extending tomato season
We waited so very long, and just as they began to pour out of the garden (yes, those really are ripe…they’re ‘Great Whites’, new this year, and that’s what a ripe one looks like), the night time temps started dropping. Well, we couldn’t let go of the harvest without putting up a fight, so R put on his thinking cap.
He painted several water jugs black, so they would absorb more heat during the daylight hours. A large sheet of plastic was stapled to the front of the raised bed.
Come evening, the jugs are moved in close to the plants and the plastic is pulled over. A couple of furniture clamps on the free side of the plastic keep it from blowing off.
And here they are , all snug in their bed, while visions of spaghetti sauce dance in our heads.
Yes, the coddling is paying off. On the other hand, some plants that came up from the compost in the darnedest places and received absolutely no attention are performing marvelously. I always heard that volunteers should be yanked out for fear of harboring disease, but R couldn’t reconcile himself to losing potential tomato factories…so there you are…another pearl of wisdom debunked.
October 9th, 2012 at 12:31 am
You’re a genius! I have so many plants that are loaded with green fruit–I should make a little tent like yours.
October 9th, 2012 at 1:16 am
Great idea! While I’ve come to enjoy fried green tomatoes, one can only have so many before it gets old.
October 9th, 2012 at 1:20 am
That’s a great idea. I plan to use water jugs to keep my plants warm during our annual freeze. I will try painting them black as well.
Glad you are able to get more tomatoes. Just might use that this spring because we have to plant tomatoes in mid-February to beat the heat.
October 9th, 2012 at 9:00 pm
Bria~Not me…my better half.
Peter~Green tomato chutney is good, and I like them minced up in an omelet.
Shirley~I was thinking this should happen on the front end to get them off to a faster start.
October 10th, 2012 at 3:09 pm
Interesting method! Good for you. I have not done this before, like the black bottles absorbing the sun’s heat.
October 10th, 2012 at 8:39 pm
Janet~Guess this could be used in a number of different ways.
October 10th, 2012 at 8:44 pm
It looks cozy in there! I would love to have your “problem”. Our lone tomato plant will probably be picked clean before the promised deluge this weekend.
October 12th, 2012 at 5:36 pm
Jane~R just brought in another bucket a few minutes into the rainy season. Tomorrow: music coming from the kitchen speakers (that guy knows how to keep the cook happy), a cozy, steamy workplace and more jars of spaghetti sauce crowding the pantry shelves.
October 12th, 2012 at 9:39 pm
Great idea to get the fruit to ripen, when do your temperatures get low enough to damage the fruits?
October 13th, 2012 at 2:19 am
Gaz~Could happen any time now, but our main concern was giving them enough heat to ripen until that killing frost hits.