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I've been really upset at my tomatoes. The poor plants never grew like normal tomatoes do. I started a nice new bed this year, and I put them in. So I was blaming the location. The plants are dying and spindly and these were plants that were purchased not ones I started. Some never even got past my knee and I'm only 5'2".

Well I finally was able to get out walking and went by the two gardeners in the area. Both of them are having the same problem I am.

I assumption is heat. We had a warm May, June was a record for the hottest June, and July is probably going to get the same. If not it'll be second.

I'm just sick over it. Also we aren't getting many green beans. They just won't grow.

it's the heat!

Mine that did fantastic last year are spindly and curling up and never set any new tomatoes when it started to get hot in June. Last year our tree bloomed and we had hundred of bees up there that pollinated things I guess. I trimmed the plants back and cleaned up things and maybe they will start growing again when it gets cooler. They are both purchased transplants and ones I started from seed. Hopefully the one heirloom that I put in will survive. It has one tomato on it now waiting to ripen!

Thankfully my basil is doing fine, the mint is growing, but the parsley croaked. I have to replant that when it cools down some. 110 and above doesn't do well for plants! My neighbor told me they won't set fruit when it gets over 75 degrees? Oh well, maybe next year it will be better!

Seems like you got all our heat this year, we have been very wet but not all that hot, so far. My tomato plants (store-bought) are doing fine, but not nearly as vigorous as the ones I start from seed most years.

One year I had a very hot summer and my tomatoes did poorly. I learned that you can pay attention to the varieties and select ones especially suited to hot weather. So the next year I got seed for those (a few different kinds) and they did much better the following year. It takes some research. A lot of the tomatoes people plant (Celebrity, others) are actually bred for cool climates and short seasons--growing tomatoes in Maine, etc. But if you read up you'll find which ones are "southern" varieties that thrive in heat.

In the past few years I've grown mostly heirlooms and these seem to do fine in hot weather, even though they aren't necessarily labeled that way. I think the old ones were more robust, just not always as disease resistant. There's always pros & cons!

i had some romas from seed and they didn't come up that way... a couple of early girls which usually do well but didn't this year and one pink brandywine heirloom which still has one tomato on it waiting to ripen. It's just to hot here for them to do anything. I have cut them back and if I can keep them alive till September they might come back! They have new growth on them. Next year I have to redo everything with new soil.....last year I had a cherry tomato and they all crossbreeded and I wound up with all cherry tomatoes so I will not buy those and NEVER plant them again!!!!!

I grew several varieties that I've grown before. It's just been extreme. Tomorrow brings more normal weather. Really this week hasn't been but slightly higher than normall. I'm hoping they perk up here.

I've never had luck with heirloom tomatoes.

Faith,

Is definitely the heat that's messing up with your tomatoes. My sister lives in Annapolis, MD, not too far from you, and she also is having a lot of trouble with her garden due to the heat. Not only her tomatoes but lots of the other veggies she planted wilted away or are not producing well. Even her zucchinis, which produced no matter what, didn't do well this year. She's very frustrated because she's new to gardening (I totally turned her into a veggie gardener this year !!!!) and a lot of what she planted this year didn't work out :/

I'm also not happy with my tomatoes but I'm having the opposite problem that you guys on the East Coast. This is the first year that we West Coasters have had no summer at all. It has been overcast here where I live since May. No rain and no sun....just plain cloudy all day long and in the mid/upper 60's for the past 3 months. All my veggies did well including cucumbers, zucchinis, spinach, okra, beets, potatoes, cabbage, eggplants and peppers but the tomatoes are driving me crazy. I planted them in March and 5 months later they are still green. I have lots of tomatoes and the plants grew large and healthy but they haven't matured yet. They are literally all green and I have 11 different tomato plants. They're almost 2 months overdue

Also you said you haven't had any luck with heirloom tomatoes. I got mine from Victory Seeds (http://www.victoryseeds.com from Oregon). I don't know if the company you get them from makes a difference but this was my first year growing them and besides the fact that they are not maturing they are doing great. They are all really old heirloom varieties and I grew them all from seed in my house. I didn't even acclimatized them when I transplanted them outside and they all did great and have been disease free so far so if I can grow them anyone can lol

This year I planted:

Colossal Yellow
Orange Banana
Tiger Tom
Red Stuffer
Russian Red
Red Brandywine
Extreme Bush
Malynovaya Grusha
Cherokee Purple
Purple Tomatillo
Tennessee Britches

A few fun pictures and how green my tomatoes are!!!!

The tomatoes are in the back....rest is zuchinni, herbs and eggplants.



Tomatoes in front....cucumber in the back











Zucchini, eggplants, green peppers, chilies and herbs



Figs



Seedless Grapes

i am jealous! Mine look sick...at least the basil is still okay and the swiss chard. Wish I still had the parsley, I miss that! They may keep growing in September, got some new growth on a few!

Nancy,

Great to hear your basil did well. I don't know what I did wrong but all my basil (italian large leaf, purple, lemon, thai and greek) bolted after only a few weeks. I got them all at a superstore here and they looked great when I bought them and they were fairly young and small but very bushy. A few weeks after, they bolted straight up and all flowered Now they're all skinny looking and full of flowers. Same thing happened to my parsley and dill.

The only herbs that are doing great are my thyme, oregano, rosemary and mint. Maybe I'll plant new basil and parsley in a more shaded area?

Storym, your pictures are wonderful. Cherokee Purple is just about my most favorite tomato. Hope yours will hurry up and ripen!

I grow my basil from seed, it's pretty easy. I plant it where it will get afternoon shade, which does seem to help slow down the bolting. I think, though, the problem with your plants is they were probably started too soon--basil kind of bolts on a schedule, from what I can see. In other words, it's going to bolt at some point no matter what.

Here's my technique for a big basil harvest--I wait until the plant is nice and full with lots of leaves, then harvest the whole plant, cutting it off 2 or 3 inches from the ground. The plant will resprout new stems and leaves, and it won't bolt until it's quite full again. So you have a chance to get 3 or 4 crops from the same plant, depending on your growing season. I usually get 3 big crops, then I let them bolt. The third crop can get a little thin, after all you've weakened the plant, so adding some compost or fertilizer helps.

i put my basil in under the awning for shade. Mine also all bolted but I spend much time cutting all the flower heads off and now they are doing great! Just cut them off above the last pair of good leaves!

oh my storym. You do have a ton of green tomatoes. You know they all will ripen at the same time Great for canning but what a pain for eating.

Tell your sis, that my squash is doing terrible also. They plants are small. I also had a hard time getting them to sprout. I thought I'd never get yellow to come up. I have never every had that problem. The plants did not eat big either. I feel for her because you go through so much work to get no return.

Gosh when I think last year I couldn't keep up with getting the tomato plants under control and picking them. Thanks for making me feel better.

My whole garden seems to be less productive than in previous years. Usually by this time we are eating almost 100% from the garden, but not this year. I do have some tomatoes that are doing ok. They are in the back and are heirloom varieties. But I have others in another area that are barely growing. My big zuchinni plant also died and I am waiting for the others to start producing. My cucumbers finally have small cucumbers on them, so I will have cucumbers in another few days. I planted a ton of green beans but mostly they just got eaten by bugs. I have some tigers eye which are the only ones that seem to be producing but I only planted a few of those.

Hpefully next year will be a better year. Maybe fall harvest will still be good!

Thanks for the tips Anna and Nancy!! I went ahead last week and trimmed all the bolted flowers from all my herbs. This week the Basil started to grow some new leafs so hopefully I'll be able to get one harvest off of them I'll also try to plant the basil in a more shaded area next year and see if that helps.

Faith, my tomatoes are still acting up. This weekend I was able to eat THREE tomatoes lol. They were the only ones that ripened. The rest are still all green but we're finally getting some daily sun now so hopefully the others will ripen soon!

lol..my one pink brandywine is now ripening....so that makes the most expensive tomato I ever ate...if it finishes ripening! When it cools off next month maybe they will come back. We had one cool week here and they grew like crazy and then stopped again.

I trimmed the other plants down to one third and we'll see what happens. I have to change the potting soil anyway this fall...

i give up....waiting for my heirloom to ripen. This morning it was fine, tonite i walked out there and the darn birds (the one in nest in our tree) took a big bite out of it. I picked it an brought it in to ripen...I will just cut off that part...they were just looking for water I guess...grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
well it was only a small bite!