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 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). 

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!  

Harvested 150 Black Cherry(1) Tomatoes!

Today's harvest includes 11 SunGold, 6 Indigo Rose, 4 Yellow Perfection, 3 Black Cherry(1), 2 Oaxacan Jewel (6.5 ounces), 2 Carmello, 2 Thessaloniki, 2 Speckled Roman(3), 2 Snow White(1), 2 Snow White(2), Chinese Tea, Porkchop(1), Dr. Wyche's Yellow, Olga's Round Yellow Chicken Egg, Big Bite, Pink Furry Boar, Crimson Cushion, Husky Cherry Red(1), German Orange Strawberry, Japanese Black Trifele, Black Cherry(2), Gypsy and Red Boar(1) for a total of 49 tomatoes.

Back when we were harvesting 162 tomatoes a day I mentioned we might only be harvesting about 30 by the end of the month. We're getting there...

The weather is warming up again...

We almost hit some major milestones today. Tomorrow we'll hit at least three milestones.

We've now harvested 150 Black Cherry(2) tomatoes and 50 Japanese Black Trifele tomatoes this year. 

Harvested Over 3000 Tomatoes This Month!

Today's harvest includes 14 Yellow Perfection, 13 SunGold, 10 Snow White(1), 10 Snow White(2), 7 Indigo Rose, 3 Red Currant, 3 Thessaloniki, 3 Indigo Apple(2), 3 Gypsy, 3 Redfield Beauty, 3 Carmello, 3 Husky Cherry Red(1), 3 German Orange Strawberry, 2 SunSugar, 2 Black Cherry(1), 2 Delicious (9 ounces), 2 Noire Charbonneuse(2), 2 Oaxacan Jewel (6 ounces, 6 ounces), Indigo Apple(1), Speckled Roman(2), Pink Furry Boar, Oaxacan Pink, Speckled Roman(3), Purple Dog Creek (7 ounces), Italian Heirloom and Black Cherry(2) for a total of 96 tomatoes.

I didn't harvest yesterday, as planned. It was my wife's birthday for starters. We celebrated with her side of the family down in south Orange County. Also, I got a new car smogged, and we visited Roger's Gardens for a tomato tasting before making it all the way down for a birthday celebration. Happy Birthday sweetie, I love you!!

My wife told me that she pulled out Pierce's Pride(2) on Thursday. We tend to pull a lot of tomatoes in the first week on September and we're on track to do the same thing this year.

We've now harvested over 3000 tomatoes this month (3012)! We've also harvested over 2600 SunGold tomatoes (2610), over 900 Husky Cherry Red(1) tomatoes (901) and over 200 Yellow Perfection tomatoes (209) this year. 

Harvested 100 Carmello Tomatoes This Year!

Today's harvest includes 15 SunGold, 10 Carmello, 9 Snow White(2), 7 Black Cherry(1), 6 Red Currant, 3 Oaxacan Pink, 3 Indigo Rose, 3 Big Bite, 3 Yellow Perfection, 3 Husky Cherry Red(1), 2 Dr. Wyche's Yellow, 2 Oaxacan Jewel (7 ounces), 2 Redfield Beauty, 2 Red Boar(1), 2 Thessaloniki, Indigo Apple(1), Pineapple(1) (8.5 ounces), Nyagous(1), Olga's Round Yellow Chicken Egg, Brad's Black Heart (6.5 ounces), Pink Furry Boar, Snow White(1), Black and Brown Boar(2), Purple Dog Creek, Delicious, Black Cherry(2), Amana Orange, Noire Charbonneuse(2) and Tolstoi for a total of 86 tomatoes.

My wife pulled Pineapple Pig, Yellow Furry Boar, Red Boar(2) and Porkchop(2). My wife spotted the tomato on Yellow Furry Boar but declared it as not worth saving and pulled the plant.

If you'll notice, all four tomatoes were developed at Wild Boar Farms. Wild Boar Farms has some tremendous varieties and we will always grow tomatoes developed there, but the plants simply do not last in the heat of the San Fernando Valley.

Carmello is going through a second wind, as well as Red Currant to a lesser degree.

Also, my wife watered all of the back yard tomatoes.

We've now harvested over 700 Black Cherry(1) tomatoes (706) and 100 Carmello tomatoes this year. 

Harvested Over 2000 Tomatoes In The Back Yard This Month!

Today's harvest includes 20 SunGold, 11 Black Cherry(1), 5 Red Currant, 5 Carmello, 4 Big Bite, 4 Snow White(1), 4 Snow White(2), 4 Oaxacan Jewel (7 ounces, 9 ounces), 4 Oaxacan Pink, 4 Yellow Perfection, 3 Dr. Wyche's Yellow, 2 Olga's Round Yellow Chicken Egg, 2 Husky Cherry Red(1), 2 Indigo Rose, 2 Jaune Flamme(2), Husky Cherry Red(2), Indigo Apple(1), Ella's Pink Plum, Pink Furry Boar, Thessaloniki, German Orange Strawberry, Speckled Roman(3), Delicious, Gypsy, Marmara, SunSugar and Green Grape for a total of 88 tomatoes.

My wife pulled out Speckled Roman(1) yesterday. And she continues to make sauce and freeze it, as well as give away some to friends and family.

I added tomato fertilizer to the container plants this morning.

Yellow Furry Boar has one more tomato to mature so it's spared the chopping block for now. But Jaune Flamme(2) can go.

We've now harvested over 2000 tomatoes in the back yard this month (2013)! 

Harvested Over 700 Husky Cherry Red(2) Tomatoes!

Today's harvest includes 37 Black Cherry(1), 24 SunGold, 18 Husky Cherry Red(2), 12 Snow White(2), 8 Husky Cherry Red(1), 6 Snow White(1), 6 Sweet Million, 5 Nyagous(1), 5 SunSugar, 4 Black and Brown Boar(2), 3 Black Cherry(2), 3 Speckled Roman(3), 2 Jaune Flamme(2), 2 Sweet 100, 2 Indigo Apple(2), 2 Red Currant, 2 Neves Azorean Red (8.5 ounces), 2 Amazon Chocolate, Redfield Beauty, Dr. Wyche's Yellow, Oaxacan Jewel (11 ounces), Crimson Cushion, Pineapple Pig, Yellow Furry Boar, Delicious, Omar's Lebanese (11 ounces), Ramapo, Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red and Porkchop(2) for a total of 154 tomatoes.

Yesterday's high: 105.8. It was particularly warm at night, making it difficult to sleep.

My wife made sauce out of some of the tomatoes but other than that, not much happened. It's been so hot that other house items have backed up.

We've now harvested over 500 front yard tomatoes this month. Also, we've harvested over 700 Husky Cherry Red(2) tomatoes (715) and over 200 Snow White(2) tomatoes (205) this year. 

Harvested Over 600 Husky Cherry Red(1) Tomatoes!

Today's harvest includes 60 SunGold, 42 Black Cherry(1), 26 Husky Cherry Red(1), 14 Husky Cherry Red(2), 7 Garden Peach, 6 Snow White(1), 6 Indigo Rose, 5 Nyagous(2) (not Nyagous), 4 Black Krim(2) (8 ounces, 11 ounces), 4 SunSugar, 3 Black From Tula (6 ounces, 7 ounces), 3 Thessaloniki, 3 Amana Orange (13 ounces, 11 ounces, 14.5 ounces), 3 Persimmon (21 ounces, 16.5 ounces, 13.5 ounces), 2 Pierce's Pride(1) (6 ounces, 10 ounces), 2 Oaxacan Pink (10.5 ounces, 11 ounces), 2 Black and Brown Boar(2), 2 Big Bite, 2 Noire Charbonneuse(2), 2 Japanese Black Trifele, 2 German Orange Strawberry, 2 Red Currant, 2 Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red, 2 Delicious (6 ounces, 6 ounces), 2 Berkeley Tie Dye (11 ounces, 6 ounces), 2 Italian Heirloom (12.5 ounces, 7.5 ounces), 2 Black and Brown Boar(1), 2 Yellow Perfection, Pink Berkeley Tie Dye(2), Porkchop(1) (16 ounces), Noire Charbonneuse(1), Indigo Apple(2), Redfield Beauty, Snow White(2), Green Grape, Speckled Roman(1), Speckled Roman(3), Yellow Furry Boar, Oaxacan Jewel (16 ounces), Olga's Round Yellow Chicken Egg (6 ounces), Nebraska Wedding (7 ounces), Red Boar(2), Omar's Lebanese (20 ounces) and Purple Dog Creek (8.5 ounces) for a total of 230 tomatoes.

Even though today's harvest has lower numbers than yesterday's, it's clearly a heavier harvest. There's plenty of beautiful large tomatoes today's harvest, including Omar's Lebanese, Persimmon, Oaxacan Jewel, Porkchop(1), Oaxacan Pink and Amana Orange. Today's harvest was a really nice one.

My wife pulled out Yellow Currant yesterday.

We've now harvested over 1700 SunGold tomaotes (1733) and over 600 Husky Cherry Red(1) tomatoes (623). Also, we've now harvested over 4500 tomatoes in July (4618). 

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). 

Harvested Vorlon and Chile Verde!

Today's harvest includes 56 SunGold, 19 Husky Cherry Red(1), 14 Husky Cherry Red(2), 9 Carmello (7 ounces), 6 Red Currant, 6 SunSugar, 5 Black and Brown Boar(1) (6 ounces), 5 Oaxacan Jewel (10 ounces, 12 ounces, 18.5 ounces, 16.5 ounces, 14 ounces), 4 Yellow Currant, 4 Giant Syrian (16 ounces, 12 ounces, 19.5 ounces, 8 ounces), 4 Chinese Tea, 4 Yellow Perfection, 4 Japanese Black Trifele (9.5 ounces), 4 Jaune Flamme(1), 3 Noire Charbonneuse(1), 3 Crimson Cushion, 2 Chile Verde (new), 2 Green Grape, 2 Green Zebra, 2 Nyagous(2) (not Nyagous), 2 Indigo Apple(1), 2 Black Cherry(1), 2 Thessaloniki, 2 Jaune Flamme(2), 2 Garden Peach, 2 Indigo Apple(2), 2 Black Krim(2) (7.5 ounces), 2 Black From Tula (8 ounces, 9 ounces), 2 Nyagous(1), 2 Brown Berry, 2 Pink Furry Boar, Vorlon (new), Berkeley Tie Dye, Speckled Roman(2), Olga's Round Yellow Chicken Egg, Matt's Wild Cherry, Pierce's Pride(2), Pink Berkeley Tie Dye(1), Big Bite, Indigo Rose, Pineapple Pig (10.5 ounces), Brad's Black Heart (7 ounces), Black and Brown Boar(2), Snow White(1), Black Cherry(2) and Tolstoi for a total of 195 tomatoes.

Yesterday Pink Berkeley Tie Dye(1) was leaning into the lemon tree. So during yesterday's harvest I propped it back to be straight off the ground. Mistake! My wife reported that it had fallen completely to the ground later in the day. She later picked it up and propped it against the Pinapple(1) tomato. I staked it in this morning.

Speaking of which, I was able to point out the half-eaten remains of a Pineapple(1) tomato to my wife. She later disposed it. We looked at Black Cherry(1). I think we'll end up adding a concrete reinforcing wire support trellis for it in the future. Meanwhile it's still doubled over.

Maturing tomatoes include Purple Dog Creek and Delicious. I almost pulled Delicious today so I'll assume it will be ready tomorrow. I know there are other maturing tomatoes.

The two Chile Verde tomatoes look great! The trouble, though, is these are the only two tomatoes on the plant.

Here's an image of today's harvest.

We've now harvested over 1500 back yard tomatoes for the year (1586) and over harvested 2500 tomatoes (2684) this year.
 

Harvested Speckled Roman(3), Nyagous(2) and Pink Berkeley Tie Dye(1)!

Today's harvest includes 73 SunGold, 12 Husky Cherry Red(2), 12 Husky Cherry Red(1), 6 Red Currant, 6 Green Grape, 5 Yellow Currant, 3 Nyagous(1), 3 Sweet Million, 3 Speckled Roman(2), 3 Yellow Perfection, 2 Nyagous(2) (new) (not Nyagous), 2 Tolstoi, 2 Redfield Beauty, 2 Big Bite, 2 Jaune Flamme(1), 2 Crimson Cushion, 2 Carmello, 2 Oaxacan Jewel (9.5 ounces, 13 ounces), Pink Berkeley Tie Dye(1) (new) (7 ounces), Speckled Roman(3) (new), Speckled Roman(1), Chinese Tea, Berkeley Tie Dye (6 ounces), Matt's Wild Cherry, Sweet 100, Black Cherry(1), Black From Tula (6 ounces), Black Krim(2) (6 ounces), Thessaloniki, Giant Syrian (11 ounces), Garden Peach, Indigo Rose, Jaune Flamme(2) and SunSugar for a total of 158 tomatoes.

My wife watered the back yard tomatoes yesterday. Afterwards, Black Cherry(1) fell into Brad's Black Heart. I fixed Black Cherry(1) in the morning. But Brad's Black Heart sustained some minor damage.

Two days ago it got up to 98.5 at Pierce College, about a mile away. Yesterday it got up to 103.1. Today may be even hotter. Watch the smaller tomatoes ripen faster (73 SunGolds!) followed by the mid-sized tomatoes and so on. We should have a wave of tomatoes in the few days as the heat pushes them to maturity.

I had a computer board meeting in the evening and brought tomatoes to the other board members.

Maturing tomatoes include Amazon Chocolate and Oaxacan Pink.

We've now harvested over 700 SunGold tomatoes (703)!  

Harvested 4 New Tomatoes!

Today's harvest includes 74 SunGold, 10 Husky Cherry Red(1), 7 Yellow Currant, 6 Husky Cherry Red(2), 4 Yellow Perfection, 4 SunSugar, 4 Green Grape, 3 Nyagous(1), 3 Speckled Roman(1) (6 ounces, 9 ounces), 3 Carmello (6 ounces, 6 ounces), 3 Crimson Cushion (6 ounces), 3 Jaune Flamme(2), 2 Pineapple Pig (new) (11 ounces), 2 Japanese Black Trifele (new) (7.5 ounces), 2 Red Currant, 2 Redfield Beauty, 2 Jaune Flamme(1), 2 Sweet Million, 2 Black Cherry(2), 2 Ella's Pink Plum, 2 Dr. Wyche's Yellow (13 ounces, 7.5 ounces), Italian Heirloom (new) (9 ounces), Noire Charbonneuse(2) (new), Chinese Tea, Berkeley Tie Dye (18 ounces), Black and Brown Boar(1), Oaxacan Jewel, Olga's Round Yellow Chicken Egg, Matt's Wild Cherry, Pink Berkeley Tie Dye(2) (8 ounces), Big Bite (6.5 ounces), Black Krim(2) (8.5 ounces), Thessaloniki (6 ounces), Garden Peach and Yellow Furry Boar for a total of 156 tomatoes.

Yesterday my wife made another tomato salad for a barbeque party in the evening. She cut up Garden Peach and Oaxacan Jewel and some other red tomato, mozzarella cheese and dressing. The Garden Peach was good but the Oaxacan Jewel was nothing short of fabulous.

The larger Pineapple Pig harvested today is a beautiful tomato. I know my wife will put that one to the side. The Japanese Black Trifele looks great as well.

For some reason today was "throw rotten tomatoes in the garbage" day. The two maturing White Zebra tomatoes were hopelessly flawed and thrown away. Two Dr. Wyche's Yellow tomatoes had bad flaws. One could be salvaged and I kept that one but the other one was too far gone. There was a large tomato on the ground in the "moat" (Persimmon?) badly decaying. It took two paper towels to get most of it out.

Pink Furry Boar is maturing. In fact there was another, more mature Pink Furry Boar tomato with two bites out of it that needed tossing as well.

Here's an image of our dog in and among the tomato plants in the back yard cutout:

We've now harvested over 1000 tomatoes for the month of July (1014). 

Harvested Seven New Tomatoes!

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). 

Eight More Plants With Tomatoes!

Today's harvest: Husky Cherry Red(1).

Yesterday evening I spent a lot of time training as many tomato plants as I could. I got a close look almost all the tomato plants. From that I discovered more plants with tomatoes.

A partial list includes Noire Charbonneuse(1), Oaxacan Jewel, Olga's Round Yellow Chicken, Garden Peach, Black Krim(2), Earl of Edgecombe, Jaune Flamme(2) and Black and Brown Boar(1).

Today my wife and I made six more cages from concrete reinforcing wire. We replaced some of the weaker cages with the new tomato cages. We took out the weaker cages. There was some minor damage done when removing the cages but we believe it is not serious.

The weaker cages were mostly "leggy". We cut them down to size and used these cut down cages on the container plants. We replaced the original cages and again there was some minor damage. For instance, I knocked a tomato off of the Taxi tomato plant. 

Planted 14 Tomato Seedlings

On Thursday my wife planted Redfield Beauty, Chinese Tea, Nyagous, Berkeley Tie-Dye and Specked Roman(1) in the "corner office" in the front yard.

On Friday my wife planted Kellogg's Breakfast in the "corner office". She planted Ella's Pink Plum, SunGold, Black and Brown Boar, Oaxacan Jewel, Dr. Wyche's Yellow, Speckled Roman(2) and Olga's Round Yellow Chicken Egg in the "koi pond" in the front yard.

Today we transferred Ella's Pink Plum to a container and replaced it with Noire Charbonneuse.

Also, I took out last year's SunSugar. It had done well during the winter cold but the March cold snap had put a mottled color on many of the leaves. The plant actually had a dozen or so tomatoes on it. Had it not suffered from the March cold snap we might have left it in. But I pulled it today.

I emptied three large pots and mixed it with some remaining compostable dirt. Then I refilled these pots and distributed them throughout the back yard.

Earlier this week my wife made a third raised bed in the backyard using some of our cinder blocks piled up on the side of the house, added compostable dirt and has planted. We're in the process of replacing our second raised bed with more of these cinder blocks.
 

Pulled Nine Tomato Plants

Wednesday's harvest includes 7 Matt's Wild Cherry, 2 Golden Mama, 2 SunSugar, Husky Cherry Red(2), SunGold(1), Green Grape, Green Doctors Kiwi(1) (not Green Doctor's Kiwi), Aunt Ruby's German Green(1), Orange And Green Zebra, Garden Peach, Oaxacan Jewel(2) and Sweet Carneros Pink for a total of 20 tomatoes.

Thursday's harvest includes 4 SunGold(1), 2 Jaune Flamme, 2 SunSugar, 2 Garden Peach, Vorlon, Porkchop, Golden Mama, Matt's Wild Cherry, Large Pink Anna(1), Green Grape and Sweet Carneros Pink for a total of 17 tomatoes.

Thursday we celebrated our fourth wedding anniversary! We went out to lunch to celebrate but it was hard not to think about our Manchester Terrier. Still, I'm really happy in our marriage and am proud we married four years ago.

Friday's harvest includes 8 Matt's Wild Cherry, 2 SunGold(1), Green Zebra(1), Husky Cherry Red(2), Large Pink Anna(1), Michael Pollan, SunSugar, Garden Peach and Yellow Brandywine for a total of 17 tomatoes.

My wife watered the back yard container plants.

I raked off the hay in the south portion of the "koi pond", put in a bag of planter mix and scraped away a small trench around the edge of the plantable area. Afterward, my wife came in and planted pea seeds (sweet peas, but perhaps snap peas).

Today's harvest includes 9 Matt's Wild Cherry, 2 Golden Mama, Porkchop, SunGold(1), SunSugar and Coyote (not Coyote) for a total of 15 tomatoes.

I pulled out several tomato plants. In the front yard I pulled Porkchop and Haley's Purple Comet. In the back yard I pulled Big White Pink Stripe, Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red, Crimson Cushion(2), Oaxacan Jewel(2), Paul Robeson(2), Yellow Brandywine and Coyote (not Coyote). The back yard cutout is nearly clear of tomato plants.

The back yard harvest has slowed down simply because there's so few plants left. And the ones that are left are mostly in containers. And containers constrict the harvest for the contained plants. 

Yesterday Was Buster's Day

No harvest yesterday.

There was no harvest yesterday because we had to put down our beloved Manchester Terrier, Buster Brown. We took him to the veternarian as he had projectile vomited overnight and hadn't eaten in a day and a half. When we got him there he had lost more weight than before (we brought him in about a week prior). My wife and I discussed it and decided that nothing more can be done.

So yesterday was Buster's day. I carried him on his favorite walk, the long walk, in the late morning. My wife spent quiet time with him in the back yard. She carried him around the back yard. After a few chores, I brought him back to a local veternary clinic.

I first met Buster when I met my then girlfriend. I remember him being aggressive and pugnacious, but he was clearly just protecting my girlfriend. I liked him. But soon he dug himself out of the backyard and ran away once or twice.

Later on I found out he had a rough upbringing and may have been abused when he was a puppy. My now wife got him around the age of 2.5 to 3 years and thought he owned her and her back yard. If a male had originally treated him badly and a female treated him nicely, one can fully understand his reaction. I didn't quite understand that at the time but Buster was a dog's dog, both good and bad. Even if I didn't like some behavior I pretty much always knew where he was coming from.

Then I moved in. More adjustments. He still thought he was the alpha dog and it took a while to convince him otherwise. Sometimes I wasn't gentle about it, but I had to show him that he wasn't in control of me. I also had to show him that there were no hard feelings.

My then girlfriend didn't walk the dogs, but I did. And Buster loved it. And we bonded.

One night Buster was misbehaving in some fashion just before I was to walk both of them. I tried something different -- I put him on his leash without punishing him and attached the end of his leash to the table leg. And the other dog and I went for a walk.

He got it. Punishing him was hit or miss but taking away this privilege while the other dog enjoyed it. His behavior got much better. We bonded some more, understood each other. He never ran away again.

He'd picked off my ripening tomatoes which I didn't like but it would frequently make me laugh more than anything. Him and I would coordinate so that he could catch grasshoppers. I'd call him over and then spook the grasshopper, making it move and Buster would do the rest.

He was a chatty dog. That was one of his charms. It was noisy, but charming. He was affectionate, moreso as he got older. And he loved walks. And dog biscuits.

He had lost weight pretty dramatically over the last several weeks. He had inflammatory bowel disease but we believe it was more than that. Regardless, he felt good enough on Friday night/Saturday morning that when he was placed on our bed he was licking my calf for 5 or 10 minutes. With force. Like nothing was wrong. I had walked him to the end of the block earlier in the evening.

On Saturday he took a turn for the worse. Sunday night he didn't eat all day and it all came out and more on Monday morning. Even though he was wobbly legged, I did get him outside and walked to the sidewalk and back.

The toughest part of putting him down was the one hour wait.

Eventually he was brought in, talked with the assistant, waited about 5 minutes, talked with the doctor (she said several times that we were doing the right thing) and waited some more. She brought in Buster in a warm blanket.

The lethal injection was made in the IV and Buster shot up like a cannon! The doctor said he's not in pain but some times dogs react because it is cold. Buster was so thin he couldn't regulate his temperature (we had a jacket on him almost all the time) so this made sense. He went back down and I had my hand on his protruding rib cage. His breathing became very very light after 30 seconds. The doctor examined him for a few seconds and declared him dead. I placed my hand on his rib cage and he wasn't breathing.

I'll really, really miss Buster.

Today's harvest includes 6 Matt's Wild Cherry, 3 SunSugar, 2 Sweet Carneros Pink, 2 Jaune Flamme, 2 Garden Peach, 2 Patio, 2 Persimmon(1), 2 SunGold(1), Green Zebra(1), Porkchop, Husky Cherry Red(2), Golden Mama, Large Pink Anna(1), Green Grape, Green Doctors Kiwi(1) (not Green Doctors Kiwi), Michael Pollan, Orange And Green Zebra, Oaxacan Jewel(2), Yellow Brandywine and Coyote (not Coyote) for a total of 33 tomatoes.


We've now harvested over 350 SunGold(1) tomatoes.  

Harvested Over 8500 Tomatoes For The Year!

Today's harvest includes 7 Matt's Wild Cherry, 6 SunGold(1), 3 Garden Peach, 3 Husky Cherry Red(2), 2 Jaune Flamme, 2 Orange And Green Zebra, Large Pink Anna(1), Green Zebra(1), Green Doctors Kiwi (not Green Doctors Kiwi) and Oaxacan Jewel(2) for a total of 27 tomatoes.

We've now harvested over 8500 tomatoes for the year (8520)! As mentioned in the last blog post, we'll end up around 9000 tomatoes total for the year when it's all said and done, and I believe we'll be over 9000 tomatoes.

Also, we've harvested over 500 tomatoes for the month of September (508)! I believe we'll end up with about 850 tomatoes for the month, but we'll see.

I added fertilizer to the container plants. 

Harvested 300 Garden Peach Tomatoes!

Today's harvest includes 7 Husky Cherry Red(2), 7 SunGold(1), 7 Matt's Wild Cherry, 4 Sweet Carneros Pink, 2 Porkchop, 2 Garden Peach, 2 Coyote (not Coyote), Neves Azorean Red, Haley's Purple Comet, Golden Mama, Jaune Flamme, Patio, SunSugar, Orange And Green Zebra, Big White Pink Stripe, Dr. Wyche's Yellow, Oaxacan Jewel(2) and Yellow Brandywine for a total of 42 tomatoes.

We've now harvested exactly 300 Garden Peach tomatoes! Also, we've harvested exactly 100 Jaune Flamme tomatoes.

Sweet Carneros Pink is over it's second wind.

It's hot out there!! Yesterday got up to 100.5 degrees and today should be hotter.