Our tomato's came on strong and then quit. I'll be patient. What few I got was great. Corn is doing great. We planted 3 different groups 2 weeks apart. We have cabage coming out our ears. Its still fun. As far as fertilizer goes we use horse poop but we till it under before we plant. Triple 13 works good too.

Hey TH- these Heirlooms come out of a natural growing situation in Kings Mtn. they are smokin... if there is anyway I can meet you down 74 half way I will be glad to take a sat joy ride in the cayman and bring you some- anytime. just say the word. Maybe we can trade some shrimp or freash fish????

 I am embarassed to say that mine are only about 2" in diameter...First ones.  I planted late and it has been colder this year.  That is my excuse at least.  I think I need better soil.  Clay loam sucks!  I have added peat and potting soil but...

I had fried tomotoes on toast last night, uuuuuuuuummm good.

Thanx, Russ

Wow- went to the burger join to end all burger joints for lunch. the feartured burger was a maytag blue cheese- bacon and double beefsteak local tomato slab burger. Unreal- one of the best ever. eating hierlooms like crazy from the farmers market.

prof- try some miracle grow next time with the sh***y soil. Before the squirrel invasion we had good success with it. Our soil sucks as well.

 

My 4 plants are still growing. One variety is loaded with tomatoes but none are yet ripened or even close (as far as I can tell). The other is an heirloom called Paul Robeson. The plants are huge, about as tall as I am. The yield is less but improving. I learned that this particular plant needs to have its suckers contained. Suckers on tomatoes are the growth that occurs in the crotch of the major branches. I started removing those and immediately saw an increase in production. Got some 20/20/20 fertilizer and will hit em one a week. How long before these start to mature anyway?

I am a tomato hog.I hide all the big un's down in the basement and break out the salt shaker and Michelob light.

Mayders and Michelob- yo de man John.

I've harvested a couple of these from each variety and they are pretty yummy. But, I've got a ton more that are still green. Ideas on how to make certain they ripen before seasons end? I don't need any more new ones. I just want the ones already here to mature. I am topping the plants now more to keep them manageable but I was told that will help with the ripening. Any other thoughts would be helpful.

Mine have been done for 2-3 weeks now......I miss them. [:'(] 

I put about 12 gallons in the freezer and we used the rest in everything I could think of even fried green, one of my favorites was chop a bunch very fine with equal parts of very finely chopped sweet onion with olive oil, coarse sea salt and pepper and about one spoon of vinegar. 

still got them here at the farmers market- 2nd crop stuff- still killer- will play out in late sept.

My sun gold's are just coming ready a few at a time, and some of the other vaieties are just starting to get color. Been a very slow year.

I had my first tomato sandwich today. Freshly ground kosher salt, mixed pepper and 5 year old cheddar cheese. I do like this time of year. The plants have three to four tomatoes on most plants which isn't great, but one of the heirlooms has twelve tomatoes. It hasn't been a great year, too cold and wet, but I still have some tomatoes and I will be eating sandwiches for the next couple of weeks.

I ran out and had to buy some Romas from the gro store. There were marked-locally grown. Looked good and tasted great- I was shocked.

Great with some live bib lettuce and some blue cheese vinegar dressing

 I tried growing some tomatoes in a couple of those "Topsy Turvey" hanging planters on our deck. It didn't work too well. I used several kinds of tomato, including a cherry-vine type that looked like it would do well hanging. Most of herbs (dill, cilantro, chives, rosemary, etc.) did pretty well. I even got some small bell peppers out of it. Possibly we're still not getting enough light after the trees fully leaf out, but it is southern exposure & there's plenty of sun during mid-day. The one cherry tomato plant in the ground is doing much better. Personall, I think there's too much competition for all those plants to do well in a relatively small hanging containe.