The beginning of the end

Happy fall!

While my neighbors spent this afternoon mowing, edging, and blowing their lawns to impress the trick-or-treating neighbors (I just make sure there's nothing they can trip on, which usually means winding up the hose....and also -- doesn't anyone around here work??!), I spent today saying sayonara to the first tomato plants I ever planted from seed. Experiment officially over.

In August, I posted advice to myself for next year, specifically saying the following about tomatoes:

*Tomatoes can produce earlier in the season if started indoors before the Last Frost Date (LFD) of March 23rd. Same with peppers, squash, and other veggies. July 4th is my goal in 2008.
*To help prevent blossom end rot, amend finely crushed eggshells into the planting holes of tomatoes, squash, and pumpkins. "I will need a mortar and pestle for this," I keep telling Chris.
*Plant tomatoes ONE plant deep, leaving room for companion plantings such as basil and marigolds all around. It's too hard to harvest a messy tangle of tomato plants planted two deep.
*Cage tomatoes properly and early. VERY important!
*Prune suckers off tomato plants to help deter disease and pest problems.

I have a few more tidbits to add to my advice for next year's tomatoes:

*Be brutal with pruning tomato plants. No mercy!
*Thin fruit for best results.
*Clean up split and rotting fruit. Remember the swarming fruit flies? Yep. That's where they came from. And I need to wet down the compost bin.

Of course, I took before and after shots for comparison. Those are my favorite!

BEFORE + AFTER
Looking East







Looking WEST







The praying mantis in the peppers, last week and today. Same one - different colors! The second picture is blurry because it was doing the side-to-side swinging warning me of its disapproval of my proximity.