Barbara, The only time my first fruits aren't bland are if we have a heat wave in April and May. When we moved here from Texas in 1999, I was always happy to have the first ripe fruit in early to mid-June. Then I started experimenting and pushing the limits. After a few years of learning to combine early varieties/early planting and proper watering/feeding (as in not too much of either) along with covering the plants up on the occasional freezing night, I was able to start getting ripe tomatoes on plants in the ground by Memorial Day. Well, nothing succeeds like success, so then.... I started planting even earlier (early to mid-March in a year with cooperative weather), using fairly large transplants started from seed in January and was able to get ripe fruit on plants in the ground in April. While any home-grown tomato beats a grocery story tomato, the ones I pick in April are from flowers that likely formed in February or earliest March and their flavor is pretty bland. Having said that, I'd rather have them than not have them! Wondering if I could "use" the concrete patio that is attached to the detached garage/barn to heat up containers/soil and get even earlier tomatoes, I plant 6 to 8 plants every year in pots that sit on the concrete slab and soak up a lot of winter and early spring sunlight and heat. They also have a steel wall behind them that reflects sunlight and heat onto them. I don't start these plants myself because I can buy fairly good-sized transplants (often with blooms on them) in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex around Valentine's Day that are much larger than the ones I start in January, and I refuse to try to start seeds during on the holiday madness in November-December. From those transplants, I also get ripe tomatoes in April, but their hotter microclimate gives me better-flavored tomatoes. And, of course, if a serious late freeze threatens (as has been common here in 2007-2009), I can drag the large containers into the garage at night. I have tried to carry tomatoes very late into the fall, but their flavor does decrease significantly in November even if the weather is fairly warm, and I assume that must have something to do with the less intense sunlight and heat. So, I have become spoiled and expect my first ripe tomatoes in April. I had some ripe ones in April this year but their flavor wasn't as good as in previous years. I also consider it a fairly disappointing year if I am not harvesting oodles of them by Memorial Day from plants in the ground, so this has been a disappointing year. The harvest here is fine, but very late compared to most years in our garden. Still, at least we have plants that are producing ripe tomatoes and there's plenty of other gardeners who don't, especially some of those in the NE who are fighting constant rain and little to no sunlight or heat plus the development of late blight. I also understand the near-drought conditions in parts of the PNW have given some gardeners there the best crop they've had in years and I am happy for them. Arizona Sooner, One of the hardest things for all of us is that we have to "work with that we've got". For me, that would mean yucky clay soil (even when improved, it is slower-draining than most soils) and recurring drought. For some folks in NE OK it almost always means too much rain, especially at planting time. For Jay in SW KS, it means too many cold nights too late in spring and very, very little rainfall in recent years. For you, it means being away from home and relying on a sprinkler system. Maybe you'll be able to tinker with your watering schedule and figure out a way to make it all work for you. I certainly hope so. I know that a lot of hard work, effort, planning and dreaming goes into each garden and it is very disheartening when the produce doesn't taste as good as it should. Don't give up. After 'tinkering' with my growing methods for longer than a couple of decades, sometimes I still struggle to find what works best in different circumstances. The good years, though, far outweigh the bad ones. So, in the midst of a bad year, you know what we're all saying and thinking. It goes something like this....."There's always next year. Next year I'll do some things differently. Next year will be better." And, you know, next year usually is better! Dawn

Monster What, I saw what they offered and I just could not believe what they where offering the public @2.75 per plant I can go else where like my local nursey I will list it here as I live in Montclair CA it is in Upland Ca Mount Fuji in Upland they would never offer what I saw today total dissapointment in the Toms. but the Bellpeppers looked great and the hot chiles where also nice so if you like hot and bells that is where it was at and the best for those who wanted chilies and bells as to the tomatoes they where nothing more than young seedlings at best no problem here but for 2.75 a plant that is a stretch to the public who show up for these plants in droves then when you try to park they put up a sign 8.00 for campus parking lets get a handle on this the public gets charged 8.00 for parking cause the students might sneak in on a good thing or maybe this is just got to big for Fullerton College and the Arboritum to handle if so they need to co-ordinate this function as it right now it has gone far beyond the College and the Arbortium planning as the stock is gone by 12:00 of the first day of the sale and you have the volunteers saying" We have alot more this year give me a break produce more and better plants or just cut back and produce better stock for the public. Bill Bill Bill

Ahhh, I see. Al posts over on the Container Gardening forum and I did find several previous discussions there on his mixes. Plus 1 I linked below is on problems with the mixes with tomatoes. You might want to check it out. You can also contact him directly if you wish. But if you are just watering on some set schedule whether the plant needs it or not - gets saturated Sat and Wens. The plant has never been droopy or appeared in need of water. then you could easily be over-watering and that causes the leaf roll. As to the excess fertilization - if you lay off the fertilizers for a bit the plant will usually recover. You will loose the affected leaves but the plant itself will usually survive. Good luck with the plant. Dave Here is a link that might be useful: Al's mix and tomatoes? discussion

Saeweed emulsion? Or fish? Seaweed is about 0-0-4 or 1-0-4 NPK. PLUS you diluted it??? And fish is top heavy in nitrogen, usually around 5-1-1 or 4-1-1 NPK, a bad ratio for tomatoes to start with, unless Neptune's Harvest Fish & Seaweed, which has the best ratio for tomatoes, at 2-4-1 0r 2-4-0.5. Still, you are underfertilizing. The leaves you mulched with were using whatever N (nitrogen) to break down. Adding the mushroom compost, less than 1-1-1, is helping break the leave down, which will be great... for next year. Are your beds 'flat' or raised beds? I fell for that "veggie blend topsoil" or "compost & topsoil blend" about 10+ years ago when I made raised beds. Looks lovely dumped in your driveway... until it rains. That's because they shred it into the truck. When it rains & then dries, it's all one big "lump" again! If it's enclosed raised beds, treat it as a giannt container. Containers shouldn't use topsoil for optimal results. I ammended my beds every year since then with municipal compost, a couple more inches each year, which I BUY every year. I'm in the city and catch hell if I try to have a compost pile or semi-enclosed bin, plus besides driving 15-20 miles or so, it's only about $18 a load, (including tax), dumped into the back of my pickup. Or about $2.50 per large garbage can if I shovel it. (why bother?) I bought sooooo much compost over the last 5-10 years that my yard looks like landscaped sanddunes, but leveled out--the last 20 feet length of my yard is/was almost a foot higher than the rest of the yard! For root bound plants, the best way I have found is to blast the rootball apart with a hose. The roots will be hanging down by themselves when you go to plant it and you can plant them deeper too, and the soil will fill in around the roots and they will no longer be going in circles. To get tomatoes this year, if your temps are below 92 and first frost won't be until fall, you still have time to FERTILIZE REGULARLY (weekly with a high middle # fertilizer or tomato blend or bloom booster formula water soluble fertilizer, or every 5 days with a Neptune's Harvest fish/seaweed blend or Maxicrop seaweed powder) AND WATER WELL (regularly.) If fyou feel your soil is clayey, add lots of compost, which will also provide calcium, magnesium & sulfur. Heck, some of my plants didn't get into the ground (or 4 or 5 gallon buckets) until just a couple weeks ago. Some of my containers that got planted in June are starting to produce now. Just picked 4 Speckled Romans today and the pup/bed-tiller has been eating her share of Sungolds & Matt's Wild Cherries for the last couple weeks... Hope this helps.