07 August 2017

Something to look forward to

Tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes. If the predicted rain doesn't damage them... Walt has the plants tied to stakes, so few of the tomatoes themselves are touching the ground. They should be fine.

These photos I took yesterday morning are just a sample. There are 30 plants in the garden, and each plant seems to have produced a lot of fruit.

We'll make liters and liters of tomato sauce. We'll dry as many tomatoes as we can in the dehydrator.

We'll make tomato paste too. You just take some sauce you've made, put in a thin layer in a big lasagna pan, and put it in the oven at about 200ºF (90ºC) for a few hours until it concentrates and thickens. It's easier to store for the winter than sauce is.

And we'll of course be eating a lot of these tomatoes in salads and pasta dishes, and on pizzas, when they've had time to ripen. And we'll share them with our neighbors too. Here's hoping for a sunny, fairly dry rest-of-summer, into October.

14 comments:

  1. My favorite fruit, with cherries, I must add.

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  2. Otherwise you'll be eating lots of green fried tomatoes😋

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  3. Ken, what kind of tie do you and Walt use to secure those tomato plants to the rods? That looks like a good product to use.
    Judy

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    1. Walt bought some special "tomato ties" at the garden center this year. They're pretty handy and easy to work with. And I think they'll be re-usable.

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  4. "we'll share them with our neighbors too"
    Can I be your neighbor?
    Tomatoes are one of the best things about Summer. I too can and freeze lots of tomatoes, but I've never made paste, nor dried tomatoes (I don't have a dehyrdator)

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    1. I used to dry tomatoes in the oven. That works, but the dehydrator is easier to us.

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  5. Growing up in North Carolina, the children in the family were the "pickers" when the gardens got crazy ripe and everything had to be picked asap. I cannot remember how many times I had to go home with a stomachache from eating half of what we picked .. my cousins and I .. free labor but iffy stomachs.

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    1. We lived in town and my mother often had a vegetable garden (with the best tomatoes), but I especially remember picking blackberries in summertime.

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  6. That's a good amount of tomatoes. You'll be inundated soon. Good thing you got that beautiful new freezer. We still have one that you need to defrost, and it's a pain. I'd like to graduate to one like yours--looks easy to organize and find things, too. Let us know how you like it.

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    1. Will do, Ginny. The new freezer is supposed to be delivered today.

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  7. I like your plans for those tomatoes. Don't forget the ratatouille...

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    1. I won't forget it. I think I'll have to buy eggplant to put in it.

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