I was amazed to find out recently on some amazing mofo blog post* that you can store green tomatoes and they will continue to ripen. How is it that I never knew that!? It's so exciting. So, I got to work and picked and picked and picked... a LOT of tomatoes. My plan is to sort them out according to various stages of ripeness (from green to process-immediately!), and then pack them away in the cool garage to continue ripening. If you have any tomato-ripening tips, I'd love to hear them!
*which I promptly lost track of. It was such a cool blog, too!
Actually, I left quite a few small green tomatoes on the vine, in the hopes that the weather will hold up and they will get at least a bit bigger so that they will be mature and green before I pick them. So, maybe there will be one more little mini harvest in a few more weeks! On the other hand, the gophers just finally discovered my tomato zone and have been gnawing off branches down at the very base of the plant (very annoying!)... so that's another reason why it's better not to push my luck and wait much longer!
In fact, the tomato plants are still growing vigorously, and there are lots of blossoms on the vines! Amazing really, given that it's almost halloween.
Here's my final haul... aren't they just beautiful!?
Wow! What a wonderful & abundant harvest. So pretty!
ReplyDeleteHey there--the harvest is looking good!
ReplyDeleteI don't think I stressed it in my post, but make sure you store those green guys in a cool, dry, place! We put ours in the basement last year, and it worked like a champ. This year we put them in the three season room, which can get a little damp, apparently, and after a number of the maters on top ripened, the rest got moist and moldy. Guh!
Hopefully you can also learn from my mistakes!