Extending tomatoes

We grow old varieties of tomatoes, and they are all indeterminate. This means they grow and produce more fruit until something stops them..usually cold weather. Temperatures are predicted in the high 40's at night here on both Thursday and Friday night, that is getting close to temperatures that will kill pepper plants, eggplants and tomatoes. Homer spent yesterday afternoon in the hot and sunny hoophouse getting row covers on the plants. These thin (and for us reusable) fabric sheets change the conditions for the plants. They change it enough that we can keep our plants alive for several more weeks. Last year we had fresh tomatoes until late October, and we hope to do so again this year.

We eat our own tomatoes year round. Fresh for months, canned up to have a couple quarts a month, dried in the dehydrator. Most of the winter and spring we just pass on tomatoes, except for a local group that grows organic grape tomatoes in a heated greenhouse. We wait until next summer and eat ours fresh again!

Seasons are changing, get ready.