Tomato Analysis For June

Let's compare June's totals with the June 2007 totals...

In June 2007 we harvested 1259 tomatoes. In June 2008, we harvested 1538 tomatoes – 22% more.

However, last year I harvested from 22 different tomato plants among 34 planted tomatoes (65%). This year, I harvested from 23 different tomato plants among 52 in the ground (44%).

This year's June totals have been dominated by the Red Currant harvest. Out of the 1538 harvested, 1337 were Red Currants. That left only 201 tomatoes over the other 51 existing tomato plants (one died).

A week or so ago I predicted that we wouldn't hit last year's numbers. Then Red Currant really kicked in, harvesting 97 followed by 139, 136 and 98 tomatoes.

Therein lies the rub: Until the other plants start “cresting”, the numbers will rise and fall based on the Red Currant harvest. And Red Currant's best harvest may very well be last week's numbers. The second largest harvest, Husky Cherry Red shows signs of “cresting” having harvested 7 followed by 10, 19, 17, 15, 7 and 6 tomatoes over the past week.

We'll get a good harvest total from a lot of the smaller backyard tomatoes. These include Salisaw Cafe, Stupice, Black Plum Paste and perhaps Sioux and Kimberly as well. In the front yard, Piccolo looks pretty good. And Red Currant looks healthy enough to get a second wave.

Beefsteaks: Paul Robeson and the back yard Black Krim look particularly happy.

Disappointments (so far): Garden Peach, Snow White Cherry, Big Rainbow, Micro Tom.

In short, this year's tomato plants appears to be about two weeks behind last year's tomato plants. The July numbers should expose this.