Harvested Over 900 Sunchocola Tomatoes This Year!

Today's harvest includes 10 Matt's Wild Cherry, 10 Husky Cherry Red(2), 8 Orange Paruche, 8 SunGold, 7 Volunteer(4), 7 Black Cherry, 5 Bread and Salt (6.5 ounces, 6.5 ounces, 7.5 ounces), 4 Sunchocola, 4 Indigo Rose, 4 Stupice, 4 Sugar Snack, 4 Michael Pollan, 3 Bloody Butcher, 3 Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red, 3 Pineapple, 3 Green Grape, 2 German Orange Strawberry (6 ounces), 2 Jaune Flamme, 2 Nyagous, 2 Evan's Purple Pear, 2 Husky Cherry Red(1), Porkchop(1), Yellow Perfection, Adriana's Grande, Speckled Roman(2), Black Icicle, Cherokee Purple and "Green Zebra" (not Green Zebra) for a total of 104 tomatoes.

In what alternate universe does Bread and Salt have a higher harvest total than Sunchocola? Bread and Salt keeps cranking them out -- it's making a believer out of me.

I was less aggressive with today's harvest. I didn't have the right clothes and shoes for the job and didn't "dig in" like I normally do. Because of the wrong garb I didn't pull out any tomato plants. Still, the numbers look all right.

I know I need to report on how Purple Bumble Bee tastes. But all of the Purple Bumble Bee tomatoes have been given away to others.

We've now harvested over 500 back yard tomatoes this month (503). What's a little more interesting is that the back yard harvest number is now essentially even with the front yard harvest numbers (2604 back yard, 2608 front yard). When I was harvesting nearly around 100 combined Sunchocola and Orange Paruche tomatoes a month ago there was no way to anticipate the back yard catching up. But the back yard will pass up the front yard tomorrow.

We've now harvested over 900 Sunchocola tomatoes (902) this year, over 450 SunGold tomatoes this year (456) and over 150 Husky Cherry Red tomatoes this year (157)! 

Harvested 100 Evan's Purple Pear Tomatoes

Saturday's harvest includes 21 Matt's Wild Cherry, 14 SunGold, 11 Orange Paruche, 10 Sunchocola, 10 Evan's Purple Pear, 8 Indigo Rose, 7 Husky Cherry Red(2), 3 Speckled Roman(2), 3 Black Cherry, 3 Garden Peach(1), 3 Garden Peach(2), 3 Husky Cherry Red(1), 2 Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red, 2 Bread and Salt (6 ounces), 2 Blue Beauty (8 ounces, 8 ounces), 2 Pineapple (7 ounces), German Orange Strawberry, Volunteer(4), Black Krim, Paul Robeson, Purple Bumble Bee, Beauty King, Cherokee Purple, Green Grape, Sugar Snack and Michael Pollan for a total of 114 tomatoes.

The Blue Beauty tomatoes are half nice. Half of the tomato is a beautiful red and the other half is behind, even green in spots. The Sunchocola tomatoes are getting "wobbly" as well, with inconsistent coloring (maturing) on the tomato.

My wife told me that the gardener made a special trip on Thursday to help with the garden and he got bags of tomatoes as well.

We're having some strange muggy and cloudy weather. We've even had a few sprinkles. At least we didn't reach the 102/101/99 of a few days ago.

Only one milestone today, we've now harvested exactly 100 Evan's Purple Pear tomatoes this year. 

Harvested Neves Azorean Red!

Today's harvest includes 22 Matt's Wild Cherry, 12 SunGold, 10 Orange Paruche, 8 Indigo Rose, 6 Evan's Purple Pear, 6 Husky Cherry Red(1), 4 Sunchocola, 4 Green Grape, 4 Husky Cherry Red(2), 4 Sugar Snack, 2 Snow White, 2 Garden Peach(2), Neves Azorean Red (new), Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red, Earl of Edgecombe, Blue Gold, Pineapple, Black Krim, Nyagous, Stupice, Cherokee Purple and Michael Pollan for a total of 94 tomatoes.

The new Neves Azorean Red is undersized.

In fact, today's harvest was simply disappointing. The numbers are there but the size isn't. The heaviest tomato was maybe 3 ounces. It's like a harvest in September.

We've now harvested over 4500 tomatoes this year (4539)! 

Harvested Over 2000 Back Yard Tomatoes This Year!

Today's harvest includes 20 Matt's Wild Cherry, 14 Sunchocola, 14 SunGold, 9 Orange Paruche, 9 Indigo Rose, 9 Evan's Purple Pear, 5 Garden Peach(2), 5 Sugar Snack, 4 Speckled Roman(2), 4 Black Cherry, 4 Husky Cherry Red(1), 3 Pineapple (7 ounces, 7.5 ounces), 3 Garden Peach(1), 3 Husky Cherry Red(2), 2 Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red, 2 Blue Beauty (6.5 ounces), 2 Nyagous, 2 Cherokee Purple, 2 Green Grape, 2 Persimmon(2) (not Persimmon), 2 Michael Pollan, Speckled Roman(1), Indigo Apple, German Orange Strawberry (9 ounces), Bread and Salt, Blue Gold, Volunteer(4), Jaune Flamme, Black Krim, Dr. Wyche's Yellow, Pink Berkeley Tie Dye(2), Purple Bumble Bee and Odoriko for a total of 132 tomatoes.

My wife made stuffed tomatoes yesterday -- took her all afternoon -- and they were worth it. She found them a bit bland but I didn't. They were stuffed with meat, cheese and other items.

Wow, Evan's Purple Pear must be in "high season". I harvested 12 yesterday. The Pineapple tomatoes aren't as large as prior years but we're consistently getting a lot of 5-7 ounce tomatoes from this plant.

A Neves Azorean Red tomato is maturing.

We've now harvested over 2000 tomatoes in the back yard this year (2023)! And the back yard total is rapidly catching up with the front yard total -- they only differ by about 400 tomatoes. Also, we've harvested over 400 Matt's Wild Cherry tomatoes (407) and exactly 100 Husky Cherry Red(2) tomatoes. 

Harvested Porkchop(1) and Dr. Wyche's Yellow!

Today's harvest includes 22 Matt's Wild Cherry, 14 Sunchocola, 10 SunGold, 10 Orange Paruche, 7 Sugar Snack, 6 Black Cherry, 6 Husky Cherry Red(2), 5 Indigo Rose, 5 Husky Cherry Red(1), 2 Porkchop(1) (new, 6 ounces), 2 German Orange Strawberry (7 ounces, 6 ounces), 2 Adriana's Grande, 2 Speckled Roman(2), 2 Garden Peach(1), 2 Green Grape, Dr. Wyche's Yellow (new), Earl of Edgecombe, Volunteer(4), Snow White, Paul Robeson, Persimmon(2) (not Persimmon), Beauty King and Cherokee Purple for a total of 105 tomatoes.

Both Porkchop(1) and Dr. Wyche's Yellow were surprises. Dr. Wyche's Yellow is undersized, which seems to be consistent with a lot of the back yard tomatoes in the ground. But this is a seedling, not from seed.

We've now harvested from every plant in the front yard, though the Vorlon tomatoes could just as easily been tossed away without counting them. It appears there was something wrong with the Vorlon seedlings this year. Someone at our tomato party planted Vorlon and it was a complete dud for them, though other tomato plants in the same area went bonkers.

The tomato plants are starting to look old and ugly due to the hot weather.

It looks like Purple Bumble Bee tomatoes are maturing.

I pulled out Pineapple Pig last night.

We've now harvested over 3500 tomatoes in July (3524) and over 800 Sunchocola tomatoes (812) this year! 

Harvested Black Cherry and Pineapple!

Today's harvest includes 22 Sunchocola, 18 Orange Paruche, 10 SunGold, 8 Matt's Wild Cherry, 4 Sugar Snack, 3 Snow White, 2 Black Cherry (new), 2 Adriana's Grande (8 ounces, 12.5 ounces), 2 Earliana, 2 Evan's Purple Pear, 2 Michael Pollan, Pineapple (new), Volunteer(4), Indigo Rose, Jaune Flamme, Yellow Perfection, Bread and Salt (6 ounces), Nyagous, Persimmon(2), Cherokee Purple, Garden Peach(1), Garden Peach(2), Husky Cherry Red(1) and Husky Cherry Red(2) for a total of 88 tomatoes.

The new Pineapple tomato wasn't a surprise. It looks nice but it's small for a Pineapple tomato. We're used to one pounders and this one wasn't close to that size. But it's a start! The Black Cherry tomatoes were a bit of a surprise, however.

The front yard tomato harvest has fallen for five days in a row (98/64/57/52/48/46) and that can't be a coincidence. We're on the tail end of the first wave for Orange Paruche and Sunchocola. The back yard numbers are starting to rise again, which is expected. The back yard is usually two to three weeks behind the front yard.

The "corner office" tomato plants are looking a little better. These plants were significantly behind in their normal development. These plants have a hedge to the south that blocks a good portion of the sun and had pumpkin vines running through most of the plants. The pumpkin vines both hindered and protected these plants. The vines were pulled out about three weeks ago. Meanwhile, the remaining tomato plants seem less wispy and happy to see more of the sun.

I had the rest of the Ananas Noire last night. In general, I like Ananas Noire but I'm not in love with it. My wife just loves it. And based on this tomato I can see why. It was pleasant to look at, a pretty texture, delicious and a close to refreshing taste. This was a damn good tomato!

We've now harvested over 500 Orange Paruche tomatoes (501), over 300 Sunchocola tomatoes (310) and over 100 SunGold tomatoes (107) this year so far! 

Harvested Odoriko!

Today's harvest includes 11 Sunchocola, 5 Orange Paruche, 4 Yellow Perfection, 4 SunGold, 4 Garden Peach, 3 Odoriko (new), Adriana's Grande (8 ounces), Bread and Salt (8.5 ounces), Jaune Flamme, Husky Cherry Red(2) and Sugar Snack for a total of 36 tomatoes.

The new tomatoes are getting slightly larger as time goes on. First the cherry tomatoes, then the 3 to 4 ounce tomatoes, etc. We're in the 3 to 4 ounce phase. Today was Odoriko but Earliana and the smallish Cherokee Purple fit this profile.

Speaking of Cherokee Purple, my wife tried it and absolutely loved it! She hasn't been much of a fan of it in the past. I haven't been a fan of growing Cherokee Purple as a tomato plant. I've had no luck with it except in 2007. The plants have been undersized (again, sans 2007) and the tomatoes were blah. But I had memories of 2007...I tried it and absolutely loved it as well.

I had a small problem with the Yellow Perfection count. One of the tomatoes was a "Siamese Twin". I counted it as one. 

Harvested Earliana and Cherokee Purple!

Monday's harvest includes 14 Orange Paruche, 3 Earliana (new), 3 Sunchocola, 3 Stupice, 2 Yellow Perfection, Adriana's Grande and SunGold for a total of 27 tomatoes.

Monday evening my wife and I tried Earliana. It's a nice looking firm tomato when cut. The taste was good but not great. The taste was definitely improved with salt. However, these are the first tomatoes of the bunch and taste tends to improve as the first harvest wave comes in.

Today's harvest includes 14 Orange Paruche, 6 Sunchocola, 4 Stupice, 3 Yellow Perfection, 2 Cherokee Purple (new) and SunGold for a total of 30 tomatoes.

The harvested Cherokee Purples are a little on the small side but that's okay.

I noticed that Odoriko, Evan's Purple Pear and Pierce's Pride have growing tomatoes. The tide is slowly coming in... 

Harvested 3 New Tomatoes!

Today's harvest includes 6 Sunchocola, 6 Orange Paruche, 4 Stupice, Janet's Jacinthe Jewel (new), Hungarian Heart (new, 10 ounces), Matt's Wild Cherry (new), Yellow Perfection, SunGold and Garden Peach for a total of 22 tomatoes.

The container plants in the back yard -- that includes the ones in the raised beds -- got fertilizer and were double watered. My wife had already watered the containers by the south gate a few days ago, but I watered them again. The back yard plants in the ground were watered but only once.

I notieced that Neves Azorean Red has a growing tomato. I forgot to mention in my last blog post that Beauty King and Porkchop(2) also have growing tomatoes. And Cherokee Purple has a maturing tomato.

The new Janet's Jacinthe Jewel tomato looks pretty good, but the plant keeps looking worse and worse. I'll try to hit it with fertilizer and worm castings before watering it in on Sunday.

Speaking of which, Snow White and Golden Rave don't look that great either. But the German Orange Strawberry plant is nearly seven feet tall!

And as mentioned previously, the new Hungarian Heart came from a broken branch earlier this week. The maturation was due to stress.
 

Another Heat Wave; Four More Plants With Growing Tomatoes

Yesterday my wife watered the back yard tomato plants and this morning I watered the front yard tomato plants in preparation of this record breaking heat wave. I also got in some tomato training.

I found four more plants with tomatoes. These are Janet's Jacinthe Jewel, Cherokee Purple, Odoriko and Husky Cherry Red(2). I am particularly happy with Cherokee Purple having a tomato. A few weeks ago this plant looked like we could lose it. Now it has a growing tomato and appears healthy.

We did lose Black From Tula. It's dead. We haven't had the time to transfer the latest tomato volunteer into the hole because we were out of town over the weekend and now it's simply too hot and windy. Also, Red Pear Piriform is whiter than before, has some leaf curl and looks stiff. Not good. 

Catching Up On Some Back Yard Plantings(1)...

So let's catch up on some of the back yard plantings...

On Tuesday my wife replaced the back yard Berkeley Tie Dye (from seed) with Odoriko, replaced Evan's Purple Pear (grown from seed) with Cherokee Purple and replaced the now non-existent Pineapple Pig(2) with Red Pear Piriform.

On Wednesday I dug the holes and my wife planted Dr. Wyche's Yellow, Aunt Ruby's German Green, Black Icicle, Paul Robeson, Nyagous and Evan's Purple Pear. I pulled out about a gallon and half of rocks and asphalt.

The dirt for the back yard and "koi pond" tomatoes looks great. After I dig out the dirt I've been adding some kelp meal, a handful of worm castings and a handful of tomato fertilizer, then mix it all together. This is on top of all the compost we added a few months back. 

The Volunteer Has A Tomato On It!

Today's harvest: 4 Snow White, Cherokee Purple.

The harvest didn't really happen this morning. By the time I was ready to harvest it was 10:30 in the morning. The sun was too high and I risked sunburn so I passed on a full harvest.

Yesterday I took out Beaverlodge Plum, the front yard Garden Peach, the front yard Paul Robeson and Cherokee Purple.

Cherokee Purple had a small mature tomato on it so I kept it. I took the cage for Cherokee Purple, flattened it and slipped it underneath some of the Snow White branches. This will help a tiny bit in keeping some of the branches off the ground. When I picked up the branches I found four mature tomatoes.

I completed watering the front yard tomato plants.

The big news is that the volunteer has a tomato on it! The plant has recently had a growth spurt and is now showing a tiny tomato! I'll have to adjust the spreadsheet to reflect this new tomato. I believe it to be Old Ivory Egg but I'll just add it as “Volunteer” for now.

Since I need to adjust the on line spreadsheet, I'll change Super Snow White to Snow White(2).

Cool August Weather

Today's harvest includes 14 Snow White, 13 back yard Husky Cherry Red, 12 Super Snow White, 7 Italian Ice, 6 Black Cherry, 5 Yellow Perfection, 5 White Currant, 5 Red Currant, 4 front yard Husky Cherry Red, 3 Jaune Coeur de Pigeon, 3 Babywine, 3 Jaune Flamme, 2 Sweet 100, 2 SunSugar, a back yard Green Grape, German Orange Strawberry, a back yard Garden Peach(2), Green Zebra(1), White Zebra, Japanese Black Trifele, Cherokee Purple, Oaxacan Jewel(2), Red Grape and Husky Gold for a total of 94 tomatoes.

Our last harvest of less than 100 tomatoes occurred on July 12.

The last few days have been cool in the morning and today it was actually a bit damp from the fog. This is unusually cool for an August morning. I guess I didn't feel motivated to root out all of the hidden and maturing Snow White tomatoes.

Due to the temperate weather, I'm seeing new blooms on several of the tomato plants. Whether this results in new tomatoes remains to be seen.

We've harvested over 2500 tomatoes for August (2583). Also, we've reached over 200 harvested tomatoes for the back yard Husky Cherry Red (210).

My wife watered the back yard tomato plants yesterday.

Harvested Over 7000 Tomatoes For 2009!

Today's harvest includes 31 Snow White, 15 Black Cherry, 8 Jaune Coeur de Pigeon, 8 Super Snow White, 7 front yard Husky Cherry Red, 6 Jaune Flamme, 5 Red Currant, 5 back yard Husky Cherry Red, 4 SunSugar, 3 Yellow Perfection, 3 Plum Tigris, 3 White Currant, 3 Sweet 100, 3 Red Grape, 3 Babywine, 2 Cherokee Purple, 2 back yard Green Grape, a back yard Garden Peach(2), Turkish Striped Monastery, Tiger Paw, Green Zebra(1), White Zebra, Japanese Black Trifele, Italian Ice, Husky Gold, Silvery Fir Tree, a front yard Speckled Roman and Black Krim for a total of 122 tomatoes.

As expected, we reached over 7000 harvested tomatoes for the year (7101) and over 1000 harvested tomatoes in the back yard for August (1024).

I hadn't harvested Cherokee Purple in over a month but I'm iffy on the two harvested today.

I staked and caged the volunteer tomato plant yesterday.

As I type my wife is watering the front yard.

Harvested 3 New Tomatoes!

And today's harvest includes 41 Red Currant, 12 White Currant, 8 SunSugar, 7 back yard Garden Peach, 6 Red Grape, 6 Sweet Olive, 6 front yard Paul Robeson, 6 Snow White, 5 Yellow Perfection, 3 front yard Garden Peach, 3 Black Krim (New! One was 12.5 ounces, another 6 ounces), 3 pretty back yard Paul Robeson (New! Two weighed 6 ounces), 2 Italian Ice, 2 Plum Tigris, Mong (nine ounces), Cherokee Purple, Jaune Coeur de Pigeon, Husky Gold, Patio and Tiger Paw (new!) for a total of 116 tomatoes.

Again we had the highest daily harvest total for 2009 in the front yard (62) and back yard (54).

The Black Krim was a surprise. I was harvesting Red Currants when I looked over to my right and saw a ripening Black Krim. I believe I left that one on the vine but found three others that were ready. They look gorgeous!

I keep checking Quedlinburger Freuhe Liebe and the front yard Mexico every day. The Quedlinburger Freuhe Liebe is soft, yellow and getting a streak of red. I tried to harvest it but it didn't come off easily so I left it. Also, the picture I have for Quedlinburger Freuhe Liebe shows it as fully red. I'll probably harvest this tomorrow. The maturing Mexico still has a way to go. Same story with the maturing Cour de Bue.

I'm a little surprised not seeing any more maturing Black Cherry tomatoes. There's hundreds of tomatoes on the branches. Speak of black tomatoes, Black Zebra isn't doing well. The plant has stopped growing.

Three More Plants With Maturing Tomatoes!

Today's harvest includes 22 Red Currant, 15 Sweet Olive, 9 White Currant, 8 Yellow Perfection, 6 Red Grape, 4 SunSugar, 4 Jaune Coeur de Pigeon, 3 Italian Ice, 3 Paul Robeson, 2 Snow White, 2 Sweet 100, 2 Jeff Davis, Turkish Striped Monastery, a back yard Garden Peach, Jaune Flamme, Cherokee Purple and Patio for a total of 85 tomatoes.

And we have three more plants with maturing tomatoes: Tiger Paw, Amazon Chocolate and the front yard Garden Peach. Over the next four days we should have harvested tomatoes from ten new plants! That should be the start of the flood...

Black From Tula fell down yesterday. My wife watered the back yard plants. When Black From Tula was watered the stake came loose and the plant fell. Now falling down isn't a good thing at all but it happened because there are a lot of tomatoes on the vines. Fortunately no real damage was done – the main stem didn't break or snap – so we picked it back up, staked it again, taped it up, added another stake and tied the two stakes together. I checked it this morning and the plant seems none the worse for wear.

I took the stake out of the Jeff Davis cage to be used to support another plant.

We bought a tomato press on Saturday and it was put to full use by my wife yesterday. Images to come.

I watered the front yard yesterday.

The 15 Sweet 100 seems like an anomaly. But I was pretty careful today. Sweet Olive and Sweet 100 are in the same container and their branches comingle. Also, Red Grape can look like Sweet Olive. I think Sweet Olive's numbers may have a couple tomatoes that should be either Red Grape or Sweet 100.

We tried Husky Gold yesterday but we found it a bit blah. Adding salt helped it, though.

The front yard Paul Robeson plant looks exhausted.

Harvested Husky Gold; 6 More Plants With Maturing Tomatoes!

Today's harvest includes 22 Red Currant, 10 Yellow Perfection, 10 White Currant, 10 Sweet Olive, 6 Red Grape, 5 front yard Paul Robeson (one 6.5 ounces), 3 Sweet 100, 2 Cherokee Purple, 2 Husky Gold (new!), 2 Jaune Flamme, 2 back yard Speckled Roman (again, sigh, both with blossom end rot), 2 Turkish Striped Monastery, 2 back yard Garden Peach, 2 SunSugar, Italian Ice, Plum Tigris, Patio and Jeff Davis for a total of 84 tomatoes.

The harvest numbers are shooting up. Last week we were averaging a little over 20 tomatoes...now this. We've harvested one less tomato in July so far (298) than we harvested in all of June (299).

I did more staking and taping yesterday, mostly in the front yard.

And there's at least 6 plants with maturing tomatoes. In the front yard, Mong is the furthest along while Mexico and Speckled Roman have tomatoes that are beginning to mature. In the back yard, Japanese Black Trifele, Orange Blossom and Cour de Bue have tomatoes that are beginning to mature.

Two More Plants With Maturing Tomatoes

Today's harvest includes 19 Red Currant, 14 Yellow Perfection, 5 front yard Paul Robeson (one 6 ounces), 3 White Currant, 3 Italian Ice, 3 Sweet Olive, 2 Red Grape, 2 Sweet 100, Patio, Turkish Striped Monastery, Cherokee Purple and Snow White for a total of 55 tomatoes.

Now I have an idea as to how some of the unripe Red Currants fall down – me, harvesting the good ones. My hands are so big that in reaching the mature ones I knock down some of the immature ones on the way. I don't think that explains them all, though.

Husky Gold and Quedlinburger Freuhe Liebe have maturing tomatoes.

Husky Gold is funny in that there's no tomato lower than six inches from the bottom of the plant. That's just about the height that the Manchester Terrier can reach (it's in a container) and I'm sure it's not a coincidence.

I did some minor taping and staking last evening. One of the plants staked was Quedlinburger Freuhe Liebe. This plant wouldn't be where it's at today without my wife's rescue when the plant was vandalized.

We both tried Turkish Striped Monastery and liked it.

Snow White Is Out Of Control

Today's numbers include 21 Red Currant, 7 front yard Paul Robeson, 5 Yellow Perfection, 4 Sweet Olive, 4 Red Grape, 3 Sweet 100, 3 SunSugar, 3 back yard Garden Peach, 2 Cherokee Purple (one 7 ounces), Black Cherry and Turkish Striped Monastery.

I picked as many front yard tomatoes today as I did for all of June (30).

My wife watered both the back yard and the front yard tomatoes.

Every morning I see about 3 unripe Red Currants on the ground next to the plant. This is understandable – they can fall off with the wind or just by brushing by the plant. But this morning there were about 25 on the ground. Did the watering cause this? Who knows.

I think there's a direct relation between the recent heat wave and the maturing Red Currants.

The Snow White tomato plant is out of control. And there's not much I can do about it – it's simply gotten too big.

Harvested 11 Ounce Cherokee Purple

The morning's harvest consists of 5 Red Grape, 4 SunSugar, 4 Sweet 100, 2 Italian Ice, 2 Sweet Olive and an 11 ounce Cherokee Purple tomato.

I was testing the Cherokee Purple to see if it was ready. After testing I noticed that the stem supporting this tomato was broken. So I picked it. I don't know if the stem was broken prior to my testing but since it was, the tomato would have laid on the ground. Not good, so I picked it.

I did some minor tomato taping in the front yard.

The second of the two ripening Paul Robeson tomatoes is a big one.