I was in uncharted territory here. Typically, we are travelling somewhere exotic in early September and I am not home when the first risk of frost arrives. This year, thanks to Covid, we were home in September, for the first time in a long time.
So, when they announced a risk of frost, I played the game for two nights in early September and 3 nights in mid September. I gathered up some spare sheets out of the basement cedar chest and went out to place them over my tomato patch. Then, each morning I would head out to strip the sheets off and hang them up on the fence to dry (hence the Man Laundry title).
Fortunately, no frost ever arrived, but it was when I was uncovering them the last morning that I realized, it really did not matter. The vines were already shriveling and as they shriveled, they were trying to suck the juices out of my tomatoes.
I picked the tomatoes and set them out on newsprint down the basement to slowly ripen, so we could continue to enjoy home grown tomatoes. Then I ripped all the vines out and stowed the tomato baskets. Another season done and the crop was pretty good, despite the rain and slugs.
Here are the photos taken September 15/20, that gave me my title.
Now at October 9, 2020 and we are almost finished eating the ripened tomatoes. It is going to be awfully hard going back to store bought for the next 9 months. At least we have a lot of them frozen in our freezer for use in soups, stews and other meals.
We had fun growing tomatoes this year, too, but our harvest wasn’t as impressively blessed as yours. In Latvia, we would usually preserve them in jars for winter; my mum was very creative with coming up with different recipes. Thanks for sharing and have a good day. Ireland is back in lockdown, and we can only move within our county; there are yet again no options to go places and visit our loved ones. Take care 😊 Aiva
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We did get lucky with tomatoes this year and will be enjoying our frozen tomatoes through the winter. But, it is back to cardboard store bought tomatoes for regular use. Sorry to hear Ireland is back in lockdown. Wish our local city would do the same as cases are climbing ridiculously as people take stupid risks. They may be controlling people movements in and out of Edmonton. Guess we will just stay home. Glad we got our week in Jasper. Thanks for reading Aiva. Stay well. Allan
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That last tomato is always so bitter sweet. I too have tons tucked away in various forms!
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I know I seldom save money growing tomatoes, but the taste of fresh garden tomatoes is so priceless. Thanks for reading Bernie. Allan
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I think, even if you buy your plants, you still come out ahead. Look at the cost of canned tomatoes or tomato sauce and it’s worth it. Plus the fresh ones are stellar!
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Absolutely. Not eating those store boughts is a bonus.
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Forget the laundry, look at that harvest! 🙂 🙂
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Absolutely. That was always the key. Thanks for reading and commenting. Allan
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Good day Allan.
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Damn…you sure got a lot of tomatoes this year…wonder how much of that was boosted thanks to that hilarious new concept of man laundry 🤣
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Hmmmm. The one night I did not do man laundry was the night we got frost. Fortunately, my tomatoes survived that as it was only at roof top level. Tomatoes were good this year, due to all the June and July rain. The problem then became to keep the slugs away from them. Thanks for reading and commenting. Allan
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It’s always hard to say good-bye to home grown vegetables every Fall, isn’t it? But it sounds as if you had a very good final harvest!
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For sure. We managed to enjoy, lettuce, carrots, beets, tomatoes and kale this year. Everything suffered from the rain and slugs, except the tomatoes and carrots. The carrots were again stubby, because the garden packed down from all the rain. Looking forward to next year. Thanks for reading Ann. Allan
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I admire your dedication and commitment to your garden. Too bad that the days are getting shorter and the nights cooler. Glad you were able to store some away in your freezer.
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Thanks. Gardening, while not necessarily a passion for me is an investment in good food. If the tomato vines did not have a natural life cycle, where they start to wither, they would have been still safe from a killing frost until last night. Imagine, no killing frost in this part of the world until October 12. We are now eating our last tomatoes, so despite a slow start, a very good run. Thanks for reading. Allan
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Great looking tomatoes you guys got! We have never had many slugs in our garden until this year! They were everywhere, even found a couple of missed ones in a bag of lettuce after it was washed and stored 😀 Yuck haha
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We just ate the last of the tomatoes, so despite the slugs, a successful year. But, yeah, slugs, hate ’em. They got into everything. My tomatoes were luckier than the neighbours. I missed a few in my pickings which elicited some high pitched shrieking from my house, when they were discovered. Thanks for reading and commenting Angie. Hope all is well. Allan
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