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tasteless Brandywines and corn success

Oh, the disappointment! After an entire year of eagerly anticipating my
first ripe Brandywine tomato, I have found them to be no better than
storebought winter toms.....what on earth could be the cause?  Seed
switching at the store? This da** dry weather? The vine that has ripened
first is in a corner that is the dryest of my tomato block--the other
tomatoes are on the sprinkler side. But the plants aren't suffering, at
least not from outward appearances! I deep water my veggies every third
or fourth day.

On a happier note, my CORN has finally started to ripen up, and I ate my
first raw ear this afternoon. Sweet and delicious! I think I found the
secret folks, after a tip from a local corn farmer--corn likes lots and
lots and lots of water, and it's better to flood from the bottom than
water with a sprinkler. So I've coddled this square along, giving it
extra water and sure enough those puny little ears are getting big and
fat. My corn is spaced roughly every 8-10 inches. The ones on the north
side are shorter, and I was silly enough to plant about 10 squares of
sunflowers on the east side so there's too much shade for the back
plants (but the sunflowers are spectacular!) Also, I don't know how much
this has to do with successful corn, but I put in a whole 5 lb. bag of
cotton seed meal (high nitrogen) along with my amendments of manure,
lime and peat before planting....

Happy harvesting!
Melissa in MA

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