For A Few Tomatoes More

Mortgage Lifter, 20 Oct 2013

Temperatures are dipping below the point for comfortably wearing short sleeve shirts outdoors. With that ripening has all but come to an end in the garden, but for a few tomatoes more.

Sweet 100, 20 Oct 2013

There are just two tomato plants remaining in the square foot raised beds. A Sweet 100 in near bed, and my prolific Mortgage Lifter in the far bed.

Quite a few pink and plenty of green tomatoes still cling to the vines. There is a chance I will get some ripe tomatoes before temperatures fall below freezing.

Once the tomatoes are all gone, I will don a poncho, cut down the vines, remove the trellises and cover the growing medium with fresh red plastic. To keep out unwanted seeds. If I get ambitious, I just might create a greenhouse over at least one bed with clear plastic and black plastic tubing. When and if I do, I'll plant lettuce seeds. Bunching onions would be nice, too. For a few 2013 harvests more.

©Damyon T. Verbo - all rights reserved

Season's Massive Mortgage Lifter

Behold the season's most massive tomato, a Mortgage Lifter. Harvested 17 October. I guess the vine saved its best for last.

While the average weight of Mortgage Lifters were in the 340g/12oz range this baby weighted in at 688 grams. That is 1-1/2 pounds.

One slice from close to the top of the tomato nearly covered a slice of bread. The grilled cheese, bacon, tomato and jalapeño sandwich with oregano was quite delicious. I will surely miss freshly picked tomatoes from the garden until the first harvested in July 2014.

©Damyon T. Verbo - all rights reserved

Hades Returns to Claim Persephone from my Garden

Persephone must return to her husband, Hades, deity of the underworld. Her poor mother, Demeter, begins her slow decline into a dark depression. And so the garden begins its slide down the same path. But, not before the cornucopia is full.

It was a good summer for tomatoes, in my garden. Specifically the production of Mortgage Lifter and Tami G varieties. The above bowl of fruit was harvested on October 8. What you see amounts to 7.75lbs/3.5kg of ripe tomatoes, bell pepper, cucumbers and Nacho chiles. Of that total Mortgage Lifter contributed 3.36lbs/1527g and Burpee Burpless cucumber 2.9lbs/1327g of weight. After culling out the unripe fruit, the Tami G grape tomato weighed in at 0.5lbs/259g.

Mortgage Lifter, Rutgers, Tami G, Red Bell Pepper and Burplee Burpless

Mortgage Lifter was by far an away the largest producer of any plant. The total weight of Mortgage Lifter tomatoes harvested, from one 11'/3.35m vine starting July 6 and running through Oct 8, was an amazing 35.53lbs/16.114kg. Let me say that again. Thirty-five pounds of delicious heirloom delights. As for the next runner up, the Tami G grape tomatoes total weight was 11.6lbs/5.67kg from one 9'/2.7m vine.

Mortgage Lifter and Tami G

The third must prolific producer was one the the two varieties of cucumber planted, Burpee Burpless and Tender Green. Burpless was the winner for both production and taste. The total weight of Burpless harvest 30 July through 8 October was 9.58lbs/4.68kg from two 6'/1.8m vines.

Burpless

Overall, it was a good year of gardening in two 16 sq ft/1.48 sq m raised bed square foot garden beds. A grand total of 91.5/43.47kg of produce was harvested. I am a happy gardener in 2013.

During the dark hours that cover my garden until Hades allows Persephone to return to Demeter, I will plan the garden for 2014.


©Damyon T. Verbo - all rights reserved

Mortgage Lifter Harvest Savored

For the last two months I have been savoring home grown tomatoes from my garden. Not that I am bragging but if you don't grow you own tomatoes, you don't know what you are missing. Rutgers, Cherokee Purple, Beefsteak, Tami G, Sweet 100 and Mortgage Lifter. Of all the varieties the Mortgage Lifter provided the most pounds of big tomatoes.

I was taken by surprise with the massive production of Mortgage Lifter. As a matter of fact, if back in late April, you told me that one tomato plant was going to produce over 22lbs/10kg of tomatoes in one growing season, I wouldn't have believed it. Nonetheless, that is exactly what happened in my raised bed square foot garden.

The tallest plant is Mortgage Lifter Tomato 28 June 2013

Mortgage Lifter Tomato 18 July 2013

Here is how this went down. 

1. One store bought Mortgage Lifter plant was transplanted into the bed on 20 April.
2. On July 6, a 13.7oz/388g Mortgage Lifter was the first tomato harvested from the garden.
3. As of August 31, 22.19 lbs/10.065kg of ripe Mortgage Lifter tomatoes have been plucked from a single vine.

Let me repeat that. I think it deserves repeating.

One Mortgage Lifter tomato vine produced 22.19lbs/10.065kg of ripe tomatoes from July 6 through August 31.

A plant that is still producing wonderfully tasting vine ripened tomatoes.

Mortgage Lifter harvested 6 July 2013 weighed in at 388g/13.58oz

Production was not the most important feature of this variety. For hugh production of a rotten tasting tomato would just be, well, a waste. Of course, the most important feature of any tomato is taste. The Mortgage Lifter has that wonderful old fashion taste you remember as a child. A taste you can only get if you grow your own tomatoes and allow them to ripen on the vine. Or get them from your generous gardening neighbor.

http://carrot.mcb.uconn.edu/~olgazh/photogal/summer08/

I will probably plant at least one Mortgage Lifter again next year. Maybe two. If I transplant any more, I will surely need to set up a roadside stand at the foot of my driveway to sell the surplus tomatoes. Then I could spread to my neighbors, the pleasure of eating home grown tomatoes. I might even sell enough tomatoes to pay for the seeds, soil mixture, fertilizer and lumber for the raised bed frame. I'll have to consider that in the coming months.

In just three weeks summer will die to autumn. I will leave you with a thought I believe you should take very seriously.

Savor your garden while ye may.

©Damyon T. Verbo - all rights reserved

August 13 Harvest

A few vegetables harvested within this last week from my raised bed square foot garden.

One Nantes and several Kaleidoscope carrots

In this one bowl are 2.9 lbs/ 1343g of Tami G grape, Beefsteak and Rutgers tomatoes and one bell pepper.

©Damyon T. Verbo - all rights reserved

Ripe Tomatoes - Slicing, Snacking or Salads

Two varieties of tomatoes were ripe on Sat., 13July.

Tami G, grape tomato and Mortgage Lifter.

I am weighing all the produce, as I did last year, and keeping a spreadsheet of dates and weights.

This handful weighed in at 14oz/397g. One slice covered a hamburger completely.

The total weight of Tami Gs was 11.28oz/320g. These babies are good just popped into the mouth as a snack with some cheese and fresh bread, kind of like a raw pizza.

Of course, both varieties would be good in salads.

A good harvest for this early in the growing season in USDA zone 6B.

©Damyon T. Verbo - all rights reserved

Square Foot Garden - Season Yield Totals

From the very start of the gardening season 2012, I weighed and recorded the yield from my square foot garden. All the entries are below on the spreadsheet.

The top three producing vegetables in the garden by weight were:

1. Cucumber - 3835g / 7.85lbs.
2. Super Sweet 100 Tomato - 30g / 6.85lbs.
3. Husky Cherry Tomato - 3099g / 6.34lbs.

The two patio type tomatoes were planted in mid-May and produced fruit steadily from mid-June through late September. The cucumbers were planted in early June and harvesting started in the third week of August. Once they started to produce, it was like a cucumber explosion.

The total weight for the full size tomatoes was 9022g /19.89lbs. The full size tomatoes were, as usual, late to harvest. There were a few that ripened in mid-July but most were harvested in mid-August.

There were a few bell peppers of orange and red and dozens of cayenne peppers harvested. All the peppers weighed in at 1371g / 3.2lbs.

Lettuce amounted to 805g / 1.77lbs.

Snow Peas totaled 321g / 0.71lbs.

Although two squares were planted with four melon plants, no fruit materialized.

Several varieties of potatoes were planted in two towers. Only three varieties produced potatoes.

Yukon Gold - 237g /0.48lbs

Russet - 418g / 0.88lbs

Red Norland - 376g 0.77lbs

Potato total - 1037g / 2.27lbs.

Not a great total and no where near my expectation.

Now can I get a drum roll, please?

The 2012 fruit and vegetable total weight harvested from the 4' /1.2m x 4' /1.2m plot, two potato towers and one pot containing the Chocolate Cherry tomatoes was 23.323 kilosgrams / 48.39lbs. (Crash a cymbal, here, please!) Not a bad amount for the small space.

However, the plot could have produced much more. If I had used the plot to its fullest potential. For there were several 1' squares that went unplanted the whole season and several other squares that were fallow for some of the season. Plus the melons needed something I wasn't giving them.

One of the reasons for not utilizing the plot to its fullest was the heat. I just didn't want to go out into the high temperatures this summer. Maybe its because I am old. Maybe its because I am lazy or disorganized. For what ever reason I just didn't get it done in the garden this year.

I did, however, enjoy beautiful home grown organic tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, snow peas, cucumbers and potatoes. As for the garden's potential? 

Just wait until next year! There is always next year.

©Damyon T. Verbo - all rights reserved

Potato Towers Harvested

2012 was the first time I planted potatoes in towers. I used shredded leaves from last autumn as the medium and planted patio style tomatoes on top of each tower.



Several kinds of potatoes were planted. Three kinds produced spuds - Yukon Gold, Russet and Red Norland.

The tomatoes produced massive amounts of both Husky Cherry and Super Sweet 100 tomatoes. The day I cut down all the plants in the garden, both of these patio tomatoes were still producing fruit. However, the potatoes that were growing under the tomatoes should probably have been harvested earlier. As a matter of fact the potatoes really didn't produce as much leafy greens as they should. There were only a few greens growing out of the tower and those that grew were sparse and short lived. The potato plants were long dead before I cleared the tomatoes and opened the towers.

The towers were opened by straightening the short ends of wire left on each end of the wire fencing the formed each tower. One by one the wires were opened until the fencing could be pulled back. The fabric was opened and the digging for spuds began.

While digging through the shredded leaves, I came in contact with three kinds insects. The first and most aggressive was ants. Ant nests were distributed throughout the medium. In those ant nests were angry ants! They climbed from my hands to my forearms, biting along the way. They entered my shoes, climbed my ankles biting on their way up my pant legs. I had to step back and wipe the ants from my limbs. This took some time, for no sooner did they appear to be off my limbs more appeared, still biting.

Another lovely find in the media were sow bugs. The presence of sow bugs is what makes me think I should have harvested the potatoes earlier. The sow bugs were eating the spuds. Not a great deal of damage but damage none the less.

The last insect I encountered were cicada larvae. Big ugly cicada larvae. Down at the very bottom of each tower between all the weight of the media, potatoes and tomatoes in each tower were some 20 larvae. I placed them on the patio surface for the birds to feast upon. They dried in the sun without any interest from the birds.

Lets get down to the important facts about the potato towers.

The potatoes were small,

the potatoes were few. 

The total weight of all potatoes grown was 1031g/ 2.27lbs.

If I grow potatoes in towers next year there will be changes. Changes such as no tomatoes planted on top of the tower, a way to ensure water is delivered to the whole tower, possibly a different planting media and definitely space between the towers to allow the plant leaves to get more sun which I hope will produce larger spuds.

To the drawing board.

©Damyon T. Verbo - all rights reserved

Mid-September Harvest

I picked more fruit from the vines today and a beautiful day it was. High temperature was 81ºF/27ºC with mostly sunny skies. Night before the temperature dipped to 61ºF/15ºC. For tomato ripening, the daytime temperature was great, overnight temperature is low and will retard or stop ripening. Tomato harvesting will not last much longer. 

Above you see cucumber, cayenne peppers, Big Beef, Super Sweet and Husky Cherry tomatoes. I also harvested two Early Girl tomatoes.

I have been recording the weights of all the garden's produce since planting the first seeds back in March. I was and am curious to see just how much a 4' x 4' garden will produce and which were the most prolific plants. I will put up some charts once harvesting has ended. In the mean time, I will enjoy eating the harvest.

©Damyon T. Verbo - all rights reserved

Ripening Continues

Only a few days remain in August and only one month remains 'til the first day of Autumn. As the evening temperatures dip below 70ºF/21º the tomatoes will struggle to ripen. It won't be long before I will be looking forward to next summer's garden tomatoes.

I harvested the lot above on 29August. In the bowl are Black Krim,  Husky Cherry, Super Sweet, Early Girl and a mystery yellow tomatoes, along with a cucumber, green bush beans and one cayenne pepper.

The total weight of all the produce was 6.5lbs/2957g. The largest total was in Early Girl tomatoes weighing in at 2.4lbs/1101g.

A few cucumbers remain to ripen as well as many Husky Cherry and Super Sweet tomatoes.




The potato towers need to open, as well. A Super Sweet tomato was planted atop one of the towers and a Husky Cherry tomato atop the other tower. I don't think I will do that again. Because of the tomatoes planted atop the towers, I must either wait until the tomatoes are finished producing with the potatoes possibly being ruined or open the towers now and the tomatoes will be ruined. I will decide soon which I will do with only the hope that the potatoes will be in eating condition when I do open the towers. With Autumn approaching and cool evening temperatures, the decision will soon be made.

I never did get my third planting into the ground. I will blame that on the hot weather. No broccoli, cabbage, radishes, carrots or lettuce to harvest. Laziness had something to do with it, too.

Of course, planning of next season's garden will begin soon enough. Enlarging and raising the bed is a main consideration, at the moment.

©Damyon T. Verbo - all rights reserved