From Seed To Table - Tomato Harvest Time
Hundreds Of Pounds Of Tomatoes
I know I am holding an apple, but it is also apple harvesting time as well. This apple is from a volunteer apple tree that was growing by our back garden. I pruned the tree and fertilized the trees with some of our compost pile full year old chicken poop and watered the trees every day with my gardens.
I am such a thrifty person with money I made my own seed pots from old telephone books and the dirt was from my compost pile, which I sterilized before using by starting a burn pile of brush over my compost. That killed all all those nasty little flies and added some nice ash to the mix. I tried sterilizing my seedling dirt in the oven but it stunk up the house. My husband had such a pained look on his face, bless his heart he puts up with all my experiments like a saint!
Tomato seeds are easy to start. I let the seeds sit in some water over night and plant the moistened seeds in fine dirt .5 inches deep and keep the dirt moist but not dripping wet because the seed will rot and you will attract fungus and mold. Especially if you don't have air circulating around the little paper pots.
The seedlings are at least 3 to 4 inches tall and ready to transplant.
I prepped my garden dirt. First digging up my dirt and adding compost the previous fall and let sit all winter with the chickens cleaning out all the weeds and bugs. The dirt was easy to dig up with a shovel and hoe to ready the dirt for my tomato seedlings
After the seedlings reached 12 inches tall I pruned off the first 2 bottom stems and added straw to keep the dirt soft and retain moisture.
There isn't much to do except tie the tomatoes up or stake them out as they grow. There are 2 types of tomatoes indeterminate which grows very tall, I use this kind of tomato along my garden fence, which is 10 foot tall. There is the determinate tomato plant, which is the bush type and I cage these tomatoes to support fruit branches. Never prune a determinate type tomato, I prune the first stems near the roots on all my tomatoes, it keeps the leaves off the ground, increases air circulation, which helps prevent diseases.
You can see tomatoes, which in areas with strong sunlight sunscald, these plants are partially in the shade during the afternoon and I didn't have a problem. I did have a problem with dirt born diseases that cause black spots and yellowing leaves. I had to prune the plants to keep their foliage off the ground and drip water to avoid splashing dirt and disease onto the plant. I had a record crop. I planted over 200 plants and harvested hundreds of pounds of tomatoes. I gave half of my harvest to our community center. The other half was made into tomato sauce, stewed tomatoes, and salsa
The last tomatoes of the season, I had to pull off all the remaining tomatoes from my plants and ripen in my mudroom.
I turn my folding table into a processing center for my unripe last of the season tomatoes. As the tomatoes ripen I can them as soon as I get six quarts. My water-bath caner takes 7 quart jars at a time. I don't pressure can my tomatoes as they are acidic enough for water-bath method which you cook your tomatoes, de-skin, de-seed, turn into puree or cut into small portions for stewed tomatoes.
Clean tomatoes ready to dip in boiling water for a couple seconds and dump in cold water, which shocks the skin loose and makes it very easy to peel.
Tomato dumped in scalding water for a couple seconds and then dumped in ice cold water which shocks the skin away from the tomato flesh and makes it easy to peel of skin before canning.
You can see in this photo I am water-bath canning green salsa made from our tomatillo harvest and tomato salsa.
We also eat a lot of fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, and melons. One of my favorite kind of meals.
I found some seeds one year called Beefmaster, I think and they were the most incredible tomatoes ever. Unlike most of the large varieties, they weren't pulpy just sweet and delicious. I could never find them again after that. I used to can my Romas for my sauce. Bell peppers, I could never grow. I tried everything and could never get one bigger than a golfball. Cantelopes I hated. I grew them one year and they kept coming back trying to take the garden over. It took 4 years to get rid of them!
My kids hated it... we had an acre garden and they had to help. They did like selling the surplus and splitting the $$$ after. We grew all our own herbs... everything organic. I had a huge compost pile (or piles) plus there was an old hog farm next door with tons of composted manure- it was fertilzer heaven!
I grew tons of beefmaster, they are heritage seeds along with 7 other varieties, lots of paste tomatoes too. I was never able to grow cantelope or watermelon up in the cascade foothills in Oregon, too cold in the evening. But pepper and tomatoes grew well if I started them early inside. We had frost until the end of May sometimes and could get frost depending on Indian summers from September to October before the really cold wet weather set in.
Yeah, my grandma saved her family from starving growing gardens and sewing for rich people during the depression. She still was growing gardens and sewing the day she died at 92 years old. these are hobbies that will keep the old body going! My chickens pooped a lot....one Rooster was called Mr. Poopalota lololol
My Mom's mother lived with us for about a year and she told me they used to go to the cemetery to pick dandelion greens and eat them with polenta. And we think we've got it bad.
Yes my Grandma told me the starving time stories, I've had a few myself so I truly appreciate growing my own food...the markets are rigged and I don't trust government/corporate food/energy/transportation grids because of my Grandma's stories and my history lessons...Mao cutting off his rebellious people's food grid and millions starved to death. That's why I always save fresh seeds and rotate them out every year, just in case, I also save potatoes for the spring...I am cra-cra-crazy lololol
We ate pigweed when I was a kid and my Mom ran out of money...;-)
Me too! I wound up with an acre of collard greens one year and not much else! And I hate polenta!
that's a lot!
you're very lucky!
here, we must grow them in a green house
otherwise they'd get sick of phytophthora always too wet here
well - more sun this year :)
Those tomatoes look really lovely! I love fresh courgettes and fresh tomatoes from a garden, one of the best things in the world.
I don't think there is anything better except...1. Holding hands for the first time with my husband and kissing my babies after a bath....sigh
What a big softie!
Sometimes...but I carry a gun, I am a redneck Buddhist ;-)
lol. Nutcase ;)
In today's world being sane is nutty...lololol
That is very true!
you have a good place to plant tomatoes and i like the idea to plant our food to know what we are eating and nothing better that from the garden to the table
Thank yo @dim753, gardening is an excellent workout and plus I get food for my efforts! lololol
Yes gardering is the best workout here in colombia we can see a lot of farmers or "campesinos" working in their crops and eating their products and their health is simply amazing
Those are coffee beans? I come from farming and small business family and community, we all were very healthy until pesticides and herbicide application became standard practice.
yes they are, yes red with all this people to feed we have to use chemists yes or yes, because we need to produce more and more products every single day and very fast
I know, it happened to us and now we are sick and dying from cancer and other diseases.
Awful red so gardening is the most useful tool for us
Yes @dim753, I boycott corporate ag and buy from local organic farmers as well as grow my own. That's how I'm fighting the greed that's polluting our world.
I have already planted tomatoes but it did not grow too, thanks for sharing ur daily life
Tomatoes are hard to grow if the soil, temperature, and watering aren't just right. :-(
This was awesome to see loads and loads of Tomatoes :D
I canned almost 50 quarts of tomatoes! Thank youn@blazing.
Learning to be more self sufficient is the way to go. I have a massive garden as well. I love knowing where the food I eat comes from and it is organic. It can be a lot of work but being outside getting exercise is far better for your overall health then sitting inside with your eyes glued to the TV.
Thanks for the great post!
@shadowblade I didn't have to learn much in my adult years, I grew up watching my family garden, fish, hunt and cook and preserve our food. After years of living and working in Chicago coming home and starting a garden was like remembering how to ride a bike. Thank you for stopping by!
awesome post thank you for sharing
resteemed
@machhour, thank you for stopping by, I wish I could share some tomatoes with you!
Nothing better than fresh and ready to eat products, good article
Thank you @gandolares.
@reddust,
Wow that's amazing! You are a god farmer also! Really appreciate your work! Sharing such valuable post is giving an incredible value to the community!
I wanted to say a great photography skills there too!
Cheers~
Thank you @theguruasia, working in the dirt is like it sucks the negative energy out of my body and I feel so relaxed after I am done for the day.
Nice photography ! finally you got awesome results of your hard work
I love journaling using my camera and digital blogging. Thank you @irfansardar.
That's great you're welcome @reddust