Our fall tomato crop has been better than normal this year. Every single day, we've been going out and picking the nice red ones that were ripening on the vine. Without the heat and bug pressure, the tomatoes have thrived. We've been cooking a lot of them, making homemade cream of Tomato soup and also freezing a bunch of them for later use. And Tricia, each day, would tell me, "You ought to see how many tomatoes are STILL out there on the vines!
It was with that hopeful thought in mind that we received the news of temperatures plunging to 28 degrees Monday morning. Oh no! We have to pull all those tomatoes off before the freeze, but Sunday afternoon was a busy afternoon for us. Starting at 2:30, we were Christmas caroling with our church at the Veterans Administration Home, Jeff Davis Living Center and Camelot Brookside Nursing Home followed by a fellowship at the church. Tick Tock!
Tricia and I got home and changed, bundling up as the north winds were blowing and the wind chill was already below freezing. It took about an hour, but we got all the green tomatoes off the vines before we lost them. It did get down to 28 degrees and then last night it got down to 30 degrees, but now, the two week forecast shows highs in the 70's and lows in the 50's. We just ran out of time.
These are some Chadwick Cherries:
And more...
Black Krim, Cherokee Purple, Creole, etc.
Here are some Black Vernissage tomatoes...
Had we just had another couple of weeks, many of these would've ripened perfectly.
We have them in boxes and will see if they will ripen on their own. If not, we'll make Fried Green Tomatoes, chutney or relish, or salsa verde. I would rather that they would be red, ripe tomatoes, but when Plan A is off the board, we switch to Plan B or Plan C.
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