Posted on 07/03/2009 4:00:47 AM PDT by Red_Devil 232
Good morning to all of you gardeners. I hope every one of you have a safe and Happy 4th of July weekend! Since just about everyone grows tomatoes in their vegetable garden I thought I would share some information I stumbled across concerning when to pick your tomatoes.
Every tomato lover knows fresh, “vine-ripe” flavor is by far the best.
At the same time, many don’t know what “vine ripe” means. So, whether growing or buying tomatoes, they may be limiting their access to the top flavor of the season.
Tomatoes develop their optimum nutrition, color and flavor when they’re in the full red-ripe stage. But getting to that point doesn’t have to occur on the plant.
Tomatoes go through specific steps in developing “vine ripeness”:
* A gas called ethylene regulates the ripening process. Tomatoes start producing this gas internally when they reach full size and become pale green.
* When tomatoes turn about one-half green and one-half pink (called the breaker stage), a layer of cells forms across their stem, sealing them off from the main vine. At this stage, tomatoes can ripen on or off the vine with no loss of quality or flavor.
* Tomatoes don’t ripen at refrigerator temperatures. If harvested in the breaker stage, however, keeping them in a cool place (to a minimum 50 F) will slow down their ripening process. Keeping them warm (to a maximum 85 F) will rapidly bring full ripeness. And, once ripe, they can keep for several weeks in the refrigerator.
This kind of control allows you to spread out the good eating over a longer period. A breaker-stage harvest also allows you to protect tomatoes from the heat extremes of summer. Tomatoes can’t form their red pigments when temperatures are above 95 degrees. They’ll still ripen, but they’ll end up a yellowish-orange.
Leaving tomatoes to ripen on the vine also increases the odds for cracking and other types of damage. Plus, it puts an increasing weight load on the viney plant.
LIAMS is definitely easier to type ;^)
They are very pretty!!!
That’s it!
Clapping, clapping, clapping here! Thanks Red!
Definitely easier on the hands than spelling it out! LOL
Those are pretty! I haven’t grown those in years. Thanks for the reminder. :)
My latest ‘project’ is designing a cutting garden for myself. I haven’t had one of those in years, either. It’s time! :)
I always try to have a row of cut flowers in the garden. This year, I got them out late, it got hot and dry. I now have Lilliputian cutting flowers. Very cute, but it takes alot to fill a vase.
My cosmos are about 6 inches tall, should be three feet. Same with zinnias. The blooms aren’t much bigger than the LIAMS. LOL
I bought them from Burpee.com when I couldn’t find any yellow pear seeds in my area. This is my first attempt at gardening. I planted them in jiffy 7s. I had a whole tray of 12 YPs. This is one of the surviving 4.
I’ve killed a lot of stuff this year. ;-)
I’ve been taking pics of everything since I started.
This particular plant looked ‘normal’ until about 2 weeks after I transplanted it into the garden.
The only “flowers” for cutting or otherwise that I have are really nothing more than weeds as I have never planted any.
There is so much flora along the creek that we have absolutely NO clue what half of it is. We did discover 2 Bay Laurels and even MORE grapes than we initially thought, as well as tons more wild blackberries!!!!
Unfortunately, the Japanese beetles have also discovered all the flora and are doing a serious number on the grape leaves.
These were harvested from Sunday morning to this morning (Tuesday) for the most part the older tomatoes are to the back of each row. The ripe ones in the back get canned today!
From left to right Roma, Marion, Early Girl, (gulp)Habanero peppers, and wonderful pink Arkensas Travelers.
In the center is a very ripe Marion Tomato sitting on an 8 ounce container of sour cream (to show size) - man these guys are prolific and very tasty. Nice slicers!
Holey Guacamoley, Red!!!!!!!!!!
Wow!
You and me both!!!!!
That’s right rub it in...........LOL!!!
I could grow figs here, but I’m too far north for avacadoes.
I mixed up a batch of Jerry Baker’s anti-Japanese beetle potion which I am going to go spray on the grape leaves those nasty creatures are destroying.
A picture of my Tobasco Peppers!
Purty plants!!!!!!!!!!
Wow, those are big tomatoe plants! The cold weather has really slowed mine down. It is still getting down into the low 40’s some nights here. My biggest tomatoe plant is only about 10 inches high. They are beginning to flower and develop small green tomatoes. I can see I need to figure out a greenhouse covering for spring.
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