Fried Green Tomatoes

Inspired by the rave reviews of black plastic mulch, we tried it out this year for the tomatoes, peppers, melons, squash and beans. We were under the impression that weeds, bugs and overuse of water would become almost nonexistent problems. Sounds too good to be true. Which means...well, maybe it's true if you do it the right way. So far I'm wishing I hadn't put all my eggs in one basket. First, we began to lose peppers. I chalked those up to drip irrigation snafus. But then a few days ago I noticed a couple of very sad tomato plants. For example, this Cassidy's Folly was thriving a week ago and just putting on fruit. Then wham! It looked more than just a little wilty. I gave it extra water and checked that the drip was reaching it. Finally, I sought the ever-useful Google and found out that you have to mulch your plastic mulch. Besides having the middle name "Embracing Futility," you could say that "Missing the Obvious" is my middle name. The last 2 weeks have been 100 degrees and the tomatoes are in full sun 12 hours per day. So, obviously they are too hot. Tomorrow I will sample the soil temperatures and add leaf mulch. If Cassidy's Folly was to try growing with plastic mulch, mine will be serving vine-fried green tomatoes.