Free tomatoes for me

[GardenStream]

A co-worker of my mother told me to head over to her garden and pick some tomatoes. She claims that she has at least 2 or 3 bushels of roma tomatoes ready to go. She has already taken all she wants, her family has already used all they want, and she was planning on ripping the plants out and burying all the tomatoes tonight so that the wildlife wouldn't destroy her garden.

She does this every year. Why would someone plant so many tomatoes that they get more than they want within 2 weeks and then tear out the plants?

[BetsyS]

My mom doesn't preserve any of her vegetables (she does eat a lot fresh). For her, the joy is in the growing.

For me, the joy is in the eating. : So, I take all that she'll give me. It's a beautiful system.

[JamieCatheryn]

Wow great score! I wouldn't complain about such habits, their loss is your gain. Gosh even if you don't can you could make sauce and freeze it with that much over production.

[GardenStream]

I ended up picking 3 bushels and there was probably another bushel that I just had to leave there. It took 2 days of work, but I ended up with about 15 pints of sauce and 12 pints of diced tomatoes.

Of course, I have about 25 of my own tomato plants that are producing as well. I'm so sick of tomatoes right now...

[luv-my-boys]

Originally Posted by atobols

Of course, I have about 25 of my own tomato plants that are producing as well. I'm so sick of tomatoes right now...

You miht want to see if you can trade them for something else. I see local craigslist ads all the time. I share with neighbors who in turn share their peaches,lemons,oranges,plums and herbs....yum

[cschick]

Originally Posted by atobols

A co-worker of my mother told me to head over to her garden and pick some tomatoes. She claims that she has at least 2 or 3 bushels of roma tomatoes ready to go. She has already taken all she wants, her family has already used all they want, and she was planning on ripping the plants out and burying all the tomatoes tonight so that the wildlife wouldn't destroy her garden.

She does this every year. Why would someone plant so many tomatoes that they get more than they want within 2 weeks and then tear out the plants?

I planted 4 romas this year. They have so far probably produced about 500 tomatoes combined that I've picked (I know I have 250 sitting around in my kitchen right at this moment, and I've so far deal with about an equal number--processed them into quarts of sauce, given them away, made various dinners with them).

I tore out two of them this week because it was looking like they had some sort of disease (the two the 250 in my kitchen mainly came from), and I probably still have at least 100 remaining on the two additional plants. So probably 600 all told from 4 plants. Yeah, they're only about 3/4 the size of what you see at the store, but they are far more intensely flavored.