I have left a tip for extending the growing season of tomato plants in the comment section on a couple of blogs that I follow. I realized that unless you follow the same blogs (which I highly recommend) and read all of the comments (even those left by incoherent, sleep deprived mamas at 2:00 a.m.), then you will have missed this tip.
Ripening Late Season Green Tomatoes
This tip doesn’t actually extend the life of the plant, but gives the green tomatoes extra time to ripen on the vine. Our first freeze comes before I have grown tired of tomatoes. And even though I have been harvesting a pint of cherry tomatoes and 4 –8 medium size tomatoes a day, when the first freeze comes there will still be hundreds of tomatoes on my plants. I have not yet acquired a taste for fried green tomatoes, so I rescue the plants.
Pull Up the Tomato Plants!
I pull my tomato plants up by their roots and brush off as much dirt as possible. I sometimes dunk the roots in a bucket of water and pat them dry with a towel to remove more of the dirt (this is advised if your husband has just used a pressure washer to clean the garage floor). Then I take twine and tie the plants by their roots to the rafters in the garage (my garage does not usually dip below freezing. If yours does, you can use a laundry room or basement). The foliage will die off, but the tomatoes will continue to ripen. Pick the tomatoes as they ripen and when you have picked as many as you want, toss the remnants into your compost pile.
Unfortunately, our fist snow usually travels in stealth mode. Its arrival not announced until after the fact, usually by the shouts of glee from our children. You must imagine the previous steps being done by my family still wearing their pajamas under their snow clothes, blinded by snow, with all questions and directions lost to the wind.
I have found that a little advance preparation hastens the job. First, I identify the location where I will tie the plants up in advance. I also locate a bucket and place twine, scissors, and an old towel inside in it ahead of time.
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darnold23 says
I would love for you to join me for Crock Pot Wednesday on diningwithdebbie.blogspot.com. Mister Linky will be up by Tuesday for your entry. Thanks so much for posting.
~ ~ Ahrisha ~ ~ says
Thanks for the tomato tip and the recipe. I've got lots of the little tomatoes too. Have you ever tryed using the finished tomatoes in a soup? The broiling might give it a different twist.
~ ~ Ahrisha ~ ~
Elaine says
Oh this looks like such a good idea. I have so many cherry tomatoes still and will for a time to come yet…..I live in the desert southwest and we don't normally have any kind of freeze until way into December, and somtimes it's January before we do. So my tomatoes keep growing and growing….and sometimes they get ahead of me. I love this quick idea! Thanks! They look absolutely delicious!
annkroeker says
Our tomato plants haven't been producing a lot, but I think we've got enough cherry tomatoes to pull this off!
Mary says
Thanks for the great tip about tomatoes. I love oven roasted tomatoes but have never before roasted cherry tomatoes. I'll use your recipe to remedy that this weekend.
Struggler says
This looks delicious, I can totally see these would be a great snack, or even stylish appetizer too.
I just tried a recipe to stuff half a pepper with cherry toms (+onion +garlic) and roast them – that was pretty good too.
Nicole Feliciano says
What a great idea and perfect timing since I am obsessed with tomatoes right now. Thanks so much for sharing on Momtrends.
SnoWhite says
those tomatoes look mighty tasty.
susan says
For some reason we have had our worst tomato crop ever! Lovely lush vines-very few tomatoes. I made the chocolate cookie dough brownie icing–almost ate it straight out of the bowl 🙂
Poppedijne says
A very good idea for all the tiny tomatoes that I have in the garden ready to pick. Thanks for sharing.
Lisa says
Thank you so much for the great tip! I've got a ton of green tomatoes that aren't even fully grown yet. I'm hoping that they can be saved before the frost.
The recipe sounds great, too. I'll have to try it next year. I have grape tomatoes but only 2 plants and the kids eat them as fast as I pick them!
Melissa says
Those look really good! Thanks!
The Thrifty Countrywoman says
I know you wrote this suggestion in my comments but I want to thank you for it. You can teach an old dog a new trick after all! Last night the temperature dipped to 44 degrees. The frost will soon be here!