Today's harvest includes 37 SunGold, 15 Husky Cherry Red(1), 13 Husky Cherry Red(2), 7 Green Grape, 7 Crimson Cushion (6.5 ounces, 7 ounces, 6 ounces, 7 ounces), 6 SunSugar, 6 Yellow Perfection, 5 Red Currant, 5 Matt's Wild Cherry, 4 Dr. Wyche's Yellow (8.5 ounces, 10.5 ounces, 26.5 ounces, 11 ounces), 4 Yellow Currant, 3 Snow White(1), 3 Nyagous(1), 2 Chinese Tea, 2 Pink Berkeley Tie Dye(2) (7.5 ounces, 6.5 ounces), 2 Sweet Million, 2 Redfield Beauty, 2 Carmello, Berkeley Tie Dye (new) (17.5 ounces), Garden Peach (new), Olga's Round Yellow Chicken Egg (new), Black and Brown Boar(1), Ella's Pink Plum, Big Bite, Black Krim(2), Black From Tula (6 ounces), Giant Syrian (12 ounces) and Indigo Rose for a total of 135 tomatoes.
That's not a misprint, we picked a Dr. Wyche's Yellow that weighed more than one and a half pounds. Our record to date was a Mexico tomato that came in at 30 ounces.
Here's an image of today's harvest:
The pile in the lower left are the Crimson Cushions. The yellow row on the right are the Dr. Wyche's Yellow tomatoes. The beautiful Berkeley Tie Dye is next to the postal scale used to weigh the tomatoes. The back left has the two Pink Berkeley Tie Dye(2) tomatoes. And behind it is Olga's Round Yellow Chicken Egg.
Speaking of which, we had another small taste test this morning for breakfast. We tried Olga's Round Yellow Chicken Egg, Green Zebra, Yellow Furry Boar and Indigo Apple. Olga's Round Yellow Chicken Egg was the winner of this bunch. We harvested it at just the right time and the flavor really popped. Green Zebra and Indigo Apple were both good. The loser was Yellow Furry Boar. But there's no point in describing what was wrong with it because we simply tried it too late. We harvested it maybe a day too late but took three days to sample it from there. It gets a pass.
Yesterday my in-laws came over while I was at work. They brought our dog back (My wife had dropped our dog off with her parents before the 4th so we could enjoy dinner with some out of town friends that evening. You shouldn't leave a dog alone with fireworks going off everywhere...) and spent the afternoon with my wife. They loved the tomato sauce my wife made.
During the visit the dehydrator was brought out of the garage and set up. Many tomatoes were cut up and placed in the dehydrator. The contraption was left on over night and the tomato slices slowly dried. Here's an image from today:
Maturing tomatoes include Black Krim(1), White Zebra, Speckled Roman(3) and Italian Heirloom.
We've now havested more tomatoes as of July 7 (858) than we did in all of June (842).
And we've harvested over 500 SunGold tomatoes this year (512).
Today's harvest includes 66 SunGold, 11 Husky Cherry Red(2), 8 Matt's Wild Cherry, 8 SunSugar, 8 Husky Cherry Red(1), 6 Red Currant, 5 Yellow Currant, 5 Sweet Million, 5 Yellow Perfection, 5 Speckled Roman(2) (6.5 ounces, 7 ounces), 5 Green Grape, 5 Crimson Cushion (8 ounces, 6 ounces, 6 ounces), 4 Nyagous(1), 3 Sweet 100, 3 Black Cherry(1), 3 Black From Tula (8 ounces, 13.5 ounces), 2 Ella's Pink Plum, 2 Speckled Roman(1), 2 Chinese Tea, 2 Taxi, 2 Redfield Beauty, 2 Giant Syrian (8 ounces, 12 ounces), 2 Dr. Wyche's Yellow (14 ounces, 6.5 ounces), Jaune Flamme(1) (new), Oaxacan Jewel (new) (19.5 ounces), Watermelon (new) (12.5 ounces), Indigo Apple(2) (new), Green Zebra (new), Pink Berkeley Tie Dye(2) (new) (12 ounces), Big Bite (new) (7 ounces), Black Krim(2), Carmello (6 ounces), Thessaloniki, Indigo Rose and Jaune Flamme(2) for a total of 176 tomatoes.
Wow what a harvest! It's not the amount, it's the size of the tomatoes. My wife took an image of the harvest.
Lower left -- the five Crimson Cushion tomatoes. Behind it, Watermelon. The dark tomato in the front is Pink Berkeley Tie Dye(2). The two tomatoes between Watermelon, Crimson Cushion and Pink Berkeley Tie Dye(2) are Giant Syrian. Just to the right of Pink Berkeley Tie Dye(2) is Indigo Apple(2). Behind Pink Berkeley Tie Dye(2) and Indigo Apple(2) are 5 Speckled Roman(2) tomatoes. The large yellow/pink tomato is Oaxacan Jewel. To the right of Oaxacan Jewel are two orange tomatoes -- Dr. Wyche's Yellow. Behind Dr. Wyches' Yellow are two dark tomatoes -- Black From Tula.
My wife watered the container plants yesterday. Also, she spent four hours canning tomatoes.
Last night my wife and I sampled a few tomatoes. These included Taxi, Black and Brown Boar(2), Indigo Rose and Speckled Roman(2). My wife loved Taxi a lot. I liked it a lot as well. We both were amazed at Black and Brown Boar(2). Good looking exterior, good looking interior and a juicy, fresh taste. I remembered this from last year and I was only so-so at best regarding the flavor. This tomato was so delicious, so unlike what I remember that I'm left to believe I'm thinking of a different tomato. Indigo Rose is oddly refreshing. It's odd in that I've never run across a dark skinned tomato with a refreshing taste. My wife says it's because of the pink interior. We like it, it's good. Speckled Roman(2) was good but not great. That was due to the tomato being a day or two past prime maturity. It's not the fault of the tomato, we waited a bit too late. Still, it was quite good -- the meaty flavor still came through.
Here's a picture of Indigo Rose sliced in half. Does this remind you of a plum?
Indigo Apple(2) and Pink Berkeley Tie Dye(2) were both surprises. I didn't know these plants had ripening tomatoes. The Green Zebra may be the only tomato we harvest off of this plant. The plant is obviously diseased. Oaxacan Jewel and Watermelon both look beautiful!
Plants with maturing tomatoes include Nyagous(2), Olga's Round Yellow Chicken and Pineapple Pig. But Nyagous(2) clearly isn't a Nyagous. Until we can truly identify it, Nyagous(2) it is.
We've now harvested over 1000 tomatoes from the back yard this year (1025).
Today's harvest includes 47 SunGold, 19 Husky Cherry Red(1), 15 Husky Cherry Red(2), 10 Red Currant, 8 SunSugar, 7 Nyagous(1), 6 Sweet Million, 6 Yellow Perfection, 4 Matt's Wild Cherry, 3 Yellow Currant, 3 Tolstoi, 2 Black and Brown Boar(1) (new), 2 Black Cherry, 2 Indigo Rose, 2 Black From Tula (12.5 ounces, 8.5 ounces), 2 Speckled Roman(2) (6 ounces, 6 ounces), 2 Crimson Cushion, Chinese Tea (new), Indigo Apple(1) (new), Brad's Black Heart (new), Redfield Beauty, Speckled Roman(1), Ella's Pink Plum, Black Krim (10 ounces), Jaune Flamme(2) and Green Grape for a total of 149 tomatoes.
My wife watered all the back yard tomatoes on Monday. Yesterday I cleaned out some of the decaying leaves and branches in the evening.
My wife is going to try to salvage yesterday's Black Krim. Today's Black Krim is flawless, but Brad's Black Heart looks like it was pecked by a bird.
Here's an image of Black and Brown Boar(2), harvested a couple of days ago.
Maturing tomatoes include Watermelon, Japanese Black Trifele and Jaune Flamme(1).
We've now harvested over 400 SunGold tomatoes (409) and over 200 Husky Cherry Red(2) tomatoes (210).
Today's harvest includes 29 SunGold, 19 Husky Cherry Red(1), 11 Husky Cherry Red(2), 8 Nyagous(1), 6 Sweet Million, 5 Matt's Wild Cherry, 5 Red Currant, 5 Yellow Perfection, 4 SunSugar, 3 Crimson Cushion (8 ounces, 7 ounces), 2 Speckled Roman(2) (6 ounces, 6.5 ounces), 2 Sweet Baby Girl, 2 Sweet 100, 2 Carmello, Black Krim (new) (9.5 ounces), Black From Tula (new), Giant Syrian (new) (15 ounces), Dr. Wyche's Yellow (19.5 ounces), Yellow Currant, Black Cherry(1), Thessaloniki, Jaune Flamme(2), Tolstoi and Green Grape for a total of 113 tomatoes.
The Black Krim would look gorgeous if there wasn't a gash out of it. The gash doesn't look like birds, but something got it. The tomato was laying on the ground as it was maturing. Yesterday my wife took off a leaking, maturing tomato off the vine about a foot off the ground from this plant and threw it away.
We have more images to post when the time permits.
Sweet Baby Girl may be picked clean. I've only looked casually, but I don't see any tomato on the plant.
The maturing tomato list includes Brad's Black Heart, Indigo Apple(1) (!), Berkeley Tie-Dye(!), Black and Brown Boar(1), Oaxacan Jewel, Big Bite, Garden Peach and probably others. The tide gets heavier!
Today's harvest includes 49 SunGold, 21 Husky Cherry Red(1), 21 Husky Cherry Red(2), 11 Black Cherry(1), 7 Sweet Million, 5 Matt's Wild Cherry, 5 Red Currant, 4 SunSugar, 3 Sweet 100, 3 Nyagous(1), 2 Snow White(1) (new), 2 Dr. Wyche's Yellow (18.5 ounces, 7 ounces), Speckled Roman(1) (new), Creme Brulee (new), Jaune Flamme(2) (new), Tolstoi (new), Black and Brown Boar(2) (new), Noire Charbonneuse(1), Speckled Roman(2) (6 ounces), Ella's Pink Plum, Yellow Perfection, Carmello, Yellow Furry Boar and Taxi for a total of 145 tomatoes.
The Dr. Wyche's Yellow is a beauty. I hope to get an image over the next day or so.
The Speckled Roman(2) is another beauty. It has more of the "hand grenade" girth that I love to see. The Speckled Roman(1) has some blossom end rot but still looks pretty good.
The new Snow White(1) tomatoes are not as ivory colored as I'm used to seeing. They're more whitish than ivory in color.
Black and Brown Boar(2) is another nice looking tomato. We weren't too thrilled with it last year. But this tomato looks very, very nice.
Tomorrow we'll be harvesting Black From Tula. I was quite tempted to harvest one or two but held off.
I don't know if I've ever harvested six new tomatoes in one day. I think that's a new one for me.
Here's an image of some pickled tomatoes my wife made last night.
The tide is coming in! I don't think we'll get to this total over the next couple of days, but the tide is coming in.
We've now harvested over 300 SunGold tomatoes (333) this year.
Today's harvest includes 23 SunGold, 14 Husky Cherry Red(1), 9 Husky Cherry Red(2), 4 Matt's Wild Cherry, 4 Yellow Currant, 2 Black Cherry(1), 2 Carmello, 2 Ella's Pink Plum, 2 Red Currant, 2 SunSugar, 2 Green Grape, Taxi (new), Indigo Rose, Redfield Beauty, Speckled Roman(2), Sweet Baby Girl, Sweet Million and Sweet 100 for a total of 73 tomatoes.
I was a little hesitant to try Indigo Rose but my wife wanted to try it right away. I thought we should wait a day or two. I was wrong. It was ready. My wife tried it first. "Perfect" (As in it's ready to eat right now and it tastes really good). I tried it, liked it and would grow it again. I'll have to try it again to give a better description of the taste short of it tasted good. The interior of the tomato is unique. There's not a formal separation between the outer walls and the interior -- like a plum in a way. I'll have to take a picture of this tomato cut in half. The picture will show what I'm saying better than I can put it into words. Two thumbs up!
Our Husky Cherry Red tomatoes are really good this year.
Today's Redfield Beauty is overripe and has a large flaw with it. I suspect it will get thrown out.
We didn't do anything with the tomato plants yesterday. This morning I put fertilizer in all the container plants.
We've now harvested over 200 Husky Cherry Red(1) tomatoes (202)! And we've harvested over 1000 tomatoes for the year (1004)!
Today's harvest includes 23 SunGold, 18 Husky Cherry Red(2), 11 Husky Cherry Red(1), 2 SunSugar, 2 Green Grape, Dr. Wyche's Yellow (new) (17 ounces), Speckled Roman(2) (new), Indigo Rose (new), Nyagous(1), Noire Charbonneuse(1), Sweet Million, Sweet 100, Ella's Pink Plum, Red Currant, Carmello and Thessaloniki for a total of 67 tomatoes.
Dr. Wyche's Yellow is the first harvested tomato of 2012 that's six ounces or more. And that's not a misprint -- it weighs in at one pound, one ounce. That's an unusual size for our first big tomato of the year! What's scary is there appears to be bigger tomatoes on the vine for this plant.
The harvested Speckled Roman(2) is a good size. Not quite hand grenade thick but it looks excellent nonetheless.
The Indigo Rose had a slight red glow at the shoulders yesterday. Today it was more pronounced so I harvested it. On the side I was looking at it was dark, dark, dark with a red aura at the top. On the other side the darkness was much less pronounced. We may wait a day or two to try it just to see if the red areas become more pronounced.
In a slightly unusual situation, our harvest numbers are dropping because a couple of our container plants (Sweet Baby Girl, Sweet Million and Sweet 100, for example) are simply exhausted. They should get a second wind but it will be a couple of weeks or more I believe.
And in another unusual situation, the Husky Cherry Red plants aren't as tall as they were a week or two ago. The weight of the fruit is pulling down the branches!
The maturing tomatoes include Speckled Roman(1), Black Krim(2), Tolstoi and Black From Tula. It's getting serious now, the big boys are coming...
