The spots started to appear almost immediately after planting. From what I've read, soil conditions in my area suck (Eastern PA...an hour north of Philly). So I'm thinking I need to add something to the soil but I haven't done enough research yet to figure out exactly what I need.
You could send a sample to be tested for a reliable starting point before you start supplementing. From what I've read good soil with plenty of fertilizer and not too much moisture helps your plants fight off blight.
This took less than an hour. The part I put in by hand took about a year. Holy crap. Like the amazon review suggested, I reinforced the frame/handles with hose clamps. I could have saved money and bought the cheaper ones...these were WAY oversized but they were in my hand and the tiller was in the other and I had work to do. Spoiler
El hubs is literally right now talking about buying me a farming sim. I can't tell if he is serious or making fun of me or both.
Spoiler The top ones are Brandywine. I can see why they are so popular with gardeners. So far they've set the most and have been the least effected by the blight or septoria. My orange variety are setting alright but have tons of terrible catfacing. Im going to look into better hybrids for next year for my orange and paste.
WOAH Kubla! Those look great! I may have to take a tip from you and try the Brandywine next time. I will have to read about that variety. What types have you tried throughout time and what were your favorites?
The Brandywine are ones my great Uncle kind of passed down to me. They are good all around for sauces and salsa, super sweet like you hear heirloom tomatoes should be. My favorite variety for taste are the second ones shown, the green zebra, which have always grown well and have a tangy citrus flavor. They are smaller on the size but big on taste and just look cool with the stripes. I'll grow the dark opal basil and make striking looking caprse salads with them. The paste tomatoes at the bottom are Opalkas. They had the biggest turn around as far as changing to the soil I got last year. Ill see how much the more normal schedule I have this year pans out as far as switching. They really do taste good but I hear similar things about the san marzano variety plus they are supposed to handle heat much better. I'd like to test out a few varieties of paste and orange hybrids. Find some that produce like the brandywine and are more tolerant to the humid midwest heat. Im sorry I decided against Purple Cherokee which I grew last year but ditched this year for room. They did well and taste good but I decided on the yellow variety just for looks and hopes of better setting due to a better schedule. The two or three, total tomatoes, I had from my 7 Aunt Gertie's Gold did taste good last year. Your tomato trees look awesome.
Just about the time the topic of blight came up on this thread, my tomato leaves started to look blighty. Hopefully the measures I've taken will halt that. I was pleasantly surprised that I had enough bricks to line the entirety of the new garden. 3/5 of the cuttings are in the ground (the others just don't have good enough root structure yet) and I moved some of the way overcrowded marigolds around so that each of the new tomatoes has their own companion plant. Spoiler I am really looking forward to trying out that method of soil building by planting a bunch of rye grass over winter and mulching it in. I bought 2 bags of topsoil to help out the new tomatoes out but can't afford to do that on the entire area. Tight spacing was my biggest issue this year but I don't think that will be a problem next spring. I had a pretty nice variety of goodies ready to come in this Saturday morning. I made an Asian inspired dish with the green beans, eggplant, and basil, used tomatoes and jalapenos for salsa, and used about 5lbs of tomatoes to make a homemade red sauce. The Juliets make an orange sauce. It's tasty but definitely orange! There is a picture from the last time I did a batch: Spoiler
We have one of those upside down hanger things for tomatoes. It seemed gimmicky, but holy shit: Works awesome!
I'm assuming he's referring to these. I used one a few years ago and they work pretty well if you're okay only doing one plant. If you want to do a bunch, you're better off doing it in a garden bed like you already are.
I made one this year with a cracked 5 gallon bucket. Its working ok but I really need to find a better place in the sun for it.
Went out to water my plants today to find the first deer of the season munching away. Luckily it was just eating my Hostas and not the vegetables and I think it had just gotten there as hardly anything was eaten. But now I have to find a cheap way to guard my vegetable plants. They destroyed my tomatoes last year.