Neighbor's Daughter Likes Our Tomatoes...

And today's harvest includes 11 Black Plum Pastes, 10 Piccolos, 6 Cherokee Chocolates, 4 Salisaw Cafes, 3 Stupice, 3 Husky Cherry Reds, 3 Red Currants, 3 Green Grapes, Jaune Flamme, Old Ivory Egg, Kimberly, a nice looking 9 ounces Pierce's Pride, White Bush and Zhezha (back yard).

My wife watered the front yard and I watered the back yard. While I was watering the back yard, I noticed a ripe Polish Pastel. It was a bit hidden and near the top of the plant, at the highest rung of the cage. I picked it but discovered that it had so much blossom end rot as to be unusable. So I didn't count it. Looking at the plant this morning I noticed that there are several tomatoes ripening on this plant. A couple of Carbons are maturing. Let's hope our Manchester Terrier doesn't knock off the Carbon tomatoes anymore.

Speaking of which, the Manchester Terrier left us another present – he picked another ripening Aker's Plum and deposited it near our back door.

While my wife was watering the front yard, the neighbor's mother and 20 ½ month old daughter came over to visit. Apparently, the daughter picked off a couple of green (unripe) Husky Cherry Reds and ate them! Apparently the skins were too much for her (and who could blame her) but she liked the insides. Later on I brought her in and fed her a ripe Piccolo tomato. She's a good eater!

Harvested Chocolate Stripes and Pierce's Pride!

And today's haul includes 13 Piccolos, 11 Salisaw Cafes, 10 Red Currants, 8 Black Plum Pastes, 7 Cherokee Chocolates, 5 Green Grapes, 4 back yard Black Krims (11.5 ounces, 7.5 ounces, 7 ounces, 10 ounces), 3 Gregori's Altai, 2 Stupice, Zhezha, Jaune Flamme, Kimberly, Sioux and two new tomatoes – a 10 ounce Pierce's Pride and a 7.5 ounce Chocolate Stripes!

Yesterday I put a thick stake into Black Krim but the plant still leaned. It needed more support. With the help of my wife we used two pieces of twine tied to the large stake and metal posts into the ground. This should keep it supported.

Other tomato plants were supported and staked such as Aker's Plum.

Today's totals might be a bit high as I harvested at 2 PM. The totals for tomorrow may be a bit low.

Chocolate Stripes looked great...until I turned it around. Darn it, the birds got it! I weighed it and my wife cut away a generous portion. The tomato looks beautiful on the inside. The birds got to one of the mature Black Plum Pastes as well.

I'm really happy with the harvested Black Krims, Pierce's Pride and the remaining Chocolate Stripes. They're great looking dark tomatoes!

A Polish Pastel may be maturing, but it appears to be maturing unevenly.

The Birds Harvest Paul Robeson...

And today's haul includes 12 Piccolos, 11 Stupice, 11 Salisaw Cafes, 6 Green Grapes, 6 Kimberlys, 5 Sioux, 4 Black Plum Pastes, 2 Red Currants, Husky Cherry Red, Italian Market Wonder, White Bush, Snow White, Black From Tula, Paul Robeson, Aker's Plum, Prairie Fire, and Cherokee Chocolate.

The birds like our Paul Robeson as well. I had one pecked on (and ruined) two days ago. Last night, another ripening one was pecked on worse than the first time.

A Pierce's Pride appears to be maturing.

I did a lot of tomato taping last night. I propped up a lot of leaning plants by tying tomato tape on the opposite end of the lean against a stake from another plant.

This morning, the back yard Black Krim had nearly tipped over. The back yard Black Krim is one of the ones I supported as mentioned in the last paragraph. I took a very thick stake and tried to prop it back up. It's fine for now but I think it'll start to fall again. I believe this is less a problem of last night's tomato taping and simply a problem of heavy tomatoes. It's a good problem to have! We had this problem with last year's Jeff Davis.

Harvested Old Ivory Egg Today!

And today's haul includes 9 Salisaw Cafes, 8 Black Plum Pastes, 7 Piccolos, 6 Husky Cherry Reds, 6 Red Currants 5 Stupice, 3 Kimberlys, 2 Prairie Fires, 2 Cherokee Chocolates, 2 Green Grapes, a beautiful 10 ounce Sioux, Zhezha (back yard), White Bush, Lime Green Salad (from the “koi pond”), Thessaloniki and a new tomato – 2 Old Ivory Eggs!

I had thought the Old Ivory Egg tomatoes weren't progressing very fast. From a distance I didn't see much of a difference. Fortunately I looked up close this morning and two of them were clearly ready, a soft yellow color.

Our Manchester Terrier is at it again. He picked a four ounce unripe tomato yesterday evening. Later on I went outside to throw something in the trash. I heard rustling behind me but didn't pay attention as I didn't have a flashlight. When I came back the Manchester Terrier had a ripening Aker's Plum on his blanket. I immediately tied him up. Yesterday morning I thought I saw two ripening Aker's Plum tomatoes on the vine, now there are none. In other words, he may have picked and eaten one along with the other two I spotted.

I watered all the tomato plants and added worm castings to all the container plants that are growing tomatoes.

The Red Currant plant is completely brown. My wife asked me if it's okay to pull it out of the ground. I still want it around as I think it'll get a second wind.

Harvested Front Yard Black Krim!

And today's harvest includes 12 Piccolos, 8 Red Currants (raising the total to over 1900 for the year), 7 Salisaw Cafes, 6 Stupice, 6 Black Plum Pastes, 3 Cherokee Chocolates, 2 Green Grapes, 2 Black Cherries, 2 Sioux (one 6 ounces), 2 Paul Robesons (9 ounces, 7.5 ounces), 2 Lime Green Salads (from the “koi pond”), 2 Kimberlys, Red Robin, Zhezha (back yard), White Bush, Italian Market Wonder, Black Krim (11 ounces, back yard), Radiator Charlie's Mortgage Lifter, Red Yellow Cap (10 ounces), Black From Tula, Husky Cherry Red and a new one – a front yard Black Krim (7.5 ounces)!

There's a tomato on Chocolate Stripes that's maturing. I took another look at Old Ivory Egg and the two ripening tomatoes don't look all that different than two days ago.

I met with a friend of mine for dinner last night and gave him a bunch of our tomatoes. He was very grateful for them.

Our Manchester Terrier didn't eat breakfast this morning. For this dog it's a big deal. It means he's probably munching on our tomatoes again...

Harvested Aker's Plum!

The harvest picked up today. 14 Red Currants, 11 Black Plum Pastes, 7 Cherokee Chocolates, 7 Green Grapes, 6 Husky Cherry Reds, 6 Salisaw Cafes, 6 Stupice, 6 Piccolos, 4 Sioux (one 7 ounces), 4 Kimberlys, 2 Lime Green Salads (from the “koi pond”), Black Cherry, Arkansas Traveler, Black Krim (back yard, 9 ounces), Prairie Fire, Zhezha (front yard) and a new one, Aker's Plum!

The Aker's Plum was deemed ripe enough to make the harvest pile. And yes, I'll wash it well before eating it or handing it out elsewhere.

In the front yard, Black Krim and Old Ivory Egg tomatoes are ripening. I thought Micro Tom was done, but it has new tomatoes on it.

Today I harvested as many tomatoes (79) as I had in the last two days. The back yard total was 42, the highest it has ever been. The back yard totals have been larger than the front yard totals for 4 of the last 5 days.

Also, this is our highest harvest total since July 1. On July 1 we harvested 98 tomatoes, 78 of them Red Currants.

Harvested Back Yard Black Krim and Zhezha!

This morning's harvest includes 10 Cherokee Chocolates, 6 Black Plum Pastes, 6 Red Currants, 4 Piccolos, 4 Salisaw Cafes, 3 Kimberlys, 2 Green Grapes, Stupice, Prairie Fire, Black From Tula (6 ounces), Thessaloniki (6 ounces), Husky Cherry Red, Lime Green Salad, Red Robin and two new ones – Black Krim (back yard) and Zhezha (back yard)!

Again out back yard numbers are higher than the front yard numbers – 26 to 18.

Thessaloniki had pulled to the west during the day, so I staked it up against a long thin green pole. In the morning I noticed that one of the main stems had broken. This is probably due to the initial leaning and not due to my repair work.

I have to say that I'm still surprised at these low harvest numbers.

I had to rescue our poodle when I got home last night. He has a bad habit of trying to chew through his collar and yesterday it cost him. He had tried to chew through the leather collar and couldn't do it. Meanwhile, he had the collar with the metal clasp and id tag in his mouth for several hours. The sides of his jaw and parts of his gums were worn. It took me about five minutes to maneuver the metal out of his mouth and then remove it.

Last night I noticed our Manchester Terrier showing an interest in the ripening Aker's Plum. I shooed him away. Later on, my wife had caught him with the Aker's Plum next to him on the grass – he had filched it. Fortunately he didn't break the skin so it is still good and sitting on a plate to continue ripening.

This morning I caught him sticking his nose in Pierce's Pride. I immediately tied him up.

Because of last night's incident, I picked the back yard Zhezha about a day earlier than I would have liked. As you may remember, I almost lost the back yard Zhezha plant in April. It has come back to life but is only a couple feet tall, within easy reach of our Manchester Terrier. The harvested Black Krim was ready.

Also last night, our feral cat in the front yard was jumping around when we came home after dinner and errands (new collar for the poodle!). Turns out he had caught a mouse and was playing with it. The mouse got away for a bit when we accidentally distracted the cat, but not far enough away. Our neighbor across the street came out and was talking to us when we heard CRACK! -- no more live mouse. Both my wife and I chuckled a bit as we knew what it meant but our neighbor was too far away to hear. She came by, saw the cat tearing up the mouse and, well, she didn't hang around very long.

Now The Backyard Plants Look Better

Todays harvest includes 7 Cherokee Chocolates, 5 Black Plum Pastes, 5 Red Currants, 2 Piccolos, 2 Gregori's Altai, 2 White Bush, Kimberly, Salisaw Cafe, Stupice, Italian Market Wonder, Black Cherry, Green Grape, Jaune Flamme, Paul Robeson, Thessaloniki, Black From Tula, a 12 ounce Red Yellow Cap and Lime Green Salad (from the “koi pond”).

My wife thinks we have enough tomatoes for another batch of sauce. The last batch, which was served Sunday evening, was fabulous.

I mentioned to my wife that in general, the back yard tomato plants look better than the front yard tomato plants right now. She agreed.

Yesterday, my wife watered the front yard and I watered the back yard.

Still No Tomatoes On The Last Two Plants

Today's harvest includes 10 Piccolos, 7 Red Currants, 6 Salisaw Cafes, 4 Cherokee Chocolates, 3 Zhezhas (front yard container), 3 Black Plum Pastes, 3 Stupice, 2 Lime Green Salad tomatoes (from the plant near the street), 2 Green Grapes, 2 Thessalonikis, White Bush, Italian Market Wonder, Prairie Fire, Big Rainbow, Red Yellow Cap (10 ounces), Radiator Charlie's Mortgage Lifter and Gregori's Altai.

I used some bug spray for a couple of the tomato plants per my wife's suggestion.

I bought some thin green plant stakes from Green Thumb and used them to support Evan's Italian Plum, Polish Pastel, Big Rainbow and White Bush. I did a bit of tomato taping as well.

We have three new tomatoes starting to ripen – Aker's Plum, Black Krim (back yard) and Zhezha (back yard).

Unfortunately, Jeff Davis and Yellow Brandywine – Platfoot Strain still show no signs of any tomatoes on their vines.

Ugh...That Manchester Terrier...

Today's numbers are: 13 Red Currants, 10 Salisaw Cafes, 8 Cherokee Chocolates, 5 Kimberlys, 2 Gregori's Altai, 2 Husky Cherry Reds, 2 Piccolos, Stupice, Sioux, Black Plum Paste, Black Cherry, Red Robin, Zhezha, Thessaloniki, Black From Tula (6 ounces) and Red Yellow Cap (one pound, or 16 ounces).

We picked more back yard tomatoes today than front yard tomatoes, 27 to 24.

Our Manchester Terrier picked off a large tomato last night. It looked like a Black Krim. But as I was picking the back yard tomatoes, I noticed a maturing Carbon was missing. I checked the organic waste bin and yes, there was a maturing dark tomato with three bite marks in it. It was about seven ounces in weight. From memory it was about a foot off the ground.

Later on I noticed the ground around the Carbon tomato plant had been dug up. The paper mulch was scattered everywhere. I had noticed a similar situation around the Lime Green Salad in the back yard and I think he picked one off there as well in the past.