Waiting for my first tomato . . . .

The plant is called Fourth of July 'cause they promise you;'ll be eating red, ripe tomatoes from it by the 4th. . .I don't think these beauties will wait til then!!

This plant is one of 9 different varieties in my Tomato Jungle (containers of tomatoes with mature heights less than 5 feet, most being 3 feet), with a mix of indeterminates/determinates, heirloom/hybrid and spanning very early to late season. The 4 pics of fruit are different plants and taken this morning.

Can you guess how much I like tomatoes??? LOL

Those are some Nice looking Plants ,!!!


Mine are only beginning to Bloom here ,, Some Yellow Cherry and a Big Zac ,,



a Bic Zac ,, Last years Yellow Big Rainbow Were Great ,, As to say , I love tomatoes Also !!!

Those are NICE! Great job containing them so neatly!

We have had at least a dozen Elena yellow cherries so far and 2 Sophie's Choice. Most are still in various stages of green. It is still very early here for ripe tomatoes. The bulk of them will be in Sept. and even into Oct.
This is my tomato row, south facing under the greenhouse slanted A frame acrylic windows.

oh, beebonnet, I'm so envious! You have lots of glorious ROOM for neat ROWS of tomato plants. . . PLUS a greenhouse, so you can do plant stuff regardless of the weather!

I started my tomato plants from seed. . . and since I live in a small 1-bedroom apartment, that meant very cramped living as my gro station was in my living room: I was so HAPPY to get to plant them OUTSIDE!!!~!

I've been so BUSY with my Tomato Jungle: first with tying up so many growing plants and then with picking fruit. . I've been eating MY tomatoes since the last weedk of June. . and have daily shared my surplus with family, friends, neighbors, maintenance staff. . . I've met neighbors I hadn't known before, EVERYONE within a 1 block radius!! I've had to enlist everyon3e's help getting rid of my surplus: they give what THEY can't use to people they know!!

During all this, my computer crashed and, although I had religiously backed up my files , I lost all my photos etc.

So these are two of my new first photos: yeste4rday's yield (fruit from Fourth of July, Big Beef, Ace 55, Baxter's Bush Cherry and an unknown pink variety mistakenly mixed in with seeds from a friend). The second photo is all from one plant: Big Beef. For size comparison, the I've included an 8-oz can of green beans! LOL

Bet...Your tomatoes are FanTastic. So red and some so big and you have been eating them for so long. We had a yummy BLT for lunch with a Sophie's Choice and turkey bacon. So good.
Although I love her, Sophie's Choice has green shoulders. I let it get as ripe as I can stand it to wait and then it's ripe clear through.
Lucky people that get your surplus crop. If I have a surplus, I will put them in jars and can them.

beebonnet: my Fourth of July fruit have green shoulders, too. I was worried that this might be a symptom of something bad, so I spoke with the Master Gardener at the local Ag Extension office. He reassured me there was no problem, that the skin matured / turned a uniform red later than the flesh inside. He told me to go ahead and pick those suckers and eat them, just cutting off the green shoulders. He said if I waited for the green shoulders to turn red, the inside flesh would be past the perfectly ripe stage.

I TRY to wait to pick until all red, but if the 'mater gives a bit to a gentle squeeze. . then I give it a gentle tug! If it comes off willingly, then it's ready! If the tomato doesn't let go of the plant easily, then I figure it isn't quite ready.

I have one plant (from seed given by a DG member by mistake) that gives softball-sized PINK tomastoes. . . imagine clusters of 3-5 huge fruit! It must be a mid=season, 'cause its fruit just started ripening: 5 yesterday, 3 today. I'm asking the donor if he knows what variety it is, 'cause I'd sure like to grow it again!!

Last week, I had my 99-yr old Granny over for a "Mater Feast, featuring the biggest of those red tomatoes in the picture: it was over a pound! I cooked up and set out all the fixins for her to choose from: white butter-top bread, Miracle Whip, hickory smoked (pork) bacon, hard boiled eggs . . . neither of us had any ro0om for dessert!

I know how hard you've worked and worried about these tomato plants. You've done a great job you should be proud of yourself.

Bet, did you have trouble with your Big Beef splitting or cracking? I have splits all over the top of mine, although I water them very on a strict schedule. I'm pretty sure watering is not the problem. Yours are absolutely beautiful! Thank you

Since July 25 I have canned 10 pints of tomatoes plus froze 6 bags of intense tomato sauce via MaypopLaurels instructions on how to make sauce in a crock pot. Boy is it ever good. Made salsa today and the tomatoes just keep coming. Next I will dry some. I do think the tomato year is nearly at an end, but, what a great year for them it has been here in my backyard.
I too have had some cracking on the tops of large ones. I just cut it clear off and the rest of the tom. is delicious.

Big Beef is the culprit for spreading its infection throughout my Tomato Jungle! One morning I had a lush, green Tomato Jungle; the nesxt morning, ALOT of the leaves were half-dead, brown and crumbly - and stems/branches were obscured by black blotches. Big Beef lost most of its leaves and fruit: I don't think I'll plant it again. (Another bad performer was Bush Big Boy. .it alone was so affected by blossom end rot, that it has only produced 4 ripe tomatoes: as opposed to its companion in its EArthbox - Ace 55 - although it had about 5 green fruit with BER, it alone is managing to THRIVE despite THE PROBLEM and is absolutely LADEN with green, growing fruit: I intend to plant it next year!)

I took pictures, leaves, whole branches with leaves, green and red fruit . . .to the county Ag extension office, posted pics to an oonline tomatoe community and searched the web muyself for comparable pictures: upshot? Three opinions (in order): some kind of tomato fungus, black or grey fungus AND late blight. I've submitted picturers to the state university and am awaiting some kind of resolution. . but they'd better hurry if they want to be relevaNT: the first frost is imn 5 weeks or so!

Now my prized Tomato Jungle is reduced to pitiful skeletons, with a few leaves and aboiut 3 dosen uninfected fruit (most on Ace 55!).
# 1 Day One of Infection (before spraying, pruning, diswcarding infected fruit) All visible fruit were infected; the red fruit had its bottom rotting off!
#2 Day Two of Infection (before almost 2 weeks and two more rounds of spray, prune and discard infected)

After alm ost two weeks, I think I've finally gotten the problem under control. . . there is new growth (both leaves and fruit) and there are two red fruit ripening. . . I'm hoping they will taste as good as before, but red cfruit from my Baxter's Bush Cherry Tomatoe (the least one affected) was . . . yucky!

of, well! When I sowed the seeds, I thought none would sprout. When they did, I thiought none would live to become plantable seedlings.. . . then I thought they would be lush, green plants - without any tomatoes to eat!. . .It was with some trepedatioln that I bit into the first tomato. . and it was GOOD!! Every month, I thoufght was the last, the plants would stop producing, get sick and'or die: instead they produced red, ripe, tasty tomatoes. . June. . . July. . . August. . . we'll see about September!

Big Beef is one I have grown for 10 years and never found it prone to splits cracks green shoulders nor diseased. I know you have a different climate to grow in and have the propensity towards a lot of disease that is not common here. I know the late blight can be devastating. To avoid it I mulch the ground with wood bark and trim the non fruit bearing vegetation and cover with plastic. To not do it I would never see a ripe tomato they would rot on the vine.I am not implying I grow perfect fruits just saying I have never experienced major problems.

Perhaps you have diseased seed. Rare in commercial seeds but it can happen.

Since you indicate you watered right I am stumped to wonder the cause for your splitting and cracking which are both signs of drought then over watering. I had those problems and then started watering with T Tape. It runs 24 hours a day seven days a week. But you may find you don't need to run as long. My dirt is sandy loam and if you have clay it won't take as much.

I planted in a raised bed. Gardens Soil and compost was added to the bed after I moved in, and then the bed set there for 12 years without being used. To keep the weeds down over the years I would put black plastic on it and solarize the earth. When I planted the tomatoes this year I added compost, Peat Moss and a handful of Epson salt. About three weeks after I put the plants and I added cypress mulch, but not right up to the stems. Truthfully, I'm happier with The Big Beef than I was Early Girl. They never did set to much in the way of fruit, and came much later then the Big Beef. Maybe I will try growing from seed next year. This year was crazy. LOL

Thanks for your answers!
Patti

Eweed...Do you start withdrawing water to you tomatos towards the end to get them to ripen faster? Or, ripen at all, in some cases. I have always read that you should not water as much as when they are young plants. Maybe that is for those with more clay in the soil. Just wondering because I think I did underwater mine at the end of the season.

I don't know how to freeze them if the tops are split or cracked. I was told to dip them in boiling water and peel them but I'm afraid to do that with the splits on them. I am at a loss.
Patti

Yes towards the stem I withhold the water and trim the tops down to within 6 inches of the top tomato. Some folks take a spade and place it close but mot touching the stalk and plunge it down with your foot this slices the roots off and tells the plant it is going to die so it hurrys and trys to ripen it's fruit.Other folks grab the stem close to the ground and pull up until the plant starts to come up then they twist it until half ot the root system is destroyed.

Thanks eweed. Good information.
Patti....I have a very large stainless steel bowl that I set in my sink. Then, I fill my big whistling tea kettle on high. Lay the tomatoes in the bowl even if they have cracks. When the water is boiling and tea kettle is whistling, pour the boiling water over them. Stir them around in the very hot water with a wooden spoon or something. Wait until you see the skins start to peel. Then take them out one by one a put them in your hopefully double sink. If not, another big bowl. No cold water required. Just wait until you can handle them. Cut off those cracked bottoms and skin the tomato. Skin all of the tomatoes with ease. I usually lay a cutting board over the one of the sinks and carve away. Hope this helps. Don't be afraid. They won't mush up.

Thank you bee. I do have a big stainless bowl and a double sink. With your explicit instructions, I will move forward without fear. < grin > Thank you so very much!
Patti

The entire reason for plunging hot fruits into cold water is to kill the enzyme action that starts when the fruit gets over ripe or heated. And yes boiling water makes the skins slip off and Yes canning kills that action. I learned that from a quality control head at the small canning company I worked for called Del Monte.

eweed, if that company got any smaller it would be unknown. LOL Thanks for the input.

In 1972 my employee number was 87,711 they must have re assigned those numbers because they were world wide. Anyway I have forgotten how many ttl employees they had but it was a lot more than that.

I remember Del Monte. I can see the label in my mind right now. That brand was one of my favs. when feeding a large family. Now, we rarely buy a can of veggies. We either have our own canned or I buy fresh at the market. I suppose the fresh market produce has been hard on the canneries.

Del Monte lives on but has been bought out.. I don't know if they have any canneries left. They buy processed foods if it meets their standards. Any food you see with a Del Monte label is of high quality. Rather than put a respected label on some not harmful but not so good fish and sell it on the American market. They sold it unlabeled to Europe and the Virgin Islands.