Yesterday morning I helped my friend kit up 2 more quilts for her to take to AZ with her this winter. In the afternoon I sewed 4 more blocks of this quilt. Pattern info on this post. There are 2 blocks alike of each color combination and this is half of them, 5 more combinations to sew.
Last year I had 8 tomato plants and they were too crowded so this year I was only going to put in 5. I ended up getting 2 more and growing them in pots next to the raised bed. In the beginning of the summer they did great with way more tomatoes than I could eat so I shared with several people. Then it got too hot and the crop was little golf ball size tomatoes like 2 in this photo. The plants aren't full and bushy either. For about 3 weeks there were no new blossoms on the plants but finally they started again so I have a new crop growing. I was reading an article in the newspaper that noted the growing season wasn't ideal this year.
I didn't have much luck with my tomatoes this year either. I have one plant left in the garden that I transplanted from a container I had on the deck - one tomato on it - lots of blossoms, no fruit
Oh, what a great design! I planted three tomato plants in the patch that used to be our vegetable garden. Yield so far: one ripe tomato and one still on the vine. Like the Cubs, there's always next year.
....the reason for my lackluster vegetable garden is that we have a lawn service spray for weeds (without the spray our lawn would be taken over by Creeping Charlie). The spray prevents most of the vegetable blossoms from setting. I am considering making raised beds in hopes that the ground-level spray won't drift higher....
Such a great friend to be helping her kit up all those soon to be quilts!! How long's she gonna be gone? I LOVE the way your blocks are coming--such pretty colors together.
I really like your quilt design, those squares just pop. I'm not a vegetable gardener at all, my plants always looked beautiful but nary one tomato. Around here, the crops look fantastic, I hope when they cut it, the produce is plenty.
Hi Wanda.....How true that is. The tomatoes that were beautiful and giant sized before the intense heat set in were still large, but would not fully ripen and had yellow section inside. I threw a lot of them out until a friend took them for salsa. Also some little critters are climbing high up on the plants and nibbling all over the tomatoes. Not a good year at all. Love this quilt.
Here in the UK I started late. Tomatoes are in a greenhouse because our weather is so changeable. Unlike your plants we pick out the side shoots (bush varieties can be grown but not so good inside). The weather has been so hot that the flowers don't set very well. We are getting some, but the smaller sweet varieties are going great guns. The bigger ones I've had to pinch the tops out just for the fruits to get bigger. Outside is a gamble - we get blight at certain times of year which can be put off by spraying but I prefer not to. Just a thought - for Nann - how about putting a sheet of mulch over the top of the planting area with membrane to cut out the light from the weeds. Perhaps you've tried already. I've found vinegar helps kill off some nasties here. Any old vinegar will do!
I like this quilt pattern a lot and your fabrics as well. It will be a good quilt for a male or anyone who doesn't care for floral. I always thought our climate here in NE Ohio was pretty close to what you have in Illinois. It seems like our weather pattern is a day behind yours. This year was a great on for tomatoes and cucumbers here. We have so many tomatoes everyday that we can hardly process them fast enough or eat them or give them away. We had more cucumbers than zucchini from the same number of plants for each.
The growing season was far from ideal this year. Here in Alabama where tomatoes are usually over abundant, the pickings were slim this year.
ReplyDeleteI didn't have much luck with my tomatoes this year either. I have one plant left in the garden that I transplanted from a container I had on the deck - one tomato on it - lots of blossoms, no fruit
ReplyDeleteOh, what a great design!
ReplyDeleteI planted three tomato plants in the patch that used to be our vegetable garden. Yield so far: one ripe tomato and one still on the vine. Like the Cubs, there's always next year.
....the reason for my lackluster vegetable garden is that we have a lawn service spray for weeds (without the spray our lawn would be taken over by Creeping Charlie). The spray prevents most of the vegetable blossoms from setting. I am considering making raised beds in hopes that the ground-level spray won't drift higher....
ReplyDeleteSuch a great friend to be helping her kit up all those soon to be quilts!! How long's she gonna be gone? I LOVE the way your blocks are coming--such pretty colors together.
ReplyDeleteI really like your quilt design, those squares just pop. I'm not a vegetable gardener at all, my plants always looked beautiful but nary one tomato. Around here, the crops look fantastic, I hope when they cut it, the produce is plenty.
ReplyDeleteGreat blocks!! We had a bumper crop of tomatoes this year and then the raccoons found our garden. They demolished the crop.
ReplyDeleteHi Wanda.....How true that is. The tomatoes that were beautiful and giant sized before the intense heat set in were still large, but would not fully ripen and had yellow section inside. I threw a lot of them out until a friend took them for salsa. Also some little critters are climbing high up on the plants and nibbling all over the tomatoes. Not a good year at all. Love this quilt.
ReplyDeleteIntriguing quilt blocks. Growing here has been erratic, too.
ReplyDeleteLove the illusion created in this quilt.
ReplyDeleteHere in the UK I started late. Tomatoes are in a greenhouse because our weather is so changeable. Unlike your plants we pick out the side shoots (bush varieties can be grown but not so good inside). The weather has been so hot that the flowers don't set very well. We are getting some, but the smaller sweet varieties are going great guns. The bigger ones I've had to pinch the tops out just for the fruits to get bigger. Outside is a gamble - we get blight at certain times of year which can be put off by spraying but I prefer not to.
ReplyDeleteJust a thought - for Nann - how about putting a sheet of mulch over the top of the planting area with membrane to cut out the light from the weeds. Perhaps you've tried already. I've found vinegar helps kill off some nasties here. Any old vinegar will do!
I like this quilt pattern a lot and your fabrics as well. It will be a good quilt for a male or anyone who doesn't care for floral.
ReplyDeleteI always thought our climate here in NE Ohio was pretty close to what you have in Illinois. It seems like our weather pattern is a day behind yours. This year was a great on for tomatoes and cucumbers here. We have so many tomatoes everyday that we can hardly process them fast enough or eat them or give them away. We had more cucumbers than zucchini from the same number of plants for each.