Below 55 degrees

Tomato season is nearing the end for me.

When night temperatures get below 55 degrees (F), the tomatoes stop producing new fruit (for me, the flowers just fall off).  On the autumn equinox the temperature dropped too low, and the weather forecast is not looking warm at all for the rest of the year.

It also means that it's time to move my Sunsugar cutting inside.  I kind of ignored the poor thing, and it got a big spindly and dehydrated, so I don't know how healthy it is for indoor life.  However, it's an experiment, so I'll be putting it into the solarium and giving it extra care to see if I can coax any tomatoes out of it (so far it's produced just 3).  I'm not too hopeful that it'll produce a significant bounty this fall.


Will I be able to make my original goal of preserving 10 gallons of tomatoes?  


Yes!  I am about 1 quart short right now, but I just picked about a gallon and a half of tomatoes last night.

Tiny tomatoes... and a few basil flowers*.

Everything I've been harvesting has been getting smaller and smaller, and it is obvious that the plants are really winding down.  I wonder how long I will still be picking them?  There is still at least a gallon of green fruit on the vine.

My plan is to finish preserving what I just picked, and then to eat the rest fresh.  It'll go a bit over 10 gallons, but I do want to be able to give my grandma some home-canned tomatoes too.  We've pretty much stopped eating them fresh (besides the little Sunsugars of course) for the past month so that we'd have enough to preserve for next year, and to have enough to give fresh ones away to family and friends.  So by now our palates have been cleansed of the glut of summer tomatoes, and they are starting to sound mouth-watering.


At least there's always next year.

Guess it's time to start fantasizing about all those amazing heirloom tomato seeds that recently arrived...
Amish Paste, Tigerella, Green Zebra, Black Plum, and Black Krim.

Yep.  Mouth is watering already.


When does your tomato season end?

*If your goal is to have lots of basil, it's important to pick the flowers off twice a week.  This will keep the plant putting energy into growth instead of reproduction.