Sort of. Of my first 14 plants, 2 tomatoes and 2 canteloupe plants are
still thriving (one other tomato plant is still alive, but very wilty and
most of the leaves have browned). And, one of the tomato plants has three
little baby tomatoes! I know for the rest of you, this would be a poor
harvest, but I'm pretty impressed with myself :-)! I have still more
blossoms on both tomato plants, and at least one blossom on one of the
canteloupe plants, so I'm hoping for the best!

Thanks again for all the help and guidance I've received!

rona (Zone 3)
--
"Do not meddle in the affairs of cats, for they are subtle and they will
**** upon your computer."
--Bruce Graham

Good job!
The longest journey begins with the first step!

I started out growing tomatoes in pots on a porch in college. My "garden" if
you could even call it that, actually got stolen one night! all the people who
laughed about the tomatoes and peppers, well, someone ate them up. the really
funny thing about it was that I had a hybrid orchid sitting right next to the
damn tomatoes that is worth about $300, and they left it there. The stupid
tomatoes cost like $3 for the whole deal!

Why are they wilted? poor soil? not enough water? too much water? salt build
up?

For me (and I've only been at this for a couple of years, but my success is
increasing) is to take some mental notes of your situation, then see what you
can do is improve it.

If you're really new at it, (or an old hand for that matter), pick up "Square
Foot Gardening" by Mel Bartholomew (ISBN 0-87857-341-0). The method is
amazing, and if you follow like 20% of the advice, you're in excellent shape.
For whatever $17 it cost--well worth the cost. Another REALLY good one is "How
to grow more vegetables than you thought possible" by Jon Jeavons (spelling?)
Unfortunatley I lost it in the move somewhere, no other data (other than the
fact that I'm going to buy the next copy I see). It's really an amazing work,
and goes seriously into companion planting, spacing, composting, and all the
other stuff that goes into organic gardening.

most of all, think about the fall. My only advice here is to add AS MUCH
ORGANICS AS YOU CAN FIND! Last fall, I was able to trade out a couple liters
of home brew for 2 pickup trucks full of horse bedding. I got another pickup
of aged bark and wood chipped (aged already) from the land fill--all the stuff
the phone company cuts off of trees ground up (pick through it though--lots of
coke bottles and candy bar wrappers to remove--but it's free)

I followed Bartholomew's advice, and had to pay about $20 for several sacks of
vermiculite and peat moss. (could have done better, maybe going to a nursery,
but was in a hurry). Till it under or dig it in, and you'll be well on the way
to good soil. Repeat the treatment every year to maintain it . A good
sprinkle of "blood and bone meal" prior to digging will help you out too.

I strongly recommend the books I mentioned above. 2 sane and really productive
approaches to growing veggies. and also, from personal experience, hook up as
much organic material that you can find and work it into the ground this fall.
The winter (even if you live somewhere sort of mild) will weather the material
and help the drainage and soil structure. It will look like hell for some time
(a bunch of grass and leaves sitting there for a couple of months), but when
you till it under or dig it in in the spring, it will be glorious.

good luck! Keep on your tomatoes!

john