More Weekend Chores...

Today's haul: A winter tomato and Piccolo.

I noticed a pretty large (for this time of the year) tomato on Aker's Plum. Also, I found the “missing” tomato on Evan's Italian Plum, and spotted another growing tomato on Black Plum Paste.

We spent most of the day doing projects in the back yard. I brought in 800 pounds of ready-mix concrete from the front driveway to the back yard. We both worked on shoring up the new fence by placing bricks and cinder blocks at the bottom of the fence to prevent the dogs from digging. Turns out there were already two holes being dug. Also, we cleaned up any of the other remains – tomato cages, trash, etc. left from the fence repair.

My wife watered the container plants in the back yard.

Good Tomato Harvest For Late November

Today's harvest: 2 winter tomatoes (one Jetsetter), Piccolo, Evan's Italian Plum and Black Plum Paste.

I looked for the new Evan's Italian Plum that I reported a couple days back. I couldn't find it. But I looked all over the plant and hey, there's a full and ripe Evan's Italian Plum ready for picking!

I picked the Black Plum Paste a little early because it's low to the ground and risks being picked off by our Manchester Terrier.

That reminds me...my wife and I went to Murrieta for Thanksgiving and had a real fun time. We got our Manchester Terrier back!

Our Backyard Fence Is Being Replaced...

Today's harvest: Nothing.

We're finally replacing our fence on the south side of the property. This replacement could take out some or all of the tomatoes along the south side, including Evan's Italian Plum, Aker's Plum, Pierce's Pride, Cherokee Chocolate, Lime Green Salad and Black Cherry.

We'll see what happens. This fence has been a bit of a nightmare (trouble with a recalcitrant neighbor) but it may be over by the end of the week.

I forgot to mention that my wife snipped another branch off of Old Ivory Egg, another branch with growing tomatoes on it. Argh!

Catching Up...

Friday's haul: Nothing.

We had a medical issue to deal with in the morning, which didn't leave time to look for tomatoes in the morning.

My wife watered the front yard.

Saturday's harvest: A winter tomato and Cherokee Chocolate.

The air was very smoky because of the local fires. The gardeners came early, around 8:30 AM but we sent them home. It was simply too unhealthy for them to work in the garden. Therefore, the plants to be pulled will live another week unless my wife pulls them.

I did take a good look at the tomato plants, though. I decided that Evan's Italian Plum should not be pulled, as the new growth (from the recent heat spell) looks really healthy. Black Plum Paste has two or three tomatoes on it. Black Cherry has a tomato on it that's too high for the Manchester Terrier to get at. The Lime Green Salad in the back yard has at least three tomatoes on it. Old Ivory Egg has several tomatoes on it.

Sunday's haul: Prairie Fire.

Again, the air was too smoggy and smoky to go outside for any real length of time. Our two dogs got a bath. Since we were near the plants, I noticed that Pierce's Pride had a second tomato growing and Aker's Plum has at least three tomatoes growing on it (albeit easily picked off by the Manchester Terrier). It looks like we will reach the 4500 mark before the end of the year.

By the way, while the tomatoes aren't as delicious as they were in July, there's still good enough. My wife made a great meat sauce last week using the harvested tomatoes. It was delicious!

Today's haul: Piccolo.

You should see the ash sitting on our tomato plants.

Hey, at least we aren't anywhere near the fires.

More Tomato Plants Can Be Pulled...

Today's haul: Old Ivory Egg.

My wife watered the front yard yesterday.

There appear to be several more tomato plants that can be pulled. One of the good producers over the last few weeks, Evan's Italian Plum, appears to be done.

I noticed that Pierce's Pride has another tomato growing on it.

Back From Vacation

Today's harvest: Nothing.

On Saturday, however, I did get to harvest 2 Aker's Plums, 2 Piccolos and Evan's Italian Plum.

On Sunday, I harvested Prairie Fire and Evan's Italian Plum.

Yesterday, my wife took out Kimberly and Polish Pastel. Unfortunately, while cleaning up the roses in the front yard she also decided to cut a wayward branch on Old Ivory Egg. Trouble was, this branch had a half dozen tomatoes on it.

Two More Evan's Italian Plums Harvested

Today's haul: 2 Evan's Italian Plums.

One of the tomatoes really wasn't fit for human consumption (very leathery skin), so I gave it to our Manchester Terrier.

My wife watered the front yard.

More Of The Same...

Today's haul: Evan's Italian Plum (6 ounces).

Not much else to say, short of we're harvesting some good sized Evan's Italian Plums...I did notice another new tomato on Old Ivory Egg this morning.

Harvested More Evan's Italian Plums...

Saturday's harvest: Evan's Italian Plum.

My wife watered the front yard on Friday which included the tomato plants.

Sunday's harvest: Evan's Italian Plum (6 ounces).

The gardeners did a lot of trimming in the garden on Saturday, filling up the green trash can again.

My wife and I went out to the garden in the evening. We noticed three new tomatoes on Old Ivory Egg!

Kimberly Knocked Over...

Today's harvest: Evan's Italian Plum.

The tomato was mature, but too leathery for human consumption. So I gave it to our Manchester Terrier.

While I was outside, the Santa Ana winds knocked the Kimberly tomato plant over. I didn't have time to fix it, that's for tonight. But it doesn't look damaged by the fall.

I'm Back!

Today's harvest includes 2 Piccolos, 2 Evan's Italian Plums (one 7.5 ounces, even this late in the season...), Old Ivory Egg and Cherokee Chocolate.

My wife pulled Thessaloniki on Wednesday only to discover that it had two tomatoes on it! This isn't quite as bad as it sounds. I had kept Thessaloniki around because I swore I saw tomatoes on it but I could never find them. This went on for weeks. The plant was starting to lean again, looking more and more fragile (though green) and so on. So my wife decided to pull it, if for no other reason than it was this big large, lurching, ugly tomato plant in the middle of the front yard surrounded by either bare dirt or recently manicured rose bushes. It's understandable.

Also, we got a tomato from one of the winter plants – I think it was Oregon Spring.

My wife watered the back yard yesterday.

Going Out Of Town...

And today's harvest includes: 3 Evan's Italian Plums, 2 Prairie Fires, Piccolo and a nice ripe Aker's Plum.

In regards to pulling Kellogg's Breakfast on Monday, I was wrong. That's still in the ground.

My wife and I replaced one of the cages for one of the winter tomatoes.

There won't be any updates from me from now until Monday. I'll be out of town until Sunday night.

Catching Up...

Catching up...

On Saturday I picked Piccolo. Also, we picked our first winter tomato, but I'm a bit embarrassed to say I'm not sure which plant it is. It's either Siberian or Glacier but I'm not sure which.

My wife watered the front yard.

The gardeners pulled five tomato plants in the morning: Red Yellow Cap, Carbon, Italian Market Wonder, Painted Ukrainian, Kellogg's Breakfast and Olga's Round Yellow Chicken.

In the evening the Manchester Terrier knocked off our Pierce's Pride tomato. It wasn't nearly ripe enough to be salvageable.

On Sunday, I picked Piccolo and Evan's Italian Plum. My birthday was on Sunday. There was a Saturday night dinner at a Korean restaurant and Sunday brunch with relatives.

Because I got up late today I didn't check for tomatoes. The air was very dry, it was windy, and several fires were going in the hills.

Had I Been More Observant...

Today's harvest: 2 Evan's Italian Plums.

Had I been more observant, I could have picked at least one of these tomatoes, keeping the harvest streak alive. At least one and perhaps both could have been considered mature yesterday.

My wife completed the back yard watering yesterday.

It looks like I will get rid of a lot of old tomato plants this weekend. Stay tuned.

Two More Plants Pulled...

Today's harvest: Piccolo and Evan's Italian Plum.

Green Grape and Black Krim (front yard) were removed by the gardeners yesterday. Now the “corner office” has no spring tomato plants. We took the two cages from these pulled plants and placed them on the last two winter tomatoes.

More Plants To Be Pulled This Weekend

Today's harvest: 2 Evan's Italian Plums, Aker's Plum.

It looks like my wife watered most of the front yard again.

My guess is will pull three or four more tomato plants this weekend. On the potential chopping block are Red Yellow Cap, Black Krim (front yard), Green Grape and Italian Market Wonder.

The Manchester Terrier Gets A Caterpillar!

Today's harvest: Evan's Italian Plum, Lime Green Salad (back yard) and Kimberly.

I watered the winter tomatoes this morning.

My wife continues to do yard work in the front and back yards. She's getting our garden back in shape!

I've begun working out again (I stopped for about a month or so) and will try to get the ironing caught up again...

My wife caught our Manchester Terrier with a caterpillar. What's notable about this is he got it himself off of the vine!

One Tomato, One Caterpillar

Today's haul: Evan's Italian Plum.

Also, I found a full sized caterpillar on Evan's Italian Plum.

Yesterday my wife watered the front yard.

This morning I hammered in a few large stakes for the plants that were leaning.

Get Better!

Today's harvest: 3 Piccolos, Evan's Italian Plum.

There isn't a lot to say, short of the fact my wife isn't feeling well. Get better soon!!

At Least Two To Be Pulled This Weekend

Today's harvest includes 2 Piccolos, Salisaw Cafe, a very small Prairie Fire, Cherokee Chocolate and Evan's Italian Plum.

My wife watered the back yard plants yesterday.

It looks like Golden Jubilee and Arkansas Traveler will get pulled this weekend.