Saturday, October 5, 2019

a good tomato year

As long as my brother has been doing the vegetable gardens, he apparently never knew about the "determinate" and "indeterminate" factors in growing tomatoes.

I think he learned from a friend's father in the neighborhood about gardening, and then it was just a matter of learning by doing - he didn't consult books, in other words.

But this spring, somehow, he heard about the two types of tomato plants, and he planted tomatoes that were indeterminate. And that is why we've enjoyed so. many. delicious. tomatoes this year. 

ripe ones I picked on Thursday


The weatherman said it would get down into the thirties last night, so yesterday as soon as I got home from work, I picked every thing worth picking.


Some partially ripe.


And lots of unripe tomatoes, the same shade of green as the small peppers there. We'll see if they all ripen. It was a good tomato year - the best!







4 comments:

  1. I have never heard about determinate/indeterminate tomatoes before. I have grown tomatoes many times and I must have always grown indeterminate ones. I have had poor years mainly due to too little warmth and/or sunshine. Your tomatoes and peppers look wonderful!

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    1. Yes, you must have, Clare. But your climate - so dreamy to so many Anglophiles around the world, but not the best for tomatoes. :)

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  2. I was lucky to learn gardening in a place where Italians had passed on their superb knowledge of tomato culture, which I’ve benefited from in many ways. My understanding is that gardeners who also like to make and preserve tomato sauce or paste want the tomatoes designated for that to ripen all at once.

    But for most of us that is exactly what we don’t want! I’m so happy for your harvest that has been steadily plentiful!!

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    1. Thank you, Gretchen. Yes, I suppose for preserving food, it would be convenient to do it all at once, but what a monumental job!

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