Updates

Remember my post a few weeks ago, the one with the photo of a tomato flower. Well, that and all the other blossoms have been falling off!

You can't really see well, but that stem in the middle of the photo used to have a flower on it. It fell off!! Now the books talk about a "blossom rot" which has to do with not getting pollinated because of water and the cold and so on, but I don't think it's that because it's not cold and they didn't rot. They fell off. 

A lovely lady by the name of Dianne Craig provided me a answer. She is an expert at growing things and has worked at both nurseriesy and orchards for a good portion of her life. She said that it's too hot out. Specifically, it's too hot out at night. If the nighttime temperature doesn't drop below 90*F or lower, it's very hard for tomatos to set fruit. Now we know.

The pepper plant shows no signs of flowering. It looks pretty much the same, just a few inches taller with a few more leaves.

The basil plant is huge, about 2 feet tall and quite bushy.

The potato plant died. I think it was too hot in that black container and the leaves kept getting sun damage. Oh well. I plan on guerilla composting in the woods behind my apartment when it cools down a bit. The potato will be the first thing in.

Also, Nicholas brought me some mystery seedlings from the nematology lab. Some a more than likely tomatoes, I put them in with the pepper plant since they probably won't make it through the fall. Who knows. A few are cabbage/broccoli/brussel sprouts/cauliflower/kohlrabi/kale. If you didn't know, all those veggies are the same species, just superbred to look and taste amazingly different. If it's kale it could also be ornamental (super bitter) rather than eating.Who knows. Another one looks like a bean or pea to me, but I have no reason for that other than it's growing very straight. Nicholas thinks its violas. Who knows. The last one is a complete mystery. Only a few of the plant's true leaves are showing and they are still quite undistinguished. Nicholas think they might be pumpkin. Who knows.

I'll take pictures when I can and hopefully we'll unravel the mystery together!!