Harvested Over 3000 Tomatoes This Year!

Friday's harvest includes 11 Black Cherry, 11 Sweet 100, 11 Supersweet 100, 7 SunGold(1), 6 SunGold(2), 3 Isis Candy, 3 Husky Cherry Red, Speckled Roman(1), Dr. Wyche's Yellow (8 ounces), Jersey Giant, Shah/Mikado, Jaune Flamme, Indigo Rose, Blue Beauty, Piement, "Something Orange" (7 ounces) and Juliet for a total of 62 tomatoes.

Saturday's harvest includes 11 Black Cherry, 9 Sweet 100, 8 Snow White, 8 SunGold(2), 6 SunGold(1), 5 Supersweet 100, 3 Isis Candy, 3 Juliet, 2 Husky Red(1), 2 Indigo Rose, Hungarian Heart, Husky Cherry Red, Jersey Giant, Garden Peach, Amos Coli (7 ounces), Aunt Ruby's German Green and "Something Orange" (10 ounces) for a total of 64 tomatoes.

The gardeners came by in the morning so I had them pull out more plants. The pulled plants were Hungarian Heart, Paul Robeson, Green Grape, Jaune Flamme, Gold Medal, Pineapple Pig and Missouri Pink Love Apple. Green Grape and Jaune Flamme had tomatoes on it but looked unappetizing.

Gold Medal was a major dud. A friend of ours has been displaying her 2.5 pound Gold Medal tomatoes. Ours did not get over an ounce. I'm jealous!!

My wife took all of the larger tomatoes and cooked them down for six hours on the stove, making a terrific sauce. The only downside of this is that we still haven't tried the "Something Orange" tomato (I think it's Dr. Wyche's Yellow), but it is a major portion of today's tomato sauce.

Today's harvest includes 10 Black Cherry, 6 Snow White, 4 Juliet, 3 Yellow Perfection, 3 Garden Peach, 3 SunGold(1), 3 SunGold(2), 2 Supersweet 100, 2 Cuor de Bue (6 ounces, 6 ounces), 2 Husky Cherry Red, Dr. Wyche's Yellow (15 ounces), Shah/Mikado, Pineapple, Japanese Black Trifele and Isis Candy for a total of 43 tomatoes.

We've now harvested over 3000 tomatoes for the year (3017)! Also, we've harvested over 500 back yard tomatoes this month (509). We've harvested over 500 Black Cherry tomatoes (501), over 250 Sweet 100 tomatoes (260), over 200 Supersweet 100 tomatoes (204), over 50 SunGold(2) tomatoes (57) and over 50 SunGold(1) tomatoes (51) this year. 

Harvested Over 1500 Back Yard Tomatoes This Year!

Today's harvest includes 29 Black Cherry, 20 Supersweet 100, 11 Husky Cherry Red, 5 Juliet, 4 Sweet 100, 4 SunGold(1), 3 Porkchop, 3 Snow White, 3 Green Grape, 2 Isis Candy, 2 Shah/Mikado, 2 Piement, Gold Medal, SunGold(2), Jaune Flamme, Blue Beauty, German Orange Strawberry, Japanese Black Trifele, Garden Peach, Amos Coli, Ananas Noire, "Something Orange" (9 ounces), "Rosella Purple" (Aunt Ruby's German Green), Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red(2) and Husky Red(2) for a total of 101 tomatoes.

We've now harvested over 1500 back yard tomatoes this year (1541)! Also we've harvested over 150 Husky Cherry Red tomatoes (155) and exactly 100 Snow White tomatoes this year.

Last night our local computer group had a board meeting. We brought along tomatoes for tasting and for handing out. The tomatoes we tested were Piement, Aunt Ruby's German Green and Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red(2) -- all were very nice.

My back felt good enough to harvest but it will be a few days before it is back to normal. 

Harvested Over 1000 Front Yard Tomatoes This Year!

Today's harvest includes 11 Sweet 100, 7 SunGold(1), 6 SunGold(2), 5 Green Grape, 4 Isis Candy, 3 Speckled Roman(1), 3 Amos Coli, 3 Yellow Perfection, 2 Pineapple, 2 Snow White, 2 Jaune Flamme, 2 "Rosella Purple" (Aunt Ruby's German Green(2)), 2 Indigo Rose, 2 Black Cherry, 2 Supersweet 100, 2 Paul Robeson, 2 Jersey Giant, 2 Husky Cherry Red, Porkchop, Shah/Mikado, Gold Medal, Black and Brown Boar, Garden Peach, "Something Orange" (10 ounces) and Juliet for a total of 69 tomatoes.

We've now harvested over 1000 tomatoes in the front yard for 2013 (1014)! And we've now harvested over 150 Sweet 100 tomatoes (155). 

Harvested Gold Medal!

Saturday's harvest includes 19 Black Cherry, 7 Supersweet 100, 3 Blue Beauty, 3 Missouri Pink Love Apple, 3 Speckled Roman(1), 2 Indigo Rose, 2 Husky Cherry Red, 2 Japanese Black Trifele, 2 Shah/Mikado, 2 Jaune Flamme, Gold Medal (new), Black and Brown Boar, SunGold(1), Green Grape, Kellogg's Breakfast (13 ounces), Hungarian Heart (7 ounces), Porkchop, Yellow Perfection, Dr. Wyche's Yellow (11 ounces), Jersey Giant, German Orange Strawberry, Speckled Roman(2), Grande (15 ounces), Garden Peach, Ananas Noire (12 ounces), Cuor de Bue, Kentucky Beefsteak (8.5 ounces), Juliet and Isis Candy for a total of 64 tomatoes.

The gardeners came again today and pulled out Stupice, Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red(1), Berkeley Tie Dye and Kentucky Beefsteak. The gardeners also removed some of the sunflowers in the front yard. My wife cleaned up the remaining Michael Pollan tomatoes on the ground and tossed them out.

The new Gold Medal tomato is not impressive. Like many other plants this year, the fruit is undersized.

My wife watered the front yard tomatoes.

Sunday's harvest includes 23 Black Cherry, 7 Supersweet 100, 6 Shah/Mikado, 5 Blue Beauty, 5 Garden Peach, 4 Isis Candy, 4 Ananas Noire (8.5 ounces, 10.5 ounces, 13 ounces), 4 Speckled Roman(1), 4 Husky Cherry Red, 3 Jaune Flamme, 3 German Orange Strawberry (8 ounces), 2 Indigo Rose, 2 Black and Brown Boar, 2 Juliet, 2 Sweet 100, 2 Missouri Pink Love Apple, Hungarian Heart, Porkchop, Yellow Perfection, Pineapple, Dr. Wyche's Yellow, Gold Medal, Crynkovic (6 ounces), Japanese Black Trifele, Speckled Roman(2) and "Something Orange" (15 ounces) for a total of 88 tomatoes.

The Ananas Noire tomatoes are beauties! More importantly they taste good. I have not been a fan of Ananas Noire in the past. I didn't get it. When we grew it in the past they were relatively small and not great tasting. These Ananas Noire tomatoes are crisp, juicy and delicious.

There was no harvest on Monday.

Today's harvest includes 29 Black Cherry, 10 Jaune Flamme, 9 Garden Peach, 8 Husky Cherry Red, 6 Indigo Rose, 6 Blue Beauty, 6 Shah/Mikado, 5 Green Grape, 4 Japanese Black Trifele, 4 Supersweet 100, 4 Speckled Roman(1), 4 Jersey Giant, 3 Yellow Perfection, 3 Isis Candy, 2 Juliet, 2 Sweet 100, 2 SunGold(2), 2 Speckled Roman(2), 2 Grande (17.5 ounces, 9.5 ounces), 2 Missouri Pink Love Apple, 2 German Orange Strawberry, 2 Ananas Noire (12.5 ounces, 11.5 ounces), 2 "Something Orange" (11 ounces, 9 ounces), 2 Cuor de Bue, 2 Pineapple Pig (6.5 ounces, 8 ounces), 2 Piement, Porkchop, Dr. Wyche's Yellow, Gold Medal, Black and Brown Boar, Kellogg's Breakfast, Crynkovic and Husky Red(1) for a total of 132 tomatoes.

We tried Grande last night. Good looking, meaty interior. My wife absolutely loved it. I was less high on it than my wife was but I wasn't really in a tomato mood and I think I hit a mealy part of the tomato. It looked great and I will definitely give it a second try.

My wife watered most if not all of the back yard tomato plants last night.

"Something Orange" looks like Dr. Wyche's Yellow to me. My wife made a compelling argument that the mystery tomato is Kellogg's Breakfast. But today's tomatoes look like Dr. Wyche's Yellow -- slightly more white and pink compared to Kellogg's Breakfast. We'll try it at some point and the taste will help clarify the situation.

Today's harvest covered a lot of the counter space. The larger tomatoes that are currently being harvested look quite nice. 

Grafted Tomato Plants In the South Garden

The grafted tomato plants in the "south garden" are doing particularly well. 

South Garden Grafted Tomatoes

Granted, plant size isn't the payoff window, it's the taste. But you can see there's a good, solid foundation to support a large harvest.

                                 

Does it look good to you?

                      



The last image makes it look like one long hedge.

These plants are Black and Brown Boar, Gold Medal, Michael Pollan, Jersey Giant, Shah/Mikado and Missouri Pink Love Apple. These grafted plants are awfully high for mid-June!

We're Harvesting!!

Saturday's harvest: 2 Yellow Perfection (new).

Sunday's harvest: 2 Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red(1) (new), 2 Black and Brown Boar (new) and Husky Cherry Red (new) for a total of 5 tomatoes.

Today's harvest: 2 Pierce's Pride (new) and 2 Husky Cherry Red for a total of 4 tomatoes.

Painters were at our house all last week. They started early Monday morning and finished on Friday. Since they were showing up at 7 AM each morning and were around the exterior of the whole house, I stayed away from the tomato plants. I looked at the front yard plants on Friday afternoon and noted several maturing tomatoes in the "corner office". Later, my wife noticed that some Yellow Perfections are ready to be harvested. I was surprised to see this but yes, there were tomatoes ready to be harvested.

I added fertilizer to all the front yard tomato plants as well as the container plants in the back yard.

So on Saturday I tried to catch up on training the tomato plants. Some of my fingers were nearly black after I was done. A lot of branches were broken, unfortunately. Several items of note:

There are three tomato plants that seem to be struggling in the "corner office". I'm not sure why. By the same token, all but one plant in the "corner office" has maturing tomatoes.

A lot of the plants were leggy and wispy. I attribute that to the two early heat waves. Some plants are outgrowing the strength within the base of the plant.

Yellow Perfection and Vorlon look great. Lots of fruit on Yellow Perfection, lots of good sized tomatoes on Vorlon.

I found a teenage sized hornworm on Dr. Wyche's Yellow. My wife had found a very tiny hornworm in the back yard (I think it was on Blue Beauty) early last week. I meant to follow up and look myself but I haven't done so yet. But it's early in the season to see hornworms.

The grafted tomato plants in the south garden of the back yard look very healthy. However, I still can't find a growing tomato on Gold Medal. [EDIT: Late Monday night I saw a tomato on Gold Medal.]

Later that day I double watered the plants in the "corner office".

During dinner I tried one of the harvested Yellow Perfection tomatoes. It was good. Not outstanding, but good. A typical early June tomato.

Sunday we deep watered all the "koi pond" tomato plants but we did not double water them. The Pineapple tomato plant's "moat" had a bad leak on the west side. My wife fixed that later in the day. We should rewater this plant. Also, I cut away the lower branches on all the remaining front yard tomato plants.

So we did some catching up but this is high season for tomato training. How much more we catch up remains to be seen... 

Preparing The On-Line Tomato Spreadsheet

My wife watered some of the back yard tomatoes yesterday during another hot day -- it got up to 94.7 degrees at Pierce College nearby.

I've been training the tomatoes the past two mornings as well as putting together the on line tomato harvest spreadsheet for 2013. I think I have it ready to go. If you're interested in seeing the numbers, post your email as a comment to this post and I'll be sure to include you.

While putting things together, here's what I've noticed:

It appears we did not plant SunGold this year. Both my wife and I are really surprised by this, but there's no record of it this blog for this year nor in my documentation. We both think we had a SunGold plant but perhaps we gave it away at some point. Or the unknown plant that we're guessing is Orange Paruche is really SunGold. Or more likely, we don't have it. No volunteers have come up yet. My wife may go out and grab one if we can still find it.

We planted a tomato plant named Grande in the back yard that was not recorded in my blog. This was the second of two French tomatoes handed to us by a TomatoMania volunteer. For the spreadsheet I guessed at the planting date based on what was planted around it.

All the plants in the "corner office" have growing tomatoes.

All but three plants in the "koi pond" have tomatoes. The three that do not are Paul Robeson, Black Seaman and Dr. Wyche's Yellow. Only Paul Robeson is concerning me. The concern is that I have had poor luck with this tomato plant the last several years. I'm beginning to think the line is "polluted" somehow but I'm getting a bit ahead of myself. The plant seems fine for now, just no tomatoes.

Four out of six plants in the south garden (in the back yard) have tomatoes. All six of these plants are grafts. As a group they look stronger and are a bit larger in size than the other plants. The ones missing tomatoes are Jersey Giant and Gold Medal. No concerns here, they look great.

In the main back yard area only Snow White and Green Zebra have tomatoes. This area was planted later than the rest, so no issues here.

Among the container plants Sweet 100 has growing tomatoes.

My guess is that we'll do about 5000 harvested tomatoes for 2013. Unofficially we planted 53 tomato plants this year, down significantly from last year. I'm also troubled by the early hot spells we've been having so far. 

Descanso Gardens TomatoMania was a Success!

On Friday my wife planted four more grafted tomatoes in the south garden -- Missouri Pink Love Apple, Michael Pollan, Gold Medal and Black & Brown Boar. She caged all the grafts with our homemade cages from last year. Also she added two layers of green ribbon twine across the bottom two holes of the cages to keep our dogs away from the seedlings.

In the evening I planted Vorlon, Black Krim, Black Cherry and Pineapple in the front yard "koi pond". My wife did help out toward the end of that planting, making sure we finished before the sun set.

On Saturday I helped out with the Descanso Gardens TomatoMania event. The Descanso Gardens location gets more popular and this year kept to that tradition. It was extremely busy in the early morning followed by a pretty steady pace throughout the day.

The tomato seedlings are kept on foldaway tables as opposed to being placed on the ground. I seem to be the designated person moving the stock forward and let me tell you, it's much easier on tables. I interacted with the customers a lot more than I did at the Encino location because I was (somewhat) less fatigured and there was simply less stock to manage. Keeping up at the main event in Encino this year was hopeless, but I did catch up with things at Descanso Gardens just before closing time.

We met some friends for dinner in the area and that was a lot of fun. I didn't get home until around 8:30 PM.

On Sunday I was back at Descanso Gardens. Our original plans were to have my wife working on Sunday but she changed her mind. So I worked it. It was a slower pace but by no means slow. Again, I got to talk with the customers more.

When I left for the day there were approximately 80 tomatoes remaining. From what I'm told, the Descanso Gardens event started with 370 flats (usually there's 16 seedlings per flat but a few had 25 per flat), or roughly 6000 seedlings. A successful event!

During the day my wife watered the planted tomatoes in the "corner office".

I check the planted tomatoes this morning and the plants were doing just fine!