak choy hari-hari, pagi dan petang! Kakdah tidak pula merungut bila kesemua 55 pasu disusun atas railing verandah kiri dan kanan.

(foto dua hari lalu)

pak choy,  dalam pasu 4 inci.  semuanya 55 pasu.

(foto hari ini, gambar jam 5.30ptg.

 hari ini Kakdah selang selikan pasu, 
katanya kerana daun dah memanjang,
bersentuhan antara satu sama lain. 
Itulah fleksibiliti tanam sayur dalam pasu.

Stevia

Asalnya ada tiga pokok sahaja yang dibeli dari sebuah nurseri di Kelantan, RM5.00 satu.  Kami berterusan melakukan percambahan. Kini ada hampir 100 anak stevia. Target masih tidak berubah, iaitu 1000 anak stevia dalam tempuh setahun.

Salah satu pokok stevia hasil percambahan, dauntenya manis macam gula.

tomato

Ini cubaan pertama di Tanah Merah, dengan tomato cherry. Benih diambil dari lebihan tomato yang Kakdah guna untuk masakan.  Semainya banyak, yang nak ditanam cuma dua sahaja, jadi selebihnya letak dalam polybag hitam. Setakat ini yang dalam polybag pula lebih subur dari dalam pasu.

anak tomato dalam pasu seramik besar

anak tomato yang lebih, ada 5 semuanya. sebagai spare.

daun sup

daun sup

Ada banyak lagi sayur dan pokok dalam pasu, Antaranya sambung nyawa, mulberry, kucai, kangkong, kunyit, halia, bawang putih, bawang merah, pudina, oregano, basil, dan macam-macam lagi. Saja wujudkan hijau di sekitar rumah, untuk sedikit keselesaan dalam hutan konkrit, dan untuk segarkan nostalgia pernah hidup dalam kehijauan suatu masa dulu.

                  bangchik dan kakdah,  tanah merah, kelantan.                                    

Veggie Updates: lettuce, pak choy, and the rest.

Pak Choy still in tiny pots.

Pak Choy is relatively easy a veggie to grow, that they germinate quick, in chorus, as if the seeds agree among themselve to wake up with preset alarm clock.  Putting two or three granular organic fertiliser help the tiny seedlings to strengthen the stem and roots. Yesterday, all of them were transfered to bigger pots.
Sowing:  10 April 2011 

Germinating: 14th of April 2011   - (first pair of leaves)

Transplanting: 23th of April 2011 - (second pair of leaves)

Pak Choy

a row of pak choy at the verandah

pak choy in red pot

pak choy in black pot

Lettuce

Lettuce in  long container, 4 each

Five lettuce in white pots

Lettuce is an achievement. Luck was not always with me, all this while. Once, they had germinated well, but somewhere along the way dried up and died. Not this time..., extra care was taken to ensure that, they survive to the end....... Not many, just 8 in two long container and 5 in medium size white pots, so 13 altogether. Somehow lettuce has biological clock identical to Pak Choy, they germinated at the same time and the timing of new leaves emerging is identical too.

Sowing:  10 April 2011 
Germinating: 14th of April 2011   - (first pair of leaves)
Transplanting: 23th of April 2011 - (second pair of leaves)



Earlier post:

• Germinating, Lettuce, pak choy April 16, 2011

bangchik and kakdah

Tanah Merah

Learning tomato varieties.

They were once little seedlings fighting for sunlight and spreading tiny roots in little pots. They are now at three different locations. A group of 4 plants is happy with the whole vegetable to themselves. The second group is squeezed close to the existing trellis of winged beans. Another two is in a large pot.

These are photos of two plants in a large pot. 

The fruits are no really round, a little bit oval, almost plum shaped. They have slight pointed end.

the first tomato to turn orange. It will soon be red.

the ripe tomato, from another view

a cluster of tomato

another cluster of tomato

another cluster of tomato


These come from plants grown on vegetable bed.
another type of tomato, the size is a lot bigger than the first, almost like pumpkins. The fruit doesn't form clusters. The majority is single, and that would naturally helps tomato to grow big.

Tomato: almost like pumpkins

Tomato: a view from the top

Tomato, a close-up

Now I am beginning to pick up terms like heirloom,
hybrid, globe shaped, oval shaped, plum shaped.
The expert can identify the variety with full confidence.
I am not.



bangchik

Tomato, one after another

the tomato,
star of earth, recurrent
and fertile
star,
displays
its convolutions,
its canals,
its remarkable amplitude
and abundance,
no pit,
no husk,
no leaves or thorns,
the tomato offers
its gift
of fiery color
and cool completeness.

 Pablo Neruda - Ode To Tomatoes

4 new tomato plants, 
just transplanted on the raised bed. on the left is the bushy flowering and fruiting winged beans. On the right is a single okra, basil, coleus, halia (ginger) and  kunyit (tumeric). The four stakes are of light weight bamboo brought here from Sitiawan, Kakdah's mom place.

another two tomato in pots, 
already flowering and staked with bamboo.

four matured tomato plants on raised bed. 



They look healthy but rather lanky due to shady environment.
The plants are flowering , with little fruits visible already. Two bigger plants are planted earlier. The other two younger plants awere added later to replace a plant that had wilted.

many more young seedlings 
ready to grow anywhere in the garden.

Because tomato is easy to germinate,
it is handy to have them ready intermittently,
so that tomato plant is always in the garden,
one after another.

bangchik

Another go with Tomato.

The other day, we were talking about getting tomato seeds in a different way which we never tried before. Kakdah used half of a juicy tomato for cooking and let the other half in a plastic cup. After a couple of days, the tomato became soft and watery with a hint of early decomposition. I just squeeze the whole thing in a bowl. The seeds are separated. The very same night, a few seeds were placed in pots for germination. They didn't take long to sprout... I could see the white tips of the roots coming out the next day. Once they achieved the second pair of true leaves, I put them on the vegetable bed. The vegetable bed was the site for compost heap for almost a year. It should be fertile enough for the little plants I suppose..

four little tomato seedlings sprouting.

Tomato seedlings
they were transplanted on vegetable bed 
after the plants had completed their first true leaves.

Tomato seedlings: 4

viewed from the other end, very early in the morning shown by the long shadows

tomato: 3 plants

the latest photo was taken around 6.00 pm, just before watering.

The soil looked dry. Now there are three little plants. 

One of the pair in the middle was pulled out.

I dont know the variety. 
It is the normal variety sold in Carrefor Putrajaya vegetable section.

bangchik