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 7500 Tomatoes This Year!

Wednesday's harvest: 4 Snow White (front yard), Babywine, Large Pink Anna, SunSugar, Thessaloniki and Red Grape for a total of 9 tomatoes.

Violet Jasper was removed by my wife during the day. This plant was removed in preparation for laying down winter crops.

Thursday's harvest: 9 Snow White (front yard), 2 Sara Black, Husky Cherry Red, Large Pink Anna and Quedlinburger Fruehe Liebe for a total of 14 tomatoes.

Friday's harvest: 9 Snow White (front yard), 2 Topaz, Husky Cherry Red, Babywine and Marianna's Peace for a total of 14 tomatoes.

Saturday's harvest: 8 Snow White (front yard), Babywine and White Currant for a total of 10 tomatoes.

Plenty of back yard tomatoes were removed: Green Zebra, Weeping Charlie, Red Boar, Dr. Wyche's Yellow(1), Pierce's Pride, Marianna's Peace, Black From Tula, Berkeley Tie-Dye Heart and Thessaloniki.

All of these plants started to get a cobweb like formation at the top. It looks like some sort of fungus. I would have kept a couple more of these plants around if it weren't for this fungus.

Sunday's harvest: 6 Snow White (front yard), Aunt Ruby's German Green (back yard) and White Currant for a total of 8 tomatoes.

Today's harvest: 4 Snow White (front yard), 2 Red Currant(1), 2 Red Currant(2), Babywine and Snow White (back yard) for a total of 10 tomatoes.

We've now harvested over 7500 tomatoes for the year (7505)! But we're harvesting in dribs and drabs so we won't get near 8000 this year.

Yesterday got up to 105.0 at Pierce College. Today it got up to 110.0.

Updates to this blog will continue to be spotty until the end of the year.

Harvested Over 400 Violet Jasper Tomatoes!

And today's harvest includes 8 Violet Jasper, 5 SunGold, 4 Lyn's Mahogany Garnet, 3 Stupice, 2 Sweet Tangerine, 2 Dr. Wyches's Yellow(2), 2 Marianna's Peace, 2 Enchantment, 2 Gajo de Melon, 2 Red Grape, Babywine, Persimmon, Brown Berry, Yellow Pear, Weeping Charlie, Pineapple, Black From Tula, Berkeley Tie-Dye Heart and Sara Black (7 ounces) for a total of 41 tomatoes.

We've now harvested over 400 Violet Jasper tomatoes (403)! Today's Violet Jasper tomatoes are about half the size (or smaller) compared to the ones harvested two months ago but the plant still has a fair amount of growing tomatoes.

My wife watered the back yard tomato plants yesterday and the front yard tomato plants the day before.

I pulled out three more tomato plants, all in the front yard: Michael Pollan, Orange Fleshed Purple Smudge and Black Krim.

The new volunteer tomato plant died in last week's heat wave. And the caterpillar has disappeared as well.

Harvested Over 1000 Front Yard Tomatoes For August!

Today's harvest includes 15 Snow White (front yard), 12 Husky Cherry Red, 8 Yellow Perfection, 7 Poma Amoris Minora Lutea, 4 SunGold, 2 Principe Borghese, 2 Brown Berry, 2 Red Boar, 2 Pierce's Pride, 2 Snow White (back yard), 2 Red Grape, Black Krim, Garden Peach, Miss Elliotte Black, Babywine, Aunt Ruby's German Green(1), Japanese Black Trifele, Michael Pollan, Stupice, Pink Berkeley Tie Dye, Red Currant(2), Green Grape, Weeping Charlie, Black From Tula, Berkeley Tie-Dye Heart, Gajo de Melon, Gypsy and Emerald Evergreen (7 ounces) for a total of 75 tomatoes.

We've now harvested over 1000 front yard tomatoes for August (1007)!

We've also harvested exactly 1300 SunGold tomatoes for this year. Too bad this plant is finally slowing down.

We've also harvested over 300 Husky Cherry Red tomatoes (301). I'm a little surprised by today's “rush” with this tomato.

Harvested Over 1500 Tomatoes For August!

Today's harvest includes 22 Snow White (front yard), 5 Yellow Perfection, 3 Violet Jasper, 3 Principe Borghese, 3 Berkeley Tie-Dye Heart, 3 SunGold, 3 Snow White (back yard), 2 Enchantment, 2 Azoychka/not Azoychka, 2 Jaune Flamme(2), 2 Poma Amoris Minora Lutea, 2 Husky Cherry Red, Patio, Stupice, Aunt Ruby's German Green(1), Babywine, SunSugar, Topaz, Carmello, Red Currant(1), Red Currant(2), Jaune Flamme(1), Plum Tigris, Red Boar, Yellow Pear, Gajo de Melon, Black, Gypsy, Red Grape and Pineapple (8 ounces) for a total of 70 tomatoes.

My wife watered the back yard tomato plants last night.

Big Pink has a maturing tomato on it.

We've now harvested over 1500 tomatoes for August (1538)! It looks like we'll end up around 2000 harvested tomatoes for the month.

My Orthodontist Gets Today's Harvest

Today's harvest includes 20 Snow White (front yard), 10 SunGold, 7 Yellow Perfection, 4 Snow White (back yard), 3 Husky Cherry Red, 2 Japanese Black Trifele, 2 Poma Amoris Minora Lutea, 2 Weeping Charlie, 2 Berkeley Tie-Dye Heart, 2 Red Grape, Stupice, Aunt Ruby's German Green(1), Taxi, Red Currant(1), Brown Berry, Green Grape, Yellow Pear, Red Boar, Sweet Tangerine, Marianna's Peace, Jaune Flamme(2) and Gajo de Melon for a total of 66 tomatoes.

It's hot again – yesterday got up to 102.6 at Pierce College.

I'll be giving today's harvest and part of yesterday's harvest to my orthodontist. I have an appointment later in the morning and they requested some of our tomatoes.

Tonight I'll be speaking at the Los Angeles Visual FoxPro Users Group in Westchester, California. I hope to see you there tonight at 7:30!

Harvested Aunt Ruby's German Green(2)!

Today's harvest includes 30 SunGold, 7 Snow White (front yard), 4 Husky Cherry Red, 3 White Currant, 3 Gajo de Melon, 3 Yellow Perfection, 3 Jaune Flamme(2), 3 Violet Jasper, 2 Michael Pollan, 2 Babywine, 2 Red Currant(1), 2 Sweetie, 2 Nyagous, 2 Red Grape, Thessaloniki, Gypsy, Taxi, T. C. Jones, Enchantment, Snow White (back yard), Berkeley Tie-Dye Heart, Dr. Wyche's Yellow(2), Dr. Wyche's Yellow(1) (7.5 ounces), Sweet Tangerine, Principe Borghese, Carmello, Poma Amoris Minora Lutea, Japanese Black Trifele, Garden Peach, Miss Elliotte Black, Persimmon and Aunt Ruby's German Green(2) (new) for a total of 86 tomatoes.

It's good to see the second Aunt Ruby's German Green tomato plant finally get a ripe tomato! At one point the plant was a good four and a half feet tall, green, healthy...with no tomatoes. Finally it got a tomato but it seemed to be maturing very slowly, so slowly that I stopped looking at the plant. At some point this tomato took off and was harvested today, coming in at just under six ounces. There are more tomatoes growing on this plant.

Harvested Over 5000 Tomatoes This Year!

Today's harvest includes 21 SunGold, 8 Snow White (front yard), 5 Husky Cherry Red, 4 Red Grape, 3 White Currant, 3 T. C. Jones, 2 Yellow Perfection, 2 Orange Fleshed Purple Smudge, 2 Babywine, 2 Garden Peach, 2 Brown Berry, 2 Red Currant(1), 2 Enchantment, 2 Gajo de Melon, 2 Azoychka/not Azoychka, Jaune Flamme(2), Snow White (back yard), Red Currant(2), Principe Borghese, Michael Pollan, Black Krim and Large Pink Anna (13.5 ounces) for a total of 69 tomatoes.

We've now harvested over 5000 tomatoes for the year (5033)! However, our pace has slowed down significantly. For instance, we have around 57 tomato plants in the back yard and we only harvested 26 tomatoes from the back yard today. Our tomatoes have tasted great this year and both my wife and I think this year has been a real success...but it appears that the numbers won't tell the whole story. As it stands right now, we stand little chance of reaching last year's harvest totals even though there are 20 more plants in the ground.

Tasted Sara Black -- Not a Winner

Today's harvest includes 28 SunGold, 10 Snow White (front yard), 9 Garden Peach, 8 White Currant, 5 Azoychka/not Azoychka, 4 Poma Amoris Minora Lutea, 4 Babywine, 3 Green Grape, 3 Red Currant(2), 2 Husky Cherry Red, 2 Violet Jasper, 2 Japanese Black Trifele, 2 Persimmon, 2 Jaune Flamme(2), 2 Red Grape, 2 Gypsy, Thessaloniki, Nyagous, Gajo de Melon, Yellow Perfection, Black Zebra, Dr. Wyche's Yellow(2), Sweet Tangerine, Red Boar, Taxi, Large Pink Anna (13.5 ounces), Black Krim (6 ounces), Orange Fleshed Purple Smudge, Stupice and Emerald Evergreen (8 ounces) for a total of 102 tomatoes.

My wife and I tried a beautiful looking 11 ounce Sara Black last night. It was somewhat disappointing. My wife liked it less than I did but there was no mistaking that this tomato “needed support”. The tomato didn't really stand on it's own.

The tomato itself looked beautiful, cut beautifully and was juicy and meaty. I thought the tomato was mellow but my wife described it as “soapy” – and not in a good way. I cleared my palate and took another bite and I can see where my wife is coming from. It doesn't taste bad, there's just not enough taste at all. Most of the taste comes from the texture of the tomato.

I give this tomato a soft thumbs down.

Harvested Aunt Ruby's German Green and Persimmon!

Today's harvest includes 15 White Currant, 14 Violet Jasper, 13 SunGold, 7 Red Currant(2), 7 Red Grape, 6 Dr. Wyche's Yellow(2) (one 6 ounces), 5 Marianna's Peace, 4 Japanese Black Trifele, 4 Husky Cherry Red, 3 Snow White (back yard), 3 Black Krim (9 ounces, 13.5 ounces, 11 ounces), 3 Green Grape, 2 Jaune Flamme(2), 2 Zapotec Pleated, 2 Ananas Noire, 2 Red Boar, 2 Brown Berry, 2 Babywine, Patio, Stupice, Miss Elliotte Black, Topaz, Taxi, Lyn's Mahogany Garnet, Principe Borghese, Yellow Pear, Speckled Roman, Black From Tula, Yellow Perfection, Gajo de Melon, Plum Tigris, Depp's Pink Firefly, Red Currant(1), Gypsy, Aunt Ruby's German Green(1) (new, 11 ounces) and Persimmon (new, 9 ounces) for a total of 114 tomatoes.

It was quite hot yesterday. The temperature got up to 106.8 degrees at Pierce College, about a mile away. Some of today's harvested tomatoes have different shades of color due to differing maturation on the fruit. For instance, some of the White Currant had deep yellowish white shoulders (indicating it was quite ready) but the rest of the tomato had a faint greenish hue (indicating it wasn't quite there). In other words, it was so hot that it was causing maturation differences within the same tomato.

My wife watered some of the back yard tomatoes two days ago and finished the job yesterday.

We haven't done too much with the tomatoes this week, short of collect them. We've been in the middle of tiling the kitchen floor, having to move all of the appliances out of the kitchen, getting the floor put in, getting the back splash put in, getting it all grouted and such. The original plumber, who said he'd help move the appliances, went on a two week vacation without notice. With the help of a good friend of ours we got the appliances moved out but had a heck of a time getting them back in to place. The refrigerator was easy. The stove was relatively easy. The dishwasher was put in place but due to the less leg room, the hot water line couldn't quite be hooked up correctly. So no hot water for the kitchen sink. The washer/dryer was put into place only to realize the water wasn't turned on. So we pulled it out and turned it on. Since we pulled out the washer/dryer the legs were adjusted so that the pair didn't lean to the left. It was put back in place, all was well except for the dishwasher/hot water line and our friend left about 2:00 AM Wednesday night/Thursday morning.

So my wife ran the washing machine and soon there was water on the floor. So we called our friend back (he had just drove away), pulled the stacked washer/dryer out again and ran an empty load. I found a leak underneath the washing machine and my friend found the source. Okay, that explains why the subflooring had decayed underneath the washing machine when we originally pulled it out, the leak was always there and only now was it discovered.

My friend came by last night to finish off the dishwasher so now we have hot water in the kitchen sink. We have repairmen coming to fix the washing machine today and another problem my wife found last night – the dishwasher door has issues.

But the tile floor/back splash/riser look great while the tomatoes collect.

The harvested Aunt Ruby's German Green was a surprise. I did not look ready to the eye but it felt ready. I went by feel.

There is a tomato called Persimmon. This isn't that tomato. This is a plant supplied by the Tomato Lady of Beverly Hills. It looks a lot like Weeping Charlie, only orange in color. My wife saw it and she said it looked like a persimmon.

Harvested Miss Elliotte Black!

Today's harvest includes 11 White Currant, 8 Violet Jasper, 7 SunGold, 7 Yellow Perfection, 6 Red Grape, 5 Snow White (back yard), 5 Husky Cherry Red, 3 Stupice, 3 Marianna's Peace, 2 Gypsy, 2 Nyagous, 2 Zapotec Pleated, 2 Speckled Roman, 2 Brown Berry, 2 Red Currant(2), 2 Principe Borghese, Snow White (front yard), Japanese Black Trifele, Orange Fleshed Purple Smudge (6 ounces, but no purple smudge), Black Krim, SunSugar, Lyn's Mahogany Garnet, Topaz, Red Currant(1), Yellow Pear, Gajo de Melon, Ananas Noire, German Orange Strawberry, Sweet Tangerine, Thessaloniki and Miss Elliotte Black (new) for a total of 84 tomatoes weighing 5 pounds 9 ounces.

Yesterday's haul also weighed 5 pounds, 9 ounces.

SunSugar was watered by the time I got home. The front yard tomatoes were watered again as well.

The heat wave that was predicted earlier this week didn't happen, at least yet. We're supposed to reach the low 90's next week, approaching the normal temperatures for July.

Harvested Pierce's Pride and Toni's Round!

Today's harvest includes 15 White Currant, 13 Snow White (back yard), 9 Violet Jasper, 7 Stupice, 5 SunGold, 4 Principe Borghese, 4 Zapotec Pleated, 4 Yellow Perfection, 3 Red Currant(1), 3 Brown Berry, 3 Speckled Roman, 3 Black From Tula, 2 Husky Cherry Red, 2 Marianna's Peace, 2 Ananas Noire (one 6.5 ounces), 2 Nyagous, 2 Jaune Flamme(2), 2 Red Grape, Gypsy, Sweet Tangerine, Red Boar, Lyn's Mahogany Garnet, Red Currant(2), Green Zebra, Green Grape, Black Cherry, Japanese Black Trifele, SunSugar, Patio, Garden Peach, Black Krim (9.5 ounces), Pierce's Pride (new, 10 ounces) and Toni's Round for a total of 100 tomatoes.

I don't have today's weight but the weight for the last two days was 5 pounds 7 ounces and 5 pounds, 6 ounces.

We have our first mislabel – the tomato plant labeled Azoychka clearly isn't Azoychka. Azoychka looks like a typical tomato about 4 – 6 ounces, flattened, only yellowish orange in color. What's growing looks like a thinner version of Yellow Pear. We'll keep it labeled Azoychka until we can harvest from this plant and hopefully identify it for what it is.

My wife watered the whole back yard and all of the front yard tomato plants with the exception of SunSugar. I could tell SunSugar wasn't watered because the fertilizer was still visible. No problem, either she or I will get it watered by this evening.

We need to get a netting around Black From Tula. A bird got another one of these tomatoes.

Big Pink has a tomato on it.

My wife prepared some tomatoes for taste testing during dinner. Here's my mental notes on what we tried:

Chile Verde (upper left corner) – I saw my wife's reaction as she ate this tomato. She gave kind of a far off look which indicated to me she didn't care for the taste. She told me she really liked it and for me to give it a try. I tried it, liked it and gave a far off look as I began thinking how to relate what I was tasting. The taste is unique and doesn't taste tomatoey at all. I took bite after bite doing the same thing and having the same experience. The best I can do is this: If you have ever had the Trader Joes' soy ice cream sandwiches, the mouth feel was similar. It did not feel like a tomato. If you combined that feel with pretty strong fruit taste, you got it. A definite winner.

Green Grape (upper right corner) – Always a winner.

Black Cherry (lower right corner) – Ditto.

Snow White (yellow tomato, far right) – Ditto.

Nyagous (lower center/right) – Excellent taste.

Garden Peach (upper center) – The tomato itself looks somewhat milkier than the Garden Peaches I remember from prior years. It tasted like citrus, very good.

Plum Tigris (lower center) – My wife thought she had cut up a Speckled Roman but I thought it was Plum Tigris. We tasted it and we both agreed it wasn't Speckled Roman. It tasted “brighter”. My wife didn't like Plum Tigris last year and was wary of growing it again this year. She liked this year's version better than last year's version.

Yellow Pear (to the left of Snow White) – A little mushy and thick skinned, but good taste. Our take is that it's definitely worth continuing to try, it's just that this particular tomato was a little past its' prime.

Green Zebra (to the left of Plum Tigris) – The taste was more tomatoey than I remember for Green Zebras in the past. It tasted quite good (my wife loved it) but the tomatoey taste didn't make it stand out for me.

Michael Pollan – This was the only one that missed. The tomato tasted really good at the July 3 party, but not today. It simply wasn't ripe enough. It needed a couple more days to mature. No big deal, that happens.

When I got home Black Krim had a bad lean to the west. I took a hammer to drive in the stake and I could hear it splinter. And it didn't help the lean. I was actually stuck. If I let go it could fall. I tried calling my wife but she was in the kitchen and the door was closed. Fortunately I hit upon the idea of leaning the plant to the east and hanging the hammer off of the top of the frame on the east side. The plant straightened up but didn't topple over. That gave me time to bring my wife over to hold it while I retrieved a thick stake and hammered it into place. All is well with this plant.

Harvested Japanese Black Trifele and T. C. Jones!

Today's harvest includes 12 White Currant, 9 SunGold, 8 Violet Jasper, 8 Principe Borghese, 5 Red Grape, 4 Snow White (back yard), 4 Husky Cherry Red, 4 Gypsy, 3 Speckled Roman, 3 Stupice, 3 Red Currant(1), 3 Brown Berry, 3 Yellow Perfection, 2 Patio, 2 Ananas Noire (one 7 ounces), 2 Zapotec Pleated, Taxi, Snow White (front yard), German Orange Strawberry, Sweet Tangerine (6 ounces), Marianna's Peace, Gajo de Melon, Black Cherry, Japanese Black Trifele (new) and T. C. Jones (new) for a total of 84 tomatoes weighing 4 pounds, 15 ounces.

My wife and I went to a pool party in the afternoon. We brought along a bunch of the smaller tomatoes and had a lot of fun splashing in the pool.

As of today, White Currant is our biggest producer.

The numbers have been steady over the past couple of days. The weather has been unseasonably cool for July. Right now it's completely overcast. This is really unusual.

Four years ago I moved in with my then girlfriend/now wife in July 2006. This month was notable because there was a run of 22 days over 100 degrees, including a 119.2 degree day on July 22. Between June 27 and July 27, 2006, the lowest high temperature was 99 degrees on July 3 and July 5.

Don't hold me to this, but I think our high so far this year has been around 93 degrees. Yesterday's high was 80.6 degrees. The day before, 80.9.

This is why our production has been delayed a bit. But look out, this is also great fruit-setting weather. If it heats up, look out, we'll have some very large harvest numbers.

What's the Biggest Producer So Far?

Today's harvest includes 11 Violet Jasper, 8 Yellow Perfection, 7 SunGold, 7 White Currant, 6 Principe Borghese, 6 Speckled Roman, 5 Stupice, 4 Brown Berry, 3 Husky Cherry Red, 2 Red Grape, 2 Taxi, 2 Nyagous, 2 Patio, 2 Black Cherry, 2 Topaz, 2 Green Grape, 2 Weeping Charlie (one 6 ounces), 2 Sweet Tangerine, 2 Red Currant(1), SunSugar, Michael Pollan, Lyn's Mahogany Garnet, Red Boar, Sweet 100, Plum Tigris, Red Currant(2), Jaune Flamme(1), Marianna's Peace, Dr. Wyche's Yellow(2) and Gajo de Melon for a total of 88 tomatoes weighing 6 pounds, 7.5 ounces.

No new tomatoes today, though a Toni's Round is maturing.

Per my wife, a pedestrian came by and talked her up about buying some of our tomatoes. Sure thing, we'll sell!

What's our biggest producer so far? Perhaps Violet Jasper. After all we've harvested 30 tomatoes over the last three days. Perhaps a smaller tomato like SunGold or Red Currant(1) or White Currant? Nope. The biggest producer so far is the not very sexy but good tasting Stupice, with 70 harvested so far. Violet Jasper is at 66, Red Currant(1) is at 63, White Currant(1) is at 61 and SunGold at 58 harvested tomatoes so far. All these other tomatoes will pass Stupice in total harvest as the month progresses.

Harvested Plum Tigris and Jaune Flamme(2)!

Today's harvest includes 10 Violet Jasper, 7 SunGold, 6 White Currant, 5 Yellow Perfection, 5 Husky Cherry Red, 4 Speckled Roman, 4 Stupice, 3 Black Cherry, 3 Red Currant(2), 3 Principe Borghese, 3 Red Grape, 2 Snow White (front yard), 2 Sweet 100, 2 Brown Berry, 2 Ananas Noire (6.5 ounces, 7 ounces), 2 Sweet Tangerine (one 7 ounces), 2 Zapotec Pleated, 2 Red Currant(1), Michael Pollan, Babywine, Topaz, Jaune Flamme(1), German Orange Strawberry (7.5 ounces), Black From Tula (8 ounces), Enchantment, Jaune Flamme(2) (new) and Plum Tigris (new) for a total of 76 tomatoes weighing 5 pounds, 3 ounces.

For some reason there were a lot of tomatoes with blossom end rot today. I had actually picked two Berkeley Tie-Dye Heart tomatoes but both had too much blossom end rot to be considered. Six or seven tomatoes were put in the compost pile and not added to today's count.

One of the Ananas Noire tomatoes had been pecked by birds and will not be eaten. I brought it in to be counted and weighed.

A Japanese Black Trifele tomato is in the very early stages of maturation. It should be ready in a few days. A T. C. Jones tomato is maturing.

The Tomato Tide is Coming In!

Today's harvest includes 9 Violet Jasper, 7 White Currant, 6 SunGold, 5 Husky Cherry Red, 5 Dr. Wyche's Yellow(2) (one 8.5 ounces), 5 Stupice, 4 Black Cherry, 3 Principe Borghese, 3 Yellow Perfection, 2 Patio, 2 Babywine, 2 Red Currant(1), 2 Speckled Roman, SunSugar, Taxi, Red Currant(2), Sweet Tangerine, German Orange Strawberry, Snow White (back yard), Nyagous, Red Grape and Michael Pollan (new) for a total of 64 tomatoes, weighing in at over four pounds.

Due to a statistical anomaly, three out of the prior four days had a harvest total of 51 tomatoes. We went up to 64 today – the tomato tide is coming in!

I had been checking on a Michael Pollan tomato for some time – the bottom of this tomato had turned buttery yellow, indicating it should be maturing. However I hadn't harvested it before so it's hard to tell when it's really ready. I felt the tomato for several days and it didn't feel ready. Today it felt ready and came right off the vine.

My wife did a lot of watering yesterday. I think she watered all the tomatoes, front and back. She certainly got all of the front yard tomatoes.

A year ago today – the back yard tomato plants were towering over my wife. This year's back yard plants are at least a foot smaller. Repeating, this is due to the cooler weather. The results may be to push back the high harvest times to late July or perhaps even August. The highest harvest day last year was July 24 – 257 tomatoes. Last year's July 1 total was 42 tomatoes.

Don't be surprised if we see 300 – 350 for a harvest day later this month.

A Chile Verde is maturing. The Plum Tigris still isn't ready but it looks like it will be ready tomorrow.

Harvested 6 New Tomatoes!

Saturday's harvest: 9 Stupice, 6 Husky Cherry Red, 4 Violet Jasper, 4 Principe Borghese, 4 Red Currant(1), 2 Red Currant(2), 2 Patio, 2 Black Cherry, SunGold, Taxi, Sweet Tangerine, Zapotec Pleated, Yellow Perfection, Black Krim (new, 9 ounces) and Dr. Wyche's Yellow(1) (new, 8 ounces) for a total of 40 tomatoes.

In the late afternoon my wife and I visited the “seed lady”. We roasted some of our harvested tomatoes and beans on the barbeque. Delicious!

Sunday's harvest: 7 Principe Borghese, 6 White Currant, 5 SunGold, 5 Red Currant(1), 4 Husky Cherry Red, 3 Speckled Roman, 3 Violet Jasper, 3 Yellow Perfection, 2 Stupice, 2 Snow White (front yard), 2 Red Currant(2), 2 Babywine (new), Brown Berry, Red Boar, Sweet Tangerine, Snow White (back yard), Nyagous, Gypsy and Topaz (new) for a total of 51 tomatoes.

As of Sunday we passed last year's June harvest total of 299 tomatoes. This is due to several factors. (1) We simply have more tomato plants this year (2) We seem to have more cherry tomatoes this year and they tend to mature sooner and in greater numbers and (3) In general, the weather has been temperate and if anything, I think a touch below normal. For the most part, the fruit has been setting well. We should have a big July harvest.

My wife watered most if not all of the back yard tomatoes.

Friends dropped by Sunday afternoon and we gave them a most of Sunday's harvest.

Today's harvest includes 8 SunGold, 7 Principe Borghese, 4 Yellow Perfection, 3 Violet Jasper, 2 Stupice, 2 Husky Cherry Red, 2 Black Cherry, 2 Red Currant(2), 2 Red Currant(1), Patio, Babywine, Black Krim, SunSugar, Sweet 100, Brown Berry, Green Grape, Dr. Wyche's Yellow(2), Snow White (front yard), Speckled Roman, Thessaloniki, Gypsy, White Currant, Red Grape, Black From Tula (new) and Enchantment (new) for a total of 48 tomatoes.

New tomatoes are maturing every day. I can't remember them all but Plum Tigris and Gajo de Melon have maturing tomatoes.