Tag Archives: tomato plant

November Tomato Update – Harvest & ripening

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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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November Tomatoes

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tomato1With the first cold night, I covered my volunteer Cherry Tomato vine with cheese cloth. Until Tuesday evening, I left the cheesecloth on the tomato vine 24/7. I checked the tomatoes and was delighted to see they’re turning. It won’t be long until we have some fresh tomatoes in November.tomato4I’m going to leave the cheese cloth half-off of the vine until the weather turns cold again.

I figured it up and this is the second year on the volunteer tomatoes in that small bed, so it’s a wonder that the vine grew healthy at all. I hope the tomatoes have a good taste to them.

I am beyond tickled about these November tomatoes.
What a rare treat they are.

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