What a Difference a Month Makes

The southwest tomato-pepper bed, on May 23 (left) and June 23 (right)

Well, this took one month, 16 Walls-O-Water and tomato cages, a few yards of black landscaping plastic, and twice-daily drip irrigation with organic liquid fertilizer.... And I deem this a highly successful garden experiment so far: every tomato plant in this bed is over 2 feet high and already bearing blossoms, and the peppers are well over a foot high and also bearing blossoms. Even last week's dessicating hot winds didn't slow these guys down; aside from a few "burned" leaves above the WOWs, everything looks great. Fingers crossed, I'll be harvesting AND selling tomatoes in another month or two, maybe alongside peppers and tomatillos for perfect homemade salsa!

Here's another interesting comparison: the photo at left shows plants in another tomato bed where some have WOWs and others don't (I ran out of money and had to space them out). What an incredible difference! These are the same tomato variety, in the same soil, on the same watering and food soup schedule, and the protected plants are more than three times the size of the unprotected ones. The unprotected ones look like most of the tomato plants I've had here in past years, stunted by chilly nights (even when it's 95 degrees at noon it could be 45 at 3 a.m.) and our brutal spring winds. The plants in the WOWs look like tomato plants I've had elsewhere, under much friendlier conditions. Again, fingers crossed that these actually bear fruit....