L'orto di Bruno [Bruno's Vegetable Garden]

As I do each year, I kept track of the tomatoes picked in the 2019/2020 season. In total, I picked 268 tomatoes this season, weighing in at just over 20.0 kg. This was not a great yield, but I'll take what I can get. I did not track tomatoes picked from individual plants, but rather only recorded variety and garden bed. The tables below summarise the crop.

Tomatoes by Location and Variety

Garden Bed	Variety	Total Weight (grams)	Number Picked	Average Weight (grams)	Number of Plants	Average Number Picked (per plant)	Average Weight (per plant, in grams)
Bed #2	Tiny Tim	134	23	5.8	4	5.75	33.5
Bed #2	Mystery Medium-sized	17487	197	88.8	18	10.9	971.5
East Side	Tiny Tim	25	7	3.6	1	7.0	25.0
East Side	Mystery Medium-sized	1468	33	44.5	5	6.6	293.6
Pots	Mystery Medium-sized	890	8	111.25	3	2.7	296.7

Tomatoes by Variety

Variety	Total Weight (grams)	Number Picked	Average Weight (grams)	Number of Plants	Average Number Picked (per plant)	Average Weight (per plant, in grams)
Tiny Tim	159	30	5.3	5	6.0	31.8
Mystery Medium-sized	19845	238	83.4	26	9.2	763.3

Today I transplanted tomato seedlings for the summer season of 2019/2020. I had enough seedlings for two garden beds. I put 24 seedlings in bed #2, and 6 seedlings in the bed along the fence on the eastern side. I also put 3 seedlings in pots.
Here's a rough plan of the tomato plants in garden bed #2 (refer map):

   [South]
[East] [West]
   [North]



      +-----------------------------------------------+

      |                              {Olive Tree}     |

      |                                               |

      |                                               |

      |                                               |

      |                                               |

      |                                               |

Row D |   D1      D2      D3      D4      D5      D6  |

      |                                               |

      |                                               |

Row C |   C1      C2      C3      C4      C5      C6  |

      |                                               |

      |                                               |

Row B |   B1      B2      B3      B4      B5      B6  |

      |                                               |

      |                                               |

Row A |         A1       A2       A3       A4         |

      |                                               |

      |                                               |

      +-----------------------------------------------+

Legend

Variety	Location(s)
Mystery medium-sized	B1, B2, B3, B4, B5, B6, C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, C6, D1, D2, D3, D4, D5, D6
Tiny Tim	A1, A2, A3, A4

Here's a rough plan of the tomato plants in the narrow bed beside the eastern fence:

   [South]
[East] [West]
   [North]



      +......+

      |      |

      |      |

      |      |

      |      |

      |  F1  |

      |      |

      |  E1  |

      |      |

      |  D1  |

      |      |

      |  C1  |

      |      |

      |  B1  |

      |      |

      |  A1  |

      |      |

      +......+

Legend

Variety	Location(s)
Mystery medium-sized	B1, C1, D1, E1, F1
Tiny Tim	A1

As for last year, all tomato seedlings grew from seeds purchased from a large supermarket. The pack said they were "Tiny Tim" seeds, although most of the seedlings that were of a different variety (refer last year's post for more details). Some seedlings also emerged spontaneously from tomato scraps discarded in compost heaps.

Elsewhere in my garden I planted silverbeet, parsley and basil. Also, rockmelon seedlings emerged by themselves from rockmelon scraps thrown into compost.

As I do each year, I kept track of the tomatoes picked in the 2018/2019 season. In total, I picked 1424 tomatoes this season, weighing in at just under 97.8 kg. This was my best tomato yield ever. Unlike past seasons, I did not track tomatoes picked from individual plants, but rather only recorded variety and garden bed. The tables below summarise the crop.

Tomatoes by Location and Variety

Garden Bed	Variety	Total Weight (grams)	Number Picked	Average Weight (grams)	Number of Plants	Average Number Picked (per plant)	Average Weight (per plant, in grams)
Bed #4	Tiny Tim	744	100	7.4	2	50.0	372.0
Bed #4	Mystery Medium-sized	13827	168	82.3	11	15.3	1257.0
Bed #5	Tiny Tim	2142	340	6.3	4	85.0	535.5
Bed #5	Mystery Medium-sized	76620	619	123.8	17	36.4	4507.1
Pots	Tiny Tim	1211	165	7.3	2	82.5	605.5
Pots	Mystery Medium-sized	3242	32	101.3	2	16	1621.0

Tomatoes by Variety

Variety	Total Weight (grams)	Number Picked	Average Weight (grams)	Number of Plants	Average Number Picked (per plant)	Average Weight (per plant, in grams)
Tiny Tim	4097	605	6.8	8	75.6	512.1
Mystery Medium-sized	93689	819	114.4	30	27.3	3123.0

After a long hiatus, I decided to start growing tomatoes again. Today I transplanted tomato seedlings for the summer season of 2018/2019. I had enough seedlings for two garden beds. I put 21 seedlings in bed #5, and 13 seedlings in bed #4. I also put 4 seedlings in pots.
Here's a rough plan of the tomato plants in garden bed #5 (refer map):

   [South]
[East] [West]
   [North]



      +-----------------------------------------------+

      |  {Mandarine Tree}                             |

      |                                               |

      |                              {Persimmon Tree} |

Row E |   E1       E2       E3                        |

      |                                               |

      |                                               |

Row D |   D1       D2       D3       D4               |

      |                                               |

      |                                               |

Row C |   C1       C2       C3       C4     C5        |

      |                                               |

      |                                               |

Row B |   B1       B2       B3       B4     B5        |

      |                                               |

      |                                               |

Row A |   A1       A2       A3       A4               |

      |                                               |

      |                                 {Lemon Tree}  |

      +-----------------------------------------------+

Legend

Variety	Location(s)
Mystery medium-sized	A1, A2, A3, A4, B1, B2, B3, B4, C1, C2, C3, D1, D2, D3, E1, E2, E3
Tiny Tim	B5, C4, C5, D4

Here's a rough plan of the tomato plants in garden bed #4 (refer map):

   [South]
[East] [West]
   [North]



      +-----------------------------------------------+

      |                                               |

      |                    { rockmelon plants }       |

      |                                               |

      |                                               |

      |    {  s i l v e r b e e t   p l a n t s  }    |

      |                                               |

      |                                               |

Row D |   D1   { s i l v e r b e e t  p l a n t s }   |

      |                                               |

      |                                               |

Row C |   C1     C2     C3    { silverbeet plants }   |

      |                                               |

      |                                               |

Row B |   B1     B2     B3      B4      B5      B6    |

      |                                               |

      |                                               |

Row A |                         A1      A2      A3    |

      |                                               |

      +-----------------------------------------------+

Legend

Variety	Location(s)
Mystery medium-sized	A1, A2, A3, B1, B2, B3, B4, B5, B6, C2, C3
Tiny Tim	C1, D1

All tomato seedlings grew from seeds purchased from a large supermarket. The pack said they were "Tiny Tim" seeds, but it was obvious that the majority of the seedlings that developed were of a very different variety. These "mystery" seedlings grew bigger than the actual Tiny Tim seedlings, and the fruit they ultimately produced was of a medium-sized, round-shaped variety. Not that I'm complaining, since I actually didn't want to grow only cherry tomatoes, but had to settle for the only seeds available at the time. I guess I got lucky :)

Elsewhere in my garden I planted silverbeet, parsley and basil. Also, rockmelon seedlings emerged by themselves from rockmelon scraps thrown into compost.

As I do each year, I kept track of the tomatoes picked in the 2008/2009 season. For various reasons, I haven't had the chance to report the yield results until now. In total, I picked 945 "good" tomatoes this season, weighing in at just under 57.5 kg. The table below summarises the "good" crop.

In addition to numbers picked, I've included the total weights of fruits picked from the individual plants. I didn't bother keeping track of the "bad" fruit - i.e. those that were diseased and thus picked early and discarded.

"Good" Tomatoes

Plant ID	Total Weight (grams)	Number picked	Average Weight (grams)
A1	745	10	74.5
A2	2235	18	124.17
A3	2090	18	116.11
A4	2325	25	93.0
A5	4050	42	96.43
B1	1645	21	78.33
B2	5115	44	116.25
B3	620	48	12.92
B4	4545	42	108.21
B5	5235	44	118.98
C0	109	9	12.11
C1	4035	37	109.05
C2	4710	55	85.64
C3	274	24	11.42
C4	4490	112	40.09
C5	2755	71	38.8
D1	1030	14	73.57
D2	2830	24	117.92
D3	1346	96	14.02
D4	3720	103	36.12
D5	3590	88	40.8
TOTAL	57494	945	60.84

This season was my second best so far in terms of total yield. At 57.5 kg, the yield was not quite as much as the yield for the 2006/2007 season (61.4 kg). The total number of tomatoes picked (945) fell well short of the total in the 2006/2007 season (1312). However, the average yield per plant was much better: in 2006/2007 I planted 42 seedlings, producing on average 1.46 kg of tomatoes per plant, while in 2008/2009 the average yield for the 21 seedlings was 2.74 kg. It's unfortunate that the heatwave in late January/early February 2009 brought the productive capacity of the plants to a premature end.