Harvested Over 8000 Tomatoes This Year!

November 30 harvest: 4 Snow White (front yard) and 2 Carmello for a total of 6 tomatoes.

December 4 harvest: 9 Snow White (front yard), 2 Sweet 100 and SunSugar for a total of 12 tomatoes.

We've now harvested over 8000 tomatoes for the year (8014)! We've also harvested over 4500 tomatoes in the front yard (4513) and over 3500 tomatoes in the back yard (3501).

We harvested 214 tomatoes for the month of November, 181 in the front yard and 33 in the back yard.

The past two to three weeks have been cold in the morning. Twice the temperature has gotten below freezing and many times approached freezing temperatures. This is unusual for November. The spotty harvests are due to the freezing weather in the morning. Usually the coldest times of the day are between 6:00 and 7:00 AM around here and I harvest just after 7:00 AM.

If the gardeners had come today I would have left the Snow White in the front yard and have almost every other tomato plant pulled. My wife did pull Husky Cherry Red today as the plant was black due to the freezing temperatures.

We continue to slowly wind it down...

Getting Cold!

November 15 harvest: 17 Snow White (front yard), Husky Cherry Red, SunSugar and Sweet 100 for a total of 20 tomatoes.

November 17 harvest: 15 Snow White (front yard), 2 Sweet 100, Husky Cherry Red and SunSugar for a total of 19 tomatoes.

November 25 harvest: 7 Snow White (front yard), 2 Husky Cherry Red, 2 Sweet 100, Plum Tigris, Brown Berry and Snow White (back yard) for a total of 14 tomatoes.

Today's harvest: 8 Snow White, Husky Cherry Red, 2 Topaz, Carmello and Snow White (back yard) for a total of 13 tomatoes.

There was an eight day harvest gap because it was simply too cold to harvest tomatoes in the morning. We've had near freezing weather at sunrise (and in one case, dipped below freezing, hitting 28.8 degrees) during that period.

We're so close to harvesting 8000 tomatoes for the year! We're four tomatoes away from that total. I hope to harvest on the last day of the month to get us over the top.

The freezing weather has harmed some of our crops. Husky Cherry Red needs to be pulled. One of our winter tomato plants needs to be pulled as well. Several of our other crops have sustained mild to severe damage from the cold weather.

Harvested Over 900 Front Yard Snow White Tomatoes!

November 2 harvest: 12 Snow White (front yard), SunSugar and Sweet 100 for a total of 14 tomatoes.

November 4 harvest: 15 Snow White (front yard), 4 Husky Cherry Red, 3 SunSugar, Topaz, Red Currant(2) and Brown Berry for a total of 25 tomatoes.

November 6 harvest: 17 Snow White (front yard), 3 SunSugar, 2 Husky Cherry Red for a total of 22 tomatoes.

Three more plants were pulled from the back yard today.

November 7 harvest: 6 Snow White (front yard), 2 SunSugar, Husky Cherry Red, Sweet 100 and Brown Berry for a total of 11 tomatoes.

With the help of my wife we propped up the front yard Snow White plant with three thick stakes as well as some twine.

November 8 harvest: 7 Snow White (front yard), Husky Cherry Red and SunSugar for a total of 9 tomatoes.

November 11 harvest: 16 Snow White (front yard), 4 Sweet 100, 2 Brown Berry and Big Pink for a total of 23 tomatoes.

Yesterday's harvest: 27 Snow White (front yard), 4 Sweet 100, 3 SunSugar, 2 Husky Cherry Red and 2 Brown Berry for a total of 38 tomatoes.

We've now harvested over 900 front yard Snow White tomatoes (924)! We're also closing in on 8000 harvested tomatoes for the year (7930). It looks more than likely we'll make that plateau before any winter freezes ruin the remaining crop.

And the tomatoes still taste good!

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 700 Front Yard Snow White Tomatoes This Year!

I'll spare you the numbers, but I have harvested over 700 Snow White (front yard) (704) tomatoes! The front yard Snow White tomato plant is basically the only good plant left.

We've pulled out eight more plants over the past 10 days. There are more to be pulled but there is simply more important things to do.

My wife has planted a bunch of winter vegetables, including two tomato plants.

Our September totals include 458 front yard tomatoes and 259 back yard tomatoes for a total of 717 harvested tomatoes for the month. My estimate of 650 harvested tomatoes was a good one.

Currently our totals for 2010 are 4185 front yard tomatoes harvested, 3435 back yard tomatoes harvested for a total of 7620 tomatoes harvested this year.

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 600 Front Yard Snow White Tomaotes!

Yesterday's harvest includes 9 Snow White (front yard), 2 White Currant, Violet Jasper, SunSugar, Marianna's Peace, Snow White (back yard) and Thessaloniki for a total of 16 tomatoes.

Today's harvest includes 13 Snow White (front yard), 2 Violet Jasper, 2 White Currant, Husky Cherry Red, Large Pink Anna, Sweet 100, Sara Black, Marianna's Peace and Black Oxheart (7 ounces) for a total of 23 tomatoes.

We've now harvested exactly 600 Snow White (front yard) tomatoes! The plant is showing some wear and tear but the plant has plenty of blooms and ripening tomatoes.

I haven't harvested a Sweet 100 tomato in over six weeks.

Pulled Out Three More Tomato Plants...

Today's harvest includes 15 Snow White (front yard), 2 Large Pink Anna, 2 White Currant, Marianna's Peace, Stupice, Red Currant(2) and Carmello for a total of 23 tomaotes.

I pulled out three more tomato plants yesterday: SunGold, Stupice and Aunt Ruby's German Green(1). There was one more ripening tomato on Stupice and that's why it's in today's harvest total.

I haven't harvested White Currants in a month. Last harvest for White Currant was 8/19.

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.

Computer Problems

Due to my computer troubles over the last week, my updates will be spotty to non-existent until they're solved.

Thanks for your understanding!