62 days until frost
 

Summer is but a blink up here.

That is a blink, I have double that here in Lafayette La.

Really? Got to start talking about that already.....

I never even make that.
if I have plants in the garden in September I am doing good.
I lost plants already to disease.

[QUOTE=Nematode;742385]Summer is but a blink up here.[/QUOTE]



That's only a reasonable estimate. The first frost could be much later (and we don't want to think about the other end of the spectrum).


I'm also in Massachusetts. I really don't think that much about the first frost, because most tomato varieties, in my garden, get to be tasting fairly skunky before that first frost. Late in the year, If I slice open a beefsteak and the outer wall of flesh is about 1/16 of an inch thick (it's usually 1/4"+ thick in mid-summer), it's a virtual assurance of it being a spitter.



October 1st is usually about the end of the season for good tasting tomatoes, with the frost not too far behind that. But, one year I picked my last tomato on November 19th with the first frost predicted the next day (and a very hard frost happened). A few days later the tomato was fully ripe, and surprisingly it tasted very good.

73 days for me, but I like to focus on the positive. That means in an average year I still have time to get fully ripe tomatoes from flowers that haven't even formed yet. I have not yet gotten my first ripe tomato, so talking about the end being near is a little too debbie downer for me. I am going to focus on all those tomatoes that haven't even formed yet. :yes::love:

The little fruits that are forming here now will be ripe without a doubt in about 45 days. True, that's already September. :cry::lol: Anybody notice how the years whiz by the older you get the faster they go.. only blink and it'll be spring again with the garlic coming up... :love::P

Start some micros for indoor growing to survive winter season

My average first frost date, if I even have one, is December 11-December 20th.

After years in Wisconsin, I'm still not used to the growing season in Virginia. Just said to my wife - I've got to plant a later crop of tomatoes! Long vines are not fairing well in the sunny hot summer this year.

JEff

I salvaged a tomato mice were gnawing on and planted the seeds today.
I hope they were mature enough to pop.
I planted in cement blocks may 8th so I am going on my 3rd month +

I have a raised bed from ocean state joblot with a plastic cover that
I will utilize in the end days.
Too hot for the cover now but I should rig a mesh net over it.

[QUOTE=jtjmartin;742417]After years in Wisconsin, I'm still not used to the growing season in Virginia. Just said to my wife - I've got to plant a later crop of tomatoes! Long vines are not fairing well in the sunny hot summer this year.

JEff[/QUOTE]

You really should consider starting some tomatoes so they can go in the ground from May into July. This year it was so hot in my greenhouse that I was unable to grow any new plants after the middle of May so my latest plants were set out in late May and the first week of June. Down here I like to set my last plants out the last week of July for the very reason you stated. Those old long vines don't fare so well as time goes on in this southern heat and humidity. It gets to be a diminishing return for the work you do and after about 4 months many of the vines are in such bad shape it is far easier and more productive to replace them. Since I was so early putting my last vines out it will be a challenge to have good fall tomatoes right up til frost like I usually have.

My best results with late tomatoes usually comes from staggered plantings that are set out in June and July. By that time most of my earliest set outs are in real decline though many are still producing a few good fruits which usually keeps me from pulling them when I should.

Bill

[QUOTE=bower;742411]The little fruits that are forming here now will be ripe without a doubt in about 45 days. True, that's already September. :cry::lol: Anybody notice how the years whiz by the older you get the faster they go.. only blink and it'll be spring again with the garlic coming up... :love::P[/QUOTE]

My concern isn't even those green fruits and their ripening .. But what is annoying is that the plants often start producing new little fruits like crazy just before the frost :shock: :cry:

take a shovel and cut 1/2 the roots around the plant.
speeds up the ripening process putting the plant under stress.