The harvest has begun!

[BVGardener]

Just a quick note:

So far I've had the following ripen or is in the process of ripening....Bruno, Mortgage Lifter, Schellenberg's Favorite, 1884, Polish Dwarf, Nyagous, Indian Stripe, Pouce de Picardie and Champion.

I pulled Aunt Gerties Gold today. I didn't like what was going on with the leaves and didn't want to provide the opportunity to spread. I've been keeping a close eye on this plant for some time now. One large fruit appears to have begun ripening so I'll try to hasten the ripening process of that fruit.

The photos below from left to right are Indian Stripe, Nyagous, Pouce de Picardie and Polish Dwarf.

Jay

[duajones]

Cool Jay! I love this time of year wherever you might be. Zones 0-100 so to speak. Nothing like realizing your hard work and tasting the results. And for you it wasnt long ago that things were looking grim. Enjoy!

[BVGardener]

Your right Duane, this is a great time of the year. Should be real exciting in a couple of weeks.

Jay

[robin303]

I have a ice box full of greenbeans and my window sill has 7 cherry tomatoes. Work so far hundreds of hours and lots of water my guess about $32.50 each.

[Douglas14]

Jay,
You have some healthy looking plants there. I look forward to updates from you. Thanks.....Doug.

[BVGardener]

Hi folks and thanks.

Last night I harvested Nyagous and Indian Stripe and two more Bruno. A fruit on Shellenberg's Favorite was ready early this morning but it's not the color it should be so not sure what is going on there - I didn't want any surprises this year....no skin mutations,etc.

Heavy rains last night about 1:00 am. I layed down a thick layer of leaves the day before so I came out in good shape. Hopefully I won't get any split fruit....the biggest concern at the moment.

Jay

[feldon30]

Pick early, pick often.

[BVGardener]

Along with lunch today, I tasted Polish Dwarf and Nyagous.

Both were delicious but even considering my love of "black" tomatoes, I preferred Polish Dwarf....it had a bit more prominent flavor.

I'll slice Indian Stripe tomorrow.

Jay

[BVGardener]

Below is a photo of the first ripe fruit from Indian Stripe.

Jay

[Tomstrees]

Good growing BV!

Indian Stripe is def. a variety I want to grow next season.
Hows the flav?

~ Tom

[huntoften]

OMG! That sliced black tomato looks like it has been drizzled in balsamic vinegar! I will do my best not to forward that picture on to my wife...you guys are cruel!

[BVGardener]

Hi folks and thanks!

More recent happens in the garden......

Tennessee Britches has begun ripening a very large fruit. It will probably be late next week before it's fully ripe. Husky Red Dwarf has also started ripening fruit. Little Brandywine is ripening fruit as well.

I'm growing two plants of Polish Dwarf and have been harvesting one or two fruit almost daily for the past few days. Picked two ripe Pouce de Picardie today as well as a ripe fruit from Black Russian and Champion. Black Russian is interesting in how it exhibits a distinct brown color. Tomorrow I'll be slicing that first fruit from Indian Stripe and I noticed that another fruit from this plant is ripening today.....Tom, I'll let you know how the flavor is tomorrow. Being that my wife loves Cherokee Purple, she can't wait to try this one.

It's a pretty cool feeling to go out to the garden and after tending to things for an hour or two and about to head back to the house only to get a glimpse of something out of the corner of your eye and discover a ripe fruit hiding in the foliage that you had not seen earlier.

I pulled up Bradley in the "nematode row" area and did confirm very tiny galls on the roots. Now that I've confirmed them, I'll be setting up my technique for eliminating them from that row and the other two in about 6 weeks.

I took about 40 photos today but won't get any posted until tomorrow.

Jay

[BVGardener]

Tasted Indian Stripe today. It was very good but I would rate Cherokee Purple as having better flavor. Indian Stripe just does not quite have the distinct rich flavor I find with C.P.

Also on the plate today was Pouce de Picardie and Polish Dwarf. Both were very good though Polish Dwarf is definately the better of those two. I was surprised at how intense the flavor of Pouce de Picardie was.....I expected it to be somewhat bland but that was not the case.

I harvested more Nyagous and Polish Dwarf today and also picked two Cherokee Purple fruit. This coming weekend is going to be great in terms of ripening fruit. Today and yesterday I took over 200 photos and spent some time this afternoon getting them all properly identified - I have a system for assigning a photo name.

Below from left to right are: Indian Stripe, Husky Red Dwarf, Pouce de Picardie, Nyagous and Cherokee Purple.

Jay

[rnewste]

Jay,

That Cherokee Purple in your last photo looks like Uranus.

Ray

[BVGardener]

I'm about to call it a night but a quick report. Harvesting several varieties now with many more that should be ripe this weekend. So far I've harvested fruit from:

Bruno
Pouce de Picardie
Tennessee Britches
Aunt Gerties Gold (ripening a single fruit from the plant I pulled)
Husky Red Dwarf
Polish Dwarf
Nyagous
Cherokee Purple
Indian Stripe
Black Russian
Champion
Lemon Boy
German Red Strawberry x Cherokee Purple
Kangaroo Paw Brown (1996)
Chichuacle

Fruit that will be ripe by this weekend:
Marianna's Peace
New Big Dwarf
And others that I can't recall at the moment.

I'll get some photos posted tomorrow.

Jay