November Tomato Update – a few left

p1100253Every week there’s a few more of the tomatoes ripening in the bag. When I see they’re almost ripe, I set them on the window sill so I can keep an eye on them.
Putting an  apple in the bag  with the tomatoes trick does work, but you need to keep checking them every couple days.
I can’t get over how pretty they are. I’ve only a few more November tomatoes left. It certainly has been fun having these volunteer tomatoes this late in the season.

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November Tomato Update – tastes like

p1090285We ate the ripest four of the tomatoes. 20161113_042543They tasted like sun ripened tomatoes.
Since these 4 were mostly ripe before I bagged them, I figure
being outdoors was mostly responsible for the taste. 20161114_025343Some more of the tomatoes are mostly ripened now too.
I hope they taste as well as the first four.

The 12th of Nov, my husband looked under the cheesecloth covering the tomato vine and discovered several other tomatoes on the now dying vine. He picked them and brought them in. I’ve bagged them with an apple. Now I wait for them to ripen too.11-13-2016-novtoe2

I suppose this is the end of the gardening season for me.
It was fun tending to the volunteer tomato vine.

Wishing you all a pleasant week of sunshine & warm smiles.

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November Tomato Update – Harvest & ripening

toma1When the weather guy announced a high chance of a frost in the forecast, my husband harvested our tomatoes. He left a little of the vine on them as suggested by SalPal on my post November Tomatoes.
My husband left the main plant in tact and re-covered it with cheesecloth because it still has blooms and it may or may not die with this frost.

From many years of experience, my brother knows oodles about tomatoes: growing, propagating and ripening. He told me that one of the best ways to ripen tomatoes is in a paper bag or cardboard box with either a banana or apple in with them. The ethylene gas produced by an apple or banana helps the tomatoes ripen better. We agreed that a banana seemed like a possibly messy idea, so an apple seemed the best option.
The bag or box needs to be closed and put in a cool dark place and checked every day, if your tomatoes are at different levels of ripening like mine are.toma2We haven’t tried one yet. You can’t tell it from the photos, but the reddest ones are still bit under-ripe.

Regardless of the taste, it’s been really enjoyable watching the volunteer plant grow and produce in November. It’s been a rare treat and that in itself is worth the attention and care we’ve given it.

 

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