Re: Tomato Tuesday 2012

**RoOsTeR** 7/12/2012, 6:35 pm

Looks great Mason! Thanks for sharing Tomato Tuesday 2012 - Page 6 3170584802

**llama momma** 8/9/2012, 2:45 pm

Roasted, whirled in a blender, and froze just under a gallon of toms so far. Supersweet 100 cherries seem to be enough to keep us in fresh maters and for snacking. The big toms are just too much for 2 of us so I'm freezing most of those. It'll be really nice to serve garden fresh sauce to my son in Dec. when he comes home for Christmas. rendeer

efirvin 8/9/2012, 2:49 pm

yolos wrote:I have six diferent varietes planted. Some hierloom and some hybrid. A few are just about ready to pick.

This is the brandywine.

This is the early girl.

Your tomatoes are looking great!
Evelyn

efirvin 8/9/2012, 2:51 pm

quiltbea wrote:No red toms yet but several green ones.

above: My earliest producing ones are the Green Zebras.

Next to them, my Red Zebras as smaller and producing a bit later.

Nice selection of tomatoes! I just finished eating a tomato from my plants for lunch. Tastes so much better than what you can by at the grocery store!
Evelyn

Above: My Chico III has some good sized toms. Its a determinate. The drawstring bags over the toms are to be sure they do no cross-pollinate so I can save seeds this year.

All in all, I'm happy with their progress here in zone 5a southern Maine.

MasonGarden 8/9/2012, 3:36 pm

I have a steady stream now of yummy Red/Yellow Pears, but my two heirloom plants (a Cherokee Purple and a Brandywine) have quite a few tomatoes that refuse to ripen. Now I have a new problem because the cucumber beetles that have been wrecking havoc on my cucumbers have decided that they like heirloom tomatoes and watermelons too! So, now I am on a race to try to protect my other crops! I started putting netting on the new cucumbers that are still trying to grow, but I guess I need to do the same thing in other parts of the garden too. get that pesky wabbi

Goosegirl 8/19/2012, 9:44 am

Harvested my first toms yesterday morning - some Aunt Lucy's, one Amish Paste, and some Porter's Dark Cherry. I have never eaten a freshly picked cherry tom before - always been afraid to try because I am not much of a 'fresh' tomato fan, I grow them for making sauces. Late in the day as I was walking thru the garden again I spied a ripe Porter's that I had missed in the morning. I thought, "Why not? Don't be a wimp!" I picked it and took a bite. My eyes rolled back, my head flopped to the side, my mouth watered profusely, and I immediately stuffed the rest of it in my mouth. hyper

WHAT HAVE I BEEN MISSING ALL THESE YEARS?!?!? dangit

GG

**llama momma** 8/19/2012, 1:59 pm

If you get around to roasting those you better have someone close by to catch you when you pass out from the heavenly taste sensation.
rofl

**walshevak** 8/19/2012, 9:38 pm

I have always been a pick and eat girl, even at age 4. But I have to say, the sungold cherry that I grew this year was like eating candy. I couldn't get them to ripen fast enough. MORE. MORE
Kay

Goosegirl 8/19/2012, 9:58 pm

I can't wait until the next batch ripens! drooling

Goosegirl 9/23/2012, 8:26 am

Killing frost this morning. This is the first time I have ever covered any crops to see if I can keep them going. 1 bedspread and 5 sheets later, I had almost all my toms covered. I harvested everything I could find on Friday and made 2 batches of roasted toms with fresh-picked basil. I leave today for vacation but my housesitter/critter watcher should have at least another 50+ lbs of toms to harvest/eat for me in the next week or so. She is instructed to eat anything that catches her fancy but leave me at least a tomato and a carrot! Planted my garlic yesterday and will have probably another 3 weeks for it to get started before it really starts to turn cold. Hope to grow all my toms, onions, peppers, herbs for sauce & such next year. Ah, Dreams of Spring!

GG

Ericka2385 9/23/2012, 8:32 pm

I'm so sorry to hear that it's frost season already Goosegirl.

My tomato season is just starting to pick up. This is my first year with a garden, and my tomatoes were the only thing I was really concerned about turning out well. Everything else I'd write off as a learning experience, but I wanted my tomatoes. lol!

Luckily everything seems to be healthy and making fruit. We even survived a week long battle with Army Worms with minimal causalities. I've learned that I'm not that good at suckering, more than half of my plants have three or four main stems growing and are getting a little unruly.

So far only the cherry, grape and pear tomatoes have been ripening, and I've just accepted that they will all be eaten in the garden. They are delicious.

Goosegirl 9/24/2012, 7:45 am

Thanks Ericka2385. Tomatoes survived, but what was weird is that all the leaves on my lemon squash wilted over from the cold, but in the next box over - only 3 feet away - my basil survived uncovered just fine! Usually you just mention frost and it turns black!

GG

efirvin 9/24/2012, 3:55 pm

Goosegirl wrote:Killing frost this morning. This is the first time I have ever covered any crops to see if I can keep them going. 1 bedspread and 5 sheets later, I had almost all my toms covered. I harvested everything I could find on Friday and made 2 batches of roasted toms with fresh-picked basil. I leave today for vacation but my housesitter/critter watcher should have at least another 50+ lbs of toms to harvest/eat for me in the next week or so. She is instructed to eat anything that catches her fancy but leave me at least a tomato and a carrot! Planted my garlic yesterday and will have probably another 3 weeks for it to get started before it really starts to turn cold. Hope to grow all my toms, onions, peppers, herbs for sauce & such next year. Ah, Dreams of Spring!

GG

Glad you could save your tomatoes! Eating fresh picked tomatoes is a small delight of life.
You mentioned you roast some of your tomatoes and add basil. Would you share your recipe with me?
Thanks, and hope you have a great vacation!
Evelyn from zone 4 Wyoming

yolos 9/24/2012, 7:10 pm

My tomatoes are over 12 feet tall. Getting hard to pick the ripe tomatoes. I need a ladder to pick the ones at the top. We still have about a month before our first frost so I should continue getting a good harvest unitl mid to late October. I meant to prune these to one stem but they got away from me.

Tomato Tuesday 2012 - Page 6 Tall_t11

That is my 3 year old grandson. Notice what he has in his hand. We picked a cucumber and he had to eat it right away. He loves them, especially the Muncher's which are smooth and do not have the small spikes on them.

Goosegirl 9/24/2012, 10:30 pm

efirvin wrote:
Goosegirl wrote:Killing frost this morning. This is the first time I have ever covered any crops to see if I can keep them going. 1 bedspread and 5 sheets later, I had almost all my toms covered. I harvested everything I could find on Friday and made 2 batches of roasted toms with fresh-picked basil. I leave today for vacation but my housesitter/critter watcher should have at least another 50+ lbs of toms to harvest/eat for me in the next week or so. She is instructed to eat anything that catches her fancy but leave me at least a tomato and a carrot! Planted my garlic yesterday and will have probably another 3 weeks for it to get started before it really starts to turn cold. Hope to grow all my toms, onions, peppers, herbs for sauce & such next year. Ah, Dreams of Spring!

GG
Glad you could save your tomatoes! Eating fresh picked tomatoes is a small delight of life.
You mentioned you roast some of your tomatoes and add basil. Would you share your recipe with me?
Thanks, and hope you have a great vacation!
Evelyn from zone 4 Wyoming

Got the idea from LlamaMama! Here is a link to the thread:

https://squarefoot.forumotion.com/t13533-this-is-tomato-heaven

My 2 jellyroll pans gave me approx. 1/2 gallon of roasted herbed toms to put in the freezer. That was with one afternoon's meager gleanings. With the amount of tomatoes left on my vines, I am hoping to have a lot more to roast and freeze when I get back from vacation - unless they all ripen to early and my housesitter is 'forced' to use them before I get back! happy2

GG

Nonna.PapaVino 9/25/2012, 8:30 pm

LlamaMama, you made my day! Filled two extra-large jelly roll pans with halved tomatoes that had been rolled in olive oil, minced basil and the smallest touch of sea salt. Roasted them a bit over an hour, then ran them through the Squeezo. Perfect, intensely falvored tomato sauce: 7 pints canned, the extra added to a pot roast. Thank you, thank you. I'm changing the way I make tomato sauce. Nonna

**camprn** 9/25/2012, 9:17 pm

Oh MAN! I wish I had a squeezo! drooling

**llama momma** 9/25/2012, 10:21 pm

Nonna.PapaVino wrote:LlamaMama, you made my day! Filled two extra-large jelly roll pans with halved tomatoes that had been rolled in olive oil, minced basil and the smallest touch of sea salt. Roasted them a bit over an hour, then ran them through the Squeezo. Perfect, intensely falvored tomato sauce: 7 pints canned, the extra added to a pot roast. Thank you, thank you. I'm changing the way I make tomato sauce. Nonna

Your Welcome! It is so easy and super tasty too -- Enjoy! Recently I wanted to add garlic but didn't want it to burn in 400 degree heat. So I inserted slivers of garlic in little holes in the tomatoes.
This roasted tomato thing just keeps getting better What a Face

Goosegirl 9/26/2012, 8:20 am

I didn't even run mine through my food mill - didn't have time. When I get back from vacay, I will make more, maybe thaw the original bag, and run them through the Roma then. I love that I can stop midstage and come back to them later by roasting and freezing.

GG

efirvin 9/26/2012, 1:21 pm

Sounds so yummy!! Gotta try this today.
Thanks GG and llamamama!
Evelyn Very Happy

**llama momma** 9/26/2012, 1:56 pm

**walshevak** 9/26/2012, 4:23 pm

The 2 tomatos that ate the collard/kale/basil bed, but couldn't overwhelm the sweet potatos that were barely planted when I left. This cattle panel is still standing. Smile

Pictures as of today
Tomato Tuesday 2012 - Page 6 Imagej15

What the bed looked like when I left. as of 7/7

Tomato Tuesday 2012 - Page 6 Dscn0911

look through the tulle and you can see the tomatos on the cattle panel.

another view
Tomato Tuesday 2012 - Page 6 Dscn1013

CapeCoddess 9/26/2012, 4:53 pm

camprn wrote:Oh MAN! I wish I had a squeezo!

What the heck is a squeezo???

My pared down tomato box, getting ready for winter:
Tomato Tuesday 2012 - Page 6 Sept_211

I only had 9 plants and numerous suckers, so not many extra tomatoes. The few extra I had I froze whole for winter treats.

CC

Nonna.PapaVino 9/26/2012, 5:50 pm

A Squeezo is a hand-cranked vegetable strainer. Original is hand cranked, though some clever sorts have managed to alter it to allow an electric drill to turn the crank. When PapaVino and I first married 30 years ago, some of our first purchases were: a top-quality canner, a steamer-juicer, and an all-metal Squeezo like this: http://squeezostrainer.com/product_detail.aspx?id=31826
Haven't had reason to check prices, but I know the thing cost much less than what it's costing now. However, amortize the cost over 25-30 years, and it's not so much. We've put up huge amounts of tomato sauce, seed-less raspberry and/or blackberry jam, canned pumpkin,and applesauce by using the Squeezo, so I rate it a bargain and a real time-saver. For instance, we wash apples, and leaving them unpeeled, cut them in quarters, remove the seeds and put the quarters in a stock pot with a bit of apple cider in the bottom. Bring to a gentle simmer until the apples are cooked, then run then through the Squeezo. Peels and any stray seed or seed cavety material comes out the tube end, and smooth, pure applesauce comes out the side tray ready to be brought back to a simmer, put in jars, sealed and canned.

**camprn** 9/26/2012, 6:59 pm

Squeezo is high up on my gadget wish list! I keep hoping I will find one at an estate or yard sale.

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