Tomato Plant Learning Curves

I learned a new word today: indeterminate. Apparently, my tomato plants are of the indeterminate variety!

Who knew?

Let me back up.

I have some beautiful tomato plants. Hardly a day goes by when I'm not on the porch, checking these suckers out, giving them a wink, and a "How you doin?"

I grew them from seed. They're tall, bushy, and leafy, they dance in the breeze, and they cast some decent shade.

They're a sham.

Not one tomato from these gorgeous tomato plants.

I gave them some time, some space, thinking surely they'd come around, they were just a little slow. I was patient. I was kind.

I was wrong.

Determinant plants are those which grow to a certain size, and then stop. This is why they're also referred to as "bush" tomatoes. They grow their fruit, and then die. They do well in containers. They would have been perfect on my porch...

 Indeterminate plants, on the other hand, just keep growing and growing... and growing. They are also called "vining" tomatoes, and can reach up to TEN FEET TALL. They require substantial support and are not generally recommended for smaller spaces.

*palm slaps face*

All those little words on the back of the seed packets have such big implications... don't choose tomato varieties based on the name... (I'm looking at you, Mortgage Lifter!)

My tomato plants have been solely focused on the growing part of life that they haven't had time for the blossoming and fruiting and traditional-nom-nom-tomato growing part of life.

So today, we pruned.

I picked two good stems on each plant, ones that were healthy and strong, with good little leafys, and the rest...

*draws finger across throat*

It's for the good of the plant, guys...

Though we're kind of back to the heartless plant killing feelings I detailed over here...

On the up side, my cucumbers are thriving. I've started two other vines, and they're winding their way all over the place!

We had some new friends move into one of the basil plants while we were out of town...

And I harvested a ton of lettuce, kale, and chard!

I started some more seeds a few weeks ago to see if we could get another harvest, and one of the lettuces and a few chards are still living, so that's a win.

I started a new basil too, to replace the one the doves overthrew. Can we call this coup a "coo"?

...

Ha...

(Like our little repurposed seed-starting container there? Drilled a few holes in the bottom, used the lid to catch extra water run-off... Gorgeous. Green. Thrifty. Please forgive my terrible pun from a moment ago...)

We also harvested the tiniest beet of all time...

And the saddest bell pepper (it's the one of the left... the one on the right I got at the store for $1.50. Ugh.)

Oh, I can now definitively say that the lavender is quite, quite dead. Remember kids, lavendar does not love water as much as you think it loves water. Treat it like rosemary. DON'T OVERWATER!)

BUT the wheatgrass is going strong! There's an entire post dedicated to that coming soon.

So, with our tomatoes pruned, our lavender dead, and our basil overthrown, we head into the Dog Days of Summer, with hopes and grand aspirations of a forthcoming harvest. Aren't learning curves fun?