Saturday, July 24, 2010

Harvested Large Pink Anna!


Today's harvest includes 49 SunGold, 31 White Currant, 17 Garden Peach, 16 Husky Cherry Red, 7 Babywine, 6 Red Currant(1), 6 Green Zebra, 6 Snow White (front yard), 5 Nyagous, 4 Japanese Black Trifele (one 7.5 ounces), 4 Violet Jasper, 4 Snow White (back yard), 4 Azoychka/not Azoychka, 3 Jaune Flamme(2), 3 Orange Fleshed Purple Smudge (6 ounces, 7 ounces, 6 ounces), 3 Persimmon (one 6 ounces), 2 Poma Amoris Minora Lutea, 2 Black Krim (6 ounces), 2 Red Currant(2), 2 Green Grape, 2 Black From Tula, 2 Marianna's Peace, 2 Aunt Ruby's German Green(1) (8.5 ounces), 2 Principe Borghese, 2 Gajo de Melon, 2 Red Grape, Thessaloniki, Gypsy, Berkeley Tie-Dye Heart, Weeping Charlie, Pink Berkeley Tie Dye, Taxi, Chile Verde, SunSugar, Dr. Wyche's Yellow(1) and Large Pink Anna (new, 11 ounces) for a total of 198 tomatoes.

The harvest total are a bit of a drop from yesterday's total of 243. That's a large enough drop that yesterday's 243 may be our high water mark for 2010.

I fertilized the container plants in the back yard and watered the whole back yard. I gave our compost pile a good soaking as well.


Friday, July 23, 2010

Fantastic Tomatoes!


Today's harvest includes 68 SunGold, 31 White Currant, 22 Garden Peach, 11 Babywine, 11 Husky Cherry Red, 8 Snow White (front yard), 8 Japanese Black Trifele, 7 Poma Amoris Minora Lutea, 7 Orange Fleshed Purple Smudge (6 ounces, 9 ounces, 6 ounces), 6 Black From Tula, 6 Snow White (back yard), 5 Gajo de Melon, 5 Red Currant(1), 5 Red Currant(2), 3 Marianna's Peace, 3 Nyagous, 3 Black Oxheart (11 ounces, 10.5 ounces, 14 ounces), 3 Lyn's Mahogany Garnet, 3 Aunt Ruby's German Green(1) (6 ounces, 8 ounces, 13.5 ounces), 2 Violet Jasper, 2 Miss Elliotte Black, 2 Plum Tigris, 2 Red Boar, 2 Gypsy, Red Grape, Azoychka/not Azoychka, Jaune Flamme(2), T. C. Jones, Yellow Perfection, Berkeley Tie-Dye Heart, Ananas Noire, Sweet Tangerine, Emerald Evergreen, Green Zebra, Green Grape, Thessaloniki, Carmello, Pink Berkeley Tie Dye, Principe Borghese, Black Krim, Persimmon (6 ounces) and SunSugar for a total of 243 tomatoes.

Yesterday's haul came in at 12 pounds, 6 ounces and today's haul came in at 13 pounds, one ounce.

It looks like the Red Grape plant got some damage. Several branches on the south side were broken.

My wife watered the front yard tomatoes yesterday evening.

We tried four large tomatoes with our takeout chicken last night. They were nothing short of fabulous. First we tried a large orange tomato – it was either Dr. Wyche's Yellow or Orange Fleshed Purple Smudge. The texture was excellent and it held together nicely when you bit into it. The flavor was clean and delicious. Really good. Then we tried the Black Oxheart. It was just as good, similar characteristics but with a smokier flavor and a slightly more tomato taste. A winner. Now we'd grow this plant again in a heartbeat. Then we tried Aunt Ruby's German Green and we were on the moon! Our other Aunt Ruby's German Green had more of a tomatoey flavor than I'm used to. Not this tomato. This tomato reminded me of Aunt Ruby's German Green from prior years. Smooth and mouthwatering, like the other two tomatoes. None of these tomatoes really reminded you of tomatoes. They were sweet and juicy, almost like watermelon but with enough “meat” to hold together when tasting.

Then we tried Emerald Evergreen. Oddly, the two green tomatoes had turned a bright yellow with a greenish tinge since we picked them the day before. The taste was just as mouthwatering, though unusual.

Gradewise, I give three A's and an A-.

I don't think we'll do better this year. These tomatoes were fabulous!


Thursday, July 22, 2010

Harvested Over 3000 Tomatoes This Year!


Today's harvest includes 43 SunGold, 32 White Currant, 15 Garden Peach, 13 Snow White (back yard), 12 Husky Cherry Red, 7 Violet Jasper, 7 Babywine, 6 Red Grape, 6 Red Currant(1), 6 Red Currant(2), 6 Gajo de Melon, 6 Snow White (front yard), 6 Japanese Black Trifele, 4 Nyagous, 4 Marianna's Peace, 3 Poma Amoris Minora Lutea, 3 Black Krim (13 ounces, 7 ounces), 3 Black From Tula, 3 Zapotec Pleated, 3 Aunt Ruby's German Green(1) (12.5 ounces, 7.5 ounces, 10.5 ounces), 2 Jaune Flamme(2), 2 Dr. Wyche's Yellow(2), 2 Pierce's Pride (6 ounces, 7 ounces), 2 Red Boar, 2 Principe Borghese, 2 Weeping Charlie (7 ounces), 2 SunSugar, 2 Persimmon (8 ounces, 8 ounces), 2 Orange Fleshed Purple Smudge (6 ounces), Patio, Michael Pollan, Miss Elliotte Black, Carmelo, Topaz, Plum Tigris, Green Grape, Yellow Perfection, Enchantment, Thessaloniki, Gypsy, Azoychka/not Azoychka and Black Oxheart (10.5 ounces) for a total of 219 tomatoes.

We've now harvested over 3000 tomatoes for the year (3054) and over 2500 for the month (2571).

The image above is from yesterday's harvest. It weighed 11 pounds, 8 ounces.

The birds left us alone yesterday – no tomatoes lost to birds.

In spite of our high harvest totals, some of the tomato plants look picked over and exhausted. But with the weather on the cool side some of these plants will get a second wind.


Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Quedlinburger Fruehe Liebe Has A Tomato On It


Today's harvest includes 53 SunGold, 28 White Currant, 18 Garden Peach, 13 Red Currant(1), 12 Husky Cherry Red, 10 Gajo de Melon, 8 Red Currant(2), 8 Japanese Black Trifele (6 ounces, 6 ounces), 7 Red Grape, 7 Snow White (back yard), 7 Violet Jasper, 5 Snow White (front yard), 3 Babywine, 3 Black Krim (9 ounces, 6 ounces), 2 SunSugar, 2 Aunt Ruby's German Green(1) (7 ounces, 17.5 ounces), 2 Emerald Evergreen (13 ouncex, 10.5 ounces), 2 Orange Fleshed Purple Smudge (6.5 ounces), 2 Poma Amoris Minora Lutea, 2 Sweetie, 2 Pierce's Pride (14 ounces, 7 ounces), 2 Dr. Wyche's Yellow(1) (8 ounces, 8 ounces), 2 Zapotec Pleated, Thessaloniki, Black From Tula, Marianna's Peace, Pineapple (7.5 ounces), Weeping Charlie (6.5 ounces), Green Zebra, Sara Black (10 ounces), Brown Berry, Pink Berkeley Tie Dye, Carmelo, Principe Borghese, Miss Elliotte Black and Persimmon (8.5 ounces) for a total of 213 tomatoes.

Yesterday's harvest had the exact same weight as the day before – 13 pounds, no ounces. It's now officially tomato high tide here!

As you can tell by the recent totals of 36/36/49/53, we're getting inundated with SunGold tomatoes. Not coincidentally this harvest blitz occurred just after a heat wave. The numbers for Red Currant and White Currant have risen at this same time.

Quedlinburger Fruehe Liebe has a tomato on it! The plant has grown to about two feet or so but hasn't filled out at all. But there's clearly a tiny tomato growing from one of the few bulbs on it.

I added a stake to Gajo de Melon.

Speaking of which, we finally tasted this tomato. We both thought the flavor was good but my wife thought the skin was simply too thick.

Poma Amoris Minora Lutea – We tried a tomato that wasn't getting soft. In fact we may have picked one a bit early. The flavor was mild and again, somewhat mushy. Still, this would be a good tomato to slice into quarters or eighths and add to salads.

The birds got to another Japanese Black Trifele.


Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Harvested Emerald Evergreen!


Today's harvest includes 49 SunGold, 25 White Currant, 13 Red Currant(2), 11 Violet Jasper, 11 Husky Cherry Red, 10 Red Currant(1), 9 Snow White (front yard), 8 Garden Peach, 8 Japanese Black Trifele, 7 Gajo de Melon, 5 Snow White (back yard), 4 Red Grape, 3 Black Krim (6 ounces, 7 ounces), 3 Babywine, 3 Black From Tula (one 7.5 ounces), 3 Thessaloniki, 2 Jaune Flamme(2), 2 Marianna's Peace, 2 German Orange Strawberry, 2 Pierce's Pride (15 ounces, 6 ounces), 2 Dr. Wyche's Yellow(1) (10.5 ounces, 7 ounces), 2 Green Zebra, 2 Weeping Charlie (8 ounces), 2 Aunt Ruby's German Green (8 ounces, 11 ounces), Principe Borghese, Taxi, Carmelo, Pink Berkeley Tie Dye, Plum Tigris, Green Grape, Brown Berry, Stupice, Patio, Michael Pollan, Poma Amoris Minora Lutea, Orange Fleshed Purple Smudge (still no smudge), SunSugar, Ananas Noire, Sweet Tangerine, Zapotec Pleated, Nyagous and Emerald Evergreen (new, 12 ounces) for a total of 206 tomatoes.

Yesterday's haul came in at 13 pounds. Today's haul will have a similar weight, perhaps a touch heavier.

I watered the front yard tomatoes late in the evening. In the morning Snow White had a bad lean to the southwest. I tried fixing it with my hands only to make matters worse. I got a hammer and two stakes and added another stake to Snow White and one to Orange Fleshed Purple Smudge.

We've now harvested over 2000 tomatoes for the month (2142).

The birds got to a Japanese Black Trifele and a Miss Elliotte Black.


Monday, July 19, 2010

Harvested Azoychka/Not Azoychka!


Today's harvest includes 36 SunGold, 16 White Currant, 13 Red Currant(2), 9 Violet Jasper, 9 Japanese Black Trifele, 8 Red Currant(1), 8 Red Grape, 7 Babywine, 7 Gajo de Melon, 4 Husky Cherry Red, 4 Snow White (front yard), 4 Snow White (back yard), 3 Dr. Wyche's Yellow(2), 3 Green Zebra, 3 Zapotec Pleated, 3 Orange Fleshed Purple Smudge (9 ounces, 9.5 ounces, 7.5 ounces), 2 Garden Peach, 2 SunSugar, 2 Black Krim (6 ounces, 11 ounces), 2 Principe Borghese, 2 Topaz, 2 Green Grape, 2 Pierce's Pride (10.5 ounces, 8 ounces), 2 Marianna's Peace, 2 Azoychka (new), 2 Poma Amoris Minorea Lutea, 2 Aunt Ruby's German Green (8 ounces, 6 ounces), Gypsy, Thessaloniki, Enchantment, Black From Tula, Berkeley Tie-Dye Heart (8 ounces), German Orange Strawberry (6 ounces), Dr. Wyche's Yellow(1) (9.5 ounces), Weeping Charlie (7 ounces), Lyn's Mahogany Garnet, Taxi, Nyagous, Sweetie and Carmelo for a total of 172 tomatoes.

As mentioned previously, the plant labeled Azoychka isn't Azoychka. Looking on the TomatoFest site, it's the size of Grape and the shape of San Marzano. I'll keep looking. Also, I may have harvested them a bit early. We may sacrifice these two to see how ripe they get.

There were some pretty good sized tomatoes in today's batch. You can see some of them in the above image of today's harvest.

The harvest numbers for Violet Jasper has been pretty consistent but we're actually running out of tomatoes on this plant. The numbers will drop and in all probability it will get a second wind around a month later.

The birds continue to pick off two or three tomatoes a day. Today they got to a Japanese Black Trifele and I believe Nyagous.

Yesterday was a mellow day for all. The backyard was cleaned up in the evening and everything is pretty much back to normal.


Sunday, July 18, 2010

Party Time!


Today's harvest includes 36 SunGold, 13 White Currant, 12 Violet Jasper, 8 Snow White (back yard), 7 Japanese Black Trifele, 6 Red Grape, 5 Gajo de Melon, 4 Garden Peach, 4 Zapotec Pleated, 4 Red Currant(2), 4 Marianna's Peace, 3 Lyn's Mahogany Garnet, 3 Topaz, 3 Red Boar (one 6 ounces), 3 Nyagous, 3 Husky Cherry Red, 3 SunSugar, 2 Black Krim (6 ounces, 9.5 ounces), 2 Principe Borghese, 2 Snow White (front yard), Babywine, Poma Amoris Minora Lutea, Orange Fleshed Purple Smudge (7.5 ounces), Aunt Ruby's German Green (8.5 ounces), Chile Verde, Sweetie, Taxi, Plum Tigris, Brown Berry, Green Zebra, Weeping Charlie (6 ounces), Dr. Wyche's Yellow(1) (12. 5 ounces), Dr. Wyche's Yellow(2), Black From Tula, Thessaloniki and Gypsy for a total of 143 tomatoes.

Wow, what a fun party! Easy for me to say...my wife prepared most of the dishes in the limited time remaining. I went out in the morning and got supplies from various places and help set up, but my wife had prepared several salads (and several people were raving about the marinated salad) and pulled it all together. Our neighbor made salsa with mint using our tomatoes. We asked some people to come later because of the expected heat (it got up to 104 degrees) and that bought us some time. My mother-in-law came earlier in the day and helped to pull it all together.

People came from all over – neighbors, mutual friends, people I haven't seen since our wedding, and a couple of consultant friends that I haven't seen for about 13 or 14 years. Several children came as well, I can think of a half dozen off of the top of my head.

In spite of the heat, everyone seemed to have a good time. A fair amount of people brought food and spirits. We ended up in the unusual position of having as much (if not more) food and drink than when we started. This week for dinner – leftovers!

Unfortunately because of the hot weather and the lack of hot water until Friday, some of our harvested tomatoes got soft. They won't be thrown away but still will be used for other things.

Here's what I remember from some of the taste testing:

Aunt Ruby's German Green – Tasted good but tasted more like a tomato than I remembered it from years past. Perhaps it was picked a tad soon.

Garden Peach – Good stuff, citrusy and refreshing.

Orange Fleshed Purple Smudge – Tasted quite good actually, good texture. Still no purple smudges on anything. I'd bring a plate for sampling. give the name and always get the purple question when the tomato in front of them is clearly 100% orange.

Poma Amoris Minora Lutea – Mushy, little taste. But the tomato was a bit overripe so we'll try again.

Berkeley Tie-Dye Heart – Good tasting with a bit more acid than normal. However it didn't knock my socks off like the original Berkeley Tie Dye.

Persimmon – A real winner. People really liked this tomato. I did too. Good texture.

Japanese Black Trifele – Quite good, some of them reminded me of Black Krim.

Pineapple – People really liked this one, too. It doesn't remind people of a tomato.

Black Krim – Response was muted but I noticed there weren't any left.

Marianna's Peace – We hadn't tried this tomato (like several others) until this party. A very good tomatoey taste. I like it.

One of our container plants bit the dust – I think it's Red Cherry. My wife may have broken the stem earlier and one of the newborns reached out and apparently grabbed it. It's not much of a loss at all. This plant had about five small tomatoes slowly maturing and hadn't done much in a while.

My mother-in-law stayed the night. All of us are dragging today.