Still Picking Tomatoes...

I am picking about 100+ tomatoes every other day, or so.  My dining room table has become the holding place until I can get to them to can and freeze. So far I have put up 16 quarts.  About a third of these are stewed tomatoes and the rest whole or cut tomatoes and a few pints of sauce. 

The San Marzano tomato plants were pretty much a loss this year. Most ended up with blossom end rot.  I have planted two more plants in different locations in the hopes that we will have a long summer and they will produce the wonderful plum tomato I like to use for roasting for sauce.  If not I will just use the tomatoes we are so lucky to have now.

This year the Ponderosa, a new variety for me, is really doing well.  The plant is loaded and for the last week I have been picking daily.

Mortgage Lifter is another heavy producer but these are salad size tomatoes and take a lot of time to fill a jar for canning.  I don't think I will bother with this one next year. If you are looking for a good salad tomato, this would be the right one to choose.

Gold Medal is a large yellow tomato with red stripes, a beefsteak tomato.  We have two or three of these plants and they are all producing huge fruit, I picked one a couple of days ago and it weighed in at 1.5 pounds.

Big White Pink Stripe is not a white tomato at all but a yellow with red stripes.  Huge fruit and very meaty like a beefsteak.  I like this one and it is visually pleasing on the plate.  It is very similar to Gold Medal.

Also doing well is Green Zebra and Black Krim. Black Krim is another beauty when sliced.  I have canned all but the Green Zebra as it is just ripening now.  The Black Krim, Cherokee Purple and Annas Russian Pink look beautiful in the jars. Black Krim of course is gorgeous with the dark purple color and green seeds.  Probably the prettiest canned tomatoes I have ever made.

Paul Robeson Black did not produce well for me but what I did get was good and very pretty.  All of the tomatoes I planted this year have had wonderful flavor.

Persimmon, a yellow/orange tomato is not ripe yet but should be coming in soon.  The plants are sparse with fruit; not sure what happened but last year I had a lot of this variety.  German Queen is ripening now and will be a good one to can. 

Purple Russian is one I will repeat next year. It is a dark purple egg shaped fruit and is very meaty.  I made some sauce with this one and it was very tasty and the color was fantastic.

Southern Night is another dark purple tomato.  The plants are loaded with fruit, I am picking over 12 a day.

I also managed to make some Peach Jam and Jalapeno Peach Jam.  

I Bought A Pet Tomato

I bought a pet tomato
and I tried to teach him tricks,
but he wasn't any good at
catching balls or fetching sticks.

He could never catch a Frisbee,
and he wouldn't sit or speak,
though we practiced every afternoon
and evening for a week.

He refused to shake or wave or crawl
or beg or take a bow,
and I tried, but couldn't make him bark
or get him to meow.

He was excellent at playing dead.
However, he couldn't jump a rope.
When he wouldn't do a single trick
I simply gave up hope.

Though I liked my pet tomato,
I returned him with regret.
Boy, I sure do hope this watermelon
makes a better pet.
 -Devang Gandhi