Saturday, July 21, 2012

Harvested Earl of Edgecombe and Red Boar(2)!

Today's harvest includes 58 SunGold, 24 Husky Cherry Red(2), 14 Husky Cherry Red(1), 11 Yellow Perfection, 10 Garden Peach, 8 Black Cherry(1), 4 Earl of Edgecombe (new) (11 ounces, 7 ounces, 7 ounces, 8 ounces), 4 SunSugar, 3 Jaune Flamme(1), 3 Nyagous(2) (not Nyagous), 3 Snow White(2), 3 Yellow Furry Boar (6 ounces), 3 Snow White(1), 3 Dr. Wyche's Yellow (8 ounces, 6 ounces, 9 ounces), 2 Yellow Currant, 2 Redfield Beauty, 2 Delicious (11.5 ounces, 7 ounces), 2 Black and Brown Boar(1), 2 Gypsy, 2 Big Bite (11 ounces, 8 ounces), 2 Thessaloniki, 2 Indigo Apple(1), 2 Jaune Flamme(2), 2 Black Cherry(2), 2 Italian Heirloom (12 ounces, 10 ounces), 2 Chinese Tea, 2 Ramapo (12 ounces, 17 ounces), 2 Indigo Rose, Red Boar(2) (new), Oaxacan Pink (11 ounces), Speckled Roman(3) (7 ounces), Pink Furry Boar, Olga's Round Yellow Chicken Egg (6 ounces), Oaxacan Jewel, Paul Robeson, Marianna's Peace (8.5 ounces), Carmello, Crimson Cushion, Red Currant, Pink Berkeley Tie Dye(1) (6 ounces), Black and Brown Boar(2), Black Krim(1) (7 ounces), Berkeley Tie Dye (8.5 ounces), Japanese Black Trifele (6 ounces), Nyagous(1), Noire Charbonneuse(1), Marmara, Speckled Roman(1), Matt's Wild Cherry, Amazon Chocolate (11 ounces), Green Grape and Nebraska Wedding (14 ounces) for a total of 203 tomatoes.

Well, Earl of Edgecombe was a complete surprise! All four of them were a vibrant deep orange color. All of them were hidden beneath the canopy of leaves around the plant. On a whim I decided to look inside the canopy and hey, look what I found!

We tried an Earl of Edgecombe for breakfast. It was pretty mushy but the flavor still came through. Unfortunately I picked these four about two days too late. That's not the fault of the tomato, it's my fault for not checking sooner. There's another one that should be ready tomorrow.

I did something I hadn't done in a couple of weeks -- I used tomato tape on a lot of branches, especially in the front yard.

My wife finished watering the back yard.

We've now harvested over 1500 SunGold tomatoes (1504) and over 100 Black Cherry(1) tomatoes (103).
 

Friday, July 20, 2012

Harvested Over 4500 Tomatoes This Year!

Today's harvest includes 72 SunGold, 23 Husky Cherry Red(1), 19 Husky Cherry Red(2), 12 Black Cherry(1), 9 Garden Peach, 7 Snow White(1), 5 Yellow Perfection, 4 Carmello (6 ounces), 4 Jaune Flamme(2), 4 SunSugar, 4 Nyagous(2) (not Nyagous), 4 Black From Tula (9 ounces, 8 ounces, 9.5 ounces), 3 Speckled Roman(3) (7 ounces), 3 Yellow Furry Boar (6.5 ounces), 3 Pink Furry Boar (6 ounces), 3 Matt's Wild Cherry, 3 Brown Berry, 2 Black and Brown Boar(2), 2 Delicious (6 ounces, 6 ounces), 2 Red Currant, 2 Yellow Currant, 2 Black and Brown Boar(1), 2 Indigo Rose, 2 Dr. Wyche's Yellow (7 ounces, 7.5 ounces), 2 Crimson Cushion (8 ounces), 2 Green Grape, 2 Snow White(2), 2 Brad's Black Heart (12 ounces), 2 Japanese Black Trifele (8 ounces), 2 Creme Brulee (7 ounces), 2 Jaune Flamme(1), 2 Watermelon (8.5 ounces, 10.5 ounces), Noire Charbonneuse(1), Noire Charbonneuse(2), Berkeley Tie Dye, Vorlon (10 ounces), Speckled Roman(2) (6 ounces), Pineapple Pig (17 ounces), Oaxacan Jewel (12.5 ounces), Gypsy, Marmara (6 ounces), Black Krim(1) (9.5 ounces), Black Krim(2), Pink Berkeley Tie Dye(2) (7.5 ounces), Persimmon (14 ounces), Italian Heirloom (9 ounces), Taxi and Marianna's Peace (9 ounces) for a total of 228 tomatoes.

My wife will appreciate fewer harvested tomatoes today. Yesterday she completed the watering of the back yard tomatoes but otherwise spent the whole day processing and giving away tomatoes. It was an all day job and understandably she was a bit overwhelmed by the end of the day.

This morning we taste tested Yellow Furry Boar and Creme Brulee. Yellow Furry Boar was a nice, smooth tasting milky yellow tomato. But our collective socks were knocked off by Creme Brulee. The taste really can't be condensed down into a simple description. I find it to be a great combination between both a red tomato (tomato taste) with a brown tomato (smooth, smoky undertones). Both flavors are there but neither dominates. Both tomatoes worked but Creme Brulee was just outstanding.

A Red Boar(2) is maturing.

We've now harvested over 1400 SunGold tomatoes for the year (1446). Also, we've now harvested over 2000 back yard tomatoes in July (2065), over 3500 overall for the month (3674) and over 4500 for the year (4538).
 

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Lots of Tomatoes Around

Here's an image of some of our remaining uneaten, unprocessed tomatoes as of today. Enjoy!

 

Harvested Ramapo and Kellogg's Breakfast!

Today's harvest includes 80 SunGold, 29 Husky Cherry Red(1), 23 Husky Cherry Red(2), 13 Jaune Flamme(1), 9 Black Cherry(1), 9 SunSugar, 7 Indigo Rose, 7 Garden Peach, 6 Black and Brown Boar(1), 6 Pink Furry Boar (9.5 ounces, 6 ounces), 5 Yellow Perfection, 5 Snow White(1), 5 Pink Berkeley Tie Dye(1) (8.5 ounces, 6.5 ounces, 7.5 ounces), 5 Pink Berkeley Tie Dye(2) (6 ounces, 6.5 ounces, 8 ounces, 6.5 ounces), 5 Dr. Wyche's Yellow (19 ounces, 12 ounces, 9.5 ounces), 4 Green Grape, 4 Yellow Currant, 4 Red Currant, 4 Redfield Beauty, 3 Black Krim(2) (10.5 ounces, 8 ounces, 10.5 ounces), 3 Carmello (6 ounces), 3 Indigo Apple(1), 3 Marmara, 3 Noire Charbonneuse(2), 3 Matt's Wild Cherry, 3 Black and Brown Boar(2), 2 Black Cherry(2), 2 Speckled Roman(2) (7 ounces, 12 ounces), 2 Oaxacan Pink (14 ounces), 2 Japanese Black Trifele, 2 Crimson Cushion (6.5 ounces), 2 Persimmon (12 ounces, 24.5 ounces), 2 Nyagous(2) (not Nyagous), 2 Big Bite (10.5 ounces, 9.5 ounces), 2 Chinese Tea, 2 Purple Dog Creek (9.5 ounces, 13 ounces), 2 Delicious (7 ounces), 2 Thessaloniki (6 ounces), Kellogg's Breakfast (new) (7 ounces), Ramapo (new) (6 ounces), White Zebra, Pierce's Pride(1) (9 ounces), Porkchop(1) (6 ounces), Creme Brulee (8 ounces), Olga's Round Yellow Chicken Egg (9.5 ounces), Porkchop(2), Noire Charbonneuse(1), Sweet 100, Black From Tula, Sweet Million, Pierce's Pride(2), Brown Berry, Amazon Chocolate (13.5 ounces), Brad's Black Heart (11.5 ounces), Speckled Roman(3), Amana Orange, Indigo Apple(2) and Gypsy for a total of 295 tomatoes.

Wow, another great harvest! It took a couple of hours to get them all. Highlights include Persimmon, Amazon Chocolate, Dr. Wyche's Yellow and Noire Charbonneuse(2) with beautiful tomatoes.

My wife watered portions of the back yard. One of the plants watered was Black Cherry(1), which promptly fell into Brad's Black Heart again. I resupported it again this morning. Also, I added fertilizer to the back yard containers. Speaking of back yard containers, I asked my wife to pull Yellow Currant.

Kellogg's Breakfast was not a surprise, I forgot to mention it in the maturing tomatoes list. Now add Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red to that list.

Last night my wife and I taste tested Noire Charbonneuse(2) and Chile Verde. Noire Charbonneuse was my favorite tomato in 2007 and I hadn't seen it again until this year. Now my wife knows why I like it so much. The taste was "cleaner" than I remember but you could still taste the buttery undertones and the good flavor. Chile Verde was excellent as well. A green tomato that was "cool" and mellow was quite surprising to me, better tasting than when we grew it before. My wife definitely preferred Noire Charbonneuse(2), as did I, but were quite pleasantly surprised by Chile Verde.

The 12 ounce Speckled Roman(2) is an anomaly. It's a "fat" tomato not unlike Brad's Black Heart. And as you know, Speckled Roman is a long tomato like a classic Roma tomato. I've asked my wife to save the seeds from that tomato. Maybe we'll get an image of it at some point...

We've now harvested over 1300 SunGold tomatoes this year (1374) and over 500 Husky Cherry Red(1) tomatoes (518). Also, we've now harvested over 1500 tomatoes in the front yard for July (1525) and over 2500 tomatoes in the back yard for this year (2517).
 

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Harvested Gypsy, Paul Robeson, Omar's Lebanese and Amana Orange!

Today's harvest includes 87 SunGold, 21 Husky Cherry Red(1), 19 Husky Cherry Red(2), 11 SunSugar, 9 Black Cherry(1), 8 Jaune Flamme(1), 8 Yellow Perfection, 7 Yellow Currant, 6 Garden Peach, 5 Crimson Cushion (7 ounces, 6 ounces), 5 Pink Furry Boar, 5 Japanese Black Trifele, 5 Matt's Wild Cherry, 4 Nyagous(2) (not Nyagous), 4 Green Grape, 4 Speckled Roman(3) (6 ounces), 3 Gypsy (new), 3 Pink Berkeley Tie Dye(2) (9.5 ounces, 6 ounces, 7 ounces), 3 Noire Charbonneuse(1), 3 Snow White(1), 3 Olga's Round Yellow Chicken Egg (8 ounces, 8.5 ounces), 3 Carmello (6 ounces), 2 Red Currant, 2 Redfield Beauty, 2 Black and Brown Boar(2), 2 Speckled Roman(2), 2 Watermelon (8 ounces, 8 ounces), 2 Black Krim(1) (6 ounces, 8 ounces), 2 Pineapple Pig (19 ounces, 13.5 ounces), 2 Nyagous(1), 2 Indigo Apple(2), 2 Black Krim(2) (7 ounces, 7 ounces), Omar's Lebanese (new) (17.5 ounces), Paul Robeson (new), Amana Orange (new) (15 ounces), Pink Berkeley Tie Dye(1) (7.5 ounces), Oaxacan Jewel (9.5 ounces), Speckled Roman(1), Vorlon, Jaune Flamme(2), Indigo Apple(1), Dr. Wyche's Yellow (10 ounces), Black From Tula (8 ounces), Pineapple(1) (7 ounces), Thessaloniki (6 ounces), Noire Charbonneuse(2), Taxi and Indigo Rose for a total of 262 tomatoes.

One of the only disappointments in 2007 was Omar's Lebanese. From memory, our largest tomato off of that plant that year was 9 ounces. It didn't taste special at all. But the one we harvested today looks beautiful! The 2 Pineapple Pig tomatoes are exquisite and Amana Orange is quite attractive as well.

Do you know how silly it is to write that even though we harvested 87 SunGold tomatoes today we may finally be slowing down?

A Ramapo tomato is maturing. A Red Boar(2) was maturing but it had severe blossom end rot and was tossed yesterday.

We've harvested over 400 Husky Cherry Red(2) tomatoes (411) and 100 Yellow Perfection tomatoes (102)

We've now harvested over 3000 tomatoes in July (3147) and over 4000 tomatoes for the year (4011).
 

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Harvested Over 1200 SunGold Tomatoes!

Today's harvest includes 108 SunGold, 32 Husky Cherry Red(1), 20 Husky Cherry Red(2), 11 Black Cherry(1), 10 Snow White(1), 8 Garden Peach, 6 Red Currant, 6 Carmello (6 ounces), 6 Yellow Perfection, 6 Black and Brown Boar(1) (6 ounces), 5 Indigo Apple(1), 5 Nyagous(2) (not Nyagous), 5 Jaune Flamme(2), 5 Noire Charbonneuse(1), 4 Black Cherry(2), 4 Indigo Rose, 4 Yellow Currant, 4 Japanese Black Trifele (9 ounces), 3 Thessaloniki, 3 Brown Berry, 3 Green Grape, 3 Black Krim(2) (7 ounces, 7 ounces, 10 ounces), 3 Pink Furry Boar, 3 SunSugar, 3 Speckled Roman(2), 2 Pink Berkeley Tie Dye(2) (10 ounces, 7 ounces), 2 Olga's Round Yellow Chicken Egg (7.5 ounces, 8 ounces), 2 Crimson Cushion, 2 Matt's Wild Cherry, 2 Marmara, 2 Redfield Beauty, 2 Dr. Wyche's Yellow (15.5 ounces, 10 ounces), 2 Jaune Flamme(1), 2 Tolstoi, 2 Black Krim(1) (7 ounces, 6.5 ounces), Speckled Roman(1), Speckled Roman(3), Persimmon (19 ounces), Vorlon (14.5 ounces), Porkchop(1) (8 ounces), Sweet 100, Nebraska Wedding (9.5 ounces), Giant Syrian (11.5 ounces), Pink Berkeley Tie Dye(1) (12 ounces), Italian Heirloom (7 ounces), Purple Dog Creek (11 ounces), Big Bite (6.5 ounces) and Indigo Apple(2) for a total of 303 tomatoes.

This is the first day in quite a while where I didn't harvest a new tomato. But tomorrow I'm almost certain to harvest a good sized Omar's Lebanese.

As you can tell, we are clearly in "high tide". But the "heaviest" day felt like it was two days ago. I suspect we had bigger tomatoes on Sunday.

Having said that, this harvest is remarkable. We've got some great tomatoes! Porkchop(1) looks great. So does Persimmon.

Note that throughout the "high tide", the SunGold/Husky Cherry Red harvest accounts for over half of the tomatoes. These plants aren't going to go forever...

My wife spent most of the day both processing and giving away tomatoes. She also pulled Green Zebra. I used the Green Zebra cage to prop up Black Cherry(1). I found a "school" of tomatoes in the doubled over "fold".

My wife also watered the front yard tomatoes.

Amana Orange is maturing. That was the yellow tomato I couldn't identify previously.

We've now harvested over 1200 SunGold tomatoes (1207). We've also harvested over 1500 tomatoes in the front yard this year (1555), 1500 back yard tomatoes in July (1596) and over 3500 tomatoes for the year (3749).
 

Monday, July 16, 2012

Harvested Nebraska Wedding!

Today's harvest includes 95 SunGold, 27 Husky Cherry Red(1), 22 Husky Cherry Red(2), 10 Garden Peach, 8 Black Cherry(1), 7 Red Currant, 7 Yellow Perfection, 6 Matt's Wild Cherry, 6 Black and Brown Boar(1), 6 Chinese Tea, 5 Jaune Flamme(1), 5 Green Grape, 5 Japanese Black Trifele (6 ounces), 4 Pineapple Pig (6.5 ounces, 11.5 ounces, 16 ounces, 14 ounces) 4 Snow White(2), 4 Jaune Flamme(2), 4 SunSugar, 4 Crimson Cushion (7 ounces, 6 ounces), 4 Noire Charbonneuse(1), 3 Redfield Beauty, 3 Black Cherry(2), 3 Indigo Rose, 3 Black From Tula (11 ounces, 10 ounces, 12 ounces), 3 Olga's Round Yellow Chicken Egg, 3 Yellow Currant, 2 White Zebra, 2 Black Krim(2) (7 ounces), 2 Pink Furry Boar, 2 Nyagous(2) (not Nyagous), 2 Brad's Black Heart (9.5 ounces, 13 ounces), 2 Brown Berry, Nebraska Wedding (new) (6 ounces), Thessaloniki, Indigo Apple(1), Speckled Roman(2) (8 ounces), Dr. Wyche's Yellow (8 ounces), Oaxacan Jewel (8.5 ounces), Sweet 100, Italian Heirloom (19 ounces), Big Bite (9.5 ounces), Sweet Million, Taxi, Pink Berkeley Tie Dye(1), Ella's Pink Plum, Carmello, Speckled Roman(3) (6.5 ounces), Snow White(1), Noire Charbonneuse(2), Watermelon (7.5 ounces), Tolstoi and Indigo Apple(2) for a total of 283 tomatoes.

Well, there's good news: I think I figured out what's eating some of our tomatoes. There's bad news: I think I figured out what's eating some of our tomatoes. While harvesting in the back yard, a rat was walking across our north cinder block wall.

Technically I didn't complete the harvest. I left the last row of the back yard in the interest of time.

My wife spent almost all day processing tomatoes in various forms. This morning she took all the smaller tomatoes, added oil and began to roast them in the oven.

Maturing tomatoes include Paul Robeson and Omar's Lebanese. I know there are others.

Is Nyagous(2) another Speckled Roman? There are similarities...

Today's Pineapple Pig harvest looks great.

We've now harvested 100 SunSugar tomatoes this year. Also, we've now harvested over 2000 back yard tomatoes this year (2031) and over 2500 tomatoes for July (2582)
 

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Harvested 7 New Tomatoes!

Today's harvest includes 75 SunGold, 37 Husky Cherry Red(1), 34 Husky Cherry Red(2), 9 Black Cherry(1), 9 Yellow Perfection, 7 Jaune Flamme(1), 7 Garden Peach, 7 Red Currant, 6 Yellow Currant, 6 Olga's Round Yellow Chicken Egg (6 ounces, 10.5 ounces), 5 SunSugar, 4 Noire Charbonneuse(1), 4 Carmello, 4 Green Grape, 4 Black and Brown Boar(1), 4 Speckled Roman(2) (9 ounces, 6.5 ounces), 3 Black Krim(2) (8 ounces, 7 ounces, 16 ounces), 3 Dr. Wyche's Yellow (11.5 ounces, 19.5 ounces, 11.5 ounces), 3 Pink Furry Boar, 3 Black Krim(1) (9.5 ounces), 3 Nyagous(2) (not Nyagous), 2 Porkchop(2) (new) (6 ounces, 6 ounces), 2 Purple Dog Creek (new) (14.5 ounces, 11.5 ounces), 2 Red Boar(1) (new) (6 ounces), 2 Pink Berkeley Tie Dye(1) (9 ounces, 8.5 ounces), 2 Chinese Tea, 2 Redfield Beauty, 2 Noire Charbonneuse(2), 2 Brad's Black Heart (9.5 ounces, 9 ounces), 2 Snow White(1), 2 Pink Berkeley Tie Dye(2) (8 ounces, 7 ounces), 2 Tolstoi, 2 Japanese Black Trifele (9 ounces), 2 Indigo Apple(1), 2 Indigo Rose, 2 Black Cherry(2), 2 Crimson Cushion, 2 Watermelon (6 ounces, 10 ounces), 2 Oaxacan Jewel (11.5 ounces, 19.5 ounces), White Zebra (new), Delicious (new) (8 ounces), Porkchop(1) (new) (7.5 ounces), Pineapple(1) (new) (15 ounces), Sweet Million, Jaune Flamme(2), Sweet 100, Pierce's Pride(2) (6.5 ounces), Big Bite (10 ounces), Black From Tula (8 ounces), Indigo Apple(2), Oaxacan Pink (8. 5 ounces), Creme Brulee and Speckled Roman(3) (6 ounces) for a total of 287 tomatoes.

This is what "high tide" looks like. What a harvest!

My wife now has a part time job just processing all the tomatoes. You name it, she's making it. She spent most of the day filling up 6 quart jars of tomatoes.

I showed my wife the harvested Oaxacan Pink and she believes for now there's a difference between the labeled Oaxacan Pink and Oaxacan Jewel. We'll see.

There are so many good looking tomatoes in today's batch I don't even know where to begin.

Maturing tomatoes include Nebraska Wedding and a yellowing tomato I have yet to identify.

We've now harvested over 1000 SunGold tomatoes this year (1004) and over 400 Husky Cherry Red(1) tomatoes (409). Also, we've harvested over 1000 tomatoes from the front yard in July (1021) and over 3000 overall for the year (3186).