Tomatoes! Let's see'em!!!

[Hogmaster]

So, how have yours turned out?

We have heard from many people that they were not getting their tomatoes to ripen.

Hog's Nurse trimmed foliage back about a week ago, and we stopped watering.

The little ones - not cherries, they are kinda oblong - (I'm a real tomato expert) have been around for several weeks now.

But needless to say we have a BUMPER crop.



In process:





And tonight:





Let the canning begin!

Our neighbor (Sled Dog's Mom) is a master gardener. She told us that you can take whole tomatoes and seal then freeze them and they make great sauces when you take them out and thaw them later. The flavor is still there like it is fresh! Something we will be trying.

So how'd yours turn out?????

[fishbait]

I'vd got some pics on my cell phone that I sent to a friend to brag, been eating ripe tomatos for well over 6 weeks now. The Romas and cherrys are thick but the big tomatoes and Ok, but we have had enough to eat every night but not many to share with neighbors.

I bought the plants this year at the Wa Co Faigrounds at a Wa Co Garden Club sale and the best plants I have ever bought. Late May and they were already in bloom and 2 ft tall.

wse raise ours on the deck using same drip irrigation that feeds the 20 flower pots. When the maters get big I just hang them from the gutters. Miracle grow (chemical ) fertilizer every 2 weeks and lots of sun. Oh, I pick off about 1/2 the early blooms to make a bigger fruit for the early harvest.

[SalmonJeff]

Steve very impressive master egg cure'er turned tomatoe farmer!!! very nice

[Sled Dog]

As they say,, Mom always knows best!

I have done the deep freeze bags of ripe Romas drill for years and it works great for sauces etc. They are mushy when they thaw but the flavor is there. If you freeze them individually then bag them you can take out only what you need. I still have some from last year, not to mention the canned stuff.

On another note, Like everyone else I have tons of Zucchini. We shred them on the grater, then freeze in gallon bags.. Pull a bag out of the freezer and use as you would fresh for baked goods.. Nothing like making Zucchini bread in January..

Don't get me started, the "gardening gene" definitely got passed on!

[Hog's nurse]

Those oblong tomatoes are pear tomatoes dear.

I am not an experienced tomato farmer, but I queried my coworkers, the internet, and neighbors before I planted. Here's what I found:

Heirloom tomatoes have wonderful flavor, even though they may look kinda weird. (Malformed, yellow and resembling small pumpkins). I was advised to go to the Clark County Home and Garden Show at the Clark County Fairgrounds to search for acceptable plants. I found some small gardeners there who had a very small selection of plants, but they had babied them along. They were properly "hardened" which I found out was bringing them into shelter at night, and back out again in the day to protect their sensitive growing bodies. So as Ocean Blue pointed out, good stock is very important.

I did not do much for the plants except plop them in the ground and stake them up. I annually apply a garden mulch from Pro Gro, which is delivered and a wonderful mulch. It is much more beautiful and healthier for your soil than bark dust. We also have a nice sandy loam from the river. The location (in our front yard. Hey....I think it's beautiful!) is sunny. We already have a sprinkler system in place for the grass, so I just forget it. I cut back once mid season, then heavily last week since I figure I only have a week left to ripen those tomatoes. Hogmaster took those pictures after I picked a huge load for Gazpatcho, a tomato, basil, parsley and red onion pasta, and a neighbor. I still have a bowl left over. Life is great.

We have been eating them nightly. I go out and eat a meal straight off the plants before I bring them in. The neighbors that walk by when I'm out get a few, and family members always take home a few.

What can I add next year? Definitely cucumbers. Our landscaper told me that one of his clients ripped out his whole front yard to plant a big garden. (Good sun exposure) They just want to know what they are eating.

What else do you like to plant? What special tricks do you have for an amature like me?

[ampersat]

Originally Posted by Hog's nurse

Our landscaper told me that one of his clients ripped out his whole front yard to plant a big garden. (Good sun exposure)

I've considered doing the same at my place. I've got a rather large front yard with great southern exposure.

Nice haul on the tomatoes, Lori!

[Two Fister]

Originally Posted by Hog's nurse

What special tricks do you have for an amature like me?

Hognurse,
This isn't a planting tip, but it's my favorite way to eat tomatoes. If you like to bake or have any friends that bake bread, take a loaf of freshly baked crusty bread out into the tomato patch with you. Pull your extra ripest tomatoes off the vine while they are still warm from the sun, smear them on a piece of warm bread and try not to eat the entire loaf. The smell of warm crusty bread and really ripe tomatoes will drawn your neighbors like moths to a flame so bring two loafs.

Some of my fondest memories are walking through my grandfathers tomato patch with a loaf of my grandmothers bread with his rabbit dogs on my heals looking for scraps. The tomatoes you want are those that are just about ready to fall off the vine.

Growing tomatoes was my favorite garden crop when I lived in PDX. I built an long open structure out of bamboo that was growing on one side of our yard. I put cross supports every foot or so and lashed the whole thing together with jute. It was easy to add extra supports by placing a few extra pieces of bamboo on the cross supports or tying the plants off to the structure. I planted the tomato starts in the center of the structure every few feet thus forming essentially a tomato hedge. It allowed the plants to grow freely, but it kept a hedge shape. I trimmed out a lot of the internal flowers and leaves early so that the energy would be focused in the fruit that was getting the most sun. The structure also made covering them really easy when the plants were small so you could plant a bit earlier and cover the the top of the structure with black plastic sheeting for extra warmth and frost protection. We had tomatoes coming out of our ears.

Growing tomatoes in Bend is a real hit or miss proposition. If the frost doesn't get them (which is a big if since we had killing frosts through May and the first frost of the Fall on August 30) the deer are on always on alert for anything green and flowering. My neighborhood won't let me build the high razor wire enclosure with guard towers, searchlights, and a mine field that I proposed to keep the hoofed locusts at bay so I don't even bother. They are relentless and they'd probably send the racoon sappers through the line anyway.

People I know that grew them here this year actually had a pretty good crop but they are done if they didn't get their plants covered at the end of August. One of the things that I miss most about living in the valley is having a viable garden. Without a greenhouse (again verboten by the neighborhood) it's more of a struggle than it's worth here since it's gets into the low 40s at night a lot during the summer.

Enjoy the bounty! If you can't tell I'm extremely jealous!

TF

[fishbait]

Dear Hogs (I should get a friggin medal for living with and putting up with Gary) Nurse,



Blueberries........ Get 2 or 3 yr old plants if poss. I have 2 of each and the now 4 yr old plants gave me about 1.5 qts of berries each. Can't wait till next year, as harvest should double.

Ever berring raspberries, yum. Pm for additional information if you want.

Strawberries. Yum

Did I mention you might plant some berries?

[Hogmaster]

Hey!

I am a sensitive guy here!

Berries are a good suggestion. If only we could get rid of some of the acre and a half of 15' blackberries in the bottomland! They are ripe though, and pies are coming.

My personal nurse is at work today so she won't be able to answer directly for awhile, but she loves to bake, and the warm bread and tomato combo sounds great! She has made a scratch sauce topping for a salmon dinner involving fresh tomatoes, fresh basil (from our porch herb garden) red onion and some other secret ingrediants. It was awesome!

Also, the Gazpatcho last night was incredible, and I don't even like cold soupy things.

Indeed, life is good at harvest time!

[ET]

Got some big uns and some little uns...

The wife distributed a bunch last week and we've been eating for about 3 weeks. I went overboard this year, but no one seems to mind.

[Dan Grbavac]

I had to pick 36 Brandy Wines off of 1 plant because they were soooooo
heavy. I have very few below 3 feet from the ground. Most are 4-5 feet
up. None of the other plants have more than 6 or 8.

[Two Fister]

Originally Posted by Hogmaster

My personal nurse is at work today so she won't be able to answer directly for awhile, but she loves to bake, and the warm bread and tomato combo sounds great!

Hog,
If you want to go for the whole southern Italian experience you need to find some real Mozzarella at a good deli. It'll be the stuff in salt water or whey in the display case. Cut some of that into 1/4" thick slices, sprinkle it with a bit of salt and let it dry for a little bit. After about 15 minutes, layer it with slices of fresh tomatoes, alternating Mozzarella and tomatoes. Have a bowl of the same crusty bread sliced and toasted with olive oil and a hint of garlic (not too much or it will overpower the tomatoes). Drizzle a little good olive oil over the cheese/tomatoes and then sprinkle it with some of the fresh basil. Have a hearty red wine standing by for the few seconds available when you are not eating as quickly as possible.

For the full effect you need to be wearing a sleeveless white undershirt (known by other names that may violate the ifish AUP regarding spousal abuse), a gold chain with the corona (hand with first finger and pinky extended pointed down to the ground, pointed up and Hogsnurse will not like the symbolism) and the cornetto (bulls horn also pointed down to the ground). Both are used to ward off the evil eye cast by neighbors who are wondering why they haven't gotten another shipment of the delicious tomatoes you are currently scarfing in the front yard of the Hog Palace. Now you are ready to really appreciate the meal.

Here's your example:



Heavy back and shoulder hair is optional given advances in modern grooming technology, but it's always recommended if you are going for the full effect.

Salute!!

Due Pugno (or as close as I can come)

[Hogmaster]

ET -

Great looking plants!

Two Fister -

I am hearing violins playing in the background!