Is it possible to OD on tomatoes?

Dodgy Loner · June 18, 2012, 11:02:29 AM

I use stakes because they're cheap (free) and weave twine between the stakes as the tomatoes grow to hold them upright. Usually 1 stake every 2 plants works fine. I prefer cages, but I haven't made that capital investment yet.

Raider Bill · June 18, 2012, 11:21:44 AM

My growing season is done. I have a couple peppers and watermelons still hanging on but everything else burnt to a crisp.

blackfoot griz · June 18, 2012, 12:00:39 PM

I got tired of the flimsy cages and built some out of 3/8 rod. Basically, 3 hinged inverted "A" frames that fold flat for storing. I can sit on one without fear. Overkill maybe, but they should last forever.

Dodgy Loner · June 19, 2012, 08:48:45 AM

Wife and I found another use for our tomatoes last night. I really love making homemade spaghetti sauce, and I often use it as a base for my chili. However, it takes a lot of work and you can get the same results using fresh tomatoes as the base for your chili. Here's what we did:

Cut the stems and blemishes off of your tomatoes and pulse them in the blender, adding more until you get 3-4 cups of liquid.

We put about 3 cups of tomato puree into the crockpot and added:

1 diced onion
2 diced banana peppers
2 diced jalapenos
1 cob of sweet corn (just the kernels, not the whole cob ;) )
1 can black beans (liquid and all)
1 can chili beans (liquid and all)
1 lb ground venison

Season with:
Chili powder
Minced garlic
Italian seasoning
Minced chives
Fresh black pepper

I didn't measure any of the seasoning. It's just to taste.

Simmer for at least four hour in the crockpot and enjoy! We had ours with jalapeno cheddar cornbread. Oh, and don't forget to turn the A/C on full blast before you eat! There's something just not right about eating chili while it's hot

ely · June 19, 2012, 09:03:39 AM

i use the stakes usually, 3 or 4 to a plant with hay twine wrapped aronud the plants to form a basket. this year i did the wire baskets made of concrete wire. i have roughly 25 plants, my mother is the tomatoe queen, ours are just now turning color and we have been eating hers for a month now. she has some that will cover a slice of store bought bread with one slice.

Bandmill Bandit · June 19, 2012, 04:49:57 PM

If it is possible to eat to many tomatoes then I should be in ground many years ago.

I eat tomatoes 3 times a day in the summer when the garden is producing, besides most of the food that the little lady cooks around here has tomatoes of some kind in it.

The kids wonder why I am not red.

I would guess that I average 2 to 3 sandwich sized fresh tomatoes a day. I just weighed one of the vine ripened dozen I picked up friday at the farmers market. It is just under a pound. There are 3 left as of right now. I think you could say I live on them.

Chris Burchfield · June 23, 2012, 10:20:33 AM

I just picked my first four yesterday. Looking forward to BLT's for lunch today.

bull · June 23, 2012, 12:20:42 PM

finishing up posts and wire today !!!

Bibbyman · July 02, 2012, 02:00:32 PM

Now that's what I call one big tomato! It weighs over 3 pounds.

This is the first tomato out of the truck patch ran by our farmer neighbor. He knew I was waiting for new tomatoes so he saved this one.

It's a monster! Actually, it's a clump of tomatoes grown together. I broke it in two this morning and have broken two smaller sections off the small half. I had one part with breakfast and another just now for lunch. The taste is a bit less acidy than the tomatoes we've been getting. Very good!

SwampDonkey · July 02, 2012, 05:06:53 PM

Mine are just beginning to flower. They are tiny tims so I suspect in 3 weeks, more than I could ever eat. I have some lettuce up ready to east, onions, and some new jalapinos as big as your little finger. The leaves on the peppers have some black color to them. Don't know what that is, hope it ain't blight.

:-\

WDH · July 04, 2012, 08:56:27 PM

We have had a bumper crop of tomatoes, and they are still going gangbusters.

We have been getting about this many every three or four days. So far, my wife has put up 34 quarts, so there will be stewed tomatoes this winter ;D.

bull · July 04, 2012, 09:08:40 PM

We pick our tomatoes all vine ripe *( Red )* !!! Those arent ready for my customers !!!

DouginUtah · July 04, 2012, 09:13:36 PM

From the savvygardener newsletter:

Red pigments in tomatoes don't form above 95°F so tomatoes ripened in extreme heat will have a orange-red color. Tomatoes held at cooler temperatures will ripen slower. You can speed up or slow down the ripening process by raising the temperature (to an optimum of 85°F) or lowering the temperature (to a minimum of 50°F). Tomatoes develop their optimum flavor, nutrition, and color when the tomato is in the full red ripe stage but this doesn't have to occur on the plant!

WDH · July 04, 2012, 09:26:41 PM

They turn red in the house very fast.

SwampDonkey · July 05, 2012, 04:23:02 AM

WDH and family are probably the biggest customers. ;D

We always ripened the surplus in brown paper grocery bags and placed in a closet. Always worked. ;) We usually picked them this way when they got over loaded on the vines and worried about blight. When you have acres of potatoes around on farms and blight hits the garden (potatoes and tomatoes) they have to be destroyed by law.

Lately, I have been seeing more and more corn, canola and beans around.

Bibbyman · July 20, 2012, 07:22:43 AM

Just a few weeks ago we had to shop around to get tomatoes for $2.00/lb. Now they're in season and tomatoes are coming in free faster than eat them. Mary delivered a small order the other day and came home with 10 lbs of tomatoes as a tip. She assured them that she already had plenty but they insisted she take them.

We're eating tomatoes with every meal.