Pulled Out Three More Tomato Plants

Thursday's harvest includes 6 Matt's Wild Cherry, Persimmon, SunGold(1) and Orange And Green Zebra for a total of 9 tomatoes.

Later on in the afternoon I pulled out Vorlon, Persimmon and Orange And Green Zebra.

Friday's harvest includes 7 Matt's Wild Cherry, Honkin' Big Black Cherry, Kellogg's Breakfast and Green Zebra(1) for a total of 10 tomatoes.

Saturday's harvest inlcudes 3 Matt's Wild Cherry, Large Pink Anna(1) and Patio for a total of 5 tomatoes.

Today's harvest includes 2 Matt's Wild Cherry, SunGold(1), Large Pink Anna(1), Patio, Jaune Flamme and Aunt Ruby's German Green(3) for a total of 7 tomatoes.

The SunGold(1) tomato plant is both full and healthy. But it holds many grasshoppers. It's a grasshopper hotel. I've found a couple of hornworms on the plant. Hornworms have been rare this year.

There are more plants ready to be pulled when the weather is more temperate. 

Harvested 200 Sweet Carneros Pink Tomatoes!

Saturday's harvest includes 3 Matt's Wild Cherry, 2 SunSugar, SunGold(1), Golden Mama, Jaune Flamme, Orange And Green Zebra and Green Doctors Kiwi(2) for a total of 10 tomatoes.

Sunday's harvest includes 4 SunGold(1), 4 Matt's Wild Cherry, Green Grape, Sweet Carneros Pink, Green Doctors Kiwi(2) and Husky Gold for a total of 12 tomatoes.

Today's harvest includes 5 Matt's Wild Cherry, 4 SunGold(1) and Sweet Carneros Pink for a total of 10 tomatoes.

We've now harvested 200 Sweet Carneros Pink tomatoes!

As you can tell, our harvest has dropped dramatically. Dribs and drabs now.

We picked up some great tomatoes from our local farmer's market grown by Tutti Fruitti Farms in Lompoc, California. Highly recommended! 

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. 

Pulled Nine Tomato Plants

Wednesday's harvest includes 7 Matt's Wild Cherry, 2 Golden Mama, 2 SunSugar, Husky Cherry Red(2), SunGold(1), Green Grape, Green Doctors Kiwi(1) (not Green Doctor's Kiwi), Aunt Ruby's German Green(1), Orange And Green Zebra, Garden Peach, Oaxacan Jewel(2) and Sweet Carneros Pink for a total of 20 tomatoes.

Thursday's harvest includes 4 SunGold(1), 2 Jaune Flamme, 2 SunSugar, 2 Garden Peach, Vorlon, Porkchop, Golden Mama, Matt's Wild Cherry, Large Pink Anna(1), Green Grape and Sweet Carneros Pink for a total of 17 tomatoes.

Thursday we celebrated our fourth wedding anniversary! We went out to lunch to celebrate but it was hard not to think about our Manchester Terrier. Still, I'm really happy in our marriage and am proud we married four years ago.

Friday's harvest includes 8 Matt's Wild Cherry, 2 SunGold(1), Green Zebra(1), Husky Cherry Red(2), Large Pink Anna(1), Michael Pollan, SunSugar, Garden Peach and Yellow Brandywine for a total of 17 tomatoes.

My wife watered the back yard container plants.

I raked off the hay in the south portion of the "koi pond", put in a bag of planter mix and scraped away a small trench around the edge of the plantable area. Afterward, my wife came in and planted pea seeds (sweet peas, but perhaps snap peas).

Today's harvest includes 9 Matt's Wild Cherry, 2 Golden Mama, Porkchop, SunGold(1), SunSugar and Coyote (not Coyote) for a total of 15 tomatoes.

I pulled out several tomato plants. In the front yard I pulled Porkchop and Haley's Purple Comet. In the back yard I pulled Big White Pink Stripe, Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red, Crimson Cushion(2), Oaxacan Jewel(2), Paul Robeson(2), Yellow Brandywine and Coyote (not Coyote). The back yard cutout is nearly clear of tomato plants.

The back yard harvest has slowed down simply because there's so few plants left. And the ones that are left are mostly in containers. And containers constrict the harvest for the contained plants. 

Yesterday Was Buster's Day

No harvest yesterday.

There was no harvest yesterday because we had to put down our beloved Manchester Terrier, Buster Brown. We took him to the veternarian as he had projectile vomited overnight and hadn't eaten in a day and a half. When we got him there he had lost more weight than before (we brought him in about a week prior). My wife and I discussed it and decided that nothing more can be done.

So yesterday was Buster's day. I carried him on his favorite walk, the long walk, in the late morning. My wife spent quiet time with him in the back yard. She carried him around the back yard. After a few chores, I brought him back to a local veternary clinic.

I first met Buster when I met my then girlfriend. I remember him being aggressive and pugnacious, but he was clearly just protecting my girlfriend. I liked him. But soon he dug himself out of the backyard and ran away once or twice.

Later on I found out he had a rough upbringing and may have been abused when he was a puppy. My now wife got him around the age of 2.5 to 3 years and thought he owned her and her back yard. If a male had originally treated him badly and a female treated him nicely, one can fully understand his reaction. I didn't quite understand that at the time but Buster was a dog's dog, both good and bad. Even if I didn't like some behavior I pretty much always knew where he was coming from.

Then I moved in. More adjustments. He still thought he was the alpha dog and it took a while to convince him otherwise. Sometimes I wasn't gentle about it, but I had to show him that he wasn't in control of me. I also had to show him that there were no hard feelings.

My then girlfriend didn't walk the dogs, but I did. And Buster loved it. And we bonded.

One night Buster was misbehaving in some fashion just before I was to walk both of them. I tried something different -- I put him on his leash without punishing him and attached the end of his leash to the table leg. And the other dog and I went for a walk.

He got it. Punishing him was hit or miss but taking away this privilege while the other dog enjoyed it. His behavior got much better. We bonded some more, understood each other. He never ran away again.

He'd picked off my ripening tomatoes which I didn't like but it would frequently make me laugh more than anything. Him and I would coordinate so that he could catch grasshoppers. I'd call him over and then spook the grasshopper, making it move and Buster would do the rest.

He was a chatty dog. That was one of his charms. It was noisy, but charming. He was affectionate, moreso as he got older. And he loved walks. And dog biscuits.

He had lost weight pretty dramatically over the last several weeks. He had inflammatory bowel disease but we believe it was more than that. Regardless, he felt good enough on Friday night/Saturday morning that when he was placed on our bed he was licking my calf for 5 or 10 minutes. With force. Like nothing was wrong. I had walked him to the end of the block earlier in the evening.

On Saturday he took a turn for the worse. Sunday night he didn't eat all day and it all came out and more on Monday morning. Even though he was wobbly legged, I did get him outside and walked to the sidewalk and back.

The toughest part of putting him down was the one hour wait.

Eventually he was brought in, talked with the assistant, waited about 5 minutes, talked with the doctor (she said several times that we were doing the right thing) and waited some more. She brought in Buster in a warm blanket.

The lethal injection was made in the IV and Buster shot up like a cannon! The doctor said he's not in pain but some times dogs react because it is cold. Buster was so thin he couldn't regulate his temperature (we had a jacket on him almost all the time) so this made sense. He went back down and I had my hand on his protruding rib cage. His breathing became very very light after 30 seconds. The doctor examined him for a few seconds and declared him dead. I placed my hand on his rib cage and he wasn't breathing.

I'll really, really miss Buster.

Today's harvest includes 6 Matt's Wild Cherry, 3 SunSugar, 2 Sweet Carneros Pink, 2 Jaune Flamme, 2 Garden Peach, 2 Patio, 2 Persimmon(1), 2 SunGold(1), Green Zebra(1), Porkchop, Husky Cherry Red(2), Golden Mama, Large Pink Anna(1), Green Grape, Green Doctors Kiwi(1) (not Green Doctors Kiwi), Michael Pollan, Orange And Green Zebra, Oaxacan Jewel(2), Yellow Brandywine and Coyote (not Coyote) for a total of 33 tomatoes.


We've now harvested over 350 SunGold(1) tomatoes.  

Harvested Over 8500 Tomatoes For The Year!

Today's harvest includes 7 Matt's Wild Cherry, 6 SunGold(1), 3 Garden Peach, 3 Husky Cherry Red(2), 2 Jaune Flamme, 2 Orange And Green Zebra, Large Pink Anna(1), Green Zebra(1), Green Doctors Kiwi (not Green Doctors Kiwi) and Oaxacan Jewel(2) for a total of 27 tomatoes.

We've now harvested over 8500 tomatoes for the year (8520)! As mentioned in the last blog post, we'll end up around 9000 tomatoes total for the year when it's all said and done, and I believe we'll be over 9000 tomatoes.

Also, we've harvested over 500 tomatoes for the month of September (508)! I believe we'll end up with about 850 tomatoes for the month, but we'll see.

I added fertilizer to the container plants. 

Harvested Over 2550 Matt's Wild Cherry Tomatoes!

Thursday's harvest includes 8 Matt's Wild Cherry, 4 Sweet Carneros Pink, 3 Michael Pollan, 3 Yellow Brandywine, 2 Porkchop, 2 Crimson Cushion(2), 2 Husky Cherry Red(2), SunGold(1), Oaxacan Jewel(2) and Aunt Ruby's German Green(3) for a total of 27 tomatoes.

Today's harvest and some of prior harvests were used in a salad for dinner.

Friday's harvest includes 8 Matt's Wild Cherry, 5 Garden Peach, 3 Porkchop, 3 Sweet Carneros Pink, 2 Oaxacan Jewel(2), Husky Cherry Red(2), SunGold(1), Golden Mama and Michael Pollan for a total of 25 tomatoes.

Today's harvest includes 5 Matt's Wild Cherry, 2 Sweet Carneros Pink, 2 Husky Cherry Red(2), 2 Golden Mama, 2 SunGold(1), Vorlon, Jaune Flamme, Michael Pollan, Orange And Green Zebra, Garden Peach, Dr. Wyche's Yellow and Crimson Cushion(2) for a total of 20 tomatoes.

We've now harvested over 2550 Matt's Wild Cherry tomatoes (2554)!

Production has fallen dramatically due to the heat wave earlier this week. There are more plants to pull. Welcome to the dregs of fall!

It looks like we'll harvest around 9000 tomatoes this year. A good, tasty year. 

Harvested 50 Oaxacan Jewel(2) Tomatoes!

Today's harvest includes 13 Matt's Wild Cherry, 10 Sweet Carneros Pink, 5 Porkchop, 4 Michael Pollan, 4 Husky Cherry Red(2), 3 Dr. Wyche's Yellow, 3 Oaxacan Jewel(2), 2 Persimmon(1), 2 SunGold(1), 2 Orange And Green Zebra, 2 Aunt Ruby's German Green(3), 2 Crimson Cushion(2), Large Pink Anna(1), Green Doctors Kiwi(1) (not Green Doctors Kiwi), SunSugar, Kellogg's Breakfast, Garden Peach and Coyote (not Coyote) for a total of 58 tomatoes.

We've now harvested 50 Oaxacan Jewel(2) tomatoes! There was a chance we were going to lose this plant so we're happy for the harvest.

Yesterday I watered the whole front yard, including the front yard tomato plants.

Outside of the heat wave, there's not much happening... 

Harvested Over 2500 Matt's Wild Cherry Tomatoes!

No harvest done yesterday.

Several plants were pulled on Saturday. They included Husky Cherry Red(1), Hungarian Heart, Australian Giant Oxheart, Sweet 100, Black Krim(1), Snow White and Persimmon(2).

Today's harvest includes 26 Matt's Wild Cherry, 15 Husky Cherry Red(2), 14 Sweet Carneros Pink, 6 Orange And Green Zebra, 5 Dr. Wyche's Yellow, 4 Porkchop, 4 Crimson Cushion(2), 3 Yellow Brandywine, 3 Aunt Ruby's German Green(3), 3 Coyote (not Coyote), 2 Neves Azorean Red, 2 Garden Peach, 2 Michael Pollan, 2 Aunt Ruby's German Green(1), Persimmon(1), SunGold(1), Jaune Flamme, Patio, SunSugar, Kellogg's Breakfast, Golden Mama and Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red for a total of 99 tomatoes.

We've now harvested over 2500 Matt's Wild Cherry tomatoes (2513)! I'm a little surprised at the amount of Matt's Wild Cherry pulled today -- the plant is picked over and preparing for another wind. The plant still looks good. 3000 harvested tomatoes is not out of the question.

Also, we've harvested over 550 Husky Cherry Red(2) tomatoes (562)!

It was sad to see Snow White go but the plant has been dead for some time. 

Harvested Over 4500 Front Yard Tomatoes For The Year!

Today's harvest includes 16 Sweet Carneros Pink, 13 Husky Cherry Red(2), 7 Matt's Wild Cherry, 3 Sweet 100, 3 Yellow Brandywine, 2 Stupice, 2 Aunt Ruby's German Green(3) (6 ounces), 2 Jaune Flamme, 2 Kellogg's Breakfast, Snow White, Oaxacan Jewel(2), Large Pink Anna(1), Green Grape, Vorlon, Porkchop, Haley's Purple Comet, SunGold(1), Golden Mama, Orange And Green Zebra, Pineapple, Garden Peach, Red Zebra and Crimson Cushion(2) for a total of 64 tomatoes.

We've now harvested over 4500 front yard tomatoes for the year (4514)! In spite of that, the back yard total is now larger than the front yard harvest by a few tomatoes a day.

We've now harvested over 150 Sweet Carneros Pink tomatoes (155)! 

Harvested Over 8000 Tomatoes For The Year!

Today's harvest includes 14 Matt's Wild Cherry, 14 Snow White, 11 Husky Cherry Red(2), 7 Stupice, 6 Orange And Green Zebra, 5 Sweet Carneros Pink, 4 Coyote (not Coyote), 4 SunGold(1), 4 Sweet 100, 3 Garden Peach, 3 Kellogg's Breakfast, 3 Yellow Brandywine, 3 Paul Robeson(2), 3 Haley's Purple Comet, 3 Oaxacan Jewel(2), 2 Porkchop, 2 Jaune Flamme, Vorlon, Large Pink Anna(1), Patio, Green Grape and Michael Pollan for a total of 96 tomatoes.

We've now harvested over 8000 tomatoes for the year (8012)! The harvest numbers are staying surprisingly steady and in fact have gone up over the last couple of days. I suspect this is due to the recent heat wave and the numbers will drop shortly.

Yesterday's and today's harvest has been more "substantial" than it has been in a while. I'm not talking just about numbers, but about size as well. A lot of beefsteaks are having a second wind, such as Yellow Brandywine, Paul Robeson(2) and Kelloggs' Breakfast. Having said that, these tomatoes are only one to two ounces. Still, that weighs more than a Matt's Wild Cherry! My wife noticed the difference immediately.

We've also harvested over 1500 back yard tomatoes for the month of August (1522). Also, we've harvested over 150 Orange And Green Zebra tomatoes (153) as well as over 50 Porkchop (51) tomatoes -- wow, this tomato is so memorable you'd have thought we'd harvested much more than that.

I should have mentioned yesterday that we've now harvested over 900 Snow White tomatoes (931).  

Harvested Over 3500 Tomatoes For August!

Today's harvest includes 19 Matt's Wild Cherry, 17 Snow White, 4 Sweet Carneros Pink, 3 Stupice, 3 Husky Cherry Red(2), 2 Jaune Flamme, 2 Orange And Green Zebra, Garden Peach, Kellogg's Breakfast, Paul Robeson(2), Yellow Brandywine, Australian Giant Oxheart and Aunt Ruby's German Green(3) (10.5 ounces) for a total of 56 tomatoes.

Today's harvest was hindered by a lot of morning glare. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

We've now harvested over 3500 tomatoes for August (3512)! I believe this is now officially our highest harvest total in August ever.

We've now harvested over 100 Stupice tomatoes (101)! And yesterday we reached 350 harvested SunSugar tomatoes.

Most of today's harvest was eaten for breakfast.

It was unusual to get a blemish-free beefsteak tomato this late in the season -- we ate it and it was very good -- but to get a blemish free Aunt Ruby's German Green, which is prone to blemishes was a very pleasant and happy surprise! 

Heat Wave!

Today's harvest includes 30 Snow White, 22 Matt's Wild Cherry, 8 Orange And Green Zebra, 7 Husky Cherry Red(2), 5 Quedlinburger Fruehe Liebe, 3 SunGold(1), 3 Green Grape, 2 Porkchop, 2 SunSugar, 2 Vorlon, 2 Husky Cherry Red(1), Neves Azorean Red, Haley's Purple Comet, Michael Pollan, Aunt Ruby's German Green(1), Patio, Kellogg's Breakfast, Sweet 100 and Garden Peach for a total of 94 tomatoes.

We're in a heat wave! Tuesday got up to 101.2, Wednesday 100.7 and yesterday 102.5 degrees. Today is supposed to be a bit hotter. Old, dry plants are getting even drier. At least three more plants can be pulled.

Other than that, there's not much happening. Sweet 100 is going to get a second wind, but it has "rust". No real numeric milestones today.

Harvested Over 7500 Tomato Plants For The Year!

Today's harvest includes 36 Matt's Wild Cherry, 33 Snow White, 10 Orange And Green Zebra, 4 Husky Cherry Red(2), 3 SunSugar, 3 Garden Peach, 3 Stupice, 2 Jaune Flamme, 2 SunGold(1), Husky Cherry Red(1), Porkchop, Haley's Purple Comet, Sweet 100, Green Zebra(2) (not Green Zebra) and Yellow Brandywine for a total of 102 tomatoes.

We've now harvested over 7500 tomatoes for the year (7511)! Based on numbers and taste, 2011 is a good year for us.

Four tomato plants were pulled by my wife yesterday: Crimson Cushion(1), Bloody Butcher, Lime Green Salad and Portuguese Neighbor. Speaking of which, Happy Birthday Sweetie!!

We've now harvested over 800 Snow White tomatoes (815).

Orange And Green Zebra is getting a true second wind. The plant still looks good.

Harvested Over 2300 Matt's WIld Cherry Tomatoes!

And today's harvest includes 28 Snow White, 25 Matt's Wild Cherry, 5 Orange And Green Zebra, 4 Quedlinburger Fruehe Liebe, 4 SunSugar, 4 SunGold(1), 3 Husky Cherry Red(2), 2 Haley's Purple Comet, 2 Vorlon, 2 Sweet 100, Kellogg's Breakfast, Honkin' Big Black Cherry, Green Grape, Patio, Large Pink Anna(2), Husky Cherry Red(1) and Golden Mama for a total of 86 tomatoes.

We've now harvested over 2300 Matt's Wild Cherry tomatoes (2304)! I can't think of the last time Matt's Wild Cherry wasn't our biggest harvest of the day -- probably some time in July, perhaps. Meanwhile, Matt's Wild Cherry is clearly slowing down.

Harvested Over 2000 Front Yard Tomatoes In August!

Today's harvest includes 37 Matt's Wild Cherry, 32 Snow White, 5 SunSugar, 5 Husky Cherry Red(2), 4 SunGold(1), 3 Quedlinburger Fruehe Liebe, 2 Orange And Green Zebra, Pineapple (16 ounces), Green Zebra(2) (not Green Zebra), Paul Robeson(2), Husky Cherry Red(1) and Golden Mama for a total of 93 tomatoes.

We've now harvested over 2000 front yard tomatoes for August (2044)! This will tell you all you need to know -- 1458 of them are Matt's Wild Cherry.

Also, we've harvested over 750 Snow White tomatoes (754)! By the numbers it looks like a strong second wind, but if you were to see the plant it looks like the plant is dieing and the remaining fruit is prematurely maturing because of that.

Harvested Over 3000 Tomatoes in August!

Today's harvest includes 43 Matt's Wild Cherry, 20 Snow White, 4 SunSugar, 2 Husky Cherry Red(1), 2 Quedlinburger Fruehe Liebe, 2 SunGold(1), 2 Honkin' Big Black Cherry, Jaune Flamme, Garden Peach, Orange And Green Zebra, Sweet Carneros Pink, Pineapple (12 ounces), Stupice, Speckled Roman (not Speckled Roman), Yellow Brandywine, Husky Cherry Red(2) and Haley's Purple Comet for a total of 85 tomatoes.

We've now harvested over 3000 tomatoes for August (3081)! Barring a meltdown, this will be the most productive August for us.

We've also harvested over 2200 Matt's Wild Cherry tomatoes (2242)! Finally, Matt's Wild Cherry is slowing down. But there's new growth with blooms. Matt's Wild Cherry will in all probability get a second wind. But the first wind isn't over with!

We've also harvested 50 Honkin' Big Black Cherry tomatoes.

Harvested Over 4000 Front Yard Tomatoes!

Today's harvest includes 54 Matt's Wild Cherry, 13 Snow White, 8 SunGold(1), 7 SunSugar, 4 Quedlinburger Fruehe Liebe, 2 Husky Cherry Red(1), 2 Husky Cherry Red(2), SunGold(2), Sweet 100, Garden Peach, Orange And Green Zebra, Honkin' Big Black Cherry, Green Grape, Green Doctors Kiwi(2), Patio, Michael Pollan, Vorlon, Porkchop, Haley's Purple Comet and Bloody Butcher for a total of 103 tomatoes.

We've now harvested over 4000 front yard tomatoes (4033)! Granted, over half of the harvested front yard tomatoes are from one prodigious plant, Matt's Wild Cherry (2199).

Other numbers of note: We've now harvested over 700 Snow White tomatoes (702) and 200 Haley's Purple Comet tomatoes.

My wife watered some of the back yard tomatoes this morning. 

Harvested Over 1900 Matt's Wild Cherry Tomatoes!

Today's harvest includes 55 Matt's Wild Cherry, 6 Snow White, 5 SunGold(1), 3 Garden Peach, 3 Sweet 100, 2 SunSugar, Honkin' Big Black Cherry, Orange And Green Zebra, Quedlinburger Fruehe Liebe, Husky Cherry Red(1), Coyote (not Coyote), Green Zebra(2) (not Green Zebra), Cassidy's Folly and Green Zebra(1) for a total of 82 tomatoes.

We've now harvested over 1900 Matt's Wild Cherry tomatoes (1931)! And yesterday we harvested over 1500 front yard tomatoes for August.

This morning I put tomato fertlizer in all the container plants in the back yard.

Harvested Over 6500 Tomatoes This Year!

Today's harvest includes 61 Matt's Wild Cherry, 6 Garden Peach, 6 SunGold(1), 6 Husky Cherry Red(2), 3 Husky Cherry Red(1), 2 SunSugar, 2 Sweet 100, 2 Orange And Green Zebra, 2 Golden Mama, 2 Oaxacan Jewel(2), 2 Snow White, Kellogg's Breakfast, Honkin' Big Black Cherry, Quedlinburger Fruehe Liebe, Green Grape and Haley's Purple Comet for a total of 99 tomatoes.

We've now harvested over 6500 tomatoes for the year (6534)! Also, we've harvested over 3500 tomatoes from the front yard.

Also, we've harvested over 1800 Matt's Wild Cherry tomatoes (1816)! As I suspected, the Matt's Wild Cherry harvest picked up a bit. And we've harvested over 300 SunSugar tomatoes (301).

The volume has dropped dramatically. I harvested around 2 pounds of tomatoes today, that's all.