Harvested Painted Ukrainian Today!

Today's harvest includes 8 Salisaw Cafes, 8 Stupice, 6 Black Plum Pastes, 4 Kimberlys, 3 Green Grapes, 2 Husky Cherry Reds, 2 Old Ivory Eggs, 2 Paul Robesons, Piccolo, Aunt Ruby's German Green, Garden Peach, Snow White, Lime Green Salad (from the “koi pond”), Lime Green Salad (back yard), Black From Tula, Zhezha (back yard), Cherokee Chocolate, White Bush, Olga's Round Yellow Chicken, Arkansas Traveler and a new one: a beautiful 13 ounce Painted Ukrainian!

While picking in the front yard, I looked over some of the damage. There was a Red Yellow Cap tomato left, but it too was damaged beyond repair. A couple of Snow White tomatoes had broken, too.

Our Manchester Terrier had picked off two tomatoes of unknown origin. A different tomato that he picked off last week is ripening...but we can't tell what plant it came from.

It looks like we lost between 11 and 12 pounds of tomatoes yesterday.

My wife took a look at the Painted Ukrainian and said “It looks like Mr. Stripey!”. Later on I looked at it and I'll be – it really does look like Mr. Stripey. Do we have another mislabeling?

Ooooooh That Dog...Ooooooh Those Birds...

Today's harvest includes 11 Piccolos, 8 Stupices, 6 Kimberlys, 4 Cherokee Chocolates, 3 Red Currants, 3 Green Grapes, 3 Paul Robesons, 3 Salisaw Cafes, 2 Italian Market Wonders, 2 Garden Peaches, 2 Thessalonikis, (one 7 ounces), 2 Black Plum Pastes, White Bush, Snow White, Chocolate Stripes (6 ounces and bird damaged), Sioux, another large and beautiful Red Yellow Cap (16 ounces), Carbon, Jaune Flamme, a very nice looking Black Krim (front yard, 8 ounces) and Husky Cherry Red.

Our now noticeably hefty Manchester Terrier picked off another Aker's Plum. That's around a half dozen that we know about. I've only picked one on my own.

San Jose Friends Visited...

And today's mighty haul includes 23 Piccolos, 8 Salisaw Cafes, 6 Paul Robesons (sigh, the birds got to two of them), 4 Stupice, 3 Green Grapes, 3 Thessalonikis, 2 Kimberlys, 2 Old Ivory Eggs, 2 Cherokee Chocolates, 2 Polish Pastels, 2 Black Plum Pastes, 2 Husky Cherry Reds, 2 Red Currants, 2 Black Krims (back yard, one a beautiful 12 ounce tomato), 2 Sioux, 2 Carbons (one 8 ounces), Aker's Plum, Italian Market Wonder, Zhezha (back yard), Lime Green Salad (from the “koi pond”), Black Cherry, Pierce's Pride (9 ounces, very nice), Red Yellow Cap (16 ounces, really nice looking) and White Bush.

Our friends from San Jose visited us and we had dinner in the evening. My wife made a typically great meal and a good time was had by all.

We ended up with 1629 tomatoes for the month, slightly surpassing last month's totals of 1538 tomatoes.

Neighbor's Daughter Likes Our Tomatoes...

And today's harvest includes 11 Black Plum Pastes, 10 Piccolos, 6 Cherokee Chocolates, 4 Salisaw Cafes, 3 Stupice, 3 Husky Cherry Reds, 3 Red Currants, 3 Green Grapes, Jaune Flamme, Old Ivory Egg, Kimberly, a nice looking 9 ounces Pierce's Pride, White Bush and Zhezha (back yard).

My wife watered the front yard and I watered the back yard. While I was watering the back yard, I noticed a ripe Polish Pastel. It was a bit hidden and near the top of the plant, at the highest rung of the cage. I picked it but discovered that it had so much blossom end rot as to be unusable. So I didn't count it. Looking at the plant this morning I noticed that there are several tomatoes ripening on this plant. A couple of Carbons are maturing. Let's hope our Manchester Terrier doesn't knock off the Carbon tomatoes anymore.

Speaking of which, the Manchester Terrier left us another present – he picked another ripening Aker's Plum and deposited it near our back door.

While my wife was watering the front yard, the neighbor's mother and 20 ½ month old daughter came over to visit. Apparently, the daughter picked off a couple of green (unripe) Husky Cherry Reds and ate them! Apparently the skins were too much for her (and who could blame her) but she liked the insides. Later on I brought her in and fed her a ripe Piccolo tomato. She's a good eater!

The Birds Harvest Paul Robeson...

And today's haul includes 12 Piccolos, 11 Stupice, 11 Salisaw Cafes, 6 Green Grapes, 6 Kimberlys, 5 Sioux, 4 Black Plum Pastes, 2 Red Currants, Husky Cherry Red, Italian Market Wonder, White Bush, Snow White, Black From Tula, Paul Robeson, Aker's Plum, Prairie Fire, and Cherokee Chocolate.

The birds like our Paul Robeson as well. I had one pecked on (and ruined) two days ago. Last night, another ripening one was pecked on worse than the first time.

A Pierce's Pride appears to be maturing.

I did a lot of tomato taping last night. I propped up a lot of leaning plants by tying tomato tape on the opposite end of the lean against a stake from another plant.

This morning, the back yard Black Krim had nearly tipped over. The back yard Black Krim is one of the ones I supported as mentioned in the last paragraph. I took a very thick stake and tried to prop it back up. It's fine for now but I think it'll start to fall again. I believe this is less a problem of last night's tomato taping and simply a problem of heavy tomatoes. It's a good problem to have! We had this problem with last year's Jeff Davis.

Harvested Old Ivory Egg Today!

And today's haul includes 9 Salisaw Cafes, 8 Black Plum Pastes, 7 Piccolos, 6 Husky Cherry Reds, 6 Red Currants 5 Stupice, 3 Kimberlys, 2 Prairie Fires, 2 Cherokee Chocolates, 2 Green Grapes, a beautiful 10 ounce Sioux, Zhezha (back yard), White Bush, Lime Green Salad (from the “koi pond”), Thessaloniki and a new tomato – 2 Old Ivory Eggs!

I had thought the Old Ivory Egg tomatoes weren't progressing very fast. From a distance I didn't see much of a difference. Fortunately I looked up close this morning and two of them were clearly ready, a soft yellow color.

Our Manchester Terrier is at it again. He picked a four ounce unripe tomato yesterday evening. Later on I went outside to throw something in the trash. I heard rustling behind me but didn't pay attention as I didn't have a flashlight. When I came back the Manchester Terrier had a ripening Aker's Plum on his blanket. I immediately tied him up. Yesterday morning I thought I saw two ripening Aker's Plum tomatoes on the vine, now there are none. In other words, he may have picked and eaten one along with the other two I spotted.

I watered all the tomato plants and added worm castings to all the container plants that are growing tomatoes.

The Red Currant plant is completely brown. My wife asked me if it's okay to pull it out of the ground. I still want it around as I think it'll get a second wind.

Harvested Front Yard Black Krim!

And today's harvest includes 12 Piccolos, 8 Red Currants (raising the total to over 1900 for the year), 7 Salisaw Cafes, 6 Stupice, 6 Black Plum Pastes, 3 Cherokee Chocolates, 2 Green Grapes, 2 Black Cherries, 2 Sioux (one 6 ounces), 2 Paul Robesons (9 ounces, 7.5 ounces), 2 Lime Green Salads (from the “koi pond”), 2 Kimberlys, Red Robin, Zhezha (back yard), White Bush, Italian Market Wonder, Black Krim (11 ounces, back yard), Radiator Charlie's Mortgage Lifter, Red Yellow Cap (10 ounces), Black From Tula, Husky Cherry Red and a new one – a front yard Black Krim (7.5 ounces)!

There's a tomato on Chocolate Stripes that's maturing. I took another look at Old Ivory Egg and the two ripening tomatoes don't look all that different than two days ago.

I met with a friend of mine for dinner last night and gave him a bunch of our tomatoes. He was very grateful for them.

Our Manchester Terrier didn't eat breakfast this morning. For this dog it's a big deal. It means he's probably munching on our tomatoes again...

Now The Backyard Plants Look Better

Todays harvest includes 7 Cherokee Chocolates, 5 Black Plum Pastes, 5 Red Currants, 2 Piccolos, 2 Gregori's Altai, 2 White Bush, Kimberly, Salisaw Cafe, Stupice, Italian Market Wonder, Black Cherry, Green Grape, Jaune Flamme, Paul Robeson, Thessaloniki, Black From Tula, a 12 ounce Red Yellow Cap and Lime Green Salad (from the “koi pond”).

My wife thinks we have enough tomatoes for another batch of sauce. The last batch, which was served Sunday evening, was fabulous.

I mentioned to my wife that in general, the back yard tomato plants look better than the front yard tomato plants right now. She agreed.

Yesterday, my wife watered the front yard and I watered the back yard.

Still No Tomatoes On The Last Two Plants

Today's harvest includes 10 Piccolos, 7 Red Currants, 6 Salisaw Cafes, 4 Cherokee Chocolates, 3 Zhezhas (front yard container), 3 Black Plum Pastes, 3 Stupice, 2 Lime Green Salad tomatoes (from the plant near the street), 2 Green Grapes, 2 Thessalonikis, White Bush, Italian Market Wonder, Prairie Fire, Big Rainbow, Red Yellow Cap (10 ounces), Radiator Charlie's Mortgage Lifter and Gregori's Altai.

I used some bug spray for a couple of the tomato plants per my wife's suggestion.

I bought some thin green plant stakes from Green Thumb and used them to support Evan's Italian Plum, Polish Pastel, Big Rainbow and White Bush. I did a bit of tomato taping as well.

We have three new tomatoes starting to ripen – Aker's Plum, Black Krim (back yard) and Zhezha (back yard).

Unfortunately, Jeff Davis and Yellow Brandywine – Platfoot Strain still show no signs of any tomatoes on their vines.

Scott Daigre of Tomatomania! Stops By...

And today's haul includes 12 Red Currants, 9 Stupice tomatoes, 4 Black Plum Pastes, 3 White Bush, 2 Salisaw Cafes, 2 Paul Robesons (10 ounces and six ounces), 2 Thessalonikis, Piccolo, Husky Cherry Red, Sioux, Italian Market Wonder, Cherokee Chocolate, Prairie Fire, Black From Tula, Jaune Flamme and Zhezha (front yard).

Scott Daigre came by and visited us last evening. Scott runs the Tomatomania events and we were very happy he stopped by.

Of course, I showed him all of our tomato plants. He was surprised by the size of our 15 ounce Radiator Charlie's Mortgage Lifter that we picked on the 12^th of the month (and is now overripe). He verified that our Cherokee Chocolate wasn't that – as he put it, it's “obviously wrong” -- but also identified another mislabel – Stupice. He instantly identified that this plant isn't Stupice. Here's an image of a Stupice tomato and he's right – what I'm picking isn't Stupice. I'll do some research and see if I can identify it.

Scott couldn't believe how tiny our Red Currants are, but this is due to an exhausted plant. The plant is almost totally brown now, but I think it will come back a little bit.

Scott is also having a late harvest this year. Scott also thought that our best harvest is yet to come.

There was a ripe Arkansas Traveler ready to be picked when I showed Scott the plant last night. By the morning it was gone. The Manchester Terrier got another one...

What's funny is that not only will we not pick as many tomatoes in July 2008 compared to July 2007, we're on a pace not to pick as many as last month's totals. So far we've harvested 844 tomatoes this month, last month, 1538 tomatoes were harvested.

Scott has a lot of ideas for expanding Tomatomania. Good luck, we wish you well!

Harvested Red Yellow Cap!

Today's haul includes: 24 Red Currants, 11 Salisaw Cafes, 3 Paul Robesons (one was six ounces), 2 Husky Cherry Reds, 2 Stupice, 2 White Bush, 2 Black Plum Pastes, a Cherokee Chocolate, Sioux, Prairie Fire, Jaune Flamme, Thessaloniki, Piccolo, Green Grape, a beautiful 15 ounce Radiator Charlie's Mortgage Lifter, and a new tomato: 2 Red Yellow Caps! One of the Red Yellow Caps was 12.5 ounces and the other was a whopping 23.5 ounces!

The larger Red Yellow Cap is one of the strangest tomatoes I've picked. Have you heard of Siamese Twins? Well, this tomato is three tomatoes conjoined into one. Siamese Triplets!

In 2006 we had a German Johnson that was a product of two conjoined tomatoes. It looked like a barbell. This Red Yellow Cap vaguely reminds us of cauliflower.

We've taken photos of this tomato and will post them on this blog some time next week.

I did a lot of tomato taping last night and this morning. I did a lot of work on Salisaw Cafe, which exposed some ripe tomatoes. Stupice has a similar problem but because the cage is too small I don't have anywhere to tie the branches. I'm almost sure I have ripe Stupice tomatoes that I just can't see under the jungle of branches.

The numbers for Red Currant are climbing, but don't be fooled. This plant is exhausted. The numbers will drop. But I expect a second wind in a month or so.

We're starting to get some good results from the mid-sized tomatoes and as you see, a couple of beefsteaks as well. This month's numbers will be laughably small compared to July 2007, but at least it feels like the tide is coming in!

Harvested Radiator Charlie's Mortgage Lifter!

And this morning's haul includes 16 Red Currants, 7 Salisaw Cafes, 6 Husky Cherry Reds, 2 Black Cherries, 2 Cherokee Chocolates (which isn't Cherokee Chocolate, but I don't have a better label at the moment), 2 Green Grapes, a Jaune Flamme, Red Robin, Kimberly, Sioux, White Bush (yum!) and a new one, Radiator Charlie's Mortgage Lifter!

To put this in perspective, this morning I've harvested 41 tomatoes. This day last year, 203. I have a pretty good breadth right now – I'm picking a lot of different tomatoes. What I don't have is a lot of depth – I'm not picking a lot per tomato. A lot of ones and twos per day. This will pick up as the month progresses.

Harvested Kimberly and Sioux Tomatoes!

I didn't pick tomatoes on the 5^th. Today I harvested tomatoes first thing in the morning.

Today I picked 42 Red Currants, 9 Black Plum Pastes, 4 Husky Cherry Reds, 4 Cherokee Chocolates, 3 Red Robins, 2 Piccolos, 2 Salisaw Cafes, 2 Green Grapes, a Paul Robeson, Jaune Flamme, Prairie Fire, a leathery Taxi (which my wife threw away – the Taxi tomato plant may be done), White Bush, Golden Jubilee and two new tomatoes, Sioux and Kimberly!

From now on, I'll try to harvest in the morning.

Harvested Zhezha today!

Tonight's harvest: 32 Red Currants, 4 Husky Cherry Reds, 3 Salisaw Cafes, 3 Black Plum Pastes, 2 Prairie Fires, a Green Grape, White Bush, Piccolo, Big Rainbow and a new tomato, Zhezha!

The Red Currants are dwindling. But now that there are less tomatoes growing, the plant can now devote more energy to making more branches and blooms. I'm confident that Red Currant will get a second wind.

I've written it before but the Salisaw Cafe tomato plant is a happy one. We will get a good harvest from this plant.

Harvested Aunt Ruby's German Green Tomato!

Tonight's haul: 78 Red Currants, 8 Husky Cherry Reds, 2 White Bush, 2 Red Robin, 2 Black Plum Pastes, an Italian Market Wonder, Green Grape, Garden Peach, Thessaloniki, Salisaw Cafe and a new tomato: Aunt Ruby's German Green!

Yesterday, Pierce College got up to 100 degrees. Today was hotter but I don't know by how much.

We're going to harvest a Zhezha in the front yard in the very near future.

I may not pick on the 4^th of July. I'll be at the Hollywood Bowl in the afternoon and evening. It will be a convenient time to adjust the harvest time from the evening to the morning. We'll see.

Three New Tomatoes Harvested!

Today's harvest: 97 Red Currants, 17 Husky Cherry Reds, 3 small Green Grapes, a Garden Peach, a Prairie Fire, Salisaw Cafe, a 10.5 ounce Paul Robeson (unfortunately, slightly damaged by birds pecking on it), White Bush and three new ones harvested: Black Cherry, Thessaloniki and Piccolo!

There are a few more new tomatoes a day or two away from being harvested.

Something is wrong with our Garden Peach plant. Brittle branches supporting only a few, small tomatoes.

We're probably at our crest of Red Currant production. Tomorrow will be a big harvest day for this plant as well. It's not the end of June and we've picked over 1000 tomatoes for this plant. Amazing.

Executive decision: We're growing White Bush next year.

Cherokee Chocolate, Paul Robeson Harvested!

Tonight: 34 Red Currants, 19 Husky Cherry Reds, 3 Salisaw Cafe tomatoes, 3 Cherokee Chocolates (which I'm beginning to think may be something else) a Garden Peach, White Bush, Prairie Fire and a six ounce Paul Robeson!

Blue Fruit has a tomato on it that looks about a week old! Kellogg's Breakfast now has a small tomato and Painted Ukrainian has a tomato on it that has to be at least two weeks old – it's about an inch in diameter!

There are several tomato plants that have tomatoes maturing on the vines.

I kind of “held my fire” with the Red Currants. There are plenty of maturing tomatoes on the vine and felt that I could pick more. There should be a good load of these over the next couple of days.

I left a maturing Cherokee Chocolate on the plant, hoping that our Manchester Terrier would leave it. I looked around, saw the new backyard tomatoes and then picked some Salisaw Cafe tomatoes. By that time, he had already picked it off the plant. Ugh. Because I didn't see him do it there wasn't anything I could really do.

We tried the Paul Robeson. Another winner!

Salisaw Cafe Harvested; Polish Pastel Has A Tomato!

Tonight I picked 53 Red Currants, 10 Husky Cherry Reds, 3 Salisaw Cafes, a Jaune Flamme, Prairie Fire and White Bush tomatoes. This is our first harvest for Salisaw Cafe. After dinner we tried one, and we both liked it.

I'm very happy to report that Polish Pastel has a tomato on it!

There's a relatively small Big Rainbow tomato that's changing color.

With 17 tomatoes picked over the last two days, Husky Cherry Red appears to be ramping up a bit.

Picking tonight's Red Currant tomatoes was a bit of a chore. All the other tomatoes are larger and easier to pick. Somehow this is related to the fact that I'm now picking tomatoes in both the front and back yards.

Harvested First Back Yard Tomato!

Yesterday I picked 55 Red Currants, a Husky Cherry Red, a Garden Peach and a Prairie Fire tomato.

At night, our Manchester Terrier had picked off a tomato. I went out and put up one of our green metal fences.

Today we harvested 3 Prairie Fires, 43 Red Currants, 7 Husky Cherry Reds and for the first time, White Bush!

But...the Manchester Terrier picked off several Cherokee Chocolate tomatoes, including ones that were ripening. I picked off the other ripening Cherokee Chocolate tomatoes and put them on our windowsill. Also, I took the tomato wire and wrapped it around the plant a couple of times. While I was talking to my wife, he went right back to the plant to pull out another one. I had to hang up and let him know not to do that.

I put paper mulch underneath several of the tomato plants in the front yard and a couple in the back yard.

Salisaw Cafe has four tomatoes that are turning color and will be harvested soon.

Cherokee Chocolate – perhaps more accurately, the plant we know to be Cherokee Chocolate – looks like a plum tomato, shaped like a mini-pineapple. The pictures I've seen for Cherokee Chocolate would indicate it should be a typical beefsteak tomato. Who knows what I have here.

My wife and I tried the White Bush tomato. It's a winner.

Two people have told us our Red Currants are delicious. That's great to hear!

So White Bush is the first tomato to be harvested in the back yard. I pulled some Cherokee Chocolate tomatoes and put them on the windowsill but I won't count them until they're truly mature.

My wife doesn't care for Prairie Fire – the skin is too thick. I see (and taste) her point but I'll hold out judgment until I eat a few more.

Differences in Tomato Plants

For the observant ones, there are some differences in the tomato plants.

White Bush, Black Cherry and Yellow Brandywine, Platfoot Strain are all tall and thin. Here's a link to the images for White Bush and Yellow Brandywine, Platfoot Strain. Take note that you can see through the tomato plant.

Most all of the other tomato plants are mini-jungles. For instance, here's links to Polish Pastel and Red Currant. You're not going to see through those tomato plants.

Why?

The area where White Bush, Black Cherry and Yellow Brandywine, Platfoot Strain is dominated by our ponderosa pine tree. These plants don't get sun until about noon or later. In the afternoon, there's other foliage that blocks the sun and later on in the evening, the house itself blocks the sun. These plants get heat all right, but the lack of direct sun compared to the other tomato plants makes them more attractive plants to look at, but I suspect their crop yield will be small. Anthropomorphically, they're like runway models.

The other plants get plenty of sun. In fact, it's possible they get too much sun. Usually these plants have a bit of leaf curl, as if the plants are saying “Enough already!”. They'll produce well, I believe.