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 4000 Front Yard Tomatoes This Year!

Tuesday's harvest: 8 SunGold, 3 Snow White (front yard), 3 Babywine, 3 Green Grape, 2 Stupice, 2 Violet Jasper, 2 SunSugar, 2 Carmelo, 2 Green Zebra, 2 Paul Robeson, Husky Cherry Red, Lyn's Mahogany Garnet, Dr. Wyche's Yellow(2), Marianna's Peace and Gajo de Melon for a total of 34 tomatoes.

Wednesday's harvest: 5 Snow White (front yard), 2 SunGold, 2 SunSugar, 2 Quedlinburger Fruehe Liebe, 2 Green Grape, 2 Green Zebra, 2 Snow White (back yard), Stupice, Violet Jasper, Large Pink Anna, Topaz, Big Pink and Weeping Charlie for a total of 23 tomatoes.

Wednesday was our third wedding anniversary!!!

Thursday's harvest: 4 Snow White (front yard), 3 Violet Jasper, 2 SunGold, 2 Large Pink Anna, Red Currant(2), Sara Black, Green Zebra, Berkeley Tie-Dye Heart, Snow White (back yard) and Enchantment for a total of 17 tomatoes.

Friday's harvest: 8 Snow White (front yard), 2 Violet Jasper, 2 Thessaloniki, 2 Azoychka/not Azoychka, Babywine, SunGold, SunSugar and Berkeley Tie-Dye Heart for a total of 18 tomatoes.

I took out six tomato plants in the back yard: Paul Robeson, Lyn's Mahogany Garnet, Dr. Wyche's Yellow(2), Enchantment, Gajo de Melon and Pineapple.

Today's harvest: 12 Snow White (front yard), 2 Husky Cherry Red, 2 SunGold, 2 Azoychka/not Azoychka, Stupice, Aunt Ruby's German Green(1), Carmelo and Babywine for a total of 22 tomatoes.

We've now harvested over 500 tomatoes for the month (568) and have also harvested over 4000 front yard tomatoes for the year (4010)!

Earlier in the week (I don't remember the day) I dug out the passive compost pile. I moved it to another area, then moved it back into the wire cage in the same location. The whole process took about three hours. The size of the pile clearly dropped and continued to drop over the last couple of days. I found a couple of spoons in the pile (oops!) and a large squash that didn't degrade whatsoever. I cut it into three pieces with the shovel.

My wife watered the back yard tomato plants.

I turned some dirt in the back yard and my wife planted some winter crops in this turned area near our south fence.

I'm still having some computer troubles but I haven't noticed it today, thus this catch-up update.

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 2000 Tomatoes For August!

Today's harvest includes 40 Snow White (front yard), 31 SunGold, 10 Violet Jasper, 9 Marianna's Peace, 8 Stupice, 7 Red Currant(2), 4 Black Zebra, 4 Gajo de Melon, 4 Dr. Wyche's Yellow(2) (6 ounces, 6 ounces), 3 Green Zebra, 3 Pineapple, 3 Black From Tula, 3 Berkeley Tie-Dye Heart, 3 Yellow Perfection, 2 Husky Cherry Red, 2 Aunt Ruby's German Green(1), 2 Sweetie, 2 Topaz, 2 Dr. Wyche's Yellow(1), 2 Sweet Tangerine, 2 Snow White (back yard), 2 Thessaloniki, 2 Paul Robeson, Patio, Poma Amoris Minora Lutea, Babywine, Persimmon, Black Krim, Principe Borghese, Lyn's Mahogany Garnet, Pink Berkeley Tie Dye, Red Currant(1), Brown Berry, Sara Black, Pierce's Pride, Enchantment, Jaune Flamme(2) and Large Pink Anna (9 ounces) for a total of 165 tomatoes.

My wife went out of town Tuesday evening and I joined her Thursday evening. We had no harvest for three days – that's why today's harvest numbers are artificially high.

We've now harvested over 2000 tomatoes for August (2087)! We've had a reasonable harvest total for August in relation to the prior month.

We returned from our mini-vacation on Sunday afternoon. My wife did a bunch of watering in the front and back yards. She also noted that our compost pile dropped significantly.

Both my wife and I had a good time during our vacation but we're happy to be back. Time and circumstances permitting, I'll provide more details.

Harvested 200 Garden Peach Tomatoes This Year!

Today's harvest includes 28 SunGold, 6 White Currant, 4 Snow White (back yard), 4 Snow White (front yard), 3 Garden Peach, 2 Japanese Black Trifele, 2 Large Pink Anna (21.5 ounces, 7. 5 ounces), 2 Husky Cherry Red, 2 Babywine, 2 Red Currant(1), 2 Sara Black, 2 Nyagous, 2 Azoychka/not Azoychka, Thessaloniki, Gajo de Melon, Yellow Perfection, Brown Berry, Carmello, Principe Borghese, Stupice, Violet Jasper, Michael Pollan, SunSugar and Black Krim (7 ounces) for a total of 72 tomatoes.

I added another stake to Azoychka/not Azoychka and did some more tomato taping this morning.

My doctor asked me not to forget to bring him tomatoes the next time I visit him. That visit is this afternoon. I'll bring him today's harvest.

Last night my wife and I and a couple of friends (including our “seed lady”) were at the Dodger game last night. They lost 10 – 5.

We've now harvested over 2500 tomatoes from the front yard.

We've now harvested exactly 200 Garden Peach tomatoes this year. However, the plant is turning yellow and for the moment it doesn't look like it will produce too much more.

Harvested 100 Japanese Black Trifele/Babywine Tomatoes This Year!

Today's harvest includes 21 SunGold, 7 Husky Cherry Red, 6 Snow White (front yard), 6 White Currant, 5 Garden Peach, 4 Red Currant(1), 3 Brown Berry, 3 Nyagous, 3 Azoychka/not Azoychka, 3 Orange Fleshed Purple Smudge, 2 Red Grape, 2 Jaune Flamme(2), 2 Sara Black (6.5 ounces), 2 Poma Amoris Minora Lutea, 2 Babywine, Japanese Black Trifele, Violet Jasper, Stupice, Patio, Large Pink Anna (6 ounces), Black Krim (8.5 ounces), Persimmon (7 ounces), Green Grape, Yellow Pear, Principe Borghese, Speckled Roman, Gajo de Melon and Yellow Perfection for a total of 84 tomatoes.

We've now harvested exactly 100 Japanese Black Trifele and Babywine tomatoes. The strange thing about Japanese Black Trifele is it originates from Russia. How it got this name isn't clear.

Harvest Numbers Falling Fast...

Today's harvest includes 28 SunGold, 7 White Currant, 6 Husky Cherry Red, 5 Babywine, 5 Garden Peach, 5 Snow White (front yard), 3 Azoychka/not Azoychka, 2 Red Grape, 2 Snow White (back yard), 2 Red Currant(1), 2 Brown Berry, 2 Japanese Black Trifele, 2 Poma Amoris Minora Lutea, 2 Orange Fleshed Purple Smudge, 2 Large Pink Anna (11 ounces), Michael Pollan, Principe Borghese, Red Currant(2), Sweet 100, Gajo de Melon, Toni's Round, Green Grape and Sara Black (7.5 ounces) for a total of 83 tomatoes.

I added a stake to the front yard Snow White and did a fair amount of tomato taping during the day.

The harvest numbers are dropping fast. I'm going to guess it has to do with the mild July (now August) weather we've been having. 10 days ago I harvested nearly three times the amount (243) we harvested today.

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 Over 4000 Tomatoes In July!

Today's harvest includes 61 SunGold, 11 Snow White (front yard), 9 White Currant, 9 Garden Peach, 8 Husky Cherry Red, 6 Poma Amoris Minora Lutea, 5 Black Krim (6.5 ounces, 6.5 ounces), 5 Azoychka/not Azoychka, 4 Japanese Black Trifele, 4 Babywine, 4 Red Grape, 4 Red Currant(1), 3 Snow White (back yard), 3 Sara Black (8 ounces, 11 ounces), 2 Violet Jasper, 2 Red Currant(2), 2 Jaune Flamme(2), 2 Gajo de Melon, Paul Robeson, Gypsy, Thessaloniki, Nyagous, Enchantment, Sweet Tangerine, Emerald Evergreen (10.5 ounces), Brown Berry, Pink Berkeley Tie Dye, Aunt Ruby's German Green(1) (7 ounces), Patio, Stupice and Sweet 100 for a total of 157 tomatoes.

We've now harvested over 4000 tomatoes for the month of July (4003) and over 4500 tomatoes for the year (4540).

And in an unusual anomaly, as of today we've harvested more front yard tomatoes (2296) than back yard tomatoes (2244). What makes this unusual is that we're growing only 20 tomato plants in the front yard and (depending on what you count) 57 in the back yard, nearly triple the number.

My wife cut up a Large Pink Anna tomato and added as part of a dish. While none was left to eat directly without the enhancement of other foods, the tomato clearly tasted fresh and somewhat “bright”. This isn't unusual for a cherry tomato that can pack a punch, it is unusual for a tomato that weighs more than a pound. I believe we have a winner in Large Pink Anna.

Harvested Black Zebra!

Today's harvest includes 37 SunGold, 15 White Currant, 14 Husky Cherry Red, 13 Garden Peach, 6 Snow White (front yard), 6 Poma Amoris Minora Lutea, 5 Japanese Black Trifele, 5 Babywine, 5 Red Currant(2), 3 Black Krim (8.5 ounces), 3 Green Zebra, 3 Red Currant(1), 2 Gypsy, 2 Nyagous, 2 Gajo de Melon, 2 Miss Elliotte Black, 2 Persimmon (one 9 ounces), 2 Stupice, 2 Black Zebra (new), Pink Berkeley Tie Dye, Dr. Wyche's Yellow(2), Violet Jasper, Enchantment, Snow White (back yard), Ananas Noire, Pierce's Pride (6.5 ounces), Black Oxheart (10 ounces), Sara Black (12.5 ounces) and Red Grape for a total of 139 tomatoes.

The odd thing about our newly harvested Black Zebra tomato is that...it's dark red. It's zebra-like all right, but it's a deep dark red, not black.

Wow – I just fixed a flaw in my tomato spreadsheet for 2010. The numbers for Principe Borghese were not being added to the totals for the month or the year. They were being added to the daily totals. I noticed the flaw while looking at the 2010 Totals By Tomato tab and saw nothing for Principe Borghese.

So – we actually harvested 536 tomatoes for the month of June and harvested over 2000 tomatoes in the back yard for 2010 as of yesterday.

As you can see, our harvest numbers are significantly lower than yesterday due to the fact that SunGold was picked over by my wife.

Quedlinburger Fruehe Liebe Has A Tomato On It

Today's harvest includes 53 SunGold, 28 White Currant, 18 Garden Peach, 13 Red Currant(1), 12 Husky Cherry Red, 10 Gajo de Melon, 8 Red Currant(2), 8 Japanese Black Trifele (6 ounces, 6 ounces), 7 Red Grape, 7 Snow White (back yard), 7 Violet Jasper, 5 Snow White (front yard), 3 Babywine, 3 Black Krim (9 ounces, 6 ounces), 2 SunSugar, 2 Aunt Ruby's German Green(1) (7 ounces, 17.5 ounces), 2 Emerald Evergreen (13 ouncex, 10.5 ounces), 2 Orange Fleshed Purple Smudge (6.5 ounces), 2 Poma Amoris Minora Lutea, 2 Sweetie, 2 Pierce's Pride (14 ounces, 7 ounces), 2 Dr. Wyche's Yellow(1) (8 ounces, 8 ounces), 2 Zapotec Pleated, Thessaloniki, Black From Tula, Marianna's Peace, Pineapple (7.5 ounces), Weeping Charlie (6.5 ounces), Green Zebra, Sara Black (10 ounces), Brown Berry, Pink Berkeley Tie Dye, Carmelo, Principe Borghese, Miss Elliotte Black and Persimmon (8.5 ounces) for a total of 213 tomatoes.

Yesterday's harvest had the exact same weight as the day before – 13 pounds, no ounces. It's now officially tomato high tide here!

As you can tell by the recent totals of 36/36/49/53, we're getting inundated with SunGold tomatoes. Not coincidentally this harvest blitz occurred just after a heat wave. The numbers for Red Currant and White Currant have risen at this same time.

Quedlinburger Fruehe Liebe has a tomato on it! The plant has grown to about two feet or so but hasn't filled out at all. But there's clearly a tiny tomato growing from one of the few bulbs on it.

I added a stake to Gajo de Melon.

Speaking of which, we finally tasted this tomato. We both thought the flavor was good but my wife thought the skin was simply too thick.

Poma Amoris Minora Lutea – We tried a tomato that wasn't getting soft. In fact we may have picked one a bit early. The flavor was mild and again, somewhat mushy. Still, this would be a good tomato to slice into quarters or eighths and add to salads.

The birds got to another Japanese Black Trifele.

Harvested Black Oxheart and Sara Black!

Today's harvest includes 13 Violet Jasper, 7 White Currant, 7 Snow White (back yard), 6 Yellow Perfection, 5 Husky Cherry Red, 4 SunGold, 4 Principe Borghese, 4 Red Grape, 3 Marianna's Peace (one 6 ounces), 3 Black From Tula (one 10.5 ounces), 3 Red Currant(1), 3 SunSugar, 2 Garden Peach, 2 Brown Berry, 2 Zapotec Pleated, 2 Nyagous, 2 Thessaloniki, 2 Gypsy, 2 Dr. Wyche's Yellow(2), Stupice, Michael Pollan, Black Cherry, Topaz, Green Grape, Red Currant(2), Red Boar, Speckled Roman, Black Oxheart (new) and Sara Black (new) for a total of 86 tomatoes. My wife weighed them but I don't remember the exact amounts. I believe both yesterday and today were in the 5 pound range.

Again, we have a marine layer in the morning keeping the sun away and providing for a very light mist in the morning. This is July in the west San Fernando Valley!!!! This isn't time for marine layers.

My wife and I had a discussion on Sara Black. I noted it looked like it had been pecked by birds yesterday. I harvested it today thinking the same thing. But when I brought it inside I believe it just had a terrible split along a seam and not a bird pecking. My wife thought it was pecked coincidentally along the seam and out to the compost bin it went along with one of the Black From Tula tomatoes that clearly had a peck or two on it.

We've now harvested over 1000 tomatoes for the year (1027).

Violet Jasper is the first tomato to reach triple digits for harvesting with 109.

Watered/Fertilized Containers; Two More Plants With Tomatoes

No work done last night – both my wife and I were exhausted from our day's activities. Both of us went to bed early and fell asleep quickly.

This morning I fertilized all of our tomato container plants and watered them. Then I went around and did some minor training. While doing this on a misty morning, I noted that Sara Black and Depp's Pink Firefly had tomatoes on them.

I believe that leaves 15 plants without tomatoes.

Planted And Replanted Some More...

In the evening I planted SunGold in the space occupied by White Giant. I caged four of the tomato plants in the “koi pond”. Then I went in the back yard, took some needle-nosed pliers and fixed the cages the best I could.

I mixed potting soil and planting compost for a couple of back yard pots. In the first one my wife planted two Red Currant tomato plants. The second, larger pot contained Green Grape, Yellow Pear and Red Cherry. We also planted Green Zebra next to Sara Black.

We have one seedling left that my wife grew from seed in the ground (in a pot, actually, with Taxi), Sweetie. A couple of days ago I noticed the color was getting better. Yesterday my wife and I both noticed it had grown slightly.

Planted 8 More Tomatoes

Friday evening I planted Sara Black and Azoychka in the back yard before the sun set.

That same evening my wife noted that our seedlings grown from seed are not doing well at all.

Saturday I worked the TomatoMania event in Fillmore. That event simply wiped me out.

Sunday I planted Toni's Round and Paul Robeson in the back yard. In the “koi pond” I planted Orange Fleshed Purple Smudge, Quedlinburger Fruehe Liebe (seedling), Black Krim and Kornesevsije (seedling). But my leg began to act up before I could complete the “koi pond” planting.

My goal was to plant out the “koi pond” with as many of our seedlings grown from seed as I could muster before the evening rains hit. The hope was to get them in the ground for nearly two weeks and then judge if they have taken hold. I'm due to work the TomatoMania event in Larchmont Village on the 24^th of this month and if the planted seedlings didn't show growth, I'd replace them with seedlings from this event. But I only got two of them in the ground. I'll have to wait a couple of days for the ground to dry out before planting more.

Some of the plants in the ground simply look amazing, such as Gypsy and Japanese Black Trifele. One of our beefsteaks planted on March 3 is nearly two feet tall.