There's a reason that i've never really grown tomatoes past the month of August - it's because many of the ripe fruit look just awful, because of disease. Like the one in the picture below, for instance. Who in their right mind would want to put some of that on a sandwich?
Photo below - Still, each tomato in the garden is allowed to reach "blush" stage, then is brought into the house to ripen. I guess about 25% of them end up in the trash, but the others actually look really good!
Photo below - here's a nice Neves Azorean Red that appears to be pretty much disease-free. I'll most likely grow this one again next year, just for it's sheer size. However, the taste isn't anything to write home about....
Photo below - this is a brandywine that is growing on the late season sucker that was rooted earlier. It's a really nice size, and should end up being a good quality tomato later. Brandywine is something that everyone should try at least once, because they're really good.....
Lastly, I wanted to show you some of my okra that is being allowed to go to seed. This variety is Clemson Spineless, and I also have burgundy to share seed from later - if anyone wants any. EG will be sharing lots of seed this winter - especially tomatoes!
In other news, The weather on Sunday was just perfect for working outside, and you can bet that I took full advantage of it. The finished compost piles were consolidated to make one humongus pile that can be covered with plastic sheeting throughout the winter. I guess it's at least 5 feet tall at the peak....
I also finished another small building project that was on the list - but it wasn't the squirrel trap. Oh, I worked on it too, but still haven't got the trigger mechanism finished. I'll eventually get it...
Take care, and happy gardening!
EG
11 comments:
I was having the same experience with most of the tomatoes. The fruit looked awful because of disease that was creeping up the plants. The healthier ones are still producing, but we are going to run out of warm weather really soon.
I can't decide when to harvest all of my green tomatoes and pull the plants. You're right, if left to ripen on the vine, they tend to look rather blah. Picking them at first blush is definitely the way to go.
Man I'm so sad my brandywine didn't turn out well. I'm going to try again next year. I'm not beat yet.
Never have tomato plants survive past August. Just put in a few to see if we can get a few before the end of the season.....
My tomatoes are producing an amazing amount for this time of the year! I think that I also loose about 25% after I bring them in the house. That's OK....it's great to have fresh tomatoes this time of the year!
Funny, this year, my end of season ones are looking better than any of the ones I had all summer. I just hope they have time to finish ripening.
We have a bunch of tomatoes thrown in the compost bin right now. Rot, rot, and disease!
EG, I usually wait a bit and let the tomatoes ripen on the vine but not this season. We have over 100 plants and I have been picking them as soon as they turn blush....hopefully the weather holds for a couple weeks or we will be eating lots of fried green tomatoes. Lol! Your tomatoes look great!
I have been making sauce with the funky looking late season tomatoes. The heirlooms are showing the most wear in my garden.
Even though it's green, that brandywine looks like one fine tomato! I'd definitely be interested in sharing some seeds with you later - okra, tomatoes and anything else that comes with your personal recommendation. I successfully saved seeds from Kumato tomatoes for sharing, and I'll put together a list of my other seeds later in the season.
I find they are losing their texture too. They are more mealy than they were before. A lot of them still taste good, but not quite as good as they were before.
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