Fall Tomato Plans In Action

 "Always plan ahead.  It wasn't raining when Noah built the ark."  Richard Cushing

It was 94 degrees today with heat index that said that it "feels like 105.  The garden is pretty much done except for okra, peppers, eggplant, purple hull peas and black-eyed peas.  Most other plants have baked in the summer sun.  It's not too early to think about the fall garden.

My LSU vegetable planting guide says the fall tomatoes in my zone (South Louisiana) can be planted from seed between June 1 and July 1 and plant from July 1 to August 15th.  We had a halfway decent spring tomato crop this year.  We ate lots of fresh tomatoes and froze a bunch of cherry tomatoes.  The variety Chadwick Cherry is a keeper!  We were also fortunate enough to can about 18 pints of salsa.  What we're lacking is canning some stewed tomatoes.  That's what we're aiming for for the fall crop.

I like to find things growing "volunteer" in the garden.  Those are plants that grow up that you didn't plant.  I dug up these beautiful tomatoes from the garden and transplanted in pots specifically for the fall crop.  What I like about this is that we're not wasting anything.  Additionally, these plants are strong!  They want to grow, even without us babying and pampering them.  The bad part about these is that I have no idea what variety they are.  They could be all types.  It'll be a mystery we'll have to solve once they fruit.  Just look how healthy they are!

It's hard to get perspective on how big they are.  These are a foot and a half tall.

Finally, here are 25 tomato seedlings of 6 of our favorite varieties that I planted from seed.  I'll soon separate them and transplant them into bigger pots and hit them with some diluted fish emulsion to really get them growing.

Fall tomatoes are a little tricky.  You don't want them to get killed by an early frost.  (It's way too early to even be thinking about that.)  You also don't want them to grow in stifling heat.  It is said that tomatoes will not fruit if the temperatures exceed 85 degrees.  We've got quite a balancing act on our hands.  We have set our plans in motion and we'll see what happens.  Our goal is to can some stewed tomatoes and/or tomato sauce.