I've been waiting for my tomato plants to bear fruit for a few weeks now. I was getting frustrated because the plants started flowering when it started raining in Singapore. At that time a few bees started to visit the balcony, but the crazy rains chased them all away. The flowers eventually just wilted.
I did some research and found that if you don't have bees visiting your plants you need to hand pollinate them. I tried first using small cotton buds, but it didn't work. It took a few weeks before I was able to obtain a small paintbrush. I immediately tried using it last week and got a huge surprise today.
I went to the balcony to prune the cucumber plants. I decided to check on the tomato plants first and do some hand pollination using the paintbrush. I was so surprised to see a tiny fruit on one of the tomato plants. It was one of the first flowers I hand pollinated last week. I was so giddy I patiently worked on the other flowers. I hope they would bear fruit too!
Gardening has been a way for me to cope during this pandemic. I read several articles saying that gardening helps with ones mental wellbeing. Back in May I was having a hard time coping and was so stressed. I started gardening when we moved to our new place. It started as an experiment because I wanted to know whether store bought tomatoes would sprout when planted. I was ecstatic when they sprouted.
I have about 15 tomato plants I'm taking care of now. They all came from just one tomato I sliced one boring afternoon. That time I only had one pot and all the sprouts eventually shared the tight space. It took time for me to get additional materials and I'm thankful the tomato plants stood by me. They reached this point also because of Sweetie's support -- he made sure they were watered early in the morning. Thank you Sweetie!
And don't you just love this meme? (Not sure where this originated... let me know in the comments!).
I write more about my gardening journey on my other blog - The Balcony Farmer!
CB//106 #StuckAtHomeDay/136 #WFH77 #StayHome #BeKind
I did some research and found that if you don't have bees visiting your plants you need to hand pollinate them. I tried first using small cotton buds, but it didn't work. It took a few weeks before I was able to obtain a small paintbrush. I immediately tried using it last week and got a huge surprise today.
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| The first fruit! |
I went to the balcony to prune the cucumber plants. I decided to check on the tomato plants first and do some hand pollination using the paintbrush. I was so surprised to see a tiny fruit on one of the tomato plants. It was one of the first flowers I hand pollinated last week. I was so giddy I patiently worked on the other flowers. I hope they would bear fruit too!
Gardening has been a way for me to cope during this pandemic. I read several articles saying that gardening helps with ones mental wellbeing. Back in May I was having a hard time coping and was so stressed. I started gardening when we moved to our new place. It started as an experiment because I wanted to know whether store bought tomatoes would sprout when planted. I was ecstatic when they sprouted.
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| My tomato plant row. Hope some of my friends can adopt some of the plants :) |
I have about 15 tomato plants I'm taking care of now. They all came from just one tomato I sliced one boring afternoon. That time I only had one pot and all the sprouts eventually shared the tight space. It took time for me to get additional materials and I'm thankful the tomato plants stood by me. They reached this point also because of Sweetie's support -- he made sure they were watered early in the morning. Thank you Sweetie!
And don't you just love this meme? (Not sure where this originated... let me know in the comments!).
I write more about my gardening journey on my other blog - The Balcony Farmer!
CB//106 #StuckAtHomeDay/136 #WFH77 #StayHome #BeKind
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