Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Found Four More Caterpillars...


Today's harvest includes 8 Snow White(1), 6 Snow White(2), Babywine, Husky Cherry Red, Sweet 100, Green Zebra(1), White Zebra, Plum Tigris and Cuor de Bue for a total of 21 tomatoes.

And I found four full size caterpillars on Snow White(2). I don't see any more praying mantises – either the cold got 'em or it's part of their natural cycle – and the caterpillars are flourishing.

I may not be harvesting tomorrow if we have our first rainstorm of the season.


Monday, October 12, 2009

Tomatoes In The News


Whig Standard (Kingston, Canada) -- Rotten Tomatoes

Western Farm Press -- Huge Tomato Crop Beckons

The Spectrum (Southern Utah) -- Tips For Ripening, Preserving Green Tomatoes

Mercury News (Silicon Valley, CA) -- Roasted Tomato Soup With Garlic Croutons

Sioux City Journal (IA) -- Tomatoes Go Pretty Or Practical

The Wichita Eagle (KS) -- Pick Tomatoes And Flowers While You Can

NewsLeader (VI) -- Act Now To Prevent Tomato Blight in 2010

BrookfieldNow (WI) -- Try Tomato Jam!


Birthday!


Today's harvest includes 8 Snow White(2), 2 Snow White(1), Babywine and Husky Cherry Red for a total of 12 tomatoes.

I did manage to find two good sized caterpillars, one on Snow White(2) and the other on the ground underneath Snow White(1). Strange.

The back yard tomatoes are nearly done. There are several plants with one or two tomatoes on them. Once those mature, they'll be pulled.

Today is my birthday -- 48 years old.


Sunday, October 11, 2009

Harvested Old Ivory Egg On Saturday!


Saturday's harvest includes 13 Snow White(2), 7 Snow White(1), 2 Babywine, 2 Turkish Striped Monastery, Jaune Coeur de Pigeon, Sweet 100, Green Zebra(1) and Old Ivory Egg for a total of 28 tomatoes.

The Old Ivory Egg looks really nice! It has some green shoulders, which will need to be cut away before we eat it. It's strange to have the first summer harvest for a tomato plant be October 10!

I found a good sized caterpillar on Husky Cherry Red.

The gardener pulled out the back yard Mexico and Big Yellow Zebra tomato plants.

All but the Old Ivory Egg were given away at a post wedding reception we went to in the afternoon.

Today's harvest includes 8 Snow White(1), 6 Snow White(2), 3 White Currant, 2 Babywine, 2 Husky Cherry Red, Husky Gold, Green Zebra(1), White Zebra and Garden Peach for a total of 25 tomatoes.

We've now harvested over 500 front yard tomatoes for the month of October! That's a remarkable amount – usually the plants are much too burned out by this point in the year.

Today's tomatoes were given away to my mother, whom we met in the afternoon for lunch, along with my wife and her parents.