Never count your tomatoes until they ripen

In a blog post back in May, I mentioned that we bought 5 small tomato plants and I have been keeping them on the balcony.  When I looked at those pictures, I realised now that they certainly have grown.  They are very tall now, almost as tall as me!  I didn't want to plant them outdoors since the weather might not be too kind to them.  I thought that if I planted them in the balcony, it will be much easier to care for them.  And yes, it sort of worked.  They are tall now but it wasn't as easy as I thought.

healthy looking plants

At the beginning, I watered them every day.  They were placed by the window and so they got plenty of sun.  I read about using leftover tea for watering plants and I tried that out.  At first, it seemed like the diluted tea worked.  The plants grew taller by the day and whatever leaves that sprouted were so healthy and green.  I was more excited when lots of small, pretty yellow flowers began to bloom.  Every day, a whole cluster of flower buds seemed to have appeared.  I kept counting the flowers and eventually I found that there could be at least 25 flowers on each plant.  Wow!  I'm going to have lots of tomatoes if this keeps up, I naively thought, thinking that all of the flowers would turn into ripe tomatoes.  I was so proud of the plants and so confident that I was going to harvest lots that I gave one of the plants to my mother-in-law.

the clusters of small yellow flowers

a close up of the flower

Within a few weeks, the flowers began to turn brown and wilt.  Some of the flowers dropped off and a tiny green tomato would be there in their place.  I got more excited.  Yay, the plants are bearing fruit!  Each day, more and more tomatoes began to appear.  Pete and I would often go to the balcony to count our tomatoes and we would find at least four tiny ones on each plant and more wilting flowers.  That was at the beginning of July.  I was thinking that the tomatoes would be ready in a few weeks.  How long does it take to ripe anyway?  The peas and beans took just days to be ready for harvest after blooming.  So I was very pleased with their progress. 

Then, I started noticing that the leaves at the bottom of the plants were beginning to turn brown.  Then the tomatoes seemed to take much longer to grow bigger.  The first tomato to grow big had some small black spots at the bottom.  Something didn't seem right.  A few days after that, I found that that tomato grew bigger but the spots grew bigger too until the bottom of the fruit  turned black and looked like it was rotten.  So I consulted the internet for solutions.  I found out that the condition is called blossom end rot and it could be due to too much water or nitrogen. 

fruit with blossom end rot - all from the same plant

I had been watering them twice a day when I noticed that the days were getting very hot and the balcony trapped all the heat.  I thought they needed a lot of water but when I found out about blossom end rot and when more new tomatoes began to show signs of that, I went back to watering just once a day.  It was only on days when it got too hot and the leaves began to wilt that I would water them a bit more.  I had to remove the diseased tomatoes and thought that the plants would grow as normal after that.  But three more tomatoes began to show the signs of the disease again.  And all of them were from the same plant. 

I stopped watering them with diluted tea and soon the plants began to grow as per normal albeit very slowly.  I scrutinised each green tomato and luckily didn't find any more black spots.  But more and more leaves began to turn brown and die.  I got even more worried when there didn't seem to be any more tomatoes growing and those that were already there didn't seem to be growing bigger.  The biggest one looked very green and ripe and I thought that it would not grow any more and would turn red soon.

Days and weeks passed but it still stayed green, though it began to look a bit lighter green.  I got dejected and thought the plants are all dying and that I was going to lose all them.  I watered them once daily and hoped for the best.  I didn't look at them much and I gave up counting the flowers and fruit.

Then two weeks ago, the biggest tomato began to look like it was blushing.  The bottom began to look a bit darker and the day after that, it finally looked like it was ripening.  Three days after that, it was fully ripe and looks so nice and red.  I was delighted but didn't want to celebrate or eat it too soon.  What if that was the only tomato we would have?  I wanted to save it for a really good dish.

a very ripe looking tomato - our first one

Last week, I was making pizza and thought about using the tomato on one of them ( I made four).  But I changed my mind and decided that we should just eat it off the plant.  When the pizzas were ready, I plucked the really red tomato off the plant.  It came off easily.  I brought it to the table and cut it in two.  The bottom was a bit black.  Maybe we left it too long on the plant.  I cut the rotten part away and gave one to Pete.  We each had a mouthful and wow, the flavour was better than any store bought vine tomato.  It was juicy and very sweet.  I guess you could say you could taste all the effort and care I put into the plants.  Too bad it was the only tomato we could harvest.                    

the yellowed leaves

After that, I still continued to water the plants.  I could see more tomatoes growing but I was really concerned about the yellow leaves that were dropping each day.  But last week, there was a growth spurt.  Over night, it seemed like the tomatoes that were already there were beginning to get bigger and more small tomatoes were appearing.  And yesterday, the biggest one looked like it was blushing.  Yay.  Another tomato is ripening!  Maybe the plants are surviving after all.

Today, I counted 22 tomatoes on the plants and I could see tiny ones developing.  I am not going to get overly excited and leave them to grow and ripe at their own pace.  I have since found out that the fruit need a lot of heat to ripen and maybe the cool, damp weather a few weeks ago affected their growth.  Any how, I have learnt my lesson.  I have learnt that gardening is no simple feat.  It's not just about sticking seeds into the soil and watering them daily.  I have to read up and learn about each plant to make sure I give it the best care.  Not all plants have the same water, fertilizer, heat and light requirements.  And I have learnt that no matter how much effort you have put in, we are still at the mercy of the weather.  So, I need to just chill and enjoy whatever that I have been bestowed.