Cherry tomato has withered. Comparing to the last year, the reasons are clear

The windy and heavy raining day last week, the cherry tomato I had grown on the balcony withered. I knew that it was not so in good shape, but it withered as I watched in a day.

Cherry tomato gave more than 100 harvests every year from one plant, and this is the 6th year that I grew. I thought I had already learned everything about how to grow cherry tomato. But.. this was happened first time for me.

Reading back the cultivation diary and comparing to the last year, I see clearly the reasons why the cherry tomato withered.

	2020	2019	Reflection points
Seedings	No flower	Some flowers	Better to choose seedings with flowers for better growing
Planting time	May 18	May 3	Must plant in early May
Frequency of liquid fertilizer	Every week	Every other week	Liquid fertilizer is sufficient once every two weeks
Weather	Lack of sunlight	Enough	It can’t be helped

I suddenly noticed. It was me who didn’t do things that I could have done for improvement. If I thought a little, I could have known.. but I compromised the selection of seedings, I missed the planting timing, and I gave liquid fertilizer every week without consideration. These show that I didn’t care about cherry tomato so much.

I didn’t know myself, but I noticed that I was too busy from May to June. During the Golden Week (early May consecutive holidays in Japan), I devoted myself completely for launch of this website, and in June, I needed to handle the private settlement due to rear-end accident. I didn’t have time to take care of cherry tomato. I regret.

Even though the cherry tomato has withered, it is still alive and give fruits even in small quantity.

Then when the remaining fruits become red, I will pick them all and the plant will be disposed.

Photo diary of cherry tomato

From here, the photo diary of this year’s cherry tomato. Comparing the photos, I realize that it has changed drastically in a short period since the time when the cherry tomato looked shining and growing.

Every year, we plant nastatum and basil with cherry tomatoes. This is recommended as we can enjoy flowers and herbs before the cherry tomato bears fruits. This combination is also excellent for companion planting that help each other grow well in the same flower pot.

The first flower bloomed on May 30, about two weeks after planting. We don’t normally pick side buds. In this way, we can have more quantity of tomatoes, though the size of each is varying. This increases daily fun to pick tomatoes a little bit.

When the flowers are gone in a few days, there already are small tomatoes. When the first fruit begins to swell, it is time to start liquid fertilizer. Every two weeks, give it around the base when watering. Be careful not to give water and fertilizer too much.

Plants are strange.. they sometimes represent their gardeners’ emotion.

The withered cherry tomatoes may had quietly accepted my busy days.