songbird wrote:
15 tomatoes turned into 5 quarts canned
last night. there are a few out there that
are bigger than my two hands.

as for flavor, when we were done canning
we had a quarter of a cup left that would
not fit in the jars so we split it and
sipped. heaven!

we've been enjoying them fresh too. one
slice of tomato for the whole sandwich.

the previous post where i mentioned the
tomatoes getting some fungal damage (the plants
are too close together there) from the several
wet rainy days in a row. i left it alone and
as soon as the sun came out the fungus didn't
progress and the infected leaves have mostly
fallen off. no spraying needed. i consider it
natures way of dealing with the problem. it
did by dropping the fungus prone leaves. there
is plenty of new green growth up top so i
consider them to be doing just fine. sure they
would have done better spaced further apart, but
when we planted i tried to get more spacing but
was overruled by the management. next year
the management may listen...

i'm not sure what we'll be like for final
production, but the size of the current tomatoes
are indicating a bumper. if we get 40+qts put
up along with what we eat and give away
we'll be quite happy.

the cherry tomatoes are doing well too.
plenty of sunshine with some rain here or
there makes for good tomato weather. temperatures
are finally moderate enough. looks to be the
mid 80sF this week and some rain in the forecast
here or there.


songbird

My tomatoes also look nice but still green. I like mine to come in around
first half of September in the belief the cooler weather helps them taste
better. I have mostly beefsteaks and Romas. I am getting lots of cherry
tomatoes. I did get a handful of tomatoes two weeks ago with some bottom
rot after several days of heavy rain. But that seemed to go way now that
rain has settled down. I do not believe it was due to calcium deficiency
but due to uneven watering.

My pickling cucumbers also came in nicely. I made 12 pints of Bread and
Butter slices and 12 pints of dill spears. The cucumber vines are spent and
ready for the compost pile. I think I will try broccoli in that spot and
see what happens this fall.

In two week I should be freezing some green beans. I did not plant many
garden peas to freeze, so they are for fresh eating. I do can some whole
tomatoes but tend to turn the beefsteaks into tomato juice and the Romas
into sauce and salsa. Since it is just me, I go for the pints and I tend to
pressure can all tomato products instead of the Boiling Water Bath.

--
Nad