A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 A Tomato Question?

Ciao Deb,

If you know anything about wops, it's that we don't do things the easy-peasy-fast way..acronyms are absolutely in that category, lol.

Are you a Rachel Ray fan??????
She's coined that phrase...

Yes, Weez, she rules !
Sorellina, I can tell you take a great deal of effort in all of that good cooking - not to mention tomato gardening !

Ciao all,

Ohhhhh Rachel Ray, well no wonder, that woman's voice could peel paint, I don't care for her show. Plus she talks too fast and moves too fast and cooks too fast.

Rachel ray?! Ugh. Gag me with a fork! Much to chipper for me.

LOL John, I'm really starting to love you a lot.

Actually, the chef I like best is the Southern lady, Paula Deen. I LOVE her kitchen set.
RR is OK, but not a fave. I feel that her laugh is very "put-on". Kinda turns me off.

Doesn't anyone grow those tomatoes that are picked green and ripe and store indoors?
You know, winter keepers, I think they're called.
Are those any good?

havent had a single tomato all summer...my plants did just fine, but no flowering nor any fruit, then at the end of the season I noticed a MASS BLOOSOMING and now I have tomatoes coming out of my ears !
fried my biggest ones up with alittle salt and pepper and served them up as a side dish, family loved them...still waiting on them to ripen up and turn color for me.(My tomatoes not my family)
The weather here has been around high 70 to mid 80's and that when they bloomed...why on earth did that happen?? was it because the weather was SO hot (over 100) all summer long?? My sister never had that problem before, but this year the same thing happened to her tomatoes too.

Might have been a lack of bees? It was hot down here too.
We're good for a couple of months weather-wise.
Enjoy all your tomatoes !

but tomatoes are self pollitaing I thought???!!!
they grow GREAT in the hot house with no bees...I think all of California suffered from a heat wave this past summer.

I didn't know that tomatoes are self pollinating. Wow !
Wasn't that humid heat in June awful? I was sooooooooooo sick from it.

I just thought of something. If tomatoes are self- pollinating, why do the books say to wiggle the flowers from time to time?
Just when I think I "get it" I get confused again. ARGH !

Flicking the blossoms helps the process along. It helps the release of pollen from the stamen inside the flower. Tomatoes are self-pollinating as long as insects stay away. They do nothing but CROSS-pollinate. If you look closely when you flick the flowers you can see the poof of pollen.

Only one was ripening with the banana method (too many, I bet). So I wrapped each in newspaper and layered them in a sack. WOW! What a difference! It was like Christmas this morning! 20 red tomatoes!

Thanks so much, papito, for the tip! This is the only 2006 harvest that actually made it to 'fruition!'

How are everyone elses?

John, you mean that the tomato is a plant that actually does NOT need bees? That is actually messed up by bees?
What other plants wouldn't need them?

Tomacco,

I was so excited to read that you had some success! We are getting dangerously close to frost and I have a good many green tomatoes yet. When you wrapped them, did you wrap each tomato with a banana? I don't have enough bananas! Or just newspaper between the layers, with a banana at each layer? Details please! I want to eek out every red one I can get!

Amy

I bring them in, complete with parts of their
stems they were growing on, and put them in a
cardboard box... in like our dining room, or a room that is warmer than say like your backroom or a mud room that may be chillier...

I'm near Buffalo and it's that time of year when all is DONE!

Ciao Weezie,

Hope you stocked up on hot cocoa. Got your computer working, I see so the electicity is up and running at your place, good thing. Sheesh, nice Friday the 13th this year, eh?

Warm hugs,
Julianna

I never lost any power/electricity here, Julianna...
It all went up North of me,
towards Buffalo and Niagra Falls area..
*the closest it got to me was about a
half an hour in East Aurora/Holland area..*

Go to "I've got snow" *in Gardener's Chat* towards the end, I posted a picture from the
airport in there..
posted on our plight...

Some of the green tomatos I picked before the frost started ripening in the house, so I skinned them and made some sauce to put into jars. When I tasted it, it was tastless with a sharp edge to it. I don't know what is missing, but I am disappointed? They were red, so I must be doing something wrong with the way I am ripening them, because they lack the taste and natural sugar they normally have in them. Anyone else having luck with theirs, and I'm not talking about red tomato's, that I've got, it's the taste! There is none!

Amy, I wrapped each tomato in 2 layers of newspaper and twisted the ends (like a popcorn ball). Yes I layered them in a couple of paper bags and folded the tops down enough to close. No banana.

I agree with DaisyM. The taste was definitely subpar to "warm and ripe from the vine." If I didn't have so much going on in the greenhouse & kitchen, I would have done tomatoes Weezie-style!

Ok, I put some in a bag with a banana last night and they have already started to redden. I'm going to try some in a box like you do Weezie and see if they do as well or better. I just love my tomatoes and want to have tomato sandwiches as long as possible! Thanks for the advice!

amy

Ciao Amy,

I've got over 200lbs of green tomatoes spread out on my laundry room folding table right now. I'm not counting on any of these for BLTs, it would definitely be a disappointing experience. I use my end of season tomatoes primarily for puree, diced tomatoes, sauce, and heavily-seasoned things like chili sauce or relish. I'm definitely going to try using some of my green ones that won't ripen for mincemeat and relish. But BLTs or bruschetta? No, that's for the height of the season when the sun ripens the tomatoes and they're warm to the touch when you pick them. Those days are history.

Cheers and best of luck with your tomatoes,
Julianna