What's the Biggest Producer So Far?

Today's harvest includes 11 Violet Jasper, 8 Yellow Perfection, 7 SunGold, 7 White Currant, 6 Principe Borghese, 6 Speckled Roman, 5 Stupice, 4 Brown Berry, 3 Husky Cherry Red, 2 Red Grape, 2 Taxi, 2 Nyagous, 2 Patio, 2 Black Cherry, 2 Topaz, 2 Green Grape, 2 Weeping Charlie (one 6 ounces), 2 Sweet Tangerine, 2 Red Currant(1), SunSugar, Michael Pollan, Lyn's Mahogany Garnet, Red Boar, Sweet 100, Plum Tigris, Red Currant(2), Jaune Flamme(1), Marianna's Peace, Dr. Wyche's Yellow(2) and Gajo de Melon for a total of 88 tomatoes weighing 6 pounds, 7.5 ounces.

No new tomatoes today, though a Toni's Round is maturing.

Per my wife, a pedestrian came by and talked her up about buying some of our tomatoes. Sure thing, we'll sell!

What's our biggest producer so far? Perhaps Violet Jasper. After all we've harvested 30 tomatoes over the last three days. Perhaps a smaller tomato like SunGold or Red Currant(1) or White Currant? Nope. The biggest producer so far is the not very sexy but good tasting Stupice, with 70 harvested so far. Violet Jasper is at 66, Red Currant(1) is at 63, White Currant(1) is at 61 and SunGold at 58 harvested tomatoes so far. All these other tomatoes will pass Stupice in total harvest as the month progresses.

Harvested Plum Tigris and Jaune Flamme(2)!

Today's harvest includes 10 Violet Jasper, 7 SunGold, 6 White Currant, 5 Yellow Perfection, 5 Husky Cherry Red, 4 Speckled Roman, 4 Stupice, 3 Black Cherry, 3 Red Currant(2), 3 Principe Borghese, 3 Red Grape, 2 Snow White (front yard), 2 Sweet 100, 2 Brown Berry, 2 Ananas Noire (6.5 ounces, 7 ounces), 2 Sweet Tangerine (one 7 ounces), 2 Zapotec Pleated, 2 Red Currant(1), Michael Pollan, Babywine, Topaz, Jaune Flamme(1), German Orange Strawberry (7.5 ounces), Black From Tula (8 ounces), Enchantment, Jaune Flamme(2) (new) and Plum Tigris (new) for a total of 76 tomatoes weighing 5 pounds, 3 ounces.

For some reason there were a lot of tomatoes with blossom end rot today. I had actually picked two Berkeley Tie-Dye Heart tomatoes but both had too much blossom end rot to be considered. Six or seven tomatoes were put in the compost pile and not added to today's count.

One of the Ananas Noire tomatoes had been pecked by birds and will not be eaten. I brought it in to be counted and weighed.

A Japanese Black Trifele tomato is in the very early stages of maturation. It should be ready in a few days. A T. C. Jones tomato is maturing.

The Tomato Tide is Coming In!

Today's harvest includes 9 Violet Jasper, 7 White Currant, 6 SunGold, 5 Husky Cherry Red, 5 Dr. Wyche's Yellow(2) (one 8.5 ounces), 5 Stupice, 4 Black Cherry, 3 Principe Borghese, 3 Yellow Perfection, 2 Patio, 2 Babywine, 2 Red Currant(1), 2 Speckled Roman, SunSugar, Taxi, Red Currant(2), Sweet Tangerine, German Orange Strawberry, Snow White (back yard), Nyagous, Red Grape and Michael Pollan (new) for a total of 64 tomatoes, weighing in at over four pounds.

Due to a statistical anomaly, three out of the prior four days had a harvest total of 51 tomatoes. We went up to 64 today – the tomato tide is coming in!

I had been checking on a Michael Pollan tomato for some time – the bottom of this tomato had turned buttery yellow, indicating it should be maturing. However I hadn't harvested it before so it's hard to tell when it's really ready. I felt the tomato for several days and it didn't feel ready. Today it felt ready and came right off the vine.

My wife did a lot of watering yesterday. I think she watered all the tomatoes, front and back. She certainly got all of the front yard tomatoes.

A year ago today – the back yard tomato plants were towering over my wife. This year's back yard plants are at least a foot smaller. Repeating, this is due to the cooler weather. The results may be to push back the high harvest times to late July or perhaps even August. The highest harvest day last year was July 24 – 257 tomatoes. Last year's July 1 total was 42 tomatoes.

Don't be surprised if we see 300 – 350 for a harvest day later this month.

A Chile Verde is maturing. The Plum Tigris still isn't ready but it looks like it will be ready tomorrow.

June 2010 Harvest Analysis

In June 2009 we harvested 299 tomatoes, 30 in the front yard and 269 in the back yard. 19 tomato plants provided tomatoes out of 61 plants, or 31%.

In June 2010 we harvested 482 tomatoes, a 61% increase. 228 were harvested in the front yard, 254 in the back yard. 43 tomato plants provided tomatoes out of 77 tomato plants, or 56%.

We planted more tomatoes this year versus last year so that accounts for some of the difference. This year, our plants aren't as tall as they were last year. We had several six foot tall tomato plants last year at this time, but not this year. Most are around four to four and a half feet. This we believe is due to the cooler than normal weather and due to the fact that we've planted a fair amount of cherry tomatoes.

The harvest for July 2009 was 4576 tomatoes. My best guess, based on those numbers, is to harvest around 6800 tomatoes for July 2010. That's some scary numbers if it proves true!

Harvested Yellow Pear!

Today's harvest includes 7 White Currant, 4 Husky Cherry Red, 4 Principe Borghese, 3 Black Cherry, 3 SunGold, 3 Red Grape, 2 Yellow Perfection, 2 Speckled Roman, 2 Stupice, 2 Violet Jasper, 2 Patio, Babywine, Black Krim (8 ounces), SunSugar, Garden Peach, Taxi, Brown Berry, Red Currant(1), Red Currant(2), Jaune Flamme(1), Topaz, Sweet Tangerine, Black From Tula, Nyagous, Gypsy, Thessaloniki, Ananas Noire and Yellow Pear (new) for a total of 51 tomatoes weighing in at 3 pounds, 12 ounces.

My wife spent 3 hours yesterday canning tomatoes into 4 mason jars.

The Yellow Pear wasn't a surprise – it had been ripening for a couple of days. The maturing Plum Tigris is still maturing, but still isn't ready. A Jaune Flamme(2) (the one in the raised bed) is maturing.

The weather has been a little on the cool side for most of June – low to mid 80's for the most part. No days in the 100's that I can remember. So the fruit has been setting, the plants are growing. Everything is set up for a good July month.

Harvested Garden Peach and Gajo de Melon!

Today's harvest includes 7 Principe Borghese, 6 Violet Jasper, 4 Yellow Perfection, 4 Stupice, 3 SunGold, 2 Husky Cherry Red, 2 Sweet Tangerine, 2 Patio, 2 Snow White (back yard), 2 Red Grape, 2 White Currant, 2 Black From Tula (one 7 ounces), 2 Garden Peach (new), Snow White (front yard), Black Cherry, Topaz, Red Currant(1), Red Currant(2), Red Boar, Jaune Flamme(1), Speckled Roman, Enchantment, Gypsy and Gajo de Melon (new) for a total of 51 tomatoes.

I forgot to add that the weight for the last three days was over 2 pounds. Today's haul hasn't been weighed yet but it will come in over 2 pounds as well.

My wife and I tried the Black Krim harvested on Saturday and it was nothing short of fabulous. Just fabulous!

On a side note, I'm taking a flashlight out with my morning harvest. There's not enough light in general, let alone morning light for spotting ripe tomatoes in the middle of the plant. This is especially true for Husky Cherry Red (and that's why their numbers have been up recently) but also true for Violet Jasper and a few others.

Harvested 6 New Tomatoes!

Saturday's harvest: 9 Stupice, 6 Husky Cherry Red, 4 Violet Jasper, 4 Principe Borghese, 4 Red Currant(1), 2 Red Currant(2), 2 Patio, 2 Black Cherry, SunGold, Taxi, Sweet Tangerine, Zapotec Pleated, Yellow Perfection, Black Krim (new, 9 ounces) and Dr. Wyche's Yellow(1) (new, 8 ounces) for a total of 40 tomatoes.

In the late afternoon my wife and I visited the “seed lady”. We roasted some of our harvested tomatoes and beans on the barbeque. Delicious!

Sunday's harvest: 7 Principe Borghese, 6 White Currant, 5 SunGold, 5 Red Currant(1), 4 Husky Cherry Red, 3 Speckled Roman, 3 Violet Jasper, 3 Yellow Perfection, 2 Stupice, 2 Snow White (front yard), 2 Red Currant(2), 2 Babywine (new), Brown Berry, Red Boar, Sweet Tangerine, Snow White (back yard), Nyagous, Gypsy and Topaz (new) for a total of 51 tomatoes.

As of Sunday we passed last year's June harvest total of 299 tomatoes. This is due to several factors. (1) We simply have more tomato plants this year (2) We seem to have more cherry tomatoes this year and they tend to mature sooner and in greater numbers and (3) In general, the weather has been temperate and if anything, I think a touch below normal. For the most part, the fruit has been setting well. We should have a big July harvest.

My wife watered most if not all of the back yard tomatoes.

Friends dropped by Sunday afternoon and we gave them a most of Sunday's harvest.

Today's harvest includes 8 SunGold, 7 Principe Borghese, 4 Yellow Perfection, 3 Violet Jasper, 2 Stupice, 2 Husky Cherry Red, 2 Black Cherry, 2 Red Currant(2), 2 Red Currant(1), Patio, Babywine, Black Krim, SunSugar, Sweet 100, Brown Berry, Green Grape, Dr. Wyche's Yellow(2), Snow White (front yard), Speckled Roman, Thessaloniki, Gypsy, White Currant, Red Grape, Black From Tula (new) and Enchantment (new) for a total of 48 tomatoes.

New tomatoes are maturing every day. I can't remember them all but Plum Tigris and Gajo de Melon have maturing tomatoes.