Harvested Over 8000 Tomatoes This Year!

Today's harvest includes 28 SunGold, 13 Snow White(2), 8 Snow White(1), 5 Sweet Million, 3 Sweet 100, 3 Chinese Tea, 3 Delicious, 3 Black Cherry(1), 3 Black Cherry(2), 3 SunSugar, 3 Sweet Baby Girl, 3 Husky Cherry Red(1), 2 Speckled Roman(3), 2 Husky Cherry Red(2), 2 Redfield Beauty, 2 Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red, 2 White Zebra, 2 Nyagous(2) (not Nyagous), 2 Big Zebra (8.5 ounces, 11 ounces), Black Krim(1) (8 ounces), Kellogg's Breakfast, Porkchop(1), Indigo Apple(1), Oaxacan Jewel (8 ounces), Olga's Round Yellow Chicken Egg, Ella's Pink Plum, Creme Brulee, Pineapple Pig (8 ounces), Pink Furry Boar, Crimson Cushion, Italian Heirloom, Amazon Chocolate, Noire Charbonneuse(2), Marmara, Red Boar(1), Ramapo (7 ounces), Jaune Flamme(2) and Porkchop(2) for a total of 111 tomatoes.

My wife watered some of the back yard tomatoes yesterday. Short of that, it got up to 106.7 at Pierce College so there's not much that could have been done without a lot of effort.

It looks like a couple more tomato plants can go (Big Zebra, Nyagous(2)) and others not far behind (Creme Brulee). While doing the harvest I broke a large Husky Cherry Red(2) branch that was laying in the pathway. Darn it..

We hit several 2012 numbers today. We've now harvested over 8000 tomatoes for the year (8038), over 5000 tomatoes from the back yard this year (5033) and over 3000 tomatoes from the front yard (3005)!

We've now harvested over 1000 tomatoes for August (1086). Also, we've now harvested over 100 Snow White(2) tomatoes (107) for the year. 

Harvested Pineapple(2) Tomato!

Today's harvest includes 24 SunGold, 13 Snow White(1), 8 Black Cherry(2), 7 Sweet Baby Girl, 6 Snow White(2), 5 Sweet Million, 5 Crimson Cushion, 4 Sweet 100, 4 Husky Cherry Red(2), 3 SunSugar, 3 Redfield Beauty, 3 Nyagous(2) (not Nyagous), 2 Black Cherry(1), 2 Big Zebra (12.5 ounces), 2 Noire Charbonneuse(2), 2 Indigo Apple(2), 2 Black and Brown Boar(2), 2 Neves Azorean Red, 2 Amazon Chocolate, 2 Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red, 2 Berkeley Tie Dye, 2 Earl of Edgecombe, 2 German Orange Strawberry, Pineapple(2) (14 ounces) (new), Speckled Roman(1), White Zebra, Black and Brown Boar(1), Dr. Wyche's Yellow, Pineapple(1) (8 ounces), Brad's Black Heart (6 ounces), Pink Furry Boar, Oaxacan Pink, Husky Cherry Red(1), Nebraska Wedding (8 ounces), Garden Peach, Aunt Ruby's German Green, Marmara, Taxi, Indigo Rose, Jaune Flamme(2) and Porkchop(2) for a total of 125 tomatoes.

The harvested Pineapple(2) is a beauty! This is a grafted tomato, a birthday gift from our friend Allison.

Copper River has a growing tomato! I was looking for possible tomato plants to pull and I'll be darned it has a growing tomato!

I hope it can survive the heat. Yesterday it got up to 108.1 degrees at Pierce College!

My wife watered the front yard tomatoes in the morning after pulling out Chile Verde.

We've now harvested 800 Husky Cherry Red(2) tomatoes and over 100 Black Cherry(2) tomatoes (107). 

Harvested Over 150 Garden Peach Tomatoes!

Today's harvest includes 28 SunGold, 12 Snow White(2), 7 Sweet 100, 6 Garden Peach, 6 Black Cherry(1), 5 Black Cherry(2), 4 Sweet Baby Girl, 4 SunSugar, 4 Redfield Beauty, 4 Snow White(1), 4 Husky Cherry Red(1), 3 Husky Cherry Red(2), 3 Big Zebra (9.5 ounces), 3 Nyagous(2) (not Nyagous), 2 Gypsy, 2 Delicious (7.5 ounces), 2 Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red, 2 Big Bite (6 ounces, 8 ounces), 2 Porkchop(2), 2 Yellow Furry Boar, 2 Indigo Apple(1), 2 Brad's Black Heart (7 ounces, 7 ounces), 2 Red Currant, 2 Dr. Wyche's Yellow (7 ounces, 7 ounces), Nyagous(1), Jaune Flamme(1), Black and Brown Boar(1), Ella's Pink Plum, Pineapple(1), Pineapple Pig (13 ounces), Green Grape, Black From Tula (6 ounces), Nebraska Wedding (7 ounces), Japanese Black Trifele, Purple Dog Creek (7 ounces), Italian Heirloom, Amazon Chocolate (6 ounces), Marianna's Peace (10.5 ounces), Indigo Apple(2) and Earl of Edgecombe(8.5 ounces) for a total of 129 tomatoes.

I placed fertilizer in the container plants and my wife dutifully watered it in later in the day.

My wife made a tomato salad, using tomatoes from nearly every color in the rainbow. The salad colors were enticing by itself. We visited the "seed lady" in the afternoon and enjoyed dinner with her company. The salad was a hit.

We harvested over 150 Garden Peach tomatoes this year (154)! However, most of the recent Garden Peach tomatoes are close to inedible. They're small and desiccated. This plant may get pulled sooner rather than later. 

Harvested Over 400 Black Cherry(1) Tomatoes!

Today's harvest includes 23 SunGold, 18 Black Cherry(1), 10 Husky Cherry Red(1), 6 Sweet Baby Girl, 6 Snow White(1), 5 Black and Brown Boar(2), 5 Creme Brulee, 5 Husky Cherry Red(2), 4 Garden Peach, 3 SunSugar, 3 Snow White(2), 3 Black Cherry(2), 3 Pineapple(1) (12 ounces, 17 ounces, 13.5 ounces), 3 Speckled Roman(3) (6 ounces), 3 Noire Charbonneuse(2), 3 Sweet 100, 2 Big Zebra, 2 Indigo Apple(1), 2 Chinese Tea, 2 Gypsy, 2 Indigo Rose, 2 Ramapo, 2 Pineapple Pig (10 ounces), 2 Nyagous(2) (not Nyagous), 2 Berkeley Tie Dye, 2 Redfield Beauty, White Zebra, Vorlon (12 ounces), Black and Brown Boar(1), Olga's Round Yellow Chicken Egg, Matt's Wild Cherry, Sweet Million, Red Currant, Yellow Perfection, Pink Furry Boar, Nebraska Wedding (9 ounces), Yellow Furry Boar, Purple Dog Creek (8 ounces), Italian Heirloom (6 ounces), Amazon Chocolate, Marianna's Peace (6.5 ounces), Indigo Apple(2) and Red Boar(1) for a total of 140 tomatoes.

My wife made 8 jars of tomato jelly yesterday. Also, she watered more of the back yard and pulled out Brown Berry. Here's an image of the tomato jelly jars:

The harvested Pineapple(1) tomatoes look really nice!

At dinner we tried Big Zebra. This was the 19 ounce tomato harvested last week. We both liked it a lot! Beautiful to look at, tasty, tangy and delicious, leaving a slight acid aftertaste.

We've now harvested over 4500 tomatoes in the back yard this year (4600). Also, we've now harvested over 400 Black Cherry(1) tomatoes (407), 150 Red Currant tomatoes, over 100 Sweet Baby Girl tomatoes (105) and over 50 Black and Brown Boar(2) tomatoes (54). 

Harvested Over 7000 Tomatoes This Year!

Today's harvest includes 33 SunGold, 20 Black Cherry(1), 13 Husky Cherry Red(2), 10 Sweet Baby Girl, 9 Husky Cherry Red(1), 6 Snow White(2), 5 Snow White(1), 5 Garden Peach, 5 Noire Charbonneuse(2), 4 Porkchop(1), 4 Indigo Rose, 4 SunSugar, 4 Pink Furry Boar, 4 Black Cherry(2), 4 Black and Brown Boar(2), 3 Black Krim(2) (6 ounces), 3 Gypsy, 3 Ella's Pink Plum, 2 Red Currant, 2 Carmello, 2 Big Zebra (6 ounces, 7 ounces), 2 Nyagous(2) (not Nyagous), 2 Ramapo, 2 Speckled Roman(3), 2 Yellow Furry Boar, 2 Indigo Apple(2), 2 Black and Brown Boar(1), 2 Jaune Flamme(2), 2 Purple Dog Creek (10 ounces, 11 ounces), 2 Berkeley Tie Dye (6 ounces), 2 Redfield Beauty, 2 Jaune Flamme(1), Nyagous(1), Pierce's Pride(1), Olga's Round Yellow Chicken Egg, Sweet Million, Marianna's Peace (12 ounces), Big Bite, Yellow Perfection, Marmara (6.5 ounces), Creme Brulee, Delicious (6 ounces), Amazon Chocolate, Earl of Edgecombe, Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red and Green Grape for a total of 181 tomatoes.

On Monday my wife watered the front yard tomatoes. Yesterday she got to some of the back yard tomatoes and pulled out Pink Berkeley Tie Dye(2).

In the evening we tried a taste test between Brad's Black Heart and German Orange Strawberry. Going in we thought German Orange Strawberry would win because Brad's Black Heart was a little soft. Turns out the opposite occurred -- Brad's Black Heart was the clear winner. Brad's Black Heart was delicious, with a deep, complex, juicy and a bit winey tasting tomato. German Orange Strawberry wasn't quite ripe enough. And it "suffered" from a problem that sometimes occurs with larger heirlooms -- the maturity level varied within the tomato. Parts of the tomato were ready to eat and parts of it weren't quite there. We're big fans of German Orange Strawberry. It's just that parts of this particular tomato wasn't quite ready.

Here's a picture of the two tomatoes, with some crackers and round mozzarella cheese slices. The glare on the German Orange Strawberry slices makes it look a bit like egg yolks, but it's all tomato slices.

We've now harvested over 2100 SunGold tomatoes (2114) and over 7000 tomatoes (7133) this year! 

Harvested Over 2000 SunGold Tomatoes!

Today's harvest includes 106 SunGold, 33 Husky Cherry Red(1), 25 Black Cherry(1), 18 Husky Cherry Red(2), 15 Snow White(1), 13 Garden Peach, 8 Black and Brown Boar(2), 7 Indigo Rose, 6 Black Cherry(2), 6 Marmara, 5 Berkeley Tie Dye (7.5 ounces, 6.5 ounces), 5 Nyagous(2) (not Nyagous), 4 Delicious (7 ounces, 14 ounces), 4 Pink Furry Boar (6 ounces), 4 Big Bite (6 ounces, 7 ounces, 7 ounces, 7 ounces), 4 Jaune Flamme(2), 4 Olga's Round Yellow Chicken Egg (6.5 ounces), 3 Snow White(2), 3 Sweet Baby Girl, 3 Black Krim(1) (9 ounces, 9 ounces, 7 ounces), 3 Indigo Apple(2), 3 Creme Brulee (8 ounces), 3 Indigo Apple(1), 2 Jaune Flamme(1), 2 Red Boar(1), 2 Ramapo (8.5 ounces), 2 Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red, 2 Redfield Beauty, 2 Crimson Cushion, 2 Yellow Furry Boar, 2 Speckled Roman(3), 2 Gypsy, 2 Noire Charbonneuse(2) (6 ounces), 2 Purple Dog Creek (12.5 ounces, 9 ounces), 2 Omar's Lebanese (10.5 ounces, 20 ounces), 2 Amazon Chocolate (6 ounces), 2 German Orange Strawberry (11.5 ounces, 9.5 ounces), 2 Black Krim(2) (11.5 ounces), 2 Thessaloniki, 2 Brad's Black Heart (9.5 ounces, 8 ounces), 2 Matt's Wild Cherry, 2 Chinese Tea, Nyagous(1), Pierce's Pride(1), Dr. Wyche's Yellow, Speckled Roman(2), Sweet Million, Sweet 100, Red Currant, Green Grape, Yellow Perfection, Big Zebra, Pink Berkeley Tie Dye(1), Pink Berkeley Tie Dye(2), Pineapple(1) (7.5 ounces), Marianna's Peace (6 ounces), Persimmon (13.5 ounces), Earl of Edgecombe and SunSugar for a total of 340 tomatoes.

As mentioned previously, this number is artificially inflated due to the lack of a harvest yesterday. I still consider the high harvest number to be 303 for this year.

Outstanding tomatoes in this harvest include Persimmon (as always), German Orange Strawberry and Omar's Lebanese.

Again, I want to thank all that came to our tomato party on Saturday. We had a great time and hope you did as well. Thank you Irina and Bob for coming all the way from San Jose to join us!

We've now harvested over 2000 SunGold tomatoes (2041), over 600 Husky Cherry Red(2) tomatoes (617) and 100 Matt's Wild Cherry tomatoes. Also, we've now harvested over 3500 back yard tomatoes in July (3538) and over 4000 tomatoes in the back yard this year (4136). 

Harvested Neves Azorean Red and Aunt Ruby's German Green!

Saturday's harvest includes 52 SunGold, 25 Black Cherry(1), 16 Husky Cherry Red(1), 14 Snow White(1), 13 Husky Cherry Red(2), 12 Black Cherry(2), 7 Indigo Rose, 6 Yellow Perfection, 6 Snow White(2), 6 Garden Peach, 5 SunSugar, 4 Jaune Flamme(2), 4 Black and Brown Boar(2), 3 Indigo Apple(1), 3 Speckled Roman(2), 3 Indigo Apple(2), 3 Nyagous(2) (not Nyagous), 3 Delicious, 3 Matt's Wild Cherry, 3 Olga's Round Yellow Chicken Egg, 2 Aunt Ruby's German Green (new) (14 ounces, 7 ounces), 2 Green Grape, 2 Gypsy, 2 Marmara, 2 Amazon Chocolate (7 ounces), 2 Persimmon (13 ounces, 14 ounces), 2 Black Krim(2) (7 ounces, 11.5 ounces), 2 Black and Brown Boar(1), 2 Marianna's Peace (9 ounces, 6 ounces), 2 Pink Furry Boar, 2 Speckled Roman(3) (6 ounces), 2 Oaxacan Pink (6 ounces, 9 ounces), 2 Jaune Flamme(1), 2 Noire Charbonneuse(1), 2 Chinese Tea, 2 Berkeley Tie Dye, Neves Azorean Red (new) (17.5 ounces), Big Bite (7 ounces), Ramapo (10 ounces), Amana Orange (12 ounces), Speckled Roman(1), Black From Tula, Vorlon (9 ounces), Watermelon (9.5 ounces), Porkchop(1) (10.5 ounces), Redfield Beauty, Yellow Furry Boar, Taxi, Carmello, Crimson Cushion, Dr. Wyche's Yellow (7 ounces), Sweet Million, Big Zebra (9 ounces), Pineapple(1) (18 ounces), Thessaloniki, Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red, Creme Brulee (6 ounces), Noire Charbonneuse(2), Red Boar(2) and Earl of Edgecombe for a total of 245 tomatoes.

Today's harvest: Nothing, I didn't harvest.

Saturday we invited family and friends over for a tomato party! However, there was a death in the family on my wife's side so none of her relatives made it -- totally understandable. We're truly sorry about uncle Raymond's untimely passing.

We ended up with about 25 people or so at the party. My wife had started preparing for this party starting on Wednesday and continued to put in a tremendous effort right through the party. Best we can tell, everybody had a great time.

Everyone gravitated toward the Indigo Rose tomato. Coincidentally, there was a story in the Saturday Los Angeles Times about the Indigo Rose tomato. A Persimmon was cut and shared and a couple people just adored the meaty taste.

The people that made it to the party was a good cross-section of Los Angeles, people from all walks of life. It makes me proud that people from disparate backgrounds can come together, mingle and have a great time. My wife deserves tremendous kudos for putting it all together. She's the best!

For those that visited, thanks so much for coming!

My wife started cleaning after the party -- I helped but she did a majority of the cleanup -- but we weren't able to clear the counter of plates, pans and such. We were both utterly exhausted this morning, let alone when we went to bed.

This evening we tried one of the Aunt Ruby's German Green tomatoes. My wife really liked it, I liked it less so, but I clearly liked it. Two thumbs up!

We've now harvested over 1900 SunGold tomatoes (1935), over 700 Husky Cherry Red(1) tomatoes (707), over 300 Black Cherry(1) tomatoes (308) and over 100 Snow White(1) tomatoes (109).

We've now harvested over 2500 tomatoes in the front yard (2512) and over 5500 tomatoes in July (5571).

Monday's total should be artificially high, assuming I complete it. 

Harvested Over 6000 Tomatoes This Year!

Today's harvest includes 40 SunGold, 33 Black Cherry(1), 28 Husky Cherry Red(1), 16 Husky Cherry Red(2), 8 Black Cherry(2), 8 Snow White(1), 6 Indigo Rose, 6 Black and Brown Boar(2), 6 Yellow Perfection, 6 Snow White(2), 5 Pink Furry Boar, 5 SunSugar, 5 Garden Peach, 5 Nyagous(2) (not Nyagous), 4 Green Grape, 4 Amazon Chocolate (7.5 ounces, 8 ounces), 4 Thessaloniki (7 ounces), 3 Creme Brulee (6 ounces, 6 ounces), 3 Redfield Beauty, 3 Black Krim(2), 2 Speckled Roman(2), 2 Brown Berry, 2 Black and Brown Boar(1), 2 Earl of Edgecombe, 2 Marmara (6 ounces, 6 ounces), 2 Noire Charbonneuse(2), 2 Speckled Roman(3), 2 Yellow Furry Boar, 2 Crimson Cushion, Marianna's Peace (16 ounces), Chinese Tea, Watermelon (8 ounces), Black Krim(1) (8 ounces), Nebraska Wedding (9 ounces), Pink Berkeley Tie Dye(2), Jaune Flamme(1), Indigo Apple(1), Big Zebra, Olga's Round Yellow Chicken Egg, Japanese Black Trifele, Taxi, Purple Dog Creek (10.5 ounces), Persimmon (11 ounces), Red Boar(2) and Jaune Flamme(2) for a total of 232 tomatoes.

I'm a little surprised that the numbers have stayed as solid for this long. SunGold is finally starting to fade but the two Black Cherry and the two Snow White plants have picked up the slack.

The tomato sizes are starting to dwindle and the plants are looking ragged. Noire Charbonneuse(1), Chinese Tea and Pink Berkeley Tie Dye(2) may not last much longer. However, many plants will have a second wind. Sweet Baby Girl already has a second wind and has maturing tomatoes again.

My wife watered the back yard containers.

We've now harvested over 3000 tomatoes in the back yard for the month of July (3151) and over 6000 tomatoes for the year (6187). 

Harvested Big Zebra!

Today's harvest includes 44 SunGold, 30 Black Cherry(1), 18 Husky Cherry Red(1), 15 Husky Cherry Red(2), 13 Snow White(1), 7 Black Cherry(2), 6 Indigo Apple(1), 4 SunSugar, 4 Garden Peach, 3 Indigo Rose, 3 Berkeley Tie Dye (9 ounces, 8.5 ounces), 3 Red Currant, 3 Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red, 3 Yellow Perfection, 3 Pink Berkeley Tie Dye(1) (6.5 ounces, 8 ounces), 3 Redfield Beauty, 2 Dr. Wyche's Yellow (7.5 ounces, 7.5 ounces), 2 Amazon Chocolate (7.5 ounces, 8 ounces), 2 Nebraska Wedding (12 ounces, 7 ounces), 2 Big Bite (9.5 ounces, 6 ounces), 2 Ramapo, 2 Pink Furry Boar (6 ounces), 2 Nyagous(2) (not Nyagous), 2 Noire Charbonneuse(2), 2 Nyagous(1), 2 Speckled Roman(3) (7 ounces, 7 ounces), 2 Speckled Roman(2), 2 Matt's Wild Cherry, 2 Thessaloniki, Big Zebra (new) (19.5 ounces), Jaune Flamme(2), Olga's Round Yellow Chicken Egg, Black and Brown Boar(1), Pierce's Pride(1) (9 ounces), Marianna's Peace (8 ounces), Taxi, Pink Berkeley Tie Dye(2) (6 ounces), Jaune Flamme(1), Italian Heirloom (6.5 ounces), White Zebra, Black From Tula (6 ounces), Chinese Tea, Noire Charbonneuse(1), Porkchop(1) (10.5 ounces), Purple Dog Creek (8 ounces), Oaxacan Jewel (9 ounces), Brad's Black Heart (10 ounces), Black Krim(2) (9 ounces), Creme Brulee (9.5 ounces), Oaxacan Pink (6 ounces), German Orange Strawberry, Yellow Furry Boar, Delicious, Earl of Edgecombe, Watermelon and Snow White(2) for a total of 215 tomatoes.

The harvested Big Zebra is a beauty! My wife was crowing about how beautiful it looked.

I took a look at Neves Azorean Red this morning. The plant isn't too tall but it has a few unripe tomatoes. I haven't paid any attention to it because nothing's maturing on the vines. However, a week ago I thought the same thing about Earl of Edgecombe until I took a look at it and found several slightly overripe tomatoes.

My wife watered parts of the back yard yesterday.

We've now harvested over 1800 SunGold tomatoes for the year (1843). And we've now harvested over 3500 tomatoes in the back yard (3569) and over 5000 tomatoes for July (5091). 

May 2012 Tomato Analysis

For the month of May 2012, we harvested 22 tomatoes -- 12 Husky Cherry Red(2), 9 Husky Cherry Red(1) and a Red Currant.

How does this compare to other years? It's in the middle of the pack.

2012 -- 22
2011 -- 0
2010 -- 1
2009 -- 11
2008 -- 60
2007 -- 98

What does this tell us? Not much of anything. 2007 was our best year but 2008 was our worst year -- we had planted too early.

However, we can get some clues by the plants I was having concerns about.

I had issues with leaf curl with Big Zebra. Not now. It's sitting directly under the lemon tree so it gets the least amount of sun. The two heat waves helped to dry the underside of the leaves. The plant lost the slight gray look and appears quite healthy. Recently I discovered a growing tomato on it.

There were issues with Red Boar(2) planted in the redwood raised bed. The main stem seemingly split into two twin stems. These stems got long enough to start splitting open the stem at the fork but not long enough to get supported by the cage. Eventually the cage was able to supply support. The plant still has an main stem issue but looks really healthy. It has a really good color with new blooms.

Italian Heirloom looked quite thin and wispy for a beefsteak plant. It's taken off and the main trunk is thickening.

We had pulled Bloody Butcher and Vorlon(2). We replaced them with Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red and Aunt Ruby's German Green. The two new plants look great. They're a little behind the others only because they were planted later than the others. They're doing just fine.

Pineapple(2), the grafted tomato was planted on May 12. It was looking okay when originally planted. The lower leaves were yellowing and it had a scrawnly look. No longer. It's only about a foot tall but the color is gorgeous and it's reaching for the sky.

Both Snow White plants didn't look too great about three weeks ago. Scrawny and small. However, both have taken off and both have growing tomatoes on them. However, the plant grew sideways until it reached the cage, then grew vertically. Three or four of our plants have a pronounced "elbow" before growing vertically. This appears to be a downside of a wide cage.

The only plant that looks like it's struggling a bit is Kellogg's Breakfast. The plant is actually rather tall at about four feet in the air. But it has only two real branches. It's quite leggy with yellowing leaves at the bottom. I think we'll get a few tomatoes off of this plant but not many.

But...we have one somewhat struggling plant out of 93. That is great! However, last year we had several plants just stop once they got growing tomatoes on them. Assuming that doesn't happen this year, look out. We're going to have a great 2012 harvest. 

13 More Plants With Tomatoes; 2 Plants With Maturing Tomatoes!

Yesterday's harvest: 2 Husky Cherry Red(1). Today's harvest: 2 Husky Cherry Red(1).

Now Husky Cherry Red(1) has passed Husky Cherry Red(2) in total production: 14 tomatoes for Husky Cherry Red(1) and 12 tomatoes for Husky Cherry Red(2).

I took a closer look at the tomato plants over the last couple of days. You know the story, more "training". I added a stake to Pink Berkeley Tie Dye(1). I used tomato tape for a wayward branch on Husky Cherry Red(1). As the plants get taller and there's less cage room for training, I'll simply use tomato tape to tie back some of the wayward branches. As the weeks progress there will be more and more rolls of tomato tape and stakes being used.

In my last blog post I indicated that I knew there were more plants with tomatoes. Uh, I wasn't kidding. There are 13 more plants with growing tomatoes. The lastest list includes Amana Orange, Noire Charbonneuse(2), Snow White(2), Big Zebra, Green Zebra, Nebraska Wedding, Pierce's Pride(1), Vorlon, Marmara, Snow White(1), Speckled Roman(3), Delicious and Ramapo.

SunGold and SunSugar have maturing tomatoes. SunGold has already reached the top of the cage. In fact, let me see if I can get a reasonable picture of it.

SunGold tomato plant over my wife's right shoulder

As you know, it's only June 3. How tall will this plant get in 60 more days? It's only been in the ground for 57 days.

Having said that, the height of the plant isn't the payoff window. It's the tomatoes! You may be able to tell from the image that the plant is not only tall, it's quite thick. There are hundreds and hundreds of tomatoes on the plant. We'll see how they taste. We'll have plenty to choose from in the upcoming weeks. 

Cages In The Ground; Now Up To 92 Tomatoes

We've spent parts of the last three days putting up all of our tomato cages. We now have all of them supporting our seedlings. We need to purchase about 10 more or so.

On Friday my wife watered the front yard tomatoes and the container plants in the back yard.

Today we visited the L. A. Arboretum show in Arcadia, I believe. TomatoMania had a booth there and we picked up Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red and Copper River.

When we got back home we pulled out Bloody Butcher and replaced it with Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red. We had an extra large pulp pot, so we prepared some soil, placed it in this pot and planted Copper River there. So now we're up to 92 tomatoes!

My wife also clipped a few more lower lying tomato branches. She noticed that a couple of the tomato plants had black spots on their leaves. And Big Zebra has some leaf curl. Which reminds me of one of the indicators of a bad year I forgot to add: There was a late cold snap in mid-March. A late winter cold snap is not good for tomato seedlings. We may already be seeing some of this damage. 

How Does It Look For This Year?

Now that we're all the tomato seedlings are planted for the year (famous last words), how do I think they will do this year?

Here's some bullets that will indicate we will have a really good year:

1) Look back on our February 20 post of this year. Some of that compostible dirt was placed on our yellowing back yard grass, for lack of any other place to put it. The grass is completely green. A big heaping pile was placed in the "koi pond". Last year we didn't add soil and the soil level had noticeably dropped an inch or so.

There was so much soil we placed it everywhere, including the plantable area of back yard.

2) Based on the great results last year in the "Far East", I continued to dig deep holes there and in the backyard cutout. As a rough estimate, we pulled out about 350 pounds of rock and asphalt over the last five weeks or so from these two areas.

3) The plants look great. The only plant that looks like it may be struggling is Bloody Butcher.

4) The sweet peas and snap peas planted in the "koi pond" this last winter will add needed nitrogen to the soil.

And some bullets that indicate we'll have a mediocre year:

1) Sure we dug some deep holes in the back yard, but it took extra time. The seedlings got huge in their containers. Could they be root bound? Some plants looked to be at least 18 inches tall. That can't be good. Granted, all these seedlings are four to six inches above ground when planted, but we think planting tall seedlings isn't as "safe" as planting smaller seedlings.

2) Some of the larger seedlings had black spots on their leaves. One long seedling had a black bruising in the middle of the stem.

3) Lots of beefsteaks were planted somewhat late. If we hit 110 degrees in late June (like 2008) or early July, the flowers will sterilize and we'll end up with little to no harvest on these plants with longer maturation cycles.

The seedlings look great...but we say that every year. But they really do look great! We think the compostible dirt has really helped the garden overall. Not just the tomato seedlings but the back yard grass, the irises, roses, etc..

I suspect our count for the year won't be that high. As mentioned, we planted a lot of larger tomatoes this year. From memory: Giant Syrian, Omar's Lebanese, Big Zebra, Delicious, Big Bite, Amana Orange and Pineapple are a few of the plants that can produce tomatoes over one pound. We got over 2700 tomatoes from Matt's Wild Cherry last year in the "koi pond", but this year we planted it in a pot. We won't get 2700 tomatoes from this plant this year.

My guess: We're more dependent on the weather this year than on other years. I'm going to guess a total of 7000 tomatoes harvested this year. But we will harvest more pounds than last year.

I'm excited for this year's harvest! 

3 Planted In Pots, One In The Ground, Five Holes Made

After work I had about 90 minutes of sunlight to make as many holes in the backyard soil as I could. I dug a bunch of holes underneath and next to the lemon tree -- six holes in all. I did hit some significant asphalt on the last hole.

Why the concern? It's our understanding that it will rain Tuesday evening. We wanted to get as many plants in the ground as possible before it rains.

My wife planted Taxi, SunSugar and Tolstoi in pots. She also planted Big Zebra in the first of the holes.

So only four more tonight, but we're prepped for five more tomorrow.

One thing I've noticed is a preponderance of larger tomatoes. We don't have too many cherry or "small" tomatoes. We have containers ready to accept seedlings, but we don't have the right seedlings that do reasonably well in them. 

Pulled Four More Tomato Plants

Monday's harvest includes 7 Matt's Wild Cherry, Golden Mama, Jaune Flamme and Husky Gold for a total of 10 tomatoes.

Tuesday's harvest includes 8 Matt's Wild Cherry, 3 Jaune Flamme, 2 SunGold(1), SunSugar, Sweet Carneros Pink and Kellogg's Breakfast for a total of 17 tomatoes.

Wednesday's harvest includes 4 Matt's Wild Cherry, 2 Jaune Flamme and Stupice for a total of 7 tomatoes.

I added fertilizer to the back yard container plants.

Thursday's harvest includes 6 Matt's Wild Cherry, 2 SunGold(1), Green Grape, Orange And Green Zebra, Garden Peach and Pineapple for a total of 12 tomatoes.

I pulled out four more tomato plants: Big Zebra, Neves Azorean Red, Garden Peach and Green Doctors Kiwi(1) (not Green Doctors Kiwi).

We've now harvested 8700 tomatoes for the year!

Today's harvest includes 4 Matt's Wild Cherry, 2 Orange And Green Zebra, Aunt Ruby's German Green(3), SunSugar and SunGold(1) for a total of 9 tomatoes. 

Harvested Over 3500 Back Yard Tomatoes For The Year!

Today's harvest includes 21 Snow White, 17 Matt's Wild Cherry, 6 Sweet Carneros Pink, 6 SunGold(1), 6 Husky Cherry Red(2), 4 Stupice, 2 Orange And Green Zebra, 2 Kellogg's Breakfast, 2 Jaune Flamme, 2 Green Grape, 2 Oaxacan Jewel(2), 2 Paul Robeson(2), 2 Coyote (not Coyote), Large Pink Anna(1), Vorlon, Porkchop, Haley's Purple Comet, Persimmon(1), Golden Mama, Michael Pollan, Big White Pink Stripe, Persimmon(2), Big Zebra and Aunt Ruby's German Green(3) for a total of 85 tomatoes.

We've now harvested over 3500 back yard tomatoes for the year (3524)! Our back yard harvest is now a larger quantity than the front yard for about the past week due to the fading Matt's Wild Cherry and the large Snow White harvest.

We've now harvested 50 Kellogg's Breakfast tomatoes. 

Harvested Over 4500 Tomatoes For The Year!

Today's harvest includes 55 Matt's Wild Cherry, 20 Snow White, 14 Garden Peach, 10 Husky Cherry Red(2), 10 SunGold(1), 9 Husky Cherry Red(1), 9 Haley's Purple Comet, 8 Orange And Green Zebra, 5 Pink Berkeley Tie Dye, 3 SunSugar, 3 Stupice, 3 Golden Mama, 3 Jaune Flamme, 3 Green Zebra(2) (not Green Zebra), 3 Cassidy's Folly, 2 Quedlinburger Fruehe Liebe, 2 Kellogg's Breakfast (9.5 ounces), 2 Crimson Cushion(2) (7.5 ounces, 6 ounces), 2 Dr. Wyche's Yellow (8 ounces), 2 Sweet Carneros Pink, 2 Coyote (not Coyote), 2 Green Grape, 2 Hungarian Heart (11.5 ounces, 17 ounces), 2 Mexico, 2 Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red, 2 Green Zebra(1), Portuguese Neighbor (11 ouncesa), Pineapple (13.5 ounces), Southern Night, Australian Giant Oxheart (8.5 ounces), Red Zebra, Yellow Brandywine (10.5 ounces), Oaxacan Jewel(2), Aunt Ruby's German Green(3) (10 ounces), Honkin' Big Black Cherry, Green Doctor's Kiwi(1) (not Green Doctor's Kiwi), Aunt Ruby's German Green(1), Big Zebra (6.5 ounces), German Orange Strawberry and Persimmon for a total of 194 tomatoes.

We've now harvested over 4500 tomatoes for the year (4644), surpassing the total for all of 2008.

Last night we tried the 22.5 ounce Pineapple tomato at our computer user group's board meeting. Everyone liked it! Many tomatoes were handed out as well.

Neves Azorean Red -- A Very Good Tomato!

Today's harvest includes 48 Matt's Wild Cherry, 16 Snow White, 12 Garden Peach, 9 Husky Cherry Red(2), 7 Golden Mama, 7 Husky Cherry Red(1), 5 Coyote (not Coyote), 4 Haley's Purple Comet, 4 Southern Night (6 ounces), 3 Orange And Green Zebra, 3 SunGold(1), 3 Stupice, 3 Sweet Carneros Pink, 3 Green Zebra(2) (not Green Zebra), 3 Dr. Wyche's Yellow (15 ounces, 14 ounces, 10 ounces), 2 SunSugar, 2 Portuguese Neighbor (9 ounces, 11 ounces), 2 Bloody Butcher, 2 Cassidy's Folly, 2 Green Grape, 2 Australian Giant Oxheart (9 ounces, 11.5 ounces), Green Zebra(1), Vorlon, Big White Pink Stripe (10.5 ounces), Kellogg's Breakfast (9 ounces), Black Krim(1), Jaune Flamme, Quedlinburger Fruehe Liebe, Chocolate Stripes(1), Patio and Big Zebra (7 ounces) for a total of 152 tomatoes.

Well, it looks like Snow White has had it's first run. The plant should be strong enough to have a second and perhaps a third wind.

Both my wife and I tried Neves Azorean Red atop of mozzarella cheese sitting on a bagel for dinner last night. It's a keeper, we both really enjoyed this tomato.

My wife watered the front yard tomatoes yesterday.

A Pineapple tomato is maturing.

Harvested Coyote (not Coyote)!

Today's harvest includes 54 Snow White, 53 Matt's Wild Cherry, 12 Garden Peach, 7 Husky Cherry Red(1), 6 Haley's Purple Comet, 6 Pink Berkeley Tie Dye (11 ounces), 5 SunGold(1), 4 Husky Cherry Red(2), 4 Golden Mama, 3 Coyote (not Coyote) (new), 3 Oaxacan Jewel (11.5 ounces), 3 Black Krim(1) (6 ounces), 2 Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red (6.5 ounces), 2 Sweet Carneros Pink, 2 Cassidy's Folly, 2 Portuguese Neighbor (12.5 ounces, 6 ounces), 2 Big White Pink Stripe (6 ounces, 6 ounces), 2 Jaune Flamme, 2 German Orange Strawberry, 2 Bloody Butcher, 2 Big Zebra, 2 Stupice, 2 Orange And Green Zebra, 2 SunSugar, Southern Night, Green Zebra(2) (not Green Zebra), Kellogg's Breakfast (11.5 ounces), Paul Robeson(2), Large Pink Anna(2), Quedlinburger Fruehe Liebe, Green Doctor's Kiwi(1) (not Green Doctor's Kiwi), Chocolate Stripes(1), Green Grape, Honkin' Big Black Cherry, Michael Pollan, Hungarian Heart (22.5 ounces), Porkchop and Persimmon (11.5 ounces) for a total of 198 tomatoes.

The real Coyote tomato is a yellow cherry that weighs less than one ounce. These harvested tomatoes with the Coyote label are red and weigh around 3 - 4 ounces.

The harvested Hungarian Heart is the size of a softball. It's the heaviest harvested tomato this year.

The Tide Came Back;Harvested Over 3000 Tomatoes This Year

Today's harvest includes 55 Snow White, 40 Matt's Wild Cherry, 17 Golden Mama, 12 Garden Peach, 8 Husky Cherry Red(1), 8 Husky Cherry Red(2), 4 Haley's Purple Comet, 4 Green Grape, 4 Jaune Flamme, 4 Sweet Carneros Pink, 4 Pink Berkeley Tie Dye (6.5 ounces, 6.5 ounces), 3 Big White Pink Stripe (11.5 ounces, 13 ounces, 8 ounces), 3 Stupice, 3 SunSugar, 3 Orange And Green Zebra, 3 Black Seaman(2), 3 Porkchop (6 ounces), 2 German Orange Strawberry, 2 Oaxacan Jewel, 2 Cassidy's Folly, 2 Michael Pollan, 2 Southern Night, 2 Lime Green Salad, SunGold(1), Red Zebra, Portuguese Neighbor (10.5 ounces), Green Zebra(2) (not Green Zebra), Honkin' Big Black Cherry, Kellogg's Breakfast (12.5 ounces), Big Zebra (6 ounces), Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red, Paul Robeson(2), Hungarian Heart (13 ounces) and Quedlinburger Fruehe Liebe for a total of 201 tomatoes.

The previous high harvest total for this year was on July 13, 200 tomatoes. Usually these harvests roughly follow a bell curve. Once the original high is established, well, that's the high! Here we are, 10 days later with a new high after dropping to a "low" of 112 tomatoes on July 19. I've not experienced this before. I attribute this partially to the weather and more to all the maturing Snow White tomatoes.

Actually I had expected the "high" to be around this time of the year, based on our late planting.

We've now harvested over 3000 tomatoes this year!

Last night we ate another Porkchop. It wasn't as heavenly as the ones we ate Saturday. I recommend eating Porkchop when the tomato is soft, but not too soft.

The maturing Coyote tomato doesn't look like a Coyote tomato. It's something else.

A Mexico tomato is maturing.