• Everything other than hot peppers. Questions, discussion, and grow logs. Cannabis grow pics are only allowed when posted from a legal juridstiction.

My Tomatoes 2009

Ciao all-

The Whippersnappers are now putting out their 2nd flush of fruit. We've had enough cherries from the 2 plants to keep us in green salads until the "early" determinates start cranking them out. I keep looking for signs of blush, but nothing so far.

Whippersnapper showing ripe fruit

WhippersnapperFruit070809.jpg


Tigerette Cherry Gold

TigeretteCherry070809.jpg


Red Robin

RedRobinFruit070809.jpg


Florida Petite - this plant has the brachytic gene with extremely short distances between branches, almost prostrate to the soil line, very odd thing

FloridaPetiteFruit070809.jpg
 
Sorellina,

I am so envious but glad for you! I'm still waiting for the first ripe tom from the garden, though Linda has been eating Fried Green Tomatoes for several days. The weather this weekend is poor, the high today might reach 73, but it is suppose to get into the mid 80s this week. Thankfully, no super hot temps, though unlike maters, I don't mind the heat. Anything under 105 is warm or less!

Mike
 
Ciao all-

Thanks so much for the kind words. Nasturtiums are indeed edible, both flowers and leaves. They taste like arugula and also watercress, which is a relative. I grew the Whippersnappers and micro-dwarfs extra early and I'm really glad I did because up here in Tundra-land and also in the American Midwest and Eastern Seaboard, it's been an underwhelming season so far, very cool and wet.

Thankfully, I'm not seeing any disease so far on my plants, not like some poor folks in MA and CT, who are trying to cope with widespread late blight, spread by spores on the wind and impossible to control.
 
Ciao Julianna ~

I am still a n00b on the pepper forum, and stumbled on your tomato thread a few minutes ago.

You make the world of tomatoes come alive, with your lovely pics and enthusiastic comments! I had no idea there was so much involved in tomato growing - when you buy toms in my country, you simply take what is available. I only learned recently that toms are not all red!

Anyhow, you have made this world sound so exciting, I would like to learn all I can, and maybe even plant some this season. Can you possibly direct me to a forum/website that will teach me from scratch?

I've just joined Tomatoville, but I'm floundering. Things they take for granted are beyond my grasp...:( so I'm hoping you can point me in the right direction.:lol:

Please forgive the intrusion ~
Regards
Paul
 
Ciao Paul-

Goodness, you're not intruding, you're asking questions which is how anyone learns anything, so no apologies!

There are two terrific forums that I would recommend to you which focus primarily on growing tomatoes. One is www.tomatoland.net and the other is www.tomatoville.com. You're right, though, Tomatoville can move a bit fast for beginners. I will do my best to answer any questions you may have here as well. There's been some discussion here about creating a tomato thread, but in the meantime, you can post questions right here, ok?
 
Ciao Julianna ~

Thank you very much! I will scour those two forums as I have scoured THP, and will bookmark this thread for regular visits!
:cheers:
 
Ciao all-

Finally, I have a break in the canning madness, so I can show you all a recent decent harvest photo. This was taken on 17 September.

SeptemberTomatoHarvest091709.jpg
 
Ciao all-

I'm fairly methodical when it comes to which tomatoes I use first. I pick out the biggest and prettiest of the very large ones for the fresh sandwiches and caprese salads. Hollow ones are stuffed with chopped Greek Salad, cherries are put into a party platter with sections and if there are huge harvests, then each variety gets put into plastic recycled clamshell containers for free-choice snacking, small to medium-sized ones are used in salads, and the dry-fleshed varieties are used for sauces, whole canned tomatoes, and other cooked products. At the end of the season (read "now"), any remaining tomatoes are allowed to ripen, sorted for colour, and milled for sauces, ketchup, and paste.

I grew 2 green-when-ripe striped tomato varieties this year: Green Zebra, a round saladette, 2-4 oz and Green Bell Pepper, a small lobed 1-2 oz mostly hollow stuffer. I'll be looking for a different seed source for the GBP as I'm not convinced it was pure stock. Mine were on the small side compared to a description of 2-4 oz and were not as hollow as I'm used to for a stuffing variety.

I grew 65 tomato varieties this year, but not all of those are represented in that harvest photo.
 
You have the ability to get the reader's gastric juices charging along nicely with just a few sentences, Sorellina ~

Great stuff! :-)
 
Ciao all-

I've mostly come to the end of my growing season now. All but 16 plants have been pulled out and any tomatoes showing some signs of blush or large enough with a chance to ripen have been removed and are downstairs in two large bowls. Today I will spread them out in a single layer so they get more air flow and have a better chance to ripen. I will only use these tomatoes for purees with a lot of extra flavours. They're not assertive enough to be made into a tomato soup or anything else where the flavour of the tomato stands on its own. Of the 16 plants, 6 of those are very tall cherry tomato plants and I'm not tall enough to harvest the remaining cherries. I'll be getting help with those this weekend and be pulling those plants as well.

I'm now turning my focus on processing the remaining ripening tomatoes and tidying the garden before the inevitable snow arrives. That's a HUGE motivator for me. I'm not like Derek, I can't STAND the snow here. :mad: Stakes need to be bundled, hoses need to be coiled, beds need to be tilled, and most of all, the composter needs attention. There's a lot of plant material right now that's got to be chopped and added, along with the fallen leaves. It's going to be a big yardwork weekend.
 
Sorrelina ~

Do you cut the plants down totally? If so, do the roots grow into another bush next season?

Do you over-winter any at all?
 
Ciao all-

Tomato vines are out now. I pull them entirely out and then any remaining hoses are removed and coiled, raked leaves added, and the beds are tilled completely under to a depth of 1 foot (1/3 metre). I didn't compost the tomato vines this year because of the wet conditions during the growing season. I don't want to take chances that I'd be harbouring any diseases. Eggplants are also out. Duane has pulled and composted 25 of his pepper plants so far. He's still getting good harvests and there are many peppers still ripening on what look like dead or terminal plants. We got a big storm on Friday that brought high winds and rain, so we're now seeing leaves to rake up and add to the beds and the composter. That's this week and harvesting any remaining herbs and flowers plus ripe seeds.
 
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