I did it to myself. My raised bed is only 4x8 feet. Ideally, I should have put only 4 tomato plants in the upper tier, and given up any thought of basil or peppers in the same space. Instead, I crammed seven tomato plants, 2 basil plants, and 3 peppers in the upper tier. The tomato plants have outgrown their cages. The tops have all flopped over and tangled together. I need to carefully disentangle the various stalks and either tie them to support stakes or mount a second tier of cages atop the first.
I did clear out the first foot or so of vegetation beneath so air and some sun can filter through and keep things from getting too moist. Need to do my every-few-days blight check. Remove any suspicious leaves and then spray with the bright blue copper solution.
A small harvest today. Four nice tomatoes that are either Crim, Cherokees, or some combo thereof. The damned things look alike--burgundy with green shoulders--but supposedly they don't taste alike. Crims are salty while Cherokees are supposed to be sweet. A couple of them are going to wind up in some pasta caprese this afternoon. I'll just close my eyes and pick two. My only fear is that they are a little under ripe.
Also picked two Romas. One is brilliant red and probably fine. The other may be junk because it has a small drill hole near the top. I'll know when I cut it open.
I also salvaged a couple of greenies that fell off their stalks while I was doing my George of the Jungle imitation amid the foliage. They're currently residing en sac de papier beneath the sink. They may be too young to ripen, but the bottoms were lightening in color so maybe not.
The heat returns tomorrow, but today is nice. Mid 80s. Breezy and partly cloudy. The last two nights have actually been cool, which has been a wonder. What is this thing called coolth? I do not know what it means.
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