Puttering In The Garden

Big Beef Tomatoes Ripened Just in Time

I planted one big beef tomato plant and one early girl tomato plant in our raised bed garden in early July. As of a month ago, the big beef tomato plant hadn’t produced more than 3 or 4 ripe tomatoes, but the plant was full of green tomatoes. As shown in this picture, many of the big beef tomatoes ripened just in time to be picked before a change in the weather that occurred here about 2 weeks ago.

Before Halloween, I picked about 15 large red tomatoes and made a big batch of tomato sauce with them. The weekend after Halloween, a large rain storm came in, and the temperature got much cooler. The highs were only in the low 60s (F) here, although the lows were well above freezing in the 40s. After that weather event, most of the remaining tomatoes turned mildew, and the plant’s leaves turned brown. I pulled up the plant a few days ago.

Our last frost usually occurs in February. So next year, I plan to plant a big beef tomato in the ground by April 1st. It just takes too long for big beef tomatoes to ripen to plant one after about June 1st.

Our early girl tomato that we also planted in early July produced ripe tomatoes by September. If we have the space next July, I would consider putting in a late early girl planting again to ensure an autumn harvest of tomatoes.

November 15 2008 | Tomatoes | No Comments »

Big Beef Tomato

Our big beef tomato plant is full of tomatoes, but most of them are still unripe. I planted it late (early July), which is probably the reason they haven’t ripened yet. 

Our tomato plant grew very fast in the summer and produced an abundance of tomatoes. It grew out of the round cage I bought to support it and eventually fell over. I used a second round cage to prop it up, but that didn’t keep the branches from bending and growing on the ground. Next year, I plan to buy one of those large square cages. The small round cage was adequate for supporting our early girl tomato, but it wasn’t strong enough for a large, fast-growing tomato plant like big beef.

Our tomato is only getting a few hours of direct sunlight a day one month into autumn. The tomatoes are ripening very slowly, the leaves are full of mildew, and the plant has stopped growing. But I am still holding out hope that most of the tomatoes will turn red on the vine in the next few weeks.

October 19 2008 | Tomatoes | No Comments »