How are Things in the Tomato Patch?

[herbsherbsflowers]

Mine are not doing as well as I had hoped, but still not too bad. I have had buckets of black cherry, red currant, Tess's Land Race and sungolds. The red currants tend to crack so i have to get them before they do that. That has been a disappointment. The black cherry's are delicious and so are the sungolds. I have some Amish paste and San Marzano that are producing, just not as vigorously as I had hoped. I have Celebrities and Rutgers that are starting to come along. I think they have not set as much fruit as normal because it has been so hot here. I have some Cherokee Purples that have not done as well as last year, and some Ronde de Nice that have not done much at all, but are beginning to come out and start blooming.

It is not too bad.

 

[wsmoak]

I picked a five gallon bucket of Celebrity and Early Girl last week and froze all of those. (Blanch and peel, then cut up and simmer for 10 mins, cool and freeze. I freeze them into bricks in plastic containers, the pop them out and seal in FoodSaver bags.)

There is another bucket in the sink which we intend to can (jar??) this evening, now that I've borrowed the metal rack that goes in the bottom of the huge stock pot I use as a hot water bath canner.

We're going to put that outside on the Coleman stove burner, since I don't think it will fit on my stovetop under the cabinets. Or at least it will get some of the heat outside.

There are still Celebrity tomatoes ripening, and I have one heirloom (would have to go look at the tag) that was planted later and has several green tomatoes on it.

I will have to take a picture of my tomato guardian. A big banana spider has taken up residence above the tomatoes. I apologized for the minor earthquake while picking and kept an eye on (I assume) her.

 

[Cats Critters and Garden]

Both heirlooms died along with one of the hybrids. But the two surviving hybrids are blooming and have some little green tomatoes on them!

 

[chris09]

Chris, it is good to see you here on TEG. That is a lot of tomato plants!!
Steve

A 80 tomatoes is about average for us. We put up a lot sauce and do a lot of canning.

Chris

 

[the lemon tree]

I only planted two varieties this year. My Purple Cherokee are huge and I should have the first ripe ones in a couple of days. Looks as though I'd better get out the canner. There are more coming along than I can eat. I was beginning to wonder about my Mortgage Lifters. They kept getting taller but not setting fruit but now that they have started setting I should be well supplied with slicers if nothing goes wrong.

Just wondering, what are you fertilizing the Purple Cherokees with?

As for my tomato garden, I'm still waiting for the first tomato to ripen....*sigh*

 

[journey11]

Today (after my first post) I found two ripe sweet 100's and an almost ripe genovese costoluto! Wooo-hoo, it's on! Bring out the mayo!

 

[cwhit590]

My tomatoes haven't ripened yet either....shouldn't be too much longer though! Once they all start coming on I don't know what I'll do with them all......

The plants themselves are doing absolutely fantastic this year in the garden (the 1 grape tomato on the deck is not as vigorous yet). Very tall, bushy, lots of flowers and fruit coming. They must have liked all our spring rain and warm temps lately...I'm having to pinch them back a bit in order to preserve my walking path!

In the garden I have the following types: 2 grape, 2 Sweet 100's, 4 Romas, 1 Early Girl, 1 Beefsteak, and 1 Whopper...

We'll see how they do........

 

[dragonlaurel]

I've had 4 Romas ripen so far and there are a bunch of small green ones. I started some suckers of unknown type too.

Looks like I may have a grape tomato in them. That would be cool.

 

[hoodat]

I only planted two varieties this year. My Purple Cherokee are huge and I should have the first ripe ones in a couple of days. Looks as though I'd better get out the canner. There are more coming along than I can eat. I was beginning to wonder about my Mortgage Lifters. They kept getting taller but not setting fruit but now that they have started setting I should be well supplied with slicers if nothing goes wrong.

Just wondering, what are you fertilizing the Purple Cherokees with?

As for my tomato garden, I'm still waiting for the first tomato to ripen....*sigh*

I used some Plant Tone organic fertilizer from Home Depot. It's mostly composted chicken manure and ground feather. I haven't used all that much. I think the main reason for my success this year was that I turned under the sod on a lawn that has been there over 20 years. There is a thick layer of naturally composted grass about six inches down and I think that's what has been feeding the plants. Whether or not it will carry over to next year is a good question.

 

[PotterWatch]

I have gotten quite a few from my fireworks plant so far. There is fruit that is almost ripe on my roma and san marzano. My yellow pear, green zebra, and pineapple have some little fruit on them. Haven't gotten action yet from the black krim or mortgage lifters other than flowers, though they are younger plants than the others. My brandywine succumed to disease a while ago before setting any fruit.

As far as hybrids go, my sweet million has been putting out a lot of fruit. The sweet 100 less so but still producing. My early girls have also done decently.