I could cry ...the long awaited tomatoes are just about done for us

[ohiofarmgirl]

roasted 'maters!! oh yeah baby!

i just took a pan out of the oven - i'm working on 'roasted sauce' instead of just boiling or cooking on top of the stove. they have been in there all nite at about 150* after cooking at 350* for a couple hrs... the house smells like tomato heaven! whee!!

have you tried Mountain Gold?? these are some of my fav's - i generally dont like the yellow ones but these are really something - good slicers and i've had good success with using them in sauce - its not pretty but tasty for sure!

i'm kind of interested in the russians as well - i'd think they would be good for Wa state (thats you, right HiDelight??) with your shorter growing season. out here in the hot-n-swampy midwest we have great tomato weather - its amazing! my seattle friends cant believe that i have until Oct to take of the maters -- and that we actually can grow watermelons and such!

back to the sauce! and yes i love the good ol' genetically engineered roma's and San Marzano's for sauce

 

[HiDelight]

Ukrain black Romas (or something like that) I tried them last year..did not produce heavily but the ones I did get to ripen on the vine were absolutely wonderful! and worth a try if you see them

yes I live on top of a hill looking right down off a bluff into the Puget Sound were I am located is actually a temporate rain trough! how funny is that anyway? seriously one year I thought I was going to toss myself on a sword after 100 days of rain ..
and that was my turning point ..now I am like Drake Maiden and grew webbed feet

short seasons for things like tomatoes sadly and this year it was longer than most I a so happy all my tomatoes ripened on the vine ..except a few of the SM's ...

but we can grow the best greens here all year long!
I will look for the mountain gold ..

there is something in the deep dark colors that appeals so much to the eye that even if they are not extra tasty (and they are really!) they would seem that way because the color just draws you in! I am hooked on black tomatoes that is for sure! and of course the deep dark red ones

the persimmon was a very pretty color! it was like a dark ripe Japanese persimmon color all the way through ..I kept expecting it to taste like one as well but it was a lovely sweet tart perfectly nice slicing tomato

 

[ducks4you]

Have you considered trying to grow cherry tomatoes inside this winter? I haven't done it yet, but I'm going to try, since I have my "plant" windows stacked out from last year. (I brought it about 15 outside plants before the frost last fall, and they thrived--3 have been flowering at the office all year.) I'm going to read up on pollinating them--UNLESS somebody here wants to share how to do it!

I need to get in the rest of my crop before the first (early, this year) frost this coming Sunday night! Everybody thought that I was nuts for starting 100 tomato plants in the basement last winter and planting 72 of them in various beds. Considering that this year was awful (AND, that I did harvest some in late June) Guess it wasn't such a bad plan, after all. I still have about 15 jars from previous years downstairs in my pantry AND, last year I bought about a dozen 1 lb. cans of tomatoes, so I should have enough for the winter.

BTW, here are two recipes that I normally put fresh or my canned tomatoes in:

TOMATO BASIL SOUP
2 cans condensed tomato soup
2 cups milk
6-8 Roma tomatoes
3-4 fresh (or dried) basil leaves
Prepare tomato soup with milk, as instructed on can label. Start cooking on low or simmer. Wash and cut basil into very small pieces, add to soup with a wisk. Scald skins off of Roma tomatoes, add to soup, wisk in. AFTER all of the ingredients have been added turn up the heat to high and wisk into hot, then serve with cheese and bread, OR crackers OR cheese toasties.

STUFFED PEPPERS (VARIATION ON PREVIOUSLY POSTED RECIPE)
Follow your favorite recipe BUT scald and add 8-10 Roma tomatoes (to remove the skin.) Also, if you like spicy things, try using an Ancho Problano pepper. I almost did this by mistake--I FORGOT that I had thrown in seeds for BOTH kind of peppers in the same bed! (Good thing that I taste the tops of my peppers as I am cutting them for use!!)

Man, they REALLY look identical, until the hot peppers start to change color!

 

[ducks4you]

IN CASE YOU DIDN'T KNOW, and you bite into a hot pepper or super hot spice, it takes a milk product to kill the heat. Try drinking some milk, or spoonful of yogurt, or sour cream or cottage cheese. Just FYI.

 

[HiDelight]

I never thought about growing cherry tomatoes in the winter what a great idea!

I found two ripe tomatoes under a potted tomato plant

 

[Broke Down Ranch]

Have you considered trying to grow cherry tomatoes inside this winter? I haven't done it yet, but I'm going to try, since I have my "plant" windows stacked out from last year. (I brought it about 15 outside plants before the frost last fall, and they thrived--3 have been flowering at the office all year.) I'm going to read up on pollinating them--UNLESS somebody here wants to share how to do it!

I need to get in the rest of my crop before the first (early, this year) frost this coming Sunday night! Everybody thought that I was nuts for starting 100 tomato plants in the basement last winter and planting 72 of them in various beds. Considering that this year was awful (AND, that I did harvest some in late June) Guess it wasn't such a bad plan, after all. I still have about 15 jars from previous years downstairs in my pantry AND, last year I bought about a dozen 1 lb. cans of tomatoes, so I should have enough for the winter.

BTW, here are two recipes that I normally put fresh or my canned tomatoes in:

TOMATO BASIL SOUP
2 cans condensed tomato soup
2 cups milk
6-8 Roma tomatoes
3-4 fresh (or dried) basil leaves
Prepare tomato soup with milk, as instructed on can label. Start cooking on low or simmer. Wash and cut basil into very small pieces, add to soup with a wisk. Scald skins off of Roma tomatoes, add to soup, wisk in. AFTER all of the ingredients have been added turn up the heat to high and wisk into hot, then serve with cheese and bread, OR crackers OR cheese toasties.

STUFFED PEPPERS (VARIATION ON PREVIOUSLY POSTED RECIPE)
Follow your favorite recipe BUT scald and add 8-10 Roma tomatoes (to remove the skin.) Also, if you like spicy things, try using an Ancho Problano pepper. I almost did this by mistake--I FORGOT that I had thrown in seeds for BOTH kind of peppers in the same bed! (Good thing that I taste the tops of my peppers as I am cutting them for use!!)

Man, they REALLY look identical, until the hot peppers start to change color!

Tomato flowers are considered "perfect" because the male and female parts are both present in each bloom. To get your flowers to produce fruit all you should need to do it agitate the blooms a little when they first start opening and again after they are open a little. Here is a great site on how to pollinate and/or cross pollinate your tomatoes:

http://www.kdcomm.net/~tomato/index.html

 

[ducks4you]

Thanks so much!!
I'm DEFINITELY going to grow these inside this winter because I have several cherries that had have great sweet fruit this summer to save seeds from.

 

[HiDelight]

ok so if my dogs did not eat all the cherry tomatoes that fell to the ground can I still go grab some dry the seeds and grow them you think?

 

[ducks4you]

I'm sure that you can--I saved seeds from 2008 tomatoes and grew over 100 seedlings in the basement JUST FROM THOSE. You really get a lot of seeds from one piece of fruit.

 

[Broke Down Ranch]

ok so if my dogs did not eat all the cherry tomatoes that fell to the ground can I still go grab some dry the seeds and grow them you think?

It would depend if your cherry tomatoes were hybrids or heirlooms. If they are hybrids there's a good chance what you grow from the seeds will not resemble the parent plant at all....not in looks OR flavor.