WHINE--Why oh WHY did I plant soooo many tomatoes?-UPDATE w/PICS!

[Lady TS]

Answer: because I thought dh would help me pick and process them!
The plan was to sell a bunch(which we are doing), but I am finding I am doing most of the picking(with severe allergies and heat and humidity, I might add!)...

I made tomato sauce and froze I think 23 quarts of it in freezer bags. Freezer was getting too full and not freezing very fast so I had to change my plan....learn to can! MIL came over a few days ago and helped me can 3 quarts of spaghetti sauce and 3 quarts of tomato sauce(that we have to eat soon because I forgot to add the acid to it :/).

There is a ton out there that need picked but it's impossible to just get down to the task and do it with 3 young kids around. Neverending interruptions, to say the least. And a lot of the tomatoes are icky due to the awful humidity and rain we've had and the fact I haven't picked in a few days...thank God we have chickens to take care of a lot of those!

MIL called a little bit ago and offered to take the kids. Yeah! Now maybe(if it doesn't rain, and even if it does) I can at LEAST get them all picked....and then deal with the task of processing them..........hope the weather cools off a bit because canning is long, hot work, especially in an old farmhouse with no AC!

:violin :violin :violin


Here they are!
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y295/LadyTS/DCP_0020.jpg?t=1188222612
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y295/LadyTS/DCP_0021.jpg?t=1188222650
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y295/LadyTS/DCP_0022.jpg?t=1188222673
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y295/LadyTS/DCP_0023.jpg?t=1188222693
Took me 8 hours! :phew

[3PeasInAPod]

well, I'd love to have some of your tomatoes! What about doing salsa with them? I think there's a canning recipe for that in the canning forum

[kandykidsaturn]

thats a TON of tomatoes! Goodness gracious! See, we tried to plant one in a pot, and it didnt work out. During our mini drought, the bugs attacked it and killed it!

[Lady TS]

I do have two Ball packets for salsa, but I think it only does a few quarts.

The 6 quarts me and MIL did the other day I think I need to reprocess since I forgot to add the acid in them and they are quarts and we only did them 35 minutes.....the package said 35 mins but that was for pints. :doh :/

Right now my lofty goal is to get em all picked. Then I'll worry about canning them, lol. :)

Anyone want to come help?

[BHope]

Ooooh I'd love to help! :) I wish I had planted tomatoes this year. We were just too busy. Speaking of which, I need to get Dh out there to plot out my garden area for next spring.

[Rose]

Anyone want to come help?


Where are you located?

[Lady TS]

Northwest Ohio

[Rose]

Hmm... thats a little far for me. :no

As a side- homemade salsa is a wonderful thing. :smile

[3PeasInAPod]

Wow! That IS a lot of tomatoes! Wish I lived near Ohio. :eyebrows

[kandykidsaturn]

no joke! I would totally help, but alas, i'm in tennessee! :cry

I'm sorry, i cant think of any other posts that i could use this in, so heres a funny smiley! :duck :duck

[LadybugSam]

:jawdrop That is a LOT of tomatoes. I hope you were able to get most of them done. My mouth is watering just looking at them


It sounds a lot like what me and MIL did a couple years ago :violin

[This Busy Mom]

My MIL just brought me over some Romas. I've got them ready to peel (put them in boiling water) and I'm going to peel them, put them in the blender, then let them simmer for awhile. There's not much, so I'm going to freeze my sauce this year. I grow oregano, thyme & sage, and I have some rosemary in the cupboard, so I'll add in those (and maybe a little garlic).

[Teacher Mom]

My husband was making fun of me for planting too many tomatoe plants too!

We had such a great harvest this year. I have made a TON of speghetti sauce. I froze it in gallon bags. YUM! My freezer is now full of zucchini bread and speghetti sauce! :haha :laughtears well and a little bit of pork and venison.

[Lady TS]

:yum

I'd love to have some venison about now---especially if it's elk. :shifty

I canned I think 45 or so jars of assorted whole tomatoes/sauce/salsa and called it good. We have about that much in the freezer, too! I keep forgetting and use the canned, but I really should use the frozen so I can have a little more freezer space...

My allergies were driving me crazy and I had to stop. I could probably have done double what I did!

[Kat]

Wow! Those look delicious! I wish I lived closer! :yum

Is there a farmers market near where you live? Could you sell them? (not sure how farmers markets work.. :shifty)

[Kat]

oops! I just realized that this is an old post. Sorry about that! :blush

[canadiyank]

Don't worry, Kat. We're a little slow in this forum in the winter. :P

[BHope]

Hey anybody know when I should start my starters? It's still winter in TX, but I anticipate it should be over soon. I started thinking that maybe I should get some soil and plant some tomatoes and other veggies so that I could move them to the garden in six weeks...

[canadiyank]

:think Find your last frost date and count back from that 6 wks. I just buy transplants, so I buy them when they come to the nurseries. :P

[BHope]

Okay I just checked my first and last frost dates for TX and I found a site that has April 8th as our last frost date. :scratch That seems so odd. Even last year, when it was crazy cold, we were in shorts and t-shirt by Dh's birthday.

I guess, going by that, I should start my seeds the first week in March. Right?

[BHope]

Alright, I'm back. I found this link: http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/extension/homeguide/frostspring.html

Which implies that my last frost date is actually closer to March 1st, or (being conservative) March 16. Which means I need to start my seeds around The first week of February.

Errrr, now I'm WAY confused.

[canadiyank]

I'd go with the aggie hort link. :P

Here, in zone 6, our last frost date is around Mother's Day. I don't put tom's out before that. But late frosts are a huge concern around here and they're usually pretty accurate b/c we have sooooo many orchards and vineyards around here so millions of dollars depends on frost accuracy. They even have frost insurance!

March seems awfully early to me, but I honestly don't know about a southern climate. :scratch The link put mid-April to northern TX, so that seems reasonable to me being so much further north that our date is a month later...so, yeah, go with what they say. :shrug I'm ready to start planting, lol, but the ground is completely frozen. :lol

[Lady TS]

We generally put things in the ground the week after Mother's Day. Of course, if it's been frosting, we might wait a week or so. But Mother's Day has been our general date of getting plants and putting them in the ground.

You're better off starting them later than sooner, though, because they will get leggy if you leave them in the little pots by a window too long.

I'd really like a greenhouse with all-around lighting. I hate when my plants get all leggy!