Purchased Two Husky Cherry Red Tomatoes!

Okay, let's get caught up on things, shall we?

I harvested a Tumbling Tom on June 1. I tried it and found it a bit mealy but otherwise acceptable.

Last Saturday we harvested an Isis Candy and an Indigo Rose. My wife tried the Indigo Rose and said it wasn't quite ready yet. I don't know what happened with the Isis Candy, but I know the dogs have been picking off some of the mature ones before I can harvest them.

We harvested a Tumbling Tom last Monday. My wife tried it and found it a bit mealy as well.

Over the Memorial Day weekend we purchased two Husky Cherry Red tomato plants! We were surprised to find them. We won't have Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red or Vorlon or SunGold or Orange Paruche but at least we'll have Husky Cherry Red!

I dug holes last weekend but my wife expected me to plant them and I expected her to plant them. One hole is in the "koi pond" and the other hole is where Kellogg's Breakfast was planted. Kellogg's Breakfast did nothing and was starting to wither away.

This year will not be a normal year. We planted late (and are still planting!) due to a number of factors. I have pruned the branches off the ground in the "koi pond" over the Memorial Day weekend, but by last week it needed to be done again. I haven't gotten to the back yard pruning at all.

Normally I'd be "training" the tomato plants every morning, but even that has been temporarily curtailed. If the weather is cool enough and I have the time, I'll do a little bit of tomato work at night. But a vast majority of the work is done over the weekend, weather permitting.

I haven't even started on the on-line spreadsheet this year. There's too much to do around the house.

And as it stands, I may not do daily blog updates when the harvest rolls in. I used to be able to handle this in the early morning, but no longer. If it happens, it will be at night when I have the time to get things posted.

I'm not complaining about it, it's just the way things are.

On the plus side, the growth of Hungarian Heart has been truly amazing. It's already approaching 5 feet tall. By comparison, I don't think any tomato plant in the "koi pond" has reached two feet in height.

Almost all of the plants look quite good but will mature in the middle of the summer heat. 

It's Over for 2014

It's over for 2014.

The tomato plants were pulled last Saturday. They were meant to be pulled the prior Saturday but the gardeners didn't show.

I didn't harvest at all during the week but I did pick off a few tomatoes before the plants were pulled last Saturday. Sunchocola, which looked pretty darn good and strong three weeks ago, got the fungal disease. The top of the plant looked like it had spider webs on it. For what it's worth the Sunchocola plant also had a couple of hornworms on it, though that's not related to the fungal disease.

Our total harvest for the year ended up at 6904 tomatoes. Here are our top ten harvest totals for 2014:

Orange Paruche -- 1250
Sunchocola -- 1015
Matt's Wild Cherry -- 683
SunGold -- 666
Sugar Snack -- 333
Husky Cherry Red(2) -- 332
Husky Cherry Red(1) -- 245
Evan's Purple Pear -- 189
Black Cherry -- 153
Indigo Rose -- 139

We added a lot of compost in preparation for this year. The plants started out strong but more importantly we were very pleased with the taste of this year's crop. However, most of the plants "hit the wall" relatively soon. Why?

Well, one never knows. For instance, it could have been a weak year for seedlings...but barring a few tomato plants that didn't seem to be the issue. The soil was prepped moreso than in other years. But there were two factors overriding everything else: This was the hottest year on record and we got very little rain during the prior winter.

This record's record heat is consistent with how our plants seemed to peak and die about two to three weeks earlier than before. That is clear. But what about fall and winter rains? We're warming to the opinion that the rains in the fall/winter affect next year's crop. We're beginning to believe that rain brings worms up to the top of the soil, depositing worm castings where the tomato plants can later use it.

2013 was our worst harvest year on record. In that year we had little rain the prior fall/winter and I did not prepare the soil like I did in the fall of 2013. And it showed. In 2007 I could find plenty of worms in our front yard. This year I don't think I saw a single worm anywhere in our growing area.

Our plans for 2015 will involve prepping the soil similar to what we did late last year. That means we should acquire compost in the near future. But if we have a low rain amount during the next fall and winter, we may not plant tomatoes for 2015. Or we'll scale back and try to not "fight nature" as much as in prior years. 

Pulled 12 Tomato Plants

Saturday's harvest includes 5 Sunchocola, 5 Matt's Wild Cherry, 5 Husky Cherry Red(2), 4 Sugar Snack, 3 Bloody Butcher, 3 SunGold, 2 Purple Bumble Bee, 2 Green Grape, 2 Michael Pollan, Blue Gold, Pink Berkeley Tie Dye(1), Speckled Roman(2), Indigo Rose, Evan's Purple Pear and Husky Cherry Red(1) for a total of 37 tomatoes.

The Pink Berkeley Tie Dye(1) and Blue Gold tomatoes were nice, the rest were unremarkable.

After the harvest I pulled out a lot of tomato plants. The pulled plants include Bloody Butcher, Indigo Apple, Yellow Perfection, Orange Paruche, Hungarian Heart, Indigo Rose, Jaune Flamme, Snow White, Nyagous, Cherokee Purple, Garden Peach(1) and Japanese Black Trifele, 12 in all. A few of these still had tomatoes to ripen but I simply wasn't interested in the final product. I would have pulled Captain Lucky as well, but the cage is supporting a leaning Michael Pollan so I left it alone.

No milestones today. 

Harvested 1250 Orange Paruche Tomatoes This Year!

Today's harvest includes 6 SunGold, 4 Sunchcola, 4 Matt's Wild Cherry, 4 Husky Cherry Red(1), 4 Michael Pollan, 3 Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red, 3 Sugar Snack, 2 Blue Beauty, 2 Garden Peach(1), 2 Husky Cherry Red(2), Orange Paruche, Speckled Roman(2), Volunteer(4), Indigo Rose, Beauty King and Green Grape for a total of 40 tomatoes.

There really wasn't much of anything to today's harvest.

It looks like there may be a lot of tomato plants pulled tomorrow. I think I'll not only be pulling out the ones with no more tomatoes left, I'll also pull out the ones that have just a few left. Also on the target list are ones like Ananas Noire, Snow White, Jaune Flamme, Indigo Rose and Garden Peach(1) in the back yard. The plants for Hungarian Heart and Earl of Edgecombe are okay but I don't remember any fruit on them. If there are none I may pull them.

We've now harvested exactly 1250 Orange Paruche tomatoes this year! And that may be it for Orange Paruche... 

Front Yard Plants Are Burned Out

Today's harvest includes 5 Matt's Wild Cherry, 4 Sugar Snack, 3 Sunchocola, 3 Indigo Rose, 2 Bloody Butcher, 2 Orange Paruche, 2 SunGold, 2 Green Grape, 2 Husky Cherry Red(2), 2 Michael Pollan, Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red, Porkchop(1), Bread and Salt, Volunteer(4), Speckled Roman(2), Jaune Flamme, Nyagous, Garden Peach(1), Aunt Ruby's German Green and Husky Cherry Red(1) for a total of 37 tomatoes.

Remember back in mid to late June I was commenting on how tall and beautiful the front yard tomato plants were? It was like they were three weeks ahead of normal.

I tend to pull a lot of plants around Labor Day...but it looks like this year I'll be pulling out a lot of plants right about this weekend. They are burned out. The only one that looks like will get a second wind is Sunchocola.

Outside of Porkchop(1) the rest of the harvest was unremarkable.

No milestones hit today, but we should hit a couple milestones tomorrow. 

Harvested 150 Husky Cherry Red(1) Tomatoes This Year!

Today's harvest includes 6 Matt's Wild Cherry, 5 SunGold, 5 Husky Cherry Red(2), 3 Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red, 3 Sunchocola, 3 Indigo Rose, 2 Indian Stripe, 2 Volunteer(4), 2 Jaune Flamme, 2 Evan's Purple Pear, 2 Porkchop(1), 2 Garden Peach(1), Speckled Roman(1), Orange Paruche, Bread and Salt, Speckled Roman(2), Black Icicle, Solar Flare, Purple Bumble Bee, Husky Cherry Red(1), Sugar Snack and Michael Pollan for a total of 47 tomatoes.

After I harvested the front yard I pulled out Adriana's Grande and Pink Berkeley Tie Dye(2). Yellow Perfection and Orange Paruche aren't that far behind. I don't want to pull out Orange Paruche, but it is showing no sign of a second wind whatsoever. At this pace Orange Paruche may be gone by the end of the week.

Outside of the Indian Stripe tomatoes, there wasn't much to today's harvest. The two Indian Stripe tomatoes looked pretty good.

We've now harvested exactly 150 Husky Cherry Red(1) tomatoes this year! 

Harvested Over 1000 Tomatoes in August!

Sunday's harvest includes 17 Matt's Wild Cherry, 6 Orange Paruche, 6 SunGold, 5 Evan's Purple Pear, 5 Black Cherry, 5 Husky Cherry Red(2), 4 Indigo Rose, 4 Jaune Flamme, 4 Garden Peach(1), 3 Volunteer(4), 2 Bloody Butcher, 2 Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red, 2 Sunchocola, 2 Pink Berkeley Tie Dye(1) (6 ounces), 2 Green Grape, 2 Husky Cherry Red(1), 2 Sugar Snack, 2 Michael Pollan, Indigo Apple, Bread and Salt, Blue Gold, Speckled Roman(2), Neves Azorean Red, Snow White, Solar Flare and Beauty King for a total of 83 tomatoes.

My wife whipped together a couple of quesadillas with cheese and tomato slices. One had Great White and another had Aunt Ruby's German Green. They were delicious! You can't get away from it, our tomatoes are quite good tasting.

We've now harvested over 5500 tomatoes this year (5567) and over 1000 tomatoes in August (1028)! 

Harvested Over 200 Sugar Snack Tomatoes This Year!

Saturday's harvest includes 9 Matt's Wild Cherry, 8 Orange Paruche, 6 Black Cherry, 5 Indigo Rose, 5 SunGold, 5 Evan's Purple Pear, 5 Garden Peach(1), 5 Sugar Snack, 3 Snow White, 2 Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red, 2 Porkchop(1) (8 ounces), 2 Blue Gold, 2 Speckled Roman(2), 2 Black Icicle, 2 Nyagous, 2 Green Grape, Bloody Butcher, Indigo Apple, Sunchocola, Bread and Salt, Volunteer(4), Aunt Ruby's German Green (6 ounces), Solar Flare, Persimmon(2) (not Persimmon), Stupice, Husky Cherry Red(1) and "Green Zebra" (not Green Zebra) for a total of 76 tomatoes.

After the harvest I pulled out Stupice, Black Krim and Paul Robeson. Black Krim still had some ripening tomatoes but they were quite "wobbly" -- the maturation of the Black Krim tomatoes was not uniform. These tomatoes were blotchy and stripey and nothing like normal Black Krim tomatoes. So I pulled it out.

I was waiting for the gardeners to come. I was going to have them pull Adriana's Grande, but the gardeners never showed.

After pulling out the three back yard tomatoes, I double watered the back yard tomatoes in the ground. They really needed watering.

We've now harvested over 200 Sugar Snack tomatoes this year (202)! 

Harvested Over 900 Sunchocola Tomatoes This Year!

Today's harvest includes 10 Matt's Wild Cherry, 10 Husky Cherry Red(2), 8 Orange Paruche, 8 SunGold, 7 Volunteer(4), 7 Black Cherry, 5 Bread and Salt (6.5 ounces, 6.5 ounces, 7.5 ounces), 4 Sunchocola, 4 Indigo Rose, 4 Stupice, 4 Sugar Snack, 4 Michael Pollan, 3 Bloody Butcher, 3 Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red, 3 Pineapple, 3 Green Grape, 2 German Orange Strawberry (6 ounces), 2 Jaune Flamme, 2 Nyagous, 2 Evan's Purple Pear, 2 Husky Cherry Red(1), Porkchop(1), Yellow Perfection, Adriana's Grande, Speckled Roman(2), Black Icicle, Cherokee Purple and "Green Zebra" (not Green Zebra) for a total of 104 tomatoes.

In what alternate universe does Bread and Salt have a higher harvest total than Sunchocola? Bread and Salt keeps cranking them out -- it's making a believer out of me.

I was less aggressive with today's harvest. I didn't have the right clothes and shoes for the job and didn't "dig in" like I normally do. Because of the wrong garb I didn't pull out any tomato plants. Still, the numbers look all right.

I know I need to report on how Purple Bumble Bee tastes. But all of the Purple Bumble Bee tomatoes have been given away to others.

We've now harvested over 500 back yard tomatoes this month (503). What's a little more interesting is that the back yard harvest number is now essentially even with the front yard harvest numbers (2604 back yard, 2608 front yard). When I was harvesting nearly around 100 combined Sunchocola and Orange Paruche tomatoes a month ago there was no way to anticipate the back yard catching up. But the back yard will pass up the front yard tomorrow.

We've now harvested over 900 Sunchocola tomatoes (902) this year, over 450 SunGold tomatoes this year (456) and over 150 Husky Cherry Red tomatoes this year (157)! 

Harvested Over 2500 Front Yard Tomatoes This Year!

Sunday's harvest includes 16 Matt's Wild Cherry, 12 Sunchocola, 12 Husky Cherry Red(1), 8 Husky Cherry Red(2), 7 Volunteer(4), 7 Evan's Purple Pear, 6 Orange Paruche, 6 SunGold, 5 Pineapple, 5 Michael Pollan, 4 Bread and Salt (9 ounces, 6 ounces), 4 Speckled Roman(2), 4 Indigo Rose, 4 Black Cherry, 4 Green Grape, 3 Bloody Butcher, 3 Blue Beauty, 3 Jaune Flamme, 3 Garden Peach(2), 2 Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red, 2 Pink Berkeley Tie Dye(1), 2 Black Krim, 2 Nyagous, Speckled Roman(1), Blue Gold, Ananas Noire, Neves Azorean Red, Black Icicle, Dr. Wyche's Yellow, Aunt Ruby's German Green, Odoriko, Sugar Snack and Golden Rave for a total of 134 tomatoes.

I harvested in three sections on Sunday, as I commonly do. First, the front yard is harvested. This haul is brought in and a count is done. Second, the raised beds and the containers are harvested, brought in and counted. And third is the back yard tomatoes planted in the ground. When I brought in the third round, my wife had taken all the cherry tomatoes from the first two rounds and made a morning tomato salad for breakfast.

Before I brought in the third round I had added fertilizer to the container plants, the tomato plants in the raised bed area, Sunchocola and Orange Paruche. I pulled out the Odoriko tomato plant.

The tomato salad was excellent! We also had some of our "tomato chips", which are sliced tomatoes placed in the dehydrator and "cooked" for a couple of days. They were quite good as well.

Pierce College reported measurable rain last night, one hundredth of an inch. We had some trace amounts of rain a couple of times Sunday afternoon and evening. The muggy weather existed for another day.

No harvest done on Monday.

We've now harvested over 2500 tomatoes in the front yard this year (2526)! Also, we've harvested over 100 Indigo Rose toamtoes this year (101) and exactly 100 Garden Peach(2) tomatoes this year. 

Harvested 100 Evan's Purple Pear Tomatoes

Saturday's harvest includes 21 Matt's Wild Cherry, 14 SunGold, 11 Orange Paruche, 10 Sunchocola, 10 Evan's Purple Pear, 8 Indigo Rose, 7 Husky Cherry Red(2), 3 Speckled Roman(2), 3 Black Cherry, 3 Garden Peach(1), 3 Garden Peach(2), 3 Husky Cherry Red(1), 2 Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red, 2 Bread and Salt (6 ounces), 2 Blue Beauty (8 ounces, 8 ounces), 2 Pineapple (7 ounces), German Orange Strawberry, Volunteer(4), Black Krim, Paul Robeson, Purple Bumble Bee, Beauty King, Cherokee Purple, Green Grape, Sugar Snack and Michael Pollan for a total of 114 tomatoes.

The Blue Beauty tomatoes are half nice. Half of the tomato is a beautiful red and the other half is behind, even green in spots. The Sunchocola tomatoes are getting "wobbly" as well, with inconsistent coloring (maturing) on the tomato.

My wife told me that the gardener made a special trip on Thursday to help with the garden and he got bags of tomatoes as well.

We're having some strange muggy and cloudy weather. We've even had a few sprinkles. At least we didn't reach the 102/101/99 of a few days ago.

Only one milestone today, we've now harvested exactly 100 Evan's Purple Pear tomatoes this year. 

A Much Better Harvest

Today's harvest includes 19 Matt's Wild Cherry, 13 Sunchocola, 11 Indigo Rose, 11 SunGold, 10 Evan's Purple Pear, 9 Black Cherry, 9 Husky Cherry Red(2), 8 Orange Paruche, 5 Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red, 5 Bread and Salt (7.5 ounces, 7.5 ounces, 7 ounces), 5 Husky Cherry Red(1), 4 Speckled Roman(2), 3 Pineapple (8.5 ounces), 2 Porkchop(1) (8 ounces, 7 ounces), 2 Blue Beauty, 2 Jaune Flamme, 2 Persimmon(2) (not Persimmon), 2 Garden Peach(1), 2 Garden Peach(2), 2 Green Grape, 2 Sugar Snack, Bloody Butcher, Great White (9 ounces), Pink Berkeley Tie Dye(1), Volunteer(4), Garden Peach(3) and Michael Pollan for a total of 134 tomatoes.

Today's harvest was *much* better than yesterday's harvest. Not only did we have 7 tomatoes that were 6 ounces or more, Pink Berkeley Tie Dye(1) was larger than anything harvested yesterday.

A lot of the smaller tomatoes over the past few days were given to our cleaning people.

After the morning's harvest I pulled out Garden Peach(3). My wife will be happy -- this plant was affecting her view of the back yard garden.

No tomato milestones today. 

Harvested Neves Azorean Red!

Today's harvest includes 22 Matt's Wild Cherry, 12 SunGold, 10 Orange Paruche, 8 Indigo Rose, 6 Evan's Purple Pear, 6 Husky Cherry Red(1), 4 Sunchocola, 4 Green Grape, 4 Husky Cherry Red(2), 4 Sugar Snack, 2 Snow White, 2 Garden Peach(2), Neves Azorean Red (new), Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red, Earl of Edgecombe, Blue Gold, Pineapple, Black Krim, Nyagous, Stupice, Cherokee Purple and Michael Pollan for a total of 94 tomatoes.

The new Neves Azorean Red is undersized.

In fact, today's harvest was simply disappointing. The numbers are there but the size isn't. The heaviest tomato was maybe 3 ounces. It's like a harvest in September.

We've now harvested over 4500 tomatoes this year (4539)! 

Harvested Over 2000 Back Yard Tomatoes This Year!

Today's harvest includes 20 Matt's Wild Cherry, 14 Sunchocola, 14 SunGold, 9 Orange Paruche, 9 Indigo Rose, 9 Evan's Purple Pear, 5 Garden Peach(2), 5 Sugar Snack, 4 Speckled Roman(2), 4 Black Cherry, 4 Husky Cherry Red(1), 3 Pineapple (7 ounces, 7.5 ounces), 3 Garden Peach(1), 3 Husky Cherry Red(2), 2 Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red, 2 Blue Beauty (6.5 ounces), 2 Nyagous, 2 Cherokee Purple, 2 Green Grape, 2 Persimmon(2) (not Persimmon), 2 Michael Pollan, Speckled Roman(1), Indigo Apple, German Orange Strawberry (9 ounces), Bread and Salt, Blue Gold, Volunteer(4), Jaune Flamme, Black Krim, Dr. Wyche's Yellow, Pink Berkeley Tie Dye(2), Purple Bumble Bee and Odoriko for a total of 132 tomatoes.

My wife made stuffed tomatoes yesterday -- took her all afternoon -- and they were worth it. She found them a bit bland but I didn't. They were stuffed with meat, cheese and other items.

Wow, Evan's Purple Pear must be in "high season". I harvested 12 yesterday. The Pineapple tomatoes aren't as large as prior years but we're consistently getting a lot of 5-7 ounce tomatoes from this plant.

A Neves Azorean Red tomato is maturing.

We've now harvested over 2000 tomatoes in the back yard this year (2023)! And the back yard total is rapidly catching up with the front yard total -- they only differ by about 400 tomatoes. Also, we've harvested over 400 Matt's Wild Cherry tomatoes (407) and exactly 100 Husky Cherry Red(2) tomatoes. 

Harvested Purple Bumble Bee!

Today's harvest includes 18 Matt's Wild Cherry, 13 Orange Paruche, 12 Sunchocola, 12 Evan's Purple Pear, 11 SunGold, 8 Husky Cherry Red(1), 7 Indigo Rose, 7 Husky Cherry Red(2), 6 Sugar Snack, 4 Garden Peach(2), 4 Japanese Black Trifele, 3 Speckled Roman(2), 3 Volunteer(4), 2 Purple Bumble Bee (new), 2 Earl of Edgecombe, 2 Bread and Salt (7.5 ounces), 2 Pineapple, 2 Garden Peach(1), Bloody Butcher, Indigo Apple, Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red, Porkchop(1), Adriana's Grande, German Orange Strawberry, Hungarian Heart, Blue Gold, Pink Berkeley Tie Dye(1), Blue Beauty, Paul Robeson, Persimmon(2) (not Persimmon), Black Cherry, Stupice, Odoriko and Michael Pollan for a total of 134 tomatoes.

The Purple Bumble Bee tomatoes are pretty cute. They look just like the image in this link, though the red isn't quite as pronounced. It's possible I picked a day early. We'll see...

I spent more time with the back yard harvest today. I didn't get chased out by the sprinklers. I harvested 12 Evan's Purple Pear today, none yesterday. It's a safe bet that some of today's harvest should have been picked yesterday.

We've now harvested over 100 Husky Cherry Red(1) tomatoes (103)! 

Harvested Porkchop(1) and Dr. Wyche's Yellow!

Today's harvest includes 22 Matt's Wild Cherry, 14 Sunchocola, 10 SunGold, 10 Orange Paruche, 7 Sugar Snack, 6 Black Cherry, 6 Husky Cherry Red(2), 5 Indigo Rose, 5 Husky Cherry Red(1), 2 Porkchop(1) (new, 6 ounces), 2 German Orange Strawberry (7 ounces, 6 ounces), 2 Adriana's Grande, 2 Speckled Roman(2), 2 Garden Peach(1), 2 Green Grape, Dr. Wyche's Yellow (new), Earl of Edgecombe, Volunteer(4), Snow White, Paul Robeson, Persimmon(2) (not Persimmon), Beauty King and Cherokee Purple for a total of 105 tomatoes.

Both Porkchop(1) and Dr. Wyche's Yellow were surprises. Dr. Wyche's Yellow is undersized, which seems to be consistent with a lot of the back yard tomatoes in the ground. But this is a seedling, not from seed.

We've now harvested from every plant in the front yard, though the Vorlon tomatoes could just as easily been tossed away without counting them. It appears there was something wrong with the Vorlon seedlings this year. Someone at our tomato party planted Vorlon and it was a complete dud for them, though other tomato plants in the same area went bonkers.

The tomato plants are starting to look old and ugly due to the hot weather.

It looks like Purple Bumble Bee tomatoes are maturing.

I pulled out Pineapple Pig last night.

We've now harvested over 3500 tomatoes in July (3524) and over 800 Sunchocola tomatoes (812) this year! 

Harvested Great White!

Today's harvest includes 17 Orange Paruche, 13 Sunchocola, 12 Matt's Wild Cherry, 7 SunGold, 6 Husky Cherry Red(1), 5 Indigo Rose, 5 Snow White, 4 Garden Peach(3), 3 Jaune Flamme, 3 Black Cherry, 3 Husky Cherry Red(2), 2 Yellow Perfection, 2 Blue Beauty (6 ounces), 2 Stupice, 2 Beauty King, Great White (new, 13 ounces), Bloody Butcher, Indian Stripe, German Orange Strawberry (11.5 ounces), Blue Gold, Pineapple, Speckled Roman(2), Volunteer(4), Black Krim, Green Grape and Sugar Snack for a total of 97 tomatoes.

The Great White tomato was both a surprise and a beauty. Here's an image of it.

The harvested German Orange Strawberry tomato is another beauty.

For those not in our area, we are in the middle of a pretty big heat wave. Two days ago it got up to 101; yesterday it got up to 105.

My wife watered the front yard tomatoes last night. I gave another light spritzing of the back yard tomatoes in the ground this morning.

I started to pull out the cage around Garden Peach(3) in order to pull out the plant. But in so doing I saw one more immature tomato on the vine. When that matures this plant will be pulled.

We've now harvested exactly 350 SunGold tomatoes this year and exactly 300 SunGold tomatoes this July! 

Harvested Beauty King!

Today's harvest includes 23 Matt's Wild Cherry, 16 Sunchocola, 15 Orange Paruche, 11 SunGold, 5 Indigo Rose, 4 Husky Cherry Red(1), 4 Sugar Snack, 3 Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red, 3 Pineapple, 3 Garden Peach(1), 3 Husky Cherry Red(2), 3 Garden Peach(3), 2 Beauty King (new), 2 Stupice, 2 Garden Peach(2), 2 Michael Pollan, Bloody Butcher, Yellow Perfection, German Orange Strawberry, Bread and Salt, Snow White, Pink Berkeley Tie Dye(2) and Black Cherry for a total of 108 tomatoes.

As mentioned yesterday, the harvested Beauty King tomatoes appear undersized. We grew these from seeds and our seeds are old...

After the harvest I pulled out Earliana and Berkeley Tie Dye. I added stakes to Hungarian Heart, Sunchocola and German Orange Strawberry. They were only partially successful as I didn't have enough tomato tape. I changed the cage for Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red, but in the process I lost about two dozen unripe tomatoes. Looking back on it I should have used three wooden stakes to prop up the cage, but what's done is done. The cage was too small, not secured and was hindering the plant...but losing two dozen tomatoes in the process is too much.

I can't think of the last time when the high harvest total for the day wasn't led by Orange Paruche or Sunchocola. Today the high harvest amount was led by Matt's Wild Cherry.

We've now harvested exactly 1100 Orange Paruche tomatoes and over 300 Matt's Wild Cherry tomatoes (313) this year! 

Harvested Over 3000 Tomatoes In July!

Today's harvest includes 24 Orange Paruche, 15 Matt's Wild Cherry, 14 Sunchocola, 11 SunGold, 10 Sugar Snack, 8 Husky Cherry Red(1), 8 Husky Cherry Red(2), 4 Indigo Rose, 4 Evan's Purple Pear, 4 Stupice, 3 Pineapple (6 ounces), 3 Black Cherry, 3 Garden Peach(1), 2 Speckled Roman(1), 2 Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red, 2 German Orange Strawberry (7.5 ounces, 7 ounces), 2 Pink Berkeley Tie Dye(1), 2 Speckled Roman(2), 2 Snow White, 2 Garden Peach(2), Bloody Butcher, Adriana's Grande, Earl of Edgecombe, Hungarian Heart (10 ounces), Blue Beauty (6 ounces), Paul Robeson and Garden Peach(3) for a total of 132 tomatoes.

I was very close to harvesting an undersized Beauty King. It was completely ready by sight, but by feel it wasn't there yet. I'll probably harvest one or two tomorrow.

After harvesting the back yard I did a five second plant watering of each tomato in the ground. We have a heat wave coming and I wanted to give the plants a little drink.

We've now harvested over 3000 tomatoes for July (3058)! It looks like we'll harvest a little less than 4000 tomatoes this month, less than the estimated 5250 at the beginning of the month. Also, we've harvested over 1500 tomatoes in the back yard for this year (1503). 

A Successful Party!

Sunday's harvest includes 33 Sunchocola, 33 Orange Paruche, 19 Matt's Wild Cherry, 16 SunGold, 8 Garden Peach(1), 7 Yellow Perfection, 6 Evan's Purple Pear, 6 Sugar Snack, 5 Earliana, 4 Bloody Butcher, 4 Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red, 4 Blue Beauty (10.5 ounces, 8 ounces, 8 ounces, 7.5 ounces), 4 Indigo Rose, 4 Husky Cherry Red(2), 3 Adriana's Grande (6 ounces), 3 Snow White, 3 Garden Peach(2), 2 Speckled Roman(2), 2 Jaune Flamme, 2 Nyagous, 2 Stupice, 2 Husky Cherry Red(1), Indigo Apple, Bread and Salt, Pink Berkeley Tie Dye(1) (7 ounces), Green Grape and Garden Peach(3) for a total of 177 tomatoes.

The party was quite a success. I've been told that everyone had a good time though the participation was lighter than in years past. The weather was fabulous. It's almost guaranteed to be the coolest party in July, temperature-wise. I think it got up to 83 degrees. One of the parties had highs of 104 degrees. Let's say most of that party was indoors. That year we had window air conditioners which couldn't keep everything temperate (now we have an HVAC installed).

The dishes we put out were loved by just about everyone. A green chili salsa was brought by my mother in law and a caprese salad showed up, both simply great. A cheesecake showed up, people brought wine and whatnot. We're immensely grateful. My wife and cousin are deserving of all the accolades. I just stand around and look pretty.

The Blue Beauty tomatoes are just that, absolutely beautiful tomatoes. They are the highlight of today's harvest.

We've now harvested over 2500 tomatoes in July (2668), over 1500 front yard tomatoes in July (1579) and over 700 Sunchocola tomatoes this year!