Harvested Over 900 Front Yard Snow White Tomatoes!

November 2 harvest: 12 Snow White (front yard), SunSugar and Sweet 100 for a total of 14 tomatoes.

November 4 harvest: 15 Snow White (front yard), 4 Husky Cherry Red, 3 SunSugar, Topaz, Red Currant(2) and Brown Berry for a total of 25 tomatoes.

November 6 harvest: 17 Snow White (front yard), 3 SunSugar, 2 Husky Cherry Red for a total of 22 tomatoes.

Three more plants were pulled from the back yard today.

November 7 harvest: 6 Snow White (front yard), 2 SunSugar, Husky Cherry Red, Sweet 100 and Brown Berry for a total of 11 tomatoes.

With the help of my wife we propped up the front yard Snow White plant with three thick stakes as well as some twine.

November 8 harvest: 7 Snow White (front yard), Husky Cherry Red and SunSugar for a total of 9 tomatoes.

November 11 harvest: 16 Snow White (front yard), 4 Sweet 100, 2 Brown Berry and Big Pink for a total of 23 tomatoes.

Yesterday's harvest: 27 Snow White (front yard), 4 Sweet 100, 3 SunSugar, 2 Husky Cherry Red and 2 Brown Berry for a total of 38 tomatoes.

We've now harvested over 900 front yard Snow White tomatoes (924)! We're also closing in on 8000 harvested tomatoes for the year (7930). It looks more than likely we'll make that plateau before any winter freezes ruin the remaining crop.

And the tomatoes still taste good!

Harvested Over 800 Front Yard Snow White Tomatoes!

October 8 harvest: 2 Snow White (front yard), Brown Berry and Snow White (back yard) for a total of 4 tomatoes.

October 9 harvest: 7 Snow White (front yard), Red Currant(2) and White Currant for a total of 9 tomatoes.

October 11 harvest: 4 Red Grape, 3 Snow White (front yard), Husky Cherry Red, SunSugar, Yellow Pear and White Currant for a total of 11 tomatoes.

October 21 harvest: 38 Snow White (front yard), 2 SunSugar, 2 White Currant, 2 Red Grape and Red Currant(1) for a total of 45 tomatoes.

October 23 harvest: 26 Snow White (front yard), 3 White Currant, 2 SunSugar, Husky Cherry Red, Pink Berkeley Tie Dye, Big Pink, Yellow Pear and Red Grape for a total of 36 tomatoes.

October 26 harvest: 16 Snow White (front yard), 4 SunSugar, Red Currant(2) and White Currant for a total of 22 tomatoes.

October 27 harvest: 9 Snow White (front yard), 3 SunSugar and Red Currant(2) for a total of 13 tomatoes.

And today's harvest consisted of 19 Snow White (front yard), 3 SunSugar, 2 Red Currant(2), 2 Snow White (back yard), Sweet 100 and White Currant for a total of 28 tomatoes.

In the last 3 ½ weeks the front yard Snow White plant has gotten a second wind. It got so tall that it's crushed all the supports and has basically fallen to the south. The recently harvested SunSugar tomatoes are the largest on the plant this year, larger than the first initial flush of tomatoes on this plant.

Many plants have been pulled and more could be pulled if I could find the time.

We've now harvested over 800 front yard Snow White tomatoes (824)!

We ended up harvesting 261 tomatoes for the month of October and have harvested 7788 tomatoes this year so far. There's an outside chance that the strength of the front yard Snow White could get us to the 8000 harvest plateau.

My wife and I were away for a week between the 11^th and the 21^st. Her relatives stayed at our house to take care of our dogs.

I've started a new job on October 26. I'm doing full time consulting work for a large bank. I was unexpectedly laid off from my full time job on August 26.

You'd be surprised what a battle it is to keep all the paperwork in order after one gets laid off. COBRA coverage has been an exhausting battle. It's probably taken around 60 – 70 phone calls to various entities to get the coverage reflected by my health insurance carrier. Just yesterday I got a letter in the mail and I'm now technically not enrolled with my primary physician anymore. I hope to straighten that out with one phone call, but that remains to be seen.

I got my 401K moved to a rollover IRA. That took several phone calls, forms, a notarization, more signatures and whatnot but it seemed to go relatively smoothly.

I needed to start up my company again (it was shuttered earlier this year) and get liability insurance in preparation for this new consulting opportunity. I just filed another IRS form yesterday in relation to starting up my company again. There's two more to be filed within 60 days (along with some more money).

I've been getting quotes from health insurance companies to prepare from switching over from COBRA to a company paid health insurance. I didn't get too far with this, but there's more to come.

I filed for unemployment and I'm still trying to get my claims processed for the time I spent unemployed. I've sent out at least 5 certified letters to various agencies, including one yesterday. We'll see how it goes.

I met with my accountant to go over all of this and he helped point me in the right direction with these and plenty of other matters. It was taking me 4 – 5 hours a day just handling phone calls, faxing, copying, sending out snail mail and emails, just trying to push these processes along. It was (is) easily a part time job in and of itself.

This new job will probably not allow the flexibility needed to update this blog as consistently as I have in the past. The issue isn't now (the season is long over except for the few plants that have lasted) but during the spring and summer of next year. Let's hope I can continue to find the time and commitment to continue to post!

Harvested Over 6500 Tomatoes This Year!

Today's harvest includes 17 Snow White (front yard), 9 Principe Borghese, 3 Violet Jasper, 3 SunGold, 3 Yellow Perfection, 2 Black From Tula, 2 Husky Cherry Red, 2 Black Krim (8.5 ounces), Patio, SunSugar, Miss Elliotte Black, Poma Amoris Minora Lutea, Japanese Black Trifele, Red Currant(1), Big Pink, Green Zebra, Weeping Charlie, Black Oxheart, Dr. Wyche's Yellow(1), Marianna's Peace, Berkeley Tie-Dye Heart, Jaune Flamme(2), Thessaloniki, Azoychka/not Azoychka and Paul Robeson for a total of 58 tomatoes.

Several milestones were reached today. We've now harvested over 6500 tomatoes for the year (6508). And we've now harvested over 3000 tomatoes in the back yard (3021). And we've harvested over 400 front yard Snow White tomatoes (414).

But if you live in SoCal you know what what made yesterday memorable. It was hot! At Pierce College it got up to 109.6 degrees at 3:20 PM. It was over 109 at 2:30 in the afternoon, over 100 at noon. Need I say more?

And let me wish a happy birthday to my wonderful wife. Enjoy!

Harvested Big Pink!

Today's harvest includes 16 Snow White, 8 Principe Borghese, 4 Husky Cherry Red, 4 Snow White (back yard), 3 Violet Jasper, 3 Paul Robeson, 3 Red Currant(2), 2 Poma Amoris Minora Lutea, 2 Brown Berry, 2 Berkeley Tie-Dye Heart, 2 Yellow Perfection, 2 Gajo de Melon, Stupice, SunGold, Large Pink Anna, Black Krim, Lyn's Mahogany Garnet, Red Currant(1), Red Boar, Speckled Roman, Pierce's Pride, Dr. Wyche's Yellow(2), Topaz, Aunt Ruby's German Green(1), German Orange Strawberry, Pineapple (6.5 ounces), Jaune Flamme(2), Black Oxheart (7 ounces), Marianna's Peace, Azoychka/not Azoychka, Red Grape and Big Pink (new) for a total of 71 tomatoes.

The newly harvested Big Pink is a nice sized five ounce tomato. Unlike most of the harvest, there are no flaws with this tomato.

It seems like our harvest numbers are a little better due to the heat we're experiencing right now. After this heat wave our harvest numbers may plummet.

Oddly, the numbers have been quite consistent for the month so far. The harvest high is 93 tomatoes, the low is 60 tomatoes.

Late Planted Seedlings Looking Strong

Today's harvest includes 3 Stupice, 3 White Currant, 2 SunGold, Black Cherry, Nyagous, Yellow Perfection, Red Currant(1), Sweet 100 and Principe Borghese for a total of 14 tomatoes.

Last night I had a salad for dinner that included most of our harvested tomatoes. Good stuff!

My wife indicated that yesterday's harvest came in at 7.5 ounces.

I did some more taping and training this morning.

The bird netting has successfully kept the birds away from the Stupice tomatoes.

The three seedlings in the seedling pot are growing and looking strong. However, it would be August at the earliest before seeing any tomatoes from these. Also, Big Pink looks strong.

Harvested Our First Tomato!

Saturday night we finally planted Big Pink. We're now managing 77 plants and three seedlings.

Later in the night I adjusted the on line 2010 Back Yard Tomatoes document and the 2010 Tomatoes spreadsheet to reflect the new tomato.

We harvested our first tomato Sunday morning! As you see above, well, it wasn't much of a tomato. It's a Red Currant, even smaller than the average Red Currant, which is tiny enough. I ate it. It didn't have much flavor but then again, there wasn't much tomato to taste.

My wife informed me that a Stupice was turning. By the time I looked at it the tomato was turning red. It appears to be about four ounces in weight.

We spent most of Sunday at a party at Liz and Ricardos. We had a great time!

Today I did a little bit of training and noticed that Pink Berkeley Tie Dye has a tomato on it. I can't find the growing tomato on Depp's Pink Firefly so I might have a false alarm there. I'll continue to try to locate the tomato on that plant.

I didn't harvest the Stupice and will probably harvest it tomorrow

We spent the afternoon at my wife's parent's house.

Four More Plants With New Tomatoes

There isn't much to say until we start harvesting. The chores are done.

The three seedlings with Ildi continue to grow slowly. Ildi is looking okay as well. If those three seedlings bear fruit and we plant Big Pink, we'd be managing 80 tomato plants.

I did more training this morning and noticed new tomatoes on four plants: Carmello (coincidentally – see last post), Berkeley Tie-Dye Heart, Black Zebra and Azoychka.

Last year our first harvested tomato occurred on May 23. I don't see any tomatoes in the process of ripening (though some Taxi tomatoes may be a few days away from that). Will we harvest in May?

Two More Plants With New Tomatoes

Two more tomato plants have new tomatoes on them: German Orange Strawberry and Yellow Pear.

I did some more “training” as you would expect at this time of the season.

This morning we harvested some potatoes growing in a pot. After the harvest my wife indicated she'd plant Big Pink in this container. I suggested that we move the newly planted Ildi to this pot and plant Big Pink where Ildi is. She liked that suggestion. However, we need to purchase some more soil before we can do this.

Later on, my wife watered the back yard tomato plants in the ground.

By the way, I did send out electronic notices for my 2010 documents last Saturday. If you're interested in viewing these, send me a note and I'll get you access.

Ildi Planted; Michael Pollan Plant Has A Tomato On It

Last night I planted, watered and fertilized Ildi in the container that held Saint Pierre. I've adjusted the on line documents to reflect the new tomato seedling.

The other remaining seedling is called Big Pink and I don't know where that's going to go.

I did some more “training” and in doing so, noted that Michael Pollan has a tomato on it.

My wife watered the tomatoes in pots.

I helped out in the garden as well with my wife's irises and a few other things.