Not much beauty in this photo. I just had to document the beginning of fall as we're seeing it. Schweitzer didn't have a lot of time to be bare naked this year---maybe two months. Its first coating of white stuff came during yesterday's rains in the valley. Our first frost came last night, and I'm hoping those covered 'maters are still alive this morning.
It's been a good tomato year. I put 30-plus plants in the ground in June. I've picked probably 300 ripening tomatoes so far, and there are probably another 300 left to pick---if they're still alive, that is.
My tomato farming leaves something to be desired. I staked them up when they were young and maybe just a foot tall. Little did I dream, however, that they would become so loaded down with fruit. Over the summer, I've added bigger bamboo tomato stakes, to not much avail. After a day or so of flimsy support, the plants continued falling to the ground.
After reading garden advice, I picked off lots of stems and leaves about a month ago. The tomatoes kept growing and pulling their complete infrastructure closer to the ground. Finally I gave up on the support systems and let nature take its course. Hundreds of tomatoes have gone bad because of lying in the dirt. With the numbers I have, however, that may be a good thing, and they may make pretty good fertilizer for next year's crop.
I've got a whole winter ahead to study how to organize a better tomato garden, and I think the secret lies in stronger stakes.
In the meantime, one of the apple trees is suffering the same woes as my tomatoes. That one, so loaded down with little apples a month or so ago, is now heavily burdened with bigger apples. Most limbs are now partially connected with the ground. The fruit could use a little more growth and a couple of good freezes, so I hope the limbs survive.
They said it would be a good year for fruit, and they were right. I just never dreamed we'd have quite so much abundance, and I'm sure those weary apple limbs and tomato vines didn't either.
Speaking of tomatoes, I must say thank you to my sister-in-law, Mary, who sent me a book to read: The $64 Tomato. I've just skimmed the cover and a few pages, and it seems to imply that some gardeners border on insanity. I'll assure readers, however, that no $64 tomatoes grow in my garden.
Mine are cheap, plentiful and tasty. A couple of packets of Burpees seed at $2.99 apiece and a little potting soil. Those are my only expenses.
Oops, I spoke too soon. I forgot the $1,000 greenhouse, the $200 used rototiller, the $4 per gallon gas, the three tanks of propane to keep the greenhouse warm during our never-ending winter and none-existent spring, and $25 worth of wussy tomato stakes.
Well, if I do the math, my 600 edible tomatoes still don't add up to $64 apiece. In fact, every time I slice up another plateful and feast on their delicious homegrown flavor, I figure they're just plain priceless.
2 comments:
I see our eyes saw the same thing this morning... I have a picture from my front yard too... I picked all my tomatoes last night, as I heard it was going to be mid 20. So will be storing my green tomatoes in newspaper and let them riping thru the winter.
Also, our tomatoes became a jungle too, no matter how we strung up, braced up, so we gave up and put thick layers of newspaper under the plants so they didn't hit the dirt. So all of them survived.
I did the garbage thing last night, and my tomatoes seem to have survived... we've only got about 10 tomatoes that have ripened so far, but they've been delicious... so worth the trouble. We've got a bunch more that should be ripe in the next 24-48 hours.
I got a good idea up at Greenbluff for keeping my tomatoes in the are next year--I'll share, if you'll give me potato tips! ;)
Laura
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