Sorry, this just cracks me up...lol

Tomato Plants Not Fruiting as Expected?

Many folks are experiencing trouble with fruit set on their tomatoes this spring, at least in Texas. There are a few contributing factors to this problem this year, some out of your control, some not.

What I'm noticing is that anyone that planted their tomato transplants after March 15th are the ones having the most problems. We've had a very cool wet spring this year and temperatures have not been great for flower/fruit production. Also, we went from 50F days straight into 90 degree days...also not condusive for fruit set. Folks that got their plants in the ground before March 15th had more time for plants to develop on schedule. This is why I always encourage gardeners to get their tomatoes in the ground BY March 15th. Waiting for "bad" weather to pass to plant your tomatoes is almost always a recipe for minimal fruit set. Plant your tomatoes early and keep some frost cloth on hand to protect them from frosts.

Also, I've spoken to several people that continued fertilizing their tomatoes through this cool spring, even though flower/fruit production had not set in. Too much Nitrogen before flowering/fruit set will only continue to encourage lots of green leafy growth...not flowers and fruit. You should fertilize your tomatoes at planting time and then wait until you have baby fruits setting on the plant. THEN start fertilizing about every two weeks through harvest.

Fruit set this year, due to weather conditions, will also vary by variety. Some varieties that are more temperature sensitive won't yield as much this time around. Troopers like 'Sapho', however, should still perform pretty well.

You can reference this older post of mine for more specifics on temperature and fruit set for tomatoes.

I'm obsessed with all the new lovely Coneflower (Echinacea spp.) varieties on the market these days. I wrote a feature on them this spring for Neil Sperry's Gardens magazine and have planted many in my own garden. Here are a couple of my favorites in bloom right now...

Echinacea 'Secret Lust' - a lovely pom pom bloom with peach to pink blooms

Echinacea 'Tangerine Dream' Large orange blooms with burgundy center

Here is a short video of me inspecting a hive up at the garden center.

So this chicken naming thing can really consume a lot of one's mental energy. As I so often do with pets that I have to name, I picked a theme for these gals. I figured why not go with some rock n' roll chicks I like? Sooo...Please meet:

Stevie Nicks (because she has pretty hair, and she's a softy)

Kim Deal (because her colors totally ROCK and she's a bit of a heavy drinker)

Joan Jett (Cuz she's the leader of the pack and well, she wears all black)

PJ Harvey (She wears all black too, but she's HELLA CRAZY. Seriously. Fitting for the Cuckoo Maran, eh?)


And and older photo of Rickie Lee Jones. She was too off doin' her own thang for me to get a good photo of her today.

This one here? Well folks, I'm afraid this one is a boy (black chest feathers on faverolles). So for now, we shall just call him Francois. Francois the Faverolle.

Last night we transported our beehives home from Josephine,TX, about an hour outside of Dallas. I also set up two hives at North Haven Gardens in the large vegetable production garden.

Here are a couple of shots of our home hives. They've expanded so much that they'll be getting honey supers put on them today. I'll also put their sugar feeders on. I'll post more shots later as I inspect the hives so you can see what goes on inside them. So exciting!

Went out to the bee farm this past weekend to check on the status of my hives. Here are a couple of shots of me going through my brood boxes (I have 4) to look for my queens.

Beehive frames
PC: Leslie F. Halleck

Here is a shot of one of the brood boxes. After about 2 months, they've managed to build comb and lay brood on about 4 frames. It shouldn't take them much longer to get to the 8th or 9th frame, at which time I'll put on a honey super.

Leslie inspecting her beehive brood box
PC: Leslie F. Halleck

Here's me opening up another of the brood boxes. While the hat and netting are a must, I think I'll be losing the gloves pretty soon. They are just too cumbersome, especially when trying to pick up the heavy brood frames gently so you don't drop them.

Now I'm checking each frame to look for the queen. At this stage you want to make sure the queen is healthy and laying brood properly. Unfortunately, one of my hives was missing their queen. Something either happened to her due to weather or health, or the hive killed her. They were already raising multiple new queen cells, which is bad news. So all the new queen cells will have to be killed and a new queen introduced to the hive this week.

Checking a frame for the queen
PC: Leslie F. Halleck

Babies first time outside...April 2nd...The canine girls are most curious...Photos of the girls at 1 month coming soon..