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Dear Gardening web site members -

Lily from the Polish culture site - I've got some problems with Italian Plum Tomatoes and also an Italian Squash which is deep green on the outside - six to nine inches long - and a yellow flesh.......I understand it is a delicacy in Medit cooking.

Question:

I've got Italian Plum tomatoes the size of a baseball - but still green - do I pick these and let them sit and ripped up on the counter??

I've got Italian Plum tomatoes the size of a golf ball - getting red and redder............do I leave these on the vine to get bigger - or do you pick them and that's it as far as size.

Why the different sizes before they rippen??

Some of the Plum tomatoe plants are in large containers and showing the best fruit...........Plum tomatoe plants directly in the ground......coming along, showing some fruit, but not as good as the containers.

I've got Italian Squash - Green skin with yellow flesh..............none yet, but the vines are probably twenty feet long each - taking over the yard really, but not getting deep orange/yellow buds.........maybe a couple but I'm wondering if this Florida heat is stopping them from producing..............the leaves are as big as backet balls - deep green - and the plants look healthy except for the leaves nearest the planting site - which are start to get a little yellow, as if to die.
This 'starting to show buds - has happened before - but no fruit showing.



Nursery in our area, just south of Daytona Beach Florida, told me that Florida is having a really bad year for tomatoes with the rain and humidity and exsessive heat.........mine looking great, but as far as bearing fruit.....as above - big green plum tomatoes or small red plum tomatoes.......???

Last question:
I'm assuming Basil needs plenty of sunlight - why do the leaves change from a bright healthy green - to starting to turn a light tan - is this too much light - water - ???? the basil is in pots.

Same question for Italian flat leaf parsley.

This is my second year - and having a really good experience with the plants - much different than last year with the five hurricanes.................

Would appreciate advice and direction here or email address below..........whichever is easier for you.


lily
lzcuchet@aol.com

I would not pick the tomatoes green and try to get them to ripen up. It seemed like forever before our tomatoes ripened, but they eventually did. Patience!! I have read that they are ready when they fall right off the vine into your hand when you touch them. I have a hard time deciding how red is red enough and we have a few tomato plants that you really have to twist the tomato to get them off the plant. Don't know if I was very helpful or not. Maybe someone else will come along that can answer your questions better.

Thanks Conniem..... lily here.....will wait on the tomatoes till deep rich red color..........

I expect that the different sizes on the same plant is kind of a genetic thing............

Also, I'm thinking seriously of pruning the runners on these squash plants..........I mean they are twenty feet long and growing.........all over the lawn.........

I feel like Jack in the Beanstalk story

thanks for taking time to write

lily

LOL Lily, you would be Jackie and the squash stalk. Hope you find that goose that lays the golden eggs! (or was it a duck? I hope that is the correct ending to that fairy tale! I am kind of rusty on fairy tales.).

Our plants have different sized tomatoes on them except for our roma plant it seems. Our plants are starting to die off. They have had enough of the heat. It is supposed to cool back off into the high 80's here. It will be nice to have a break from the triple digits.

Jackie....

When the Rome Tomatoes start to die off - does that mean it's all over...........pull em out of the ground and start all over...........or does this mean as the weather cools they start up again.

The squash has got me fooled - I just don't know what to do - maybe there are no bee's...........???
Plant is almost twenty feet long - I even had to finally prune the runners or they take over the yard......the leaves are like elephant leaves - well maybe not that big, but certainly bigger than a basket ball width.........but no flowers - but the plant is very healthy and deep green.

I did notice, at the area I originally planted the seed, the vine is getting a deep green...........say for one foot out. Then the vine is lighter green and very hairy......you can see the places where the flower wants to grow - plenty of what looks like "closed buds" - but not opening - and not flowering!

lily

My hubby rips the plant up when they start to die off, but waits until he picks all the ripe tomatoes off. It is too cold in the winter here for replanting anything once fall comes. But if you have mild winters you could go ahead and plant new tomato plants when you notice your plants are looking tough.

Technically the garden is his domain and my part of the yard is all the flower areas. In 3 days he has already worked more than 40 hrs so then I GET to go in the garden and water or harvest. He is just too picky for me!

We had problems one year when hubby planted the squash and zuchinni too close together and they cross pollenated. We called them squakinni. They were inedible. They looked like squash but were green. Sounds like your squash is very healthy. Maybe it didn't get pollenated. We have never had the squash not produce.