Planted Three More Seedlings, But Replaced Two

Today we replaced Green Grape with Black Cherry and we replaced Miss Elliott Persimmon (not Persimmon) with two Miss Elliott Persimmon seedlings. Also, we planted Husky Cherry Red in one of the raised beds.

The planted and remaining seedlings have all been watered over the past two days.

You know what, I need to identify the raised beds. We have five raised beds. One uses redwood while the others use cinder block. I'll identify them by going east to west, north to south. The first east/west row has three beds, the second east/west row has two beds.

The first raised bed contains a volunteer. The second raised uses redwood and contains no tomato plants. The third raised bed has the volunteer that's growing like a weed. The fourth raised bed has the recently planted Husky Cherry Red. The fifth raised bed contains another tomato volunteer.

My wife put shade cloths against some of the back yard tomato cages. Some of the plants were beginning to wilt.

I dug into the container that held Rosella Purple last year (if memory serves, this tomato was mislabeled...), hoping to prove that we didn't need to worry about cutworms. After digging around, I found nearly a dozen cutworms, though none were adult sized. However, the point was made, we need to sift through the dirt.
 

Harvested Over 400 Sweet 100 Tomatoes!

Sunday's harvest includes 14 Black Cherry, 12 Sweet 100, 7 Blue Beauty, 4 German Orange Strawberry, 3 SunGold(2), 2 Husky Cherry Red, 2 Supersweet 100, 2 Isis Candy, Pineapple, Shah/Mikado, SunGold(1), Juliet and Husky Red(2) for a total of 51 tomatoes.

We've now harvested over 100 SunGold(2) tomatoes (101)! Neither SunGold tomato plant really took off but they were planted late and they weren't planted in a great area.

Today's harvest includes 18 Black Cherry, 12 Sweet 100, 5 Blue Beauty, 4 German Orange Strawberry, 2 SunGold(2), Vorlon, Pineapple, SunGold(1), Snow White, "Rosella Purple" (Aunt Ruby's German Green), Supersweet 100 and Isis Candy for a total of 48 tomatoes.

We've now harvested over 400 Sweet 100 tomatoes! This plant is having a good second wind. The plant looks bad but the tomatoes look all right.

Most of the harvest over the last two days was given to a neighbor that brought us some delicious banana bread. It was goooood.... 

Harvested Over 300 Sweet 100 Tomatoes This Year!

Friday's harvest includes 7 Sweet 100, 5 Supersweet 100, 2 Garden Peach, 2 Yellow Perfection, 2 SunGold(1), 2 Black Cherry, Husky Cherry Red, Dr. Wyche's Yellow (13.5 ounces), Black and Brown Boar, SunGold(2), Blue Beauty, German Orange Strawberry, Speckled Roman(2), Cuor de Bue and Isis Candy for a total of 29 tomatoes.

When I walked away from the Black Cherry tomato plant, something caught my eye. I walked back, stared for about five seconds and found a full sized hornworm on the plant. I pulled it off and threw it on the street.

Saturday's harvest includes 13 Sweet 100, 7 Supersweet 100, 4 Black Cherry, 3 SunGold(2), 3 Isis Candy, 2 German Orange Strawberry, 2 Grande, 2 Shah/Mikado, Pineapple, "Rosella Purple" (Aunt Ruby's German Green), Vorlon, Japanese Black Trifele, Speckled Roman(2) and Juliet for a total of 42 tomatoes.

Today we harvested over 2000 back yard tomatoes this year (2033 tomatoes, now 2093 tomatoes)!

After the harvest we went to a birthday party for a 4 year old in Huntington Beach. We had a nice time there and met some very nice people. Then we went to the West Adams District for yet another party. We got home late and tired.

Sunday's harvest includes 21 Sweet 100, 6 Supersweet 100, 2 Isis Candy, 2 Black Cherry, 2 SunGold(1), Husky Cherry Red, Yellow Perfection, Dr. Wyche's Yellow, SunGold(2), Blue Beauty and German Orange Strawberry for a total of 39 tomatoes.

We've now harvested over 300 Sweet 100 tomatoes (320 tomatoes, now 332 tomatoes)!

In the late morning we brought down most of the tomatoes for a birthday party for my wife. It's her birthday today! We had a lot of fun down in San Juan Capistrano catching up with everybody. Fun, fun fun! Again we got home late and tired.

Today's harvest includes 12 Sweet 100, 4 Black Cherry, 3 Blue Beauty, 2 Supersweet 100, 2 Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red(2), 2 German Orange Strawberry, 2 SunGold(2), Dr. Wyche's Yellow (13 ounces), Speckled Roman(2), "Something Orange" (Dr. Wyche's Yellow, 9 ounces) and Isis Candy for a total of 31 tomatoes.

We've now harvested over undersized 100 Blue Beauty tomatoes! I had noticed hornworm excrement about a week ago underneath this plant but never found the hornworm. Today I found it and tossed it off of the plant.  

Harvested 150 Snow White Tomatoes This Year!

Monday August 12 -- no harvest.

Tuesday August 13 harvest includes 14 Sweet 100, 7 SunGold(2), 6 SunGold(1), 5 Husky Cherry Red, 5 Black Cherry, 3 Supersweet 100, 3 Blue Beauty, 2 Garden Peach, 2 Snow White, 2 Pineapple, 2 Juliet, 2 Isis Candy, Porkchop, Dr. Wyche's Yellow, Indigo Rose, Piement, Cuor de Bue (6 ounces), Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red(2) (6 ounces), Husky Red(1) and Husky Red(2) for a total of 61 tomatoes.

This harvest was brought down to my in-laws the next day.

Wednesday's harvest includes 5 Sweet 100, 5 Garden Peach, 3 SunGold(2), 2 Husky Cherry Red, 2 Supersweet 100, 2 Black Cherry, 2 Snow White, Pineapple, Dr. Wyche's Yellow (13 ounces), SunGold(1), Ananas Noire (8.5 ounces), "Rosella Purple" (Aunt Ruby's German Green) and Husky Red(1) for a total of 27 tomatoes.

There was no harvest on Thursday.

I don't remember the exact day it was made...but my wife made tomato sauce from our tomatoes. She let the sauce simmer for six hours and pulled out the skins as they separated. After boiling it down she added various spices and on a whim added green olives. I don't know what it was but we both agreed that this was the best sauce she ever made! And my wife has made fabulous tomato sauce before. But it was absolutely out of this world delicious.

Friday's harvest includes 8 SunGold(1), 6 SunGold(2), 4 Garden Peach, 4 Husky Cherry Red, 3 Amos Coli, 3 Supersweet 100, 3 Yellow Perfection, 2 Juliet, 2 Isis Candy, Pineapple, Dr. Wyche's Yellow (8.5 ounces), Shah/Mikado, Snow White, Cuor de Bue and Husky Red(2) for a total of 41 tomatoes.

There was no harvest on Saturday.

However, my wife watered the back yard tomatoes on this day. A couple of days prior she had watered the front yard tomatoes.

In the evening we tried one of the Dr. Wyches's Yellow tomatoes (sweet and yummy) and an Aunt Ruby's German Green (same for the interior, but had a thicker skin). Both worked.

Sunday's harvest includes 6 SunGold(2), 5 SunGold(1), 5 Shah/Mikado, 4 Black Cherry, 3 Husky Cherry Red, 3 Snow White, 3 Supersweet 100, 2 Juliet, 2 Yellow Perfection, 2 Blue Beauty, 2 Garden Peach, Amos Coli, Speckled Roman(1), Dr. Wyche's Yellow (11.5 ounces), Jersey Giant, Black and Brown Boar, Japanese Black Trifele, "Something Orange", Cuor de Bue, "Rosella Purple" (Aunt Ruby's German Green) and Husky Red(1) for a total of 47 tomatoes.

Monday's harvest includes 4 Supersweet 100, 3 Isis Candy, 3 Snow White, 2 Black Cherry, 2 SunGold(1), 2 Cuor de Bue, SunGold(2), Husky Cherry Red, Yellow Perfection, Dr. Wyche's Yellow (13 ounces), Jersey Giant, Piement, Japanese Black Trifele, Speckled Roman(2) and Juliet for a total of 25 tomatoes.

I found a hornworm eating a Grande tomato today. I was really surprised by it but there it was! I tossed the hornworm away and threw away the tomato.

Today's harvest includes 13 Black Cherry, 3 Isis Candy, Husky Cherry Red, Pineapple, SunGold(1), Blue Beauty, Grande, Garden Peach, Amos Coli, Snow White, Cuor de Bue (6 ounces), Supersweet 100 and Juliet for a total of 27 tomatoes.

We've now harvested exactly 150 Snow White tomatoes this year! But the harvest is slowing down... 

Harvested Over 500 Tomatoes This Month

Today's harvest includes 18 Supersweet 100, 9 Sweet 100, 8 Black Cherry, 3 SunGold(1), 3 Snow White, 3 Garden Peach, 2 Cuor de Bue (6.5 ounces), 2 SunGold(2), 2 Jaune Flamme, 2 Blue Beauty, 2 Isis Candy, 2 Piement, Yellow Perfection, Husky Cherry Red, Dr. Wyche's Yellow (14 ounces), Jersey Giant, Shah/Mikado, Missouri Pink Love Apple, Japanese Black Trifele, Grande (13 ounces), "Rosella Purple" (Aunt Ruby's German Green) and Juliet for a total of 66 tomatoes.

We've now harvested over 500 tomatoes for August (556)! Our harvesting pace is ahead of July's numbers but July's numbers were rising while August numbers should slowly fall.

The Grande and "Something Orange" tomatoes are fine looking tomatoes.

Last night I went to a neighbor of our dear friend that passed away seven weeks ago to pick up a couple of boards and chicken manure (seriously). I gave them yesterday's harvest plus a bunch of other tomatoes. We reminisced for about an hour or so.

I was sad to see their former house, sitting silently. 

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 350 Black Cherry Tomatoes This Year!

Today's harvest includes 14 Sweet 100, 13 Black Cherry, 11 Snow White, 8 SunGold(2), 4 Supersweet 100, 4 Isis Candy, 3 SunGold(1), 3 Juliet, 3 Green Grape, 2 Husky Cherry Red, 2 Grande (9 ounces, 10.5 ounces), 2 Jaune Flamme, 2 Indigo Rose, 2 Blue Beauty, Pineapple, Paul Robeson, Piement (6 ounces), Japanese Black Trifele, Speckled Roman(2), Garden Peach and "Rosella Purple" (Aunt Ruby's German Green) (11 ounces) for a total of 80 tomatoes.

We've now harvested over 350 Black Cherry tomatoes this year (356)! The Black Cherry crop has been fairly plentiful and good tasting this year so we're happy for that.

The larger tomatoes look nice. There were a lot of cherry tomatoes in today's harvest. Most of these cherry tomatoes will be given to cleaning people that come to our house every other Thursday. 

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 Three New Tomatoes!

Wednesday's harvest includes 9 Garden Peach, 8 Yellow Perfection, 8 Black Cherry, 6 Blue Beauty, 5 Green Grape, 5 Jaune Flamme, 4 Pineapple, 4 Isis Candy, 4 Jersey Giant, 3 Shah/Mikado, 3 Piement, 3 Indigo Rose, 3 Husky Cherry Red, 2 Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red(2) (new), 2 SunGold(2), 2 Kellogg's Breakfast (8 ounces), 2 "Something Orange" (20 ounces, 14 ounces), 2 Husky Red(1), 2 Supersweet 100, 2 Speckled Roman(2), 2 Speckled Roman(1), Hungarian Heart, Porkchop, Paul Robeson, Missouri Pink Love Apple, SunGold(1), Grande (11 ounces), Snow White, Juliet and Husky Red(2) for a total of 90 tomatoes.

This will in all probability be our high harvest day (90 tomatoes). That's...not very high. However, the "Something Orange" tomatoes look great and the Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red(2) looks pretty good for being in the raised bed.

I believe most of these tomatoes were brought down to my in-law's residence by my wife.

Thursday's harvest includes 6 Yellow Perfection, 5 Jersey Giant, 5 Black Cherry, 4 Aunt Ruby's German Green (8 ounces, 6 ounces, new), 4 Green Grape, 4 Garden Peach, 4 Indigo Rose, 4 Blue Beauty, 2 Kellogg's Breakfast, 2 Jaune Flamme, 2 Pineapple, 2 Supersweet 100, 2 Speckled Roman(2), 2 Porkchop, 2 Shah/Mikado, 2 Paul Robeson (6 ounces), 2 Amos Coli (7 ounces), 2 Isis Candy, 2 Dr. Wyche's Yellow, Husky Cherry Red, Crynkovic, Ananas Noire, "Something Orange" (14.5 ounces), Cuor de Bue (10 ounces), Juliet and Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red(2) for a total of 65 tomatoes.

The Aunt Ruby's German Green look quite good. Most of the tomatoes have a very light red blush to go along with the darker green mature color.

Friday's harvest includes 9 Black Cherry, 7 Jersey Giant, 4 Supersweet 100, 4 Yellow Perfection, 3 SunGold(1), 3 Isis Candy, 3 Green Grape, 3 Shah/Mikado, 2 Juliet, 2 Porkchop, 2 Dr. Wyche's Yellow, 2 Paul Robeson, 2 Jaune Flamme, 2 Garden Peach, Amos Coli, Indigo Rose, Husky Cherry Red, Pineapple, SunGold(2), Blue Beauty, Pineapple Pig, Snow White, Ananas Noire, "Something Orange" (12 ounces), Sweet 100 and Husky Red(1) for a total of 60 tomatoes.

Saturday's harvest includes 7 Snow White, 5 Black Cherry, 5 Sweet 100, 5 Shah/Mikado, 4 Garden Peach, 3 Supersweet 100, 3 Porkchop, 2 Husky Cherry Red, 2 Cuor de Bue (6 ounces), 2 SunGold(1), 2 Jaune Flamme, 2 Blue Beauty, 2 Pineapple Pig (6 ounces), 2 Isis Candy, 2 Garden Peach, Amos Coli, Piement, Japanese Black Trifele, Kellogg's Breakfast (6 ounces), Pineapple, Dr. Wyche's Yellow (7 ounces), Aunt Ruby's German Green (13 ounces), Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red(2) (6.5 ounces) and Husky Red(2) for a total of 54 tomatoes.

I went down to Orange County in the morning. I brought two days harvest of tomatoes. I gave a bag to a barista in Tarzana, two bags of tomatoes to my mechanic in Westminster, and two bags of tomatoes to my mother. Later on I visited my in-laws. My wife and I got back late in separate cars.

Sunday's harvest includes 9 Sweet 100, 8 Black Cherry, 6 Blue Beauty, 5 Snow White, 5 Garden Peach, 5 Jaune Flamme, 4 Rosella Purple (8 ounces, new), 4 Shah/Mikado, 3 Indigo Rose, 3 Husky Cherry Red, 3 Pineapple, 2 Amos Coli (6.5 ounces, 6 ounces), 2 Jersey Giant, 2 Speckled Roman(2), 2 Pineapple Pig (6 ounces), 2 Dr. Wyche's Yellow (9 ounces, 12 ounces), 2 Isis Candy, 2 Yellow Perfection, Hungarian Heart, Vorlon, Speckled Roman(1), Black and Brown Boar, SunGold(1), Japanese Black Trifele, Cuor de Bue, Juliet and Supersweet 100 for a total of 78 tomatoes.

"Rosella Purple" is another Aunt Ruby's German Green. First off, it's not purple, it's green. We tried it for dinner. It was delicious but it was Aunt Ruby's German Green. I'll need to adjust the spreadsheet at some point...

Earlier we had tried Paul Robeson and it was actually pretty good. The skin was a bit tough but otherwise was just fine.

Today's harvest includes 14 Snow White, 4 Husky Cherry Red, 4 Pineapple, 4 Black Cherry, 4 Jaune Flamme, 3 Indigo Rose, 3 Yellow Perfection, 3 Green Grape, 3 Blue Beauty, 2 Porkchop, 2 Amos Coli, 2 Supersweet 100, 2 Isis Candy, 2 Piement, 2 Jersey Giant, 2 Aunt Ruby's German Green (6 ounces, 6 ounces), 2 SunGold(2), 2 Shah/Mikado, Paul Robeson, Dr. Wyche's Yellow, Garden Peach and Husky Red(2) for a total of 64 tomatoes.

My wife roasted today's tomatoes for tonight's dinner. They were terrific with the pasta.

During this period we harvested over 2000 tomatoes for the year (now we stand at 2157) and over 1000 harvested tomatoes in the back yard for July (now stands at 1093).

I know updates have been spotty but we've been busy with life... 

Three More Seedlings Planted During Cutworm Paradise

Tomato-wise, it was a quiet work week. On Friday my wife watered the front yard tomato plants and the plants in the "south garden". Also, she put cages on the plants on the "koi pond".

On Sunday she watered the rest of the back yard tomato plants. We should be watering more often but what can I say? We're busy with life. It's all good. The tomato plants are doing quite well, thank you.

We did plant three containers Sunday evening. The seedlings planted were Juliet, Sweet 100 and Rosella Purple.

My wife insisted that the soil preparation be done on the patio. That was different. I probably asked four times to make sure that's what she wanted.

"Yes, dump the soil on the patio."

"You realize that's on concrete. That'll be harder to clean up."

"Yes, of course. We're going to redo the pots using the same dirt, We'll add a lot of potting soil and planter mix. What we won't do is mix it with other garden dirt. That way we won't bring in any diseases and other unwanted items from our soil into the containers."

Ah, the light goes on.

The first two pots were handled as expected. The dirt in the third pot, however, was noticeably drier than the first two. That in and of itself didn't mean anything. When I dumped the dirt onto the patio I noticed moist soil at the bottom and adult cutworms. I found more just by turning the dirt with the added amendments.

So my wife used a hand shovel to go through the soil before placing it into the container. I'd scoop a pile, place in front of her and she'd sift it. Laborious, but effective. And yes, we found more cutworms. We found 26 adult sized cutworms in the dirt before we had filled the container. There was more dirt remaining on the patio but we had no more light. But that's not a misprint. 26 adult cutworms (and probably more) were in one container. Bleah!

I suspect this container doesn't drain as well as the other two. Maybe that's why the other two containers just had soil while the this container was a cutworm paradise.