Tasted Sara Black -- Not a Winner

Today's harvest includes 28 SunGold, 10 Snow White (front yard), 9 Garden Peach, 8 White Currant, 5 Azoychka/not Azoychka, 4 Poma Amoris Minora Lutea, 4 Babywine, 3 Green Grape, 3 Red Currant(2), 2 Husky Cherry Red, 2 Violet Jasper, 2 Japanese Black Trifele, 2 Persimmon, 2 Jaune Flamme(2), 2 Red Grape, 2 Gypsy, Thessaloniki, Nyagous, Gajo de Melon, Yellow Perfection, Black Zebra, Dr. Wyche's Yellow(2), Sweet Tangerine, Red Boar, Taxi, Large Pink Anna (13.5 ounces), Black Krim (6 ounces), Orange Fleshed Purple Smudge, Stupice and Emerald Evergreen (8 ounces) for a total of 102 tomatoes.

My wife and I tried a beautiful looking 11 ounce Sara Black last night. It was somewhat disappointing. My wife liked it less than I did but there was no mistaking that this tomato “needed support”. The tomato didn't really stand on it's own.

The tomato itself looked beautiful, cut beautifully and was juicy and meaty. I thought the tomato was mellow but my wife described it as “soapy” – and not in a good way. I cleared my palate and took another bite and I can see where my wife is coming from. It doesn't taste bad, there's just not enough taste at all. Most of the taste comes from the texture of the tomato.

I give this tomato a soft thumbs down.

Harvested Over 4000 Tomatoes In July!

Today's harvest includes 61 SunGold, 11 Snow White (front yard), 9 White Currant, 9 Garden Peach, 8 Husky Cherry Red, 6 Poma Amoris Minora Lutea, 5 Black Krim (6.5 ounces, 6.5 ounces), 5 Azoychka/not Azoychka, 4 Japanese Black Trifele, 4 Babywine, 4 Red Grape, 4 Red Currant(1), 3 Snow White (back yard), 3 Sara Black (8 ounces, 11 ounces), 2 Violet Jasper, 2 Red Currant(2), 2 Jaune Flamme(2), 2 Gajo de Melon, Paul Robeson, Gypsy, Thessaloniki, Nyagous, Enchantment, Sweet Tangerine, Emerald Evergreen (10.5 ounces), Brown Berry, Pink Berkeley Tie Dye, Aunt Ruby's German Green(1) (7 ounces), Patio, Stupice and Sweet 100 for a total of 157 tomatoes.

We've now harvested over 4000 tomatoes for the month of July (4003) and over 4500 tomatoes for the year (4540).

And in an unusual anomaly, as of today we've harvested more front yard tomatoes (2296) than back yard tomatoes (2244). What makes this unusual is that we're growing only 20 tomato plants in the front yard and (depending on what you count) 57 in the back yard, nearly triple the number.

My wife cut up a Large Pink Anna tomato and added as part of a dish. While none was left to eat directly without the enhancement of other foods, the tomato clearly tasted fresh and somewhat “bright”. This isn't unusual for a cherry tomato that can pack a punch, it is unusual for a tomato that weighs more than a pound. I believe we have a winner in Large Pink Anna.

24.5 Ounce Large Pink Anna Harvested Today!

Today's harvest includes 51 SunGold, 12 Snow White (front yard), 11 White Currant, 8 Husky Cherry Red, 6 Garden Peach, 5 Babywine, 5 Azoychka/not Azoychka, 4 Snow White (back yard), 3 Violet Jasper, 3 Japanese Black Trifele, 3 Red Currant(1), 3 Nyagous, 3 Gajo de Melon, 3 Paul Robeson, 2 Orange Fleshed Purple Smudge, Red Grape, Jaune Flamme(2), Berkeley Tie-Dye Heart, German Orange Strawberry, Emerald Evergreen, Green Zebra, Red Currant(2), Principe Borghese, Stupice, Poma Amoris Minora Lutea and Large Pink Anna (24.5 ounces) for a total of 133 tomatoes.

The Large Pink Anna tomato at 24.5 ounces is our heaviest tomato this year, outdoing yesterday's 22.5 ounce tomato.

We've now picked over 800 SunGold tomatoes for the year (810), over 500 White Currants for the year (501) and exactly 200 Husky Cherry Red tomatoes for the year.

Still Below Normal Weather For July...

Today's harvest includes 57 SunGold, 19 White Currant, 12 Azoychka/not Azoychka, 9 Gajo de Melon, 8 Snow White (front yard), 5 Babywine, 5 Snow White (back yard), 5 Husky Cherry Red, 4 Jaune Flamme(2), 4 Poma Amoris Minora Lutea, 3 Garden Peach, 3 Japanese Black Trifele, 3 Orange Fleshed Purple Smudge (6 ounces, 10 ounces), 3 Persimmon (7 ounces, 6.5 ounces, 8 ounces), 3 Red Currant(1), 3 T. C. Jones, 2 Nyagous, 2 Paul Robeson, 2 Large Pink Anna (17 ounces, 22.5 ounces), 2 SunSugar, Stupice, Miss Elliotte Black, Sweetie, Taxi, Principe Borghese, Red Currant(2), Weeping Charlie, Green Zebra, Berkeley Tie-Dye Heart, Ananas Noire and Red Grape for a total of 165 tomatoes.

My wife watered the back yard tomato plants yesterday evening.

Two of the Orange Fleshed Purple Smudge tomatoes had a bit of a dark smudge on them!

The 22.5 ounce Large Pink Anna tomato is our heaviest tomato for 2010.

It only got up to 83 degrees yesterday. The low this morning was 51.6 degrees. Still more strangely cooler than normal July weather.

Harvested Over 4000 Tomatoes This Year!

Today's harvest includes 34 SunGold, 14 White Currant, 13 Garden Peach, 9 Azoychka/not Azoychka (I still do not know what this tomato is but it isn't Azoychka, that's for sure), 6 Snow White (front yard), 6 Poma Amoris Minora Lutea, 5 Red Currant(1), 4 Husky Cherry Red, 3 Japanese Black Trifele, 3 Babywine, 3 Snow White (back yard), 2 Red Grape, 2 Gajo de Melon, 2 Stupice, Orange Fleshed Purple Smudge, Aunt Ruby's German Green(1), Persimmon (6 ounces), Black Krim, Lyn's Mahogany Garnet, Principe Borghese, Chile Verde, Plum Tigris, Brown Berry, Red Boar, Green Zebra, Jaune Flamme(2), Gypsy, Paul Robeson, Nyagous and Large Pink Anna (19.5 ounces) for a total of 122 tomatoes.

Wow – just four days ago we were picking twice as many tomatoes. The tide is receding quickly!

We've now picked over 3500 tomatoes for the month of July (3548) and have harvested over 4000 tomatoes for the year (4085).

The harvested Large Pink Anna is our heaviest tomato harvested this year so far.

Again, the weather has been cooler than normal for July. I see several of the plants preparing for a second round of tomatoes.

Harvested Black Zebra!

Today's harvest includes 37 SunGold, 15 White Currant, 14 Husky Cherry Red, 13 Garden Peach, 6 Snow White (front yard), 6 Poma Amoris Minora Lutea, 5 Japanese Black Trifele, 5 Babywine, 5 Red Currant(2), 3 Black Krim (8.5 ounces), 3 Green Zebra, 3 Red Currant(1), 2 Gypsy, 2 Nyagous, 2 Gajo de Melon, 2 Miss Elliotte Black, 2 Persimmon (one 9 ounces), 2 Stupice, 2 Black Zebra (new), Pink Berkeley Tie Dye, Dr. Wyche's Yellow(2), Violet Jasper, Enchantment, Snow White (back yard), Ananas Noire, Pierce's Pride (6.5 ounces), Black Oxheart (10 ounces), Sara Black (12.5 ounces) and Red Grape for a total of 139 tomatoes.

The odd thing about our newly harvested Black Zebra tomato is that...it's dark red. It's zebra-like all right, but it's a deep dark red, not black.

Wow – I just fixed a flaw in my tomato spreadsheet for 2010. The numbers for Principe Borghese were not being added to the totals for the month or the year. They were being added to the daily totals. I noticed the flaw while looking at the 2010 Totals By Tomato tab and saw nothing for Principe Borghese.

So – we actually harvested 536 tomatoes for the month of June and harvested over 2000 tomatoes in the back yard for 2010 as of yesterday.

As you can see, our harvest numbers are significantly lower than yesterday due to the fact that SunGold was picked over by my wife.

Harvested Paul Robeson!

Today's harvest includes 84 SunGold, 31 White Currant, 15 Garden Peach, 11 Husky Cherry Red, 7 Snow White (front yard), 7 Babywine, 5 Nyagous, 5 Azoychka/not Azoychka, 4 Orange Fleshed Purple Smudge (one 7 ounces), 3 Poma Amoris Minora Lutea, 3 Japanese Black Trifele (7 ounces), 3 Persimmon (8 ounces), 2 Red Grape, 2 Jaune Flamme(2), 2 T. C. Jones, 2 Yellow Perfection, 2 Marianna's Peace (6 ounces), 2 Green Zebra, 2 Plum Tigris, 2 Red Currant(1), 2 Violet Jasper, 2 Paul Robeson (new), Stupice, Black Krim, SunSugar, Lyn's Mahogany Garnet, Red Currant(2), Black Oxheart (11 ounces), Red Boar, Dr. Wyche's Yellow(1), Pineapple (14.5 ounces), Ananas Noire, Zapotec Pleated, Snow White (back yard), Gajo de Melon and Thessaloniki for a total of 212 tomatoes.

My wife came out with me in the morning and watched me pick some of the front yard tomatoes. She helped out by picking some more SunGold tomatoes after I had pretty much stopped harvesting that plant. That's why the SunGold harvest is so high today.

The harvest numbers for White Currant have been very steady lately -- 32/31/31/31.

My wife watered the front yard tomato plants yesterday evening.

Harvested Large Pink Anna!

Today's harvest includes 49 SunGold, 31 White Currant, 17 Garden Peach, 16 Husky Cherry Red, 7 Babywine, 6 Red Currant(1), 6 Green Zebra, 6 Snow White (front yard), 5 Nyagous, 4 Japanese Black Trifele (one 7.5 ounces), 4 Violet Jasper, 4 Snow White (back yard), 4 Azoychka/not Azoychka, 3 Jaune Flamme(2), 3 Orange Fleshed Purple Smudge (6 ounces, 7 ounces, 6 ounces), 3 Persimmon (one 6 ounces), 2 Poma Amoris Minora Lutea, 2 Black Krim (6 ounces), 2 Red Currant(2), 2 Green Grape, 2 Black From Tula, 2 Marianna's Peace, 2 Aunt Ruby's German Green(1) (8.5 ounces), 2 Principe Borghese, 2 Gajo de Melon, 2 Red Grape, Thessaloniki, Gypsy, Berkeley Tie-Dye Heart, Weeping Charlie, Pink Berkeley Tie Dye, Taxi, Chile Verde, SunSugar, Dr. Wyche's Yellow(1) and Large Pink Anna (new, 11 ounces) for a total of 198 tomatoes.

The harvest total are a bit of a drop from yesterday's total of 243. That's a large enough drop that yesterday's 243 may be our high water mark for 2010.

I fertilized the container plants in the back yard and watered the whole back yard. I gave our compost pile a good soaking as well.

Fantastic Tomatoes!

Today's harvest includes 68 SunGold, 31 White Currant, 22 Garden Peach, 11 Babywine, 11 Husky Cherry Red, 8 Snow White (front yard), 8 Japanese Black Trifele, 7 Poma Amoris Minora Lutea, 7 Orange Fleshed Purple Smudge (6 ounces, 9 ounces, 6 ounces), 6 Black From Tula, 6 Snow White (back yard), 5 Gajo de Melon, 5 Red Currant(1), 5 Red Currant(2), 3 Marianna's Peace, 3 Nyagous, 3 Black Oxheart (11 ounces, 10.5 ounces, 14 ounces), 3 Lyn's Mahogany Garnet, 3 Aunt Ruby's German Green(1) (6 ounces, 8 ounces, 13.5 ounces), 2 Violet Jasper, 2 Miss Elliotte Black, 2 Plum Tigris, 2 Red Boar, 2 Gypsy, Red Grape, Azoychka/not Azoychka, Jaune Flamme(2), T. C. Jones, Yellow Perfection, Berkeley Tie-Dye Heart, Ananas Noire, Sweet Tangerine, Emerald Evergreen, Green Zebra, Green Grape, Thessaloniki, Carmello, Pink Berkeley Tie Dye, Principe Borghese, Black Krim, Persimmon (6 ounces) and SunSugar for a total of 243 tomatoes.

Yesterday's haul came in at 12 pounds, 6 ounces and today's haul came in at 13 pounds, one ounce.

It looks like the Red Grape plant got some damage. Several branches on the south side were broken.

My wife watered the front yard tomatoes yesterday evening.

We tried four large tomatoes with our takeout chicken last night. They were nothing short of fabulous. First we tried a large orange tomato – it was either Dr. Wyche's Yellow or Orange Fleshed Purple Smudge. The texture was excellent and it held together nicely when you bit into it. The flavor was clean and delicious. Really good. Then we tried the Black Oxheart. It was just as good, similar characteristics but with a smokier flavor and a slightly more tomato taste. A winner. Now we'd grow this plant again in a heartbeat. Then we tried Aunt Ruby's German Green and we were on the moon! Our other Aunt Ruby's German Green had more of a tomatoey flavor than I'm used to. Not this tomato. This tomato reminded me of Aunt Ruby's German Green from prior years. Smooth and mouthwatering, like the other two tomatoes. None of these tomatoes really reminded you of tomatoes. They were sweet and juicy, almost like watermelon but with enough “meat” to hold together when tasting.

Then we tried Emerald Evergreen. Oddly, the two green tomatoes had turned a bright yellow with a greenish tinge since we picked them the day before. The taste was just as mouthwatering, though unusual.

Gradewise, I give three A's and an A-.

I don't think we'll do better this year. These tomatoes were fabulous!

Harvested Over 3000 Tomatoes This Year!

Today's harvest includes 43 SunGold, 32 White Currant, 15 Garden Peach, 13 Snow White (back yard), 12 Husky Cherry Red, 7 Violet Jasper, 7 Babywine, 6 Red Grape, 6 Red Currant(1), 6 Red Currant(2), 6 Gajo de Melon, 6 Snow White (front yard), 6 Japanese Black Trifele, 4 Nyagous, 4 Marianna's Peace, 3 Poma Amoris Minora Lutea, 3 Black Krim (13 ounces, 7 ounces), 3 Black From Tula, 3 Zapotec Pleated, 3 Aunt Ruby's German Green(1) (12.5 ounces, 7.5 ounces, 10.5 ounces), 2 Jaune Flamme(2), 2 Dr. Wyche's Yellow(2), 2 Pierce's Pride (6 ounces, 7 ounces), 2 Red Boar, 2 Principe Borghese, 2 Weeping Charlie (7 ounces), 2 SunSugar, 2 Persimmon (8 ounces, 8 ounces), 2 Orange Fleshed Purple Smudge (6 ounces), Patio, Michael Pollan, Miss Elliotte Black, Carmelo, Topaz, Plum Tigris, Green Grape, Yellow Perfection, Enchantment, Thessaloniki, Gypsy, Azoychka/not Azoychka and Black Oxheart (10.5 ounces) for a total of 219 tomatoes.

We've now harvested over 3000 tomatoes for the year (3054) and over 2500 for the month (2571).

The image above is from yesterday's harvest. It weighed 11 pounds, 8 ounces.

The birds left us alone yesterday – no tomatoes lost to birds.

In spite of our high harvest totals, some of the tomato plants look picked over and exhausted. But with the weather on the cool side some of these plants will get a second wind.