A couple days ago I had an accidental death in the Aerogarden 6 Elite Plus (AG6E+), my right-hand cherry tomato plant got all wilty and dropped all it’s leaves, collapsed and lost the tomato crop, strangely, the left hand plant is still going strong, I think it’s immortal…
So, I gathered up the fallen green cherry tomatoes, fried 'em up on my cast-iron skillet, nice and tasty, tangy and puckery, and set about replacing the fallen tomato plant with another one
Thing is, I’m getting bored with small cherry tomato plants (well, aside from my 3" tall Micro Tom that has a good half-dozen almost-quarter-sized tomatoes growing), this time I wanted to go BIG, the 6E+ has an extended arm that goes up to two feet high, and I wanted to use that extra height
So, the day I lost the cherry tom plant, I stopped off at my garden supply store and picked up a small pot containing two Couer Di Bue Italian Oxheart heirloom tomato plants, the fruits on these plants can be anywhere from half a pound to two pounds PER FRUIT!
It’s an indeterminate, pole type tomato, so I will have to perform regular prunings on it, and I will be rooting those prunings to plant in dirt, or maybe compost them, pruning will be neccesary to keep the plant under control
I soaked the root ball and meticulously cleaned the dirt off the roots, planted them in the 6E+, there has been some minor, expected transplant shock, the lowest branches have wilted, but the rest of the plant is responding quite well to it’s new, nutrient-rich hydroponic environment, both plants had developing flower buds when I bought them, and today, the flowers opened to full bloom, HUGE flowers, about the diameter of a nickel, and has a solid, heavy ring of anthers surrounding the stamen, I have a feeling this one’s going to produce some BIG, tasty 'Maters
Just in case these established plants don’t take to the AG, or turn out to get too big, I stopped back at the garden center today and picked up some Cour De Bue seeds that I can start from scratch in the AG, if I take a Cour that’s been grown from seed in the 6E+ and prune it after the fifth true branch has emerged, it will keep it stocky and have it throw off more side shoots, making it a bushier plant, and not as vine-ey, I also picked up a packet of Pineapple tomato seeds (2Lb fruit) and Black Krim (1 to 1.5 Lb fruit) seeds
I can grow the smaller, determinate tomatoes in my standard-height AG6 (12" hood height), and put the big monsters in the 6E+ (and grow them outside)
I want to be able to make my own pasta sauce this season, amongst other things, fresh tomatoes, Lemon Basil, Oregano, maybe a little Rosemary, some fresh bell peppers, banana peppers onions and mushrooms, make it a nice, chunky, hearty sauce (my mouth is already watering…)