It's Over For 2012

It's over for 2012. All the tomato plants were pulled out by the gardeners today. SunGold, Husky Cherry Red(2), Snow White(2) and our two winter tomatoes were all gone by about noon today.

I hadn't harvested in several days. It was either raining, cold, windy or any combination of these.

This morning I started in the back yard. I knew it had been cold (the numbers will come later) but hadn't had the time to assess the damage. Husky Cherry Red(2) had sustained some pretty good damage -- probably the worst of all the plants as it turned out -- and due to the already weakened state it was an easy decision to pull it. Next I checked Snow White(2). Less damage, but any damage is good enough for old tomato plants. Get rid of it.

Next I looked at the front yard and the mighty SunGold. The first thing I noticed was the plant had a gray pallor but also had hundreds of tomatoes on the ground. Many of them were ripe and completely salvageable.

Then I started to harvest within the plant. The slightest jiggle would send a half a dozen or more tomatoes to the ground. This happened repeatedly. It appeared that the tomato plant had simply given up, leaving extremely little support for the tomatoes themselves. I harvested as many of the ripe tomatoes as I could.

I'm not posting final numbers yet because there will probably be some ripe, harvestable tomatoes on the ground.

The winter tomato plants had a vivid, healthy green color for about a foot off the ground and the damaged black color from then on. They had to go.

The pole beans were damaged beyond repair and will be pulled. Other freeze damage was noted among the plants.

However, there is some real good news to report: My wife, after years and years and years of toiling in the garden, will have our grounds as a featured stop for the Iris Society garden tour in April of next year. Congratulations!!!!

Here's some temperature details, care of the Pierce College weather station.

December 20: 32.1 degrees at 6:30 AM.
December 21: 29.4 degrees at 6:30 AM.
December 22: 33.6 degrees at 7:30 AM.

And that's why our plants were pulled. 

Harvested Over 12000 Tomatoes This Year!

December 1 harvest includes 20 SunGold tomatoes.
December 4 harvest includes 26 SunGold tomatoes.
December 5 harvest includes 13 SunGold tomatoes.
December 7 harvest includes 31 SunGold and Snow White(2) for a total of 32 tomatoes.
December 8 harvest includes 20 SunGold tomatoes.
December 9 harvest includes 17 SunGold tomatoes. My wife pulled Husky Cherry Red(1) later in the day.
December 10 harvest includes 15 SunGold tomatoes.
December 11 harvest includes 19 SunGold tomatoes.
December 12 harvest includes 22 SunGold tomatoes.
December 14 harvest includes 36 SunGold tomatoes.

Well, we reached 12,000 harvested tomatoes this year (12,015)! We'll continue counting until the end of the year.

Other milestones of note: We've harvested over 4500 tomatoes from the front yard (4650) and harvested an eye-popping 3729 SunGold tomatoes so far!

And the SunGold tomatoes still taste good! We've added the tomatoes to pasta and other dishes and they're still quite good. 

Harvested Over 3500 SunGold Tomatoes This Year!

November 14 harvest includes 30 SunGold and Snow White(2) for a total of 31 tomatoes.
November 15 harvest includes 23 SunGold tomatoes.
November 16 harvest includes 15 SunGold tomatoes.
Then we had two days of rain followed by 2 days of me getting up before dawn.
November 21 harvest includes 51 SunGold and Snow White(2) for a total of 52 tomatoes.
November 22 harvest includes 10 SunGold and Snow White(2) for a total of 11 tomatoes.
November 23 includes 8 SunGold tomatoes.
November 24 harvest includes 15 SunGold tomatoes.
November 25 harvest includes 9 SunGold tomatoes.
No harvest on November 26.
November 27 harvest includes 13 SunGold tomatoes.
November 28 harvest includes 19 SunGold tomatoes.
November 29 harvest includes 11 SunGold tomatoes.
No harvest today, too much rain.

We've now harvested over 3500 SunGold tomatoes (3510)!! That's a remarkable number. And the tomatoes themselves are still quite good. We had some of them in a bean soup last night and they were excellent.

We ended up harvesting 432 tomatoes for November, which is quite a high number so late in the season. Let's see how it compares to prior years:

2007 -- 0
2008 -- 19
2009 -- 181
2010 -- 214
2011 -- 125

Yeah, 432 is a remarkable number.

We harvested more front yard tomatoes in November (413) than in October (404). All of these front yard tomatoes are SunGold tomatoes.

We've now harvested nearly 11,800 tomatoes this year (11,795). We have a reasonable shot of hitting 12,000 this year, though a December frost can pretty much kill that idea.

It's been a great year for tomatoes! 

Harvested Over 400 Snow White(2) Tomatoes!

Today's harvest includes 19 SunGold and 3 Snow White(2) for a total of 22 tomatoes.

We've now harvested over 400 Snow White(2) (401) tomatoes! Outside of SunGold, this will in all likelihood be the last "landmark" we hit for an individual tomato plant.

Speaking of SunGold, we've now harvested over 3300 SunGold tomatoes (3315)! I think we'll get to 3500 tomatoes for SunGold but what happens after that remains to be seen.. 

Harvested Over 11,500 Tomatoes For The Year!

Last Sunday's harvest includes 29 SunGold and Snow White(2) for a total of 30 tomatoes.
Monday's harvest includes 24 SunGold and Snow White(2) for a total of 25 tomatoes.
Tuesday's harvest includes 16 SunGold and 2 Snow White(2) for a total of 18 tomatoes.
Wednesday's harvest includes 10 SunGold, Husky Cherry Red(1) and Snow White(2) for a total of 12 tomatoes.
Thursday's harvest includes 21 SunGold and Snow White(2) for a total of 22 tomatoes.
Friday's harvest includes 9 SunGold and Snow White(2) for a total of 10 tomatoes.
Saturday's harvest: 9 SunGold tomatoes.
No harvest today.

We've now harvested over 11,500 tomatoes for the year (11575)! Also, we've harvested nearly 3300 SunGold tomatoes (3296)! It doesn't look like we have enough to make 12,000 before the end of the year but we will get close.

We've hit a cold snap over the last couple of days so the production has slowed down.

This is as good a time as any to go over the October numbers. I didn't post it as a separate blog post but my estimate was 200 tomatoes for the month. After the first week in I was bringing it down to something like 160 or 150 tomatoes.

We ended up harvesting 491 tomatoes for October.

What happened? Well, you know. SunGold got a strong second wind. We harvested 404 tomatoes in the front yard and all of them were SunGolds. Good SunGold tomatoes.

I have no estimate for November. At this point there isn't much left but staying warm and harvesting the ripe ones... 

Harvested Over 3150 SunGold Tomatoes This Year!

Monday's harvest: 6 SunGold and Snow White(2) for a total of 7 tomatoes.
Tuesday's harvest: 5 SunGold and Snow White(2) for a total of 6 tomatoes.
No harvest on Wednesday.
Thursday's harvest: 19 SunGold and Snow White(2) for a total of 20 tomatoes.
Friday's harvest: 26 SunGold, Husky Cherry Red(1) and Snow White(2) for a total of 28 tomatoes.
Today's harvest: 36 SunGold, Husky Cherry Red(1) and Snow White(2) for a total of 38 tomatoes.

We've now harvested over 3150 SunGold tomatoes (3178)! This plant is truly amazing. The second wave continues. 

Harvested Over 4000 Front Yard Tomatoes This Year!

Today's harvest includes 23 SunGold, 2 Snow White(2) and Husky Cherry Red(1) for a total of 26 tomatoes.

We've now harvested over 4000 tomatoes in the front yard (4007)!

About a month ago I posted that the back yard harvest total was over twice the amount in the front yard. That's not true any more due to the strong second wind from SunGold. 

Harvested Over 1000 Husky Cherry Red(1) Tomatoes This Year!

Today's harvest includes 50 SunGold, 3 Snow White(2), 3 Husky Cherry Red(1) and Husky Cherry Red(2) for a total of 57 tomatoes.

The harvest was a little better today because I didn't harvest by flashlight. There was enough sun to see the darker, riper and more obscure tomatoes ready for harvest today.

We've now harvested over 1000 Husky Cherry Red(1) tomatoes this year(1002)! And the plant still has some life in it. 

Harvested Over 3000 SunGold Tomatoes This Year!

Tuesday's harvest includes 24 SunGold tomatoes.
Wednesday's harvest includes 25 SunGold, Husky Cherry Red(1) and Snow White(2) for a total of 27 tomatoes.
Thursday's harvest includes 37 SunGold, 2 Snow White(2) and Husky Cherry Red(1) for a total of 40 tomatoes.
Today's harvest includes 33 SunGold, 2 Snow White(2) and Husky Cherry Red(1) for a total of 36 tomatoes.

We've now harvested over 3000 SunGold tomatoes this year (3013)! The scary thing is this plant has a lot of new blooms and may have another large harvest in the next month or so.

Having noted that, I'm pleasantly surprised by the SunGold harvest during this month. My internal harvest prediction for October was going to be 200 tomatoes and after the first week I thought that would be too high. We've harvested 320 SunGold tomatoes this month, 395 overall so far.

We've had Santa Ana winds the past couple of days. Both Snow White(2) and SunGold are noticeably less tall -- they've been blown to the west. It's unclear what damage has been done, if any.

Our new dog found a hornworm on Snow White(2).

We have definitely passed our all time harvest high for a year (2009/11,155 tomatoes). We are currently at 11,267 harvested tomatoes and the number will continue to rise. 

Harvested Over 2850 SunGold Tomatoes!

Monday's harvest (last week) includes 5 SunGold tomatoes.
Tuesday's harvest includes 4 SunGold and 2 Husky Cherry Red(1) for a total of 6 tomatoes.
Wednesday's harvest includes 11 SunGold, 4 Snow White(2) and 3 Husky Cherry Red(1) for a total of 18 tomatoes.
Today's harvest includes 84 SunGold, 10 Snow White(2), 3 Husky Cherry Red(1) and Husky Cherry Red(2) for a total of 98 tomatoes.

The Thursday - Sunday gap was due to being out of town for those days. We were at a conference in Arizona.

Yes, today's total for SunGold is correct. I counted it twice.

It must have gotten cooler while we were away. Not only did I harvest a ton of SunGold tomatoes today but I saw plenty of blooms. We could get a "third wind" from this plant.

My wife pulled Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red a week ago Monday.

We've now harvested over 2850 SunGold tomatoes (2894) for the year! Also, we're only a few tomatoes away from our all time high for a yearly harvest. 

Harvested Over 11000 Tomatoes This Year!

Monday's harvest: 20 SunGold, 3 Snow White(2) and 2 Husky Cherry Red(1) for a total of 25 tomatoes.
Saturday's harvest: 23 SunGold, 5 Snow White(2) and 4 Husky Cherry Red(1) for a total of 32 tomatoes.
Today's harvest: 15 SunGold, 3 SunGold and 2 Husky Cherry Red(1) for a total 20 tomatoes.

We didn't harvest from Tuesday - Friday as we were out of town. We flew from Los Angeles to San Francisco. Some people on the plane saw Air Force One over to the right (Obama was traveling from Los Angeles to San Francisco for fundraising). Our landing was delayed because of it.

We took BART to our hotel. I bought three tickets but the machine spit out only one and then failed. I had to go find help with the receipt to get credit for the other two tickets. We got to the hotel (it's really a residence/club but we'll call it a hotel) and our keys wouldn't work in the door. So we got replacements. They didn't work, either. The master key worked, but nothing else. It took a bit over a day to actually get our own keys.

But don't let that get you down. It was a great room, we were happy and had quite a good time.

Apparently it rained while we were away. We got some minor rain in San Francisco but it was quite minor.

Thursday the Giants clinched their playoff series with the Cincinnati Reds. I got to see office workers across the street watch the game from their offices (we were on the fifth floor overlooking Market Street). That was fun to watch.

I picked off a hornworm on Snow White(2) today.

Anyway, we've now harvested over 11,000 tomatoes for the year (11,013)! I believe our one year record is 11,155 in 2009 but I'm too lazy to look it up right now. Also, we've harvested over 2750 SunGold tomatoes for the year(2790). 

Harvested Over 2700 SunGold Tomatoes!

Sunday's harvest: 4 Husky Cherry Red(1), 2 Husky Cherry Red(2) and SunGold for a total of 7 tomatoes.
Monday's harvest: 4 Husky Cherry Red(1) and 2 SunGold for a total of 6 tomatoes.
Tuesday's harvest: 4 Husky Cherry Red(1) and 2 SunGold for a total of 6 tomatoes.
Wednesday's harvest: 4 SunGold and 2 Husky Cherry Red(1) for a total of 6 tomatoes.
Thursday's harvest: 4 SunGold and 2 Husky Cherry Red(1) for a total of 6 tomatoes.
Friday's harvest: 3 SunGold and 3 Husky Cherry Red(1) for a total of 6 tomatoes.
Saturday's harvest: 12 SunGold, 5 Snow White(2) and 3 Husky Cherry Red(1) for a total of 20 tomatoes.
Today's harvest: 12 SunGold and 2 Husky Cherry Red(1) for a total of 14 tomatoes.

The hornworm "harvest" for the week was as follows:
Monday: SunGold
Tuesday: 2 SunGold
Wednesday: SunGold
Thursday: 2 SunGold
Friday: Snow White(2)
Sunday: Snow White(2)

So I think the totals are now 14 hornworms found on SunGold and 5 on Snow White(2).

Sunday's high: 103.9
Monday's high: 107.1
Tuesday's high: 104.3
...then the temperature finally, finally broke.

We've now harvested over 2700 SunGold tomatoes (2732) and over 350 Snow White(2) tomatoes (351)! In fact, SunGold just passed our all time harvest for one year, surpassing last year's total of 2727 Matt's Wild Cherry tomatoes. And the plant is getting a second wind. 

"Harvested" 11 Hornworms!

Monday's harvest: SunGold.
Tuesday's harvest: SunGold and Snow White(2) for a total of 2 tomatoes.
Wednesday's harvest: 3 SunGold, Husky Cherry Red(1) and Husky Cherry Red(2) for a total of 5 tomatoes.
Thursday's harvest: SunGold.
Friday's harvest: 2 SunGold, Husky Cherry Red(1) and Husky Cherry Red(2) for a total of 4 tomatoes.
Today's harvest: 3 Husky Cherry Red(1), 2 Husky Cherry Red(2), SunGold and Snow White(2) for a total of 7 tomatoes.

Last week I noticed signs of hornworms -- I noticed the excrement on the brick path underneath SunGold. But quick glances discovered no hornworms and no damage. But on Monday I noticed a hornworm on Snow White(2). That trained my eye for discovering hornworms and I found them throughout the week. Here's the breakdown:

Monday: Snow White(2).
Tuesday: 3 SunGold
Wednesday: 4 SunGold, Snow White(2).
Friday: Snow White(2)

I found 8 hornworms on SunGold and 3 hornworms on Snow White(2). And now I see the damage, mild damage on both plants.

The cooler night time temperatures has allowed fruit to set on all the tomato plants. However, we should have record breaking high temperatures this Monday. It's already been up to 96.0 today.

No milestones, but there's enough growing tomatoes to reach a few milestones over the next several weeks. 

Pulled Out 18 Tomato Plants

There was no harvest on Saturday.

However, the gardeners came and pulled out plenty of tomato plants. The carnage included Sweet 100, Copper River, Big Bite, Carmello, Thessaloniki, Giant Syrian, German Orange Strawberry, Snow White(1), Black and Brown Boar(2), Purple Dog Creek, Delicious, Neves Azorean Red, Italian Heirloom, Amazon Chocolate, Amana Orange, Aunt Ruby's German Green, Watermelon and Pineapple(2) -- 18 plants in all. I might have kept one or two of those, but a vast majority were ready to go. We're left with 6 plants left but one of them was missed by the gardeners. We have 5 good ones remaining.

Both Husky Cherry Red tomato plants are still going even though they were planted in February. They're tough, rugged plants that take a licking and keep on ticking...

Yesterday got up to 101.9. The heat just will not let up for any appreciable period of time...

Today's harvest includes 4 Husky Cherry Red(2), SunGold and Husky Cherry Red(1) for a total of 6 tomatoes. 

Harvested 950 Husky Cherry Red(1) Tomatoes!

Yesterday's harvest includes SunGold, Sweet 100, Husky Cherry Red(1), Husky Cherry Red(2), German Orange Strawberry and Snow White(1) for a total of 6 tomatoes.

My wife pulled Ella's Pink Plum and Italian Tree.

And again, the heat is pounding the tomato plants and us: It got up to 102.6 degrees yesterday.

Today's harvest includes SunGold, Copper River, Husky Cherry Red(1), Husky Cherry Red(2) and Carmello for a total of 5 tomatoes.

We've now harvested 950 Husky Cherry Red(1) tomatoes!

The gardeners are coming tomorrow and there will be a lot of plants pulled. 

Seven More Plants Pulled...

Today's harvest includes 5 Husky Cherry Red(1), SunGold, Ella's Pink Plum, German Orange Strawberry, Snow White(1) and Purple Dog Creek for a total of 10 tomatoes.

My wife pulled Nebraska Wedding and Speckled Roman(3) yesterday. But the day before there were five additional plants removed: Yellow Perfection, Red Currant, Matt's Wild Cherry Sweet Million and Oaxacan Pink. And there's still more plants that can be pulled...

No new milestones for today. 

Pulled Three More Front Yard Tomato Plants

Monday's harvest includes 2 SunGold, 2 Speckled Roman(3), 2 Husky Cherry Red(1), Sweet 100, Husky Cherry Red(2), Purple Dog Creek, Delicious and Neves Azorean Red for a total of 11 tomatoes

Today's harvest includes 2 Carmello, SunGold, Copper River, Snow White(1), Black and Brown Boar(2), Husky Cherry Red(1), Purple Dog Creek (7 ounces) and Delicious for a total of 9 tomatoes.

I forgot to mention the heat over the weekend. Friday: 105.6 degrees. Saturday: 103.9 degrees. Sunday wasn't so bad, 94.6 degrees. But any new tomato blooms are going to go sterile in such heat as the heat pounds the plant into submission.

Yesterday my wife pulled out Redfield Beauty, Porkchop(1) and Pierce's Pride(1). Only SunGold remains in the front yard.

No milestones hit, but we did pass 10,800 total harvested tomatoes for this year (10818). 

Back Yard Harvest Twice Front Yard Harvest For 2012

Saturday's harvest includes 4 Delicious, 2 SunGold, 2 Amana Orange, 2 Big Bite, 2 Carmello, Copper River, Husky Cherry Red(1), Husky Cherry Red(2), Thessaloniki, Speckled Roman(3), Black and Brown Boar(2), Purple Dog Creek (6 ounces) and Neves Azorean Red for a total of 20 tomatoes.

Saturday my wife and I plus about 30 of our friends and family celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary at Castaways Restaurant in Burbank. It was a ton of fun for everyone involved.

I love you, sweetie!!

Today's harvest includes 5 Speckled Roman(3), 4 Delicious, 2 Neves Azorean Red, 2 SunGold, 2 Black and Brown Boar(2), Pierce's Pride(1), Oaxacan Pink, Husky Cherry Red(1), Thessaloniki, Snow White(1) and Amana Orange for a total of 21 tomatoes.

Several more tomato plants are ready to be pulled. We may be up to 10 more ready to come out.

The back yard harvest total is over twice the front yard harvest total (7201 vs 3597) for this year. 

Harvested Over 500 Backyard Tomatoes This Month!

Today's harvest includes 4 Speckled Roman(3), 3 Delicious, 3 Husky Cherry Red(1), 2 Snow White(1), 2 Porkchop(1), 2 SunGold, Big Bite, Yellow Perfection, Carmello, Black and Brown Boar(2), Neves Azorean Red, Italian Heirloom and Snow White(2) for a total of 23 tomatoes.

Yikes! Yesterday got up to 105.3. That is...hot. This heat is wearing us out along with the tomato plants.

With our aggressive plant pulling we probably won't make my prediction of 900 tomatoes this month. Also, I didn't expect it to stay so hot for so long.

We've now harvested over 500 back yard tomatoes this month (517)!  

Harvested Copper River!

Today's harvest includes 5 Snow White(1), 4 SunGold, 4 Delicious, 2 Copper River (new), 2 Amana Orange, 2 Aunt Ruby's German Green, 2 Snow White(2), 2 Black and Brown Boar(2), 2 Husky Cherry Red(1), Redfield Beauty, Speckled Roman(3) and Neves Azorean Red for a total of 28 tomatoes.

Well, it's good to see Copper River being harvested! The tomatoes are small but look pretty good. And today's two tomatoes for Copper River means it has rocketed past Italian Tree and tied with Chile Verde on the 2012 harvest totals. We've only harvested a single Italian Tree tomato. We got a second Italian Tree tomato, but it had too much blossom end rot to be usable when mature. Next up: Green Zebra with 3 harvested tomatoes.

I don't think I've harvested a first tomato with a longer maturity. It took 130 days to harvest the first Copper River tomato. It was planted on May 5 of this year. 

Pulled Five Front Yard Tomato Plants

Today's harvest includes 4 Snow White(1), 3 Snow White(2), 2 Black and Brown Boar(2), 2 Delicious, 2 SunGold, Porkchop(1), Ella's Pink Plum, Yellow Perfection, Husky Cherry Red(1), Husky Cherry Red(2), Carmello, Speckled Roman(3), Italian Heirloom (6 ounces), Amana Orange, Aunt Ruby's German Green and Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red for a total of 24 tomatoes.

My wife pulled out Jaune Flamme(1), Black Krim(1), Indigo Apple(1), Oaxacan Jewel and Olga's Round Yellow Chicken Egg, all from the front yard. Indigo Apple(1) was a bit of a surprise, but it was clearly near the end anyway. Also, she watered the front yard, including the remaining front yard tomatoes.

We've now harvested over 50 Delicious tomatoes (51).

And we've passed the 10,700 mark for the year (10706).

On a somber note, on this date last year our Manchester Terrier was put to sleep. Buster's body failed him but he never failed us. 

Harvested Over 400 Snow White(1) Tomatoes!

Today's harvest includes 9 Snow White(1), 3 Italian Heirloom, 3 Neves Azorean Red (6 ounces), 2 Porkchop(1), 2 SunGold, 2 Black and Brown Boar(2), Pierce's Pride(1), Indigo Apple(1), Olga's Round Yellow Chicken Egg, Carmello, Husky Cherry Red(1), Husky Cherry Red(2), Thessaloniki, German Orange Strawberry, Delicious, Amazon Chocolate, Watermelon, Aunt Ruby's German Green and Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red for a total of 34 tomatoes

Copper River has a couple of maturing tomatoes! We should be harvesting this tomato by the end of the week.

We've now harvested over 500 tomatoes for September (510)! The back yard tomatoes are doing fine in spite of SunSugar and the two Black Cherry tomatoes being removed. The front yard tomatoes are almost done, save SunGold.

Also, we've harvested over 400 Snow White(1) tomatoes (401)! 

Harvested Over 7000 Back Yard Tomatoes!

Today's harvest includes 5 Big Bite, 3 Snow White(1), 2 Husky Cherry Red(1), 2 Delicious, 2 Speckled Roman(3), 2 Black and Brown Boar(2), SunGold, Ella's Pink Plum, Carmello, Purple Dog Creek, Neves Azorean Red, Aunt Ruby's German Green and Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red for a total of 23 tomatoes.

Ugh, it's hot again. Yesterday: 100.7 degrees.

We've now harvested over 7000 back yard tomatoes (7075)! Actually we passed the 7000 mark a couple of days ago. I noticed it yesterday and letting the world know about it now.

My wife watered the tomatoes in the containers. 

Fourteen Plants Pulled...

Today's harvest includes 10 Snow White(1), 3 Amana Orange, 3 Indigo Rose, 2 Snow White(2), 2 Carmello, 2 Delicious (6 ounces), Husky Cherry Red(1), Thessaloniki, Nebraska Wedding, Japanese Black Trifele, Pierce's Pride(1), Porkchop(1), SunGold, Ella's Pink Plum, Big Bite (6 ounces), Brad's Black Heart, Italian Heirloom, Marianna's Peace (6 ounces) and Marmara for a total of 35 tomatoes.

The gardeners did come and pull tomatoes. A lot of them, all in the back yard. The list includes Black Cherry(1), Brad's Black Heart, Black From Tula, Japanese Black Trifele, Black Cherry(2), Marianna's Peace, Noire Charbonneuse(2), Indigo Apple(2), Earl of Edgecombe, Gypsy, Marmara, Red Boar(1), Indigo Rose and Red Boar(2)...14 plants in all. And the ones I listed yesterday need to be removed as well.

Having noted that, I wasn't expecting either Black Cherry to be pulled. But it's done. The raised bed is now cleared out with the removal of Indigo Rose and Red Boar(2). The ground will be prepared for winter crops.

Some of the pulled plants had salvageable tomatoes, which were added to today's totals.

Will we break our all time record? Perhaps, but the removal of the two Black Cherry plants puts it in some doubt.

On a bookkeeping note, Garden Peach was pulled a while ago. I guessed the date as August 22. 

More Plants Going Soon...

Today's harvest includes 9 Black Cherry(1), 6 Snow White(1), 5 Indigo Apple(2), 4 Amana Orange, 4 Noire Charbonneuse(2), 4 SunGold, 3 Brad's Black Heart (6 ounces, 7.5 ounces, 8.5 ounces), 3 Indigo Rose, 2 Aunt Ruby's German Green, 2 Black Cherry(2), 2 Marmara, 2 Snow White(2), 2 Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red, 2 Carmello, 2 Husky Cherry Red(1), Pierce's Pride(1), Black Krim(1), Oaxacan Jewel, Big Bite, Yellow Perfection, Thessaloniki, German Orange Strawberry, Japanese Black Trifele and Speckled Roman(3) for a total of 61 tomatoes.

The gardeners will come by again and pull out some tomato plants. The "fungusy" ones are likely to go with other random ones as well. In the front yard, Black Krim(1), Jaune Flamme(1) and Oaxacan Jewel can be pulled. The back yard has a few "fungusy" ones that can go.

Today's harvest was a little aggressive in anticipation of some of these plants being pulled.

No milestones were hit today unless you count 25 Brad's Black Heart tomatoes. 

Harvested Over 10,500 Tomatoes This Year!

Today's harvest includes 13 Black Cherry(1), 7 Snow White(1), 5 Indigo Rose, 4 SunGold, 4 Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red, 3 Japanese Black Trifele, 2 Oaxacan Jewel, 2 Carmello, 2 Husky Cherry Red(1), 2 Noire Charbonneuse(2), 2 Amana Orange (6 ounces), 2 Speckled Roman(3), 2 Indigo Apple(2), German Orange Strawberry, Black Cherry(2), Marianna's Peace (7.5 ounces), Neves Azorean Red (6 ounces), Gypsy, Black From Tula, Big Bite, Yellow Perfection, Oaxacan Pink, Aunt Ruby's German Green, Red Currant, Marmara, Jaune Flamme(1) and Porkchop(1) for a total of 64 tomatoes.

I'm not sure why we harvested one less tomato than we did yesterday. Yesterday covered two days. I guess I didn't do as good a job of harvesting the ripe tomatoes toward in the "Far East", the far side of our back yard tomato plants.

My wife made sauce out of our harvested tomatoes, mixed it with Italian sausage and served it with ravioli. Good stuff!

We've now harvested over 10,500 tomatoes for the year (10529)! We're plugging along... 

Harvested Over 2650 SunGold Tomatoes!

Today's harvest includes 8 Black Cherry(1), 7 Indigo Rose, 5 Husky Cherry Red(1), 4 Black Cherry(2), 4 Snow White(1), 4 Snow White(2), 4 Red Currant, 3 Red Boar(1), 3 SunGold, 3 Italian Heirloom, 2 Oaxacan Jewel, 2 Black and Brown Boar(2), 2 Noire Charbonneuse(2), 2 Indigo Apple(2), 2 Thessaloniki, 2 Olga's Round Yellow Chicken Egg, Pierce's Pride(1), Big Bite, Yellow Perfection, Amana Orange, Oaxacan Pink, Carmello, Marmara and Speckled Roman(3) for a total of 65 tomatoes.

No harvest on Wednesday. I had trouble getting to sleep on Tuesday night.

On Tuesday my wife pulled Black and Brown Boar(1) and Dr. Wyche's Yellow. Yesterday she pulled Crimson Cushion, Taxi, Tolstoi and SunSugar. Pulling SunSugar was a surprise because it still had some life but she indicated that she wanted the terra cotta pots for growing lettuce. She's the one keepting the plants alive with her watering so if she wants to pull it that's good enough for me.

Also, several plants were trimmed. And the back yard tomatoes were partially watered.

We've now harvested over 2650 SunGold tomatoes (2652)! Also, we've harvested over 50 Noire Charbonneuse(2) tomatoes (51). 

It's Still Hot Out There...

Today's harvest includes 11 Snow White(1), 6 Black Cherry(1), 5 Black Cherry(2), 5 Snow White(2), 4 SunGold, 4 Indigo Rose, 3 Red Currant, 2 Big Bite (6 ounces), 2 Yellow Perfection, 2 Carmello, 2 Nebraska Wedding, 2 Husky Cherry Red(1), Husky Cherry Red(2), Marianna's Peace (6 ounces), Indigo Apple(2), Pierce's Pride(1), Japanese Black Trifele, Purple Dog Creek (6.5 ounces) and Italian Heirloom for a total of 55 tomatoes.

Sunday's high: 97.0 degrees. Yesterday's high was 100.0 degrees. It's still hot...

We haven't harvested a Pierce's Pride(1) in a month. The last harvested Pierce's Pride(1) was on August 4.

We gave some tomatoes and two jars of tomato jelly to a friendly dog walker in our neighborhood.

No milestones today... 

August 2012 Tomato Analysis

In August of this year we harvested 3240 tomatoes. It was a good month in spite of it being hot almost the whole month. Toward the end some of the tomatoes were getting a big ragged. But overall it was quite a good month.

How does the this year's 3240 stack up against the other August years?

2011 -- 3863
2010 -- 2165
2009 -- 3250
2008 -- 1004
2007 -- 2806

Well, it's third place out of six -- middle of the pack -- but only 10 tomatoes behind 2009. 2009 was our highest yearly total of all time, 11,155 tomatoes for the year. 2007 would have beat it but we stopped counting in October (a three week honeymoon will do that...).

As of this writing we've harvested 10,345 tomaotes for the year. So the 2009 all time high will almost assuredly be broken. Conceivably we could even break it this month.

What will happen in September? Traditionally we pull a lot of plants this month. Based on our scorching August I know this year won't be an exception. A fair amount of plants are getting the "fungusy" look and will probably be pulled in the near future.

Snow White(2) and SunGold are getting new blooms. These plants will almost assuredly get a second wind at some point, but will it happen in September? That's not clear. These blooms could go sterile as well, considering how hot it still is. The two Husky Cherry Red tomatoes will come back to some degree as well.

Prediction for September: We'll harvest 900 tomatoes for the month, putting us a little over 11,000 for the year. 

Harvested Over 750 Black Cherry(1) Tomatoes!

Today's harvest includes 8 Black Cherry(1), 7 Snow White(1), 4 Indigo Rose, 3 Yellow Perfection, 3 Black Cherry(2), 3 Japanese Black Trifele, 2 Carmello, 2 Husky Cherry Red(1), 2 Thessaloniki, 2 Indigo Apple(2), 2 Oaxacan Jewel, 2 Red Currant, 2 Big Bite, SunGold, Black and Brown Boar(2), Purple Dog Creek (6 ounces), Marmara, Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red, Red Boar(2) and Snow White(2) for a total of 49 tomatoes.

Yesterday we did nothing with the tomatoes except harvest them in the morning. After the harvest I took a shower and my wife and I spent the morning at Paradise Cove. We left around noon, drove home, changed into swim trunks and went to a friend's house to swim in their pool. We were there for several hours and had a lot of fun! We drove home, showered, then went out to dinner. After dinner we washed the dog. I walked him at night. In essence we relaxed all day and thanked ourselves at the end of the day for doing so.

We've now harvested over 750 Black Cherry(1) tomatoes (751) and over 350 Snow White(1) tomatoes (351) this year!  

Pulled Pink Berkeley Tie Dye(1) and Pineapple(1) Tomato Plants

Today's harvest includes 7 Snow White(1), 5 Thessaloniki, 4 Black Cherry(1), 4 Black Cherry(2), 3 SunGold, 3 Red Currant, 3 Husky Cherry Red(2), 2 Husky Cherry Red(1), 2 Snow White(2), 2 Oaxacan Jewel, 2 Yellow Perfection, Japanese Black Trifele, Big Bite, Black From Tula, Oaxacan Pink, Carmello, Black and Brown Boar(1), Noire Charbonneuse(2), Indigo Apple(2), Marmara, Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red, Indigo Rose, Red Boar(2) and SunSugar for a total of 50 tomatoes.

The gardeners came about noon on Saturday and removed Pink Berkeley Tie Dye(1) and Pineapple(1). Pineapple(1) always looked a little funny and the half of the Pink Berkeley Tie Dye(1) that was nearest the Pineapple(1) started to get the "fungusy" look. The plants on the far side of the back yard (the "Far East") are all getting a similar look.

No milestones today... 

Harvested 50 Gypsy Tomatoes This Year!

Today's harvest includes 12 Thessaloniki, 8 Black Cherry(2), 5 Black Cherry(1), 4 Yellow Perfection, 4 Red Currant, 3 SunGold, 3 Japanese Black Trifele, 3 Marmara, 3 Snow White(2), 3 Indigo Rose, 3 Snow White(1), 2 Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red, 2 Oaxacan Jewel, 2 Indigo Apple(2), 2 Red Boar(2), 2 SunSugar, 2 Husky Cherry Red(1), Indigo Apple(1), Black and Brown Boar(1), Dr. Wyche's Yellow, Olga's Round Yellow Chicken Egg, Big Bite, Carmello, Husky Cherry Red(2), Marianna's Peace (11 ounces), Noire Charbonneuse(2), Pineapple(2) and Gypsy for a total of 74 tomatoes.

Thessaloniki is going through a second wave. We didn't harvest Thessaloniki from July 31 to August 12. August 13, 1 tomato. 5 more empty days, then 1 tomato on August 19. Since August 22 we've harvested 35 Thessaloniki tomatoes, at least 1 every day, 19 over the last two days.

We've traded tomatoes with friends over the last several weeks and have received figs and peaches in return.

Yesterday's high: 93.7. That's okay. And it was clearly cooler at night.

It's not clear why the harvest nearly doubled today. It just is.

We've now harvested 50 Gypsy tomatoes this year! When we've tasted Gypsy this year we've liked it. 

Harvested Over 150 Indigo Rose Tomatoes!

Today's harvest includes 7 Thessaloniki, 6 Indigo Rose, 6 Yellow Perfection, 5 Black Cherry(1), 4 Husky Cherry Red(1), 2 SunGold, 2 Indigo Apple(2), 2 Snow White(1), Porkchop(1), Black and Brown Boar(1), Dr. Wyche's Yellow, Red Currant, Big Bite, Carmello, Japanese Black Trifele, Amana Orange, Marmara and Red Boar(2) for a total of 44 tomatoes.

It got up to 98.0 yesterday, still pretty hot.

We ended up harvesting 3240 tomatoes for the month of August. That's a very, very solid total considering how hot it was all month.

We've now harvested over 150 Indigo Rose tomatoes for the year (152)! Also, we ended up harvesting 200 Snow White(1) tomatoes and 50 Carmello tomatoes for the month of August.

More plants can be pulled when my wife can get around to pulling them. The August heat was murder on these plants... 

Pulled Green Grape Tomato Plant

Today's harvest includes 5 Yellow Perfection, 5 Black Cherry(1), 4 SunGold, 4 Indigo Rose, 3 Thessaloniki, 3 Japanese Black Trifele, 2 Speckled Roman(3), 2 Snow White(1), 2 Snow White(2), Olga's Round Yellow Chicken Egg, Ella's Pink Plum, Big Bite, Carmello, Nebraska Wedding (7 ounces), Purple Dog Creek (8 ounces), Black Cherry(2), Pineapple(2) (11.5 ounces), Marmara and Tolstoi for a total of 40 tomatoes.

It's hot again...104.0 on Tuesday, 103.0 yesterday.

Green Grape was pulled yesterday. I was hoping to make it to 100 tomatoes for Green Grape but it wasn't meant to be. My wife pulled it and found another maturing tomato to reach 99 tomatoes. I added it into yesterday's totals. Also, she finished watering the back yard tomatoes.

When was the last day that I didn't harvest a Husky Cherry Red tomato?

No milestones were hit with this harvest. We're plodding along...