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Why did that tomato plant come back to life? And other 2018 surprises

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Kathy Morrison PUBLISHED NOV 14, 2018

Black Plum as of Nov. 10 still had ripening tomatoes.

(Photos: Kathy Morrison)

Lessons to apply to the next season, which isn't that far off

Since no one is doing much gardening this week, what with the bad air quality and all, I thought I'd look back on the past tomato-growing season and make notes for next year.

The seed catalogs start showing up in December, and nowadays I try to start seeds in late January or early February. I don't want to scare you, but that's just a little over two months away. So here goes:

When you grow two dozen varieties of tomatoes every year, you expect a few surprises.

You hope they're delightful ones, but even the hard lessons are worth it. They inform the next season, which will have its own surprises. That's why I could never be a farmer; the surprises can be costly.

Of the varieties I grew this year, six were new to me: Atlas, Big Mama , Black Plum , Egg Yolk, Sunny Boy and Wild Boar Beauty King . Big Mama was the best of the bunch, a productive red paste tomato that was two to three times the size of normal ones. It's going right into the starting rotation.

Sunny Boy, a golden mid-size tomato, and WB Beauty King, a gorgeous bicolor from heirloom tomato hybridizer Brad Gates, did well enough for me to try again.

Egg Yolk, a yellow-gold cherry, was a complete dud. When the tomatoes looked ripe, they were a bit mushy, unlike the reliable Sun Gold and Sun Sugar types. As the weather got warmer, they stubbornly clung to the vine, splitting at the top when I tugged on them. Who wants to use pruners to pick cherry tomatoes?

Atlas was another dud, and not just in my garden. Master Gardener Gail Pothour of the Fair Oaks Horticulture Center reported it also didn't produce there. In both cases, the plants were in pots, mostly because Atlas was touted as a reliable large red that grew on a compact plant. Nope, not going there again.

Black Plum was the surprise. At the height of summer, with temps daily hitting three digits, I was sure that plant was dead. I had planted it with the others in late April, and it had produced some small brownish/purple plum tomatoes. Nothing exciting, but then most black tomatoes have a reputation for not liking extreme heat. So much for that experiment.

But I didn't take it out in mid-summer because my dependable First Prize plant was all wrapped around it by then, and I was afraid I'd damage the red hybrid if I started chopping.

These Black Plum tomatoes were harvested in early November.

So there Black Plum stayed. And the weather gradually cooled, and I kept watering the plants in that segment. They greened up a little, and the spider mites disappeared, and the plants greened up some more. I noticed yellow flowers appearing, then tiny green tomatoes. OK, whatever, I thought.

But then I came back to the garden after a trip near the end of October. Black Plum was covered with gorgeous ripe tomatoes, larger than any it had produced earlier in the year. And two weeks later it still has ripening tomatoes on it.

Note for next year: Black Plum just might be the perfect tomato to grow in Sacramento's fall.

Now, do I start those seeds in February or wait until late spring? Hmm, sounds like another experiment in the making.

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Flowers in My Back Yard Series

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Aug. 18: Pollinators adore scabiosa, aka pincushion flower

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June 23: Easy-care gazanias fill those hot corners

June 16: Daylilies are perfect for water-wise gardens (and a lot more)

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May 26: Zinnias are the summer flowers every garden needs

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May 5: Mums the word on Mother's Day weekend

April 28: Majestic Matilija poppy is worth a look

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March 10: Keep camellias happy for years to come

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Garden checklist for week of Aug. 16

During this break in the heat, feed your garden. Make sure to water before and after applying fertilizer.

* In the garden, direct seed beets, carrots, leaf lettuce and turnips.

* Plant potatoes.

* Harvest tomatoes, beans, squash, pepper and eggplants to prompt plants to keep producing. Give your plants a deep watering twice a week, more if planted in containers. Also, give them a boost with phosphate-rich fertilizer to help fruiting.

* Watch out for caterpillars and hornworms in the vegetable garden. They can strip a plant bare in one day. Pick them off plants by hand in early morning or late afternoon.

* Feed citrus trees their last round of fertilizer for the year. This will give a boost to the fruit that’s still small.

* Mulch can be your garden’s best friend – it conserves moisture while blocking out weeds. But don't let mulch mound around stalks, stems or trunks. That can promote rot.

* Camellia leaves looking a little yellow? Give them some chelated iron. That goes for azaleas and gardenias, too.

* Pick up after your fruit trees. Clean up debris and dropped fruit; this cuts down on insects and prevents the spread of brown rot. Then feed fruit trees with slow-release fertilizer for better production for next year.

* To prolong bloom into fall, feed begonias, fuchsias and container plants. Always water before fertilizing.

* Fertilize fall-blooming perennials, too. Chrysanthemums can be fed until the buds start to open.

* Prepare for a fall full of flowers by paying a little extra attention to your garden. Cut off spent blooms from roses, annuals and perennials, then give them a boost of fertilizer. Make sure to water plants before feeding. Roses will rebloom about six to eight weeks after deadheading.

* Indoors, start seedlings for fall vegetable planting, including bunching onion, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, radicchio and lettuce.

* Sow seeds of perennials in pots for fall planting including yarrow, coneflower and salvia.

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