my soil is not really sandy but i would say about 50% sand. the weeds seem to love it but the grass dose not. oh well just means i have a dirt yard with 2 white dogs that are never white. when i orginaly tilled the 20X 20 area i put in 10 bags of the organic mulch. and thin sprinkled a cup of the organic blood meal around the 20x20 area.. i then planted and dug iragation so as not to spray water on the leaves. and poked holes in down below the roots so the water could get down there and minamising the watering i have to do. its worked great so far. i guess i just need to ad some pots and phos to the soil. and be cadful beacuse of the holes i have to the roots or i could burn them. and test the soil. thanks again for all your help.... next year i'm going to do things diffrent extending the garden 30x30 make it lazania type layered thing. and see how that works. of course the ball and chain will just be oh look at how nice it is i cant belive we did all of that sitting in her chair drinking her beer while i'm doing all of the work... oh well

Go to your nearest Home Depot or other big box and buy some Arizona's Best Fertilizer and apply some. It might be considered too late to fertilize but you are in Glendale and your walls should retain some heat in case of colder weather. Also, some iron chelate would be useful. Don't bother pruning, it isn't recommended for citrus unless you have dead or diseased branches. I think you are having leaf issues since the tree is devoting a lot of energy to fruit production. Citrus are very heavy feeders. Arizona's best isn't real expensive (considering you are renting) and is formulated for our soils. Hope this helps and greetings from Tucson! Houstontexas123 asked some good questions. Any other questions, just ask!

Sheri, The blossoms themselves have nothing to do with blossom end rot. It is really just a physiological problem involving calcium uptake, and the blossom has nothing to do with that--once the fruit has set, the blossom is just "an innocent bystander". You can pick the blossom off after a fruit has formed, but it won't have any effect either way. I think you and I both should be VERY grateful that our plants are alive and producing in this wild and wacky weather, because it appears we are in the minority who are having success. One of my "old rancher" neighbors stopped by to see me yesterday. He said he was being nosy and just wanted to know how my tomatoes were doing. I told him that it was a rough year and that I was getting ripe tomatoes, but not as many and not as early as in previous years. He told me that "no one" in Love County was getting any tomatoes at all---well, that is, except for the two of us. He ran down the long list of tomato growers we both know, and some that I don't know, describing what was wrong with their plants or what had happened to their plants. He described the plants of one of his friends who farms down on sandy river-bottom soil as being totally defoliated ("not a single leaf") and wanted to know why. I told him I assumed they were in high water underground since he was so close to the river, and that the leaf drop was a sign the plants weren't going to make it. He said that was what he thought too. He then asked me what I was doing with my tomatoes, and I told him we'd been eating them. I told him I made a big pot of spaghetti sauce earlier in the week, and a big pot of tortilla soup later in the week. He asked if I made them with my green tomatoes, and I told him I used ripe ones. (I didn't really understand his question----was he trying to imply I didn't have ripe tomatoes?) Anyway, I think maybe he was hoping I would offer him some of our ripe tomatoes---but I didn't. I have plans for them, and I know he IS getting ripe tomatoes, so I am not giving him mine. What I think he REALLY wanted was for me to give him 5 or 10 gallons of ripe tomatoes to take and give away to all his farmer/rancher buddies who have suffered a tomato crop failure this year. I did that in 2004, but I am not giving as many away this year because I feel like the harvest could cease anytime, especially if the rain continues. So, there you have it....I am being selfish and stingy and not giving away tomatoes this year, and I am unapologetic about it. In the good years, I give away hundreds of tomatoes, but in the bad years, everyone else is on their own. After what I have had to go through to get this harvest, it is not walking out the door with someone else. Isn't that a terrible attitude--I am NOT usually like that. I really cherish each and every tomato I get this year, though, because it has been such a hard year and a large harvest is not guaranteed. With six inches of rain since Friday evening, I am afraid my plants are in serious trouble. Watch your plants---they can go downhill VERY fast at this point. If the yellowing progresses rapidly up the plants, you can take cuttings from the healthiest foliage at the top of the plant and root them in water or soil. In just a couple of weeks those cuttings will provide you with new plants in case yours decline/die quickly. I have gone from a garden full of semi-healthy plants to a garden full of dead plants in about a month's time in very rainy weather. Once the sun comes out and begins stressing plants already stressed by excessive moisture, early blight and other problems gather steam like a fast freight train. Dawn

Hi I'm in Colo and my friend who lives in Denver planted Cherokee Purples along with a ton of other heirlooms last year. Of course most of the heirlooms aren't always as productive as hybrids but she had a wonderful crop and the CP was one of her favorites! Another friend of mine in Boulder had an awesome turnout with her Brandywines--that's all she planted, 30 brandywines and each plant had tomatoes falling on the ground. She couldn't keep up. Colorado weather is as you know often unpredictable and weird but I've always had success with any tomato I've ever planted here. I've heard great things about Kellogg's Breakfast but I've never planted or tasted it. Maybe next year, I've got my hands full with too many seeds as it is. Good luck!