Abundance

[liralen]

Abundance
Originally uploaded by Liralen Li.

We're getting flooded with tomatoes. Lots and lots and lots of super ripe garden tomatoes. I only planted six plants this year, of the regular sized tomatoes. We had four last year and didn't get quite enough for what we and our neighbors wanted, but instead of getting all indeterminate plants, I got three that were supposed to be determinate.

Or at least, I *kept* three that were supposed to be determinate. The difference is that the indeterminate tomatoes keep growing and growing and producing all along that time. Determinate plants are supposed to do one big load of fruit and then stop.

They're certainly doing the Big Load right now. But they're forming more fruit and the plants have grown twice as big as the package said they would and...

I guess they like where they are. *laughter*

So I'm roasting and freezing and doing tomato sauce by the bucket full and I'm contemplating ketchup making. And wow. Our neighbors are very, very happy. Our church members really like 'em. The folks at the OUR center have their own flood of tomatoes to deal with. *laughter* That's kind of fun to know it's my fault.

But, it's amazing how many huge tomatoes the things have cranked out, and are still ripening more and more of them every couple of days. We're picking a bucket or two full of them every three days. I haven't been weighing them, but now I'm thinking about it. But I've already roasted and frozen three half sheets of tomato halves and done two batches of AB's roasted tomato sauce.

It's mad and wonderful. *grin*

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I would love to be your neighbor (especially during tomato season!! If the temperature ever warms up enough, we should have a ton also. George planted 8 plants and let all the volunteers grow so there are plenty of green tomatoes out there, but so far only one has begun to turn red, slowly!!
Isabel

[liralen.livejournal.com]

Good luck with that!!

I suspect that when you get here this fall, we'll still be wading about in tomatoes. *laughter*

[writeanya.livejournal.com]

yum!!!

we've had a slow season this year, i guess because it's been cooler and windier. i've noticed that the skins are tougher (the wind). however, the purple bells and the okra and the lemon cucumbers are lookin' FINE! n just picked a large crop, with plums to boot.

yay for growing food!

[liralen.livejournal.com]

That makes a lot of sense.

Yay for own-grown food! Woohoo!!

[rephetibel.livejournal.com]

A flood of tomatoes. Oh, glory! I've only had one ripe tomato so far. Plenty of green ones though. I should have asked you to lay hands on my garden when you were here.

[liralen.livejournal.com]

*giggles*

Well, there's a good month for yours, yet, and there the Indian Summers go long compared to here. By mid-October we usually have had one good hard freeze, so I'm taking what glory I can get. *grin*

Good luck with the sun ripening your green ones!

Mmm... warm hands...

[archangelbeth]

*drool* I love fresh-picked tomatoes. Especially if they're just a teeny bit green. Crunch!

[liralen.livejournal.com]

*giggles*

I love 'em deep red, sweet and soft, and warmed from the sun.

[tagryn]

Excellent! They look so healthy!

Our Sugar Sweeties have been in pots most of the summer, and they seem much happier now that I've finally got them in soil. There's only one tomato on it that's red right now, I'm hoping to get in one more full crop before autumn hits. Our regular tomatoes haven't produced much, unfortunately. The patio tomato was suffering from blossom-end rot, so I've lost everything from that so far. It was in a pot that had soil that smelled rancid when I finally planted it, so it was probably a combination of that and lack of calcium in the soil, both of which I think I've corrected now that its in our raised bed; the current crop looks OK. So far have gotten one nice one off the regular tomato plant, right now all I have is blossoms on it. Fingers crossed...

[liralen.livejournal.com]

Yeah.. in Erie we had a lot of blossom-end rot.

I had to try the calcium sprays and here the regulated watering system seems to help a *lot*. It's much better with the raised beds.

Good luck with ripening what you have!

Our Sugar Sweeties have been putting out ones and twos since mid-July. But they're starting to ripen in bunches, now. They're indeterminate so should just keep producing until the freezes hit.

[grey-lady.livejournal.com]

Every living thing seems to thrive better when it knows it is appreciated. :)

[liralen.livejournal.com]

Yes!

:-) And everyone around here seems to be appreciating these beauties. *grin*

[crimini.livejournal.com]

Looks awesome! Our tomatoes, alas, will probably never ripen. They hang heavy and green in cool, wet or overcast days. And we're already closing in on the end of the month. Oh well. Otoh, the pumpkins seem to be growing spendidly--big wide leaves and a ton of flowers. Still no sign of fruit, but we have a few weeks to go. :D

[liralen.livejournal.com]

Well, September is usually beautiful there, from what I remember. :-) Your Indian summers may still do you some good. I'll hope for you!

Yay for splendid pumpkin plants, though! You have a bit of time. :-)