Saturday, August 22, 2009

Tomatoes everywhere!

I picked tomatoes again this morning. Between the mice, the fly larvae and the rain making everything start to rot I'm having a tough time finding ripe tomatoes that are still edible. So, I have been picking them just as they start to turn and have been letting them ripen in the house. Of course, that means that currently almost every flat surface in my house is covered with tomatoes of varying ripeness!
The top of a stereo speaker in the living room.

The kitchen table -yes, still with unpacked boxes :(
I've got lots of my heirloom varieties ripening now: Mortgage Lifter, Amana Orange, Amish Paste, Polish Linguisa and Bloody Butcher. The mice seem quite partial to the Amana Orange and my Polish Linguisa paste tomatoes. I have yet to get any ripe tomatoes off my 'super secret tomatoes' but they have lots on them.
I think that in order to control mouse, slug and larvae damage next year I'm going to have to keep a scrupulously clean garden. I have realized that I went waaaaay overboard this year with the garden, considering everything else I had going on. I wasn't able to keep up with the weeds and everything is overgrown. Then I didn't have time to adequately support my tomatoes and with the incredible fertility of the soil (lots and lots of horse manure!) the vines have run rampant. All this, combined with the cool, wet summer we have had has really wreaked havoc on the tomatoes (and everything else!). I've got lots of problems with the tomatoes sitting on the ground and just starting to rot at this point. Of course, we've had 3.75 inches of rain in the past week and we haven't had a week all summer when it hasn't rained at least an inch. It has definitely saved on the need to water but I'm paying the price.
But next year.....
Isn't that every gardener's mantra?
This is a learning year. I definitely bit off more than I could chew. I planted way too much garden for the time I had to devote to it. I had such grand plans and life got in the way. Oh well, it's still been fun...and we've gotten some fabulous food from it. I'm still getting peppers, tomatoes, sweet corn, beans and eggplant, and I have potatoes to dig soon- what more could I want, right?
Well, I see more tomato sauce making in my future. At least we will have something to show for all of this mess!
Sorry it I'm a bit melancholy this evening. It's been a long few days and I need to take I12 shopping for pants tomorrow. We discovered that all of his pants are about 2 inches too short. That boy had the audacity to grow over the summer! Oh, and I need to find some more pint jars. I don't know how it happened but I've only got a dozen left (I think there is too much jam and such) I always try to can some tomatoes in pints since I have recipes that use only that much. We'll see who has the best price tomorrow.

4 comments:

  1. Tomatoes, tomatoes everywhere and not a one to eat!!! boy O boy! Isn't that the pitts?! My 2 tomatoe potted plants...well one is waterlogged and in very sad shape and still has small tomatoes. The other one is in better shape but still quite sad...also getting small tomaotes. The weeds around the house and yard grow huge in just a few days...just way to much rain. it looks like ajungle around here. Today was the first cool day we've had in AGES. NO HUMIDITY!! Kelly had a bunch of little ones over to swim for a few hours. Five little screaming girls and one poor little boy! lol didn't get any pictures. I was just sitting on the porch reading and watching and listening. Kids are just so funny. We ordered a pizza for dinner tonight. Can't remember the last time we did that. Sure was good. Bob and I took a nice drive today and ended up at the Dairy Queen where I got a Strawberry Blizzard and he got Crushed oreos...was a beautiful Saturday. I mowed the grass while Bob was in the recliner with his foot up. Not so sure it's doing much better yet. Have fun putting up all those tomatoes!...debbie

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  2. Tomatoes are such fickle things I think. At least there is the solace that they can be picked and used in some way at most any degree of ripeness... But the mice, oof. I have a heap of green tomatoes that are destined for salsa, oven-roasting, and anything else I can think of. Do you can tomatoes in chunks?

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  3. Debbie- It sounds like you had a lovely day! The weather here is gorgeous for a change. Pleasant temps and no rain! Mmmmm, blizzards...
    Mangochild- I mostly make sauce to can. I will generally do a few pints of diced tomatoes for use in recipes but I don't do too many whole tomatoes or pieces since I usually end up using my hand blender on them when I use them. But I'll probably do a few jars since I like tomatoes chunky in chili in the winter.
    Judy

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  4. I agree with biting off more than we can chew! This was my year for that as I seem to have "forgotten" or blocked, lol out the fact that my husband would be deployed this year and not be able to help me work in the garden or be here to eat it all!

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