PaulF said:Close. Give them a couple of days and they will be ready. Cut into the darkest red and see for sure, but the top needs to be a darker green, almost brownish green. See Rita's Choc Cherry above. They will get darker as they ripen. Looks good.

I only grew CP one year but I don't remember the tomatoes getting anything close to as dark as those Chocolate Cherries I posted picture above.

>> When is first frost usually?

Based only on general location, Dave's planting calendar says "Nov 4". About 7 weeks, or 47 days.

http://garden.org/apps/calenda...

"On average, your frost-free growing season starts Apr 4 and ends Nov 4, totalling 214 days."


BTW, Caroline, condolences: I see that your average first frost date is Sept. 15. Tomorrow!



Hey, I know what we need! Crops and flowers that thrive below freezing. I guess they would need antifreeze for sap, and exude it from their roots.

But then we would NEVER get any rest!

RickCorey said:>> When is first frost usually?

Based only on general location, Dave's planting calendar says "Nov 4". About 7 weeks, or 47 days.

http://garden.org/apps/calenda...

"On average, your frost-free growing season starts Apr 4 and ends Nov 4, totalling 214 days."

Usually really early tomatoes say something like 65 days from transplant. So you really are risking it. But hey, no harm in giving it a shot. And if you have some way of wrapping the tomato plant in plastic later that might work to extend the season.

Problem I have found is that way late in the season it seems to take forever for tomatoes to get ripe. Plus in the cold weather they seem to loose their flavor.

RickCorey said:>> When is first frost usually?

Based only on general location, Dave's planting calendar says "Nov 4". About 7 weeks, or 47 days.

http://garden.org/apps/calenda...

"On average, your frost-free growing season starts Apr 4 and ends Nov 4, totalling 214 days."


BTW, Caroline, condolences: I see that your average first frost date is Sept. 15. Tomorrow!



Hey, I know what we need! Crops and flowers that thrive below freezing. I guess they would need antifreeze for sap, and exude it from their roots.

But then we would NEVER get any rest!

Rick, there are lots vegetables and quite a few flowers that grow in the winter in your zone. Pisum. Allium, Brassica, Beta, Spinacea, Pastinaca etc. Winter growing is productive in zone 8. I am not much into flowers, but Camelias are beautiful in January and February.

I have thought about setting up plastic tunnels for winter Brassicas, spinach and lettuce. When I think "peas", I always think "Pole peas", and a tunnel would have to be pretty tall for that. (These plans are all for "after I retire", like 2018.)

Are you saying I could grow them without plastic cover? Maybe just floating row covers?

Rick there are many varieties of Sugar Snap Peas that are 30 inches or lower. You just have to choose the right ones for your set up.

Here are a couple of photos of today's Cherokee Purple from my garden. It is ripe enough to eat and will be OK for a couple of days. Also the three on a plate are from Tatiana's and look very much like they should. The green shoulders turn darker when very ripe. CP will not get as dark as Black or Chocolate Cherry.

PaulF said:Here are a couple of photos of today's Cherokee Purple from my garden. It is ripe enough to eat and will be OK for a couple of days. Also the three on a plate are from Tatiana's and look very much like they should. The green shoulders turn darker when very ripe. CP will not get as dark as Black or Chocolate Cherry.

Those look nice and ripe to me!

Thanks Paul!

RickCorey said:I have thought about setting up plastic tunnels for winter Brassicas, spinach and lettuce. When I think "peas", I always think "Pole peas", and a tunnel would have to be pretty tall for that. (These plans are all for "after I retire", like 2018.)

Are you saying I could grow them without plastic cover? Maybe just floating row covers?

As long as temps hold out of single digits, I have no problems with many of them. Broccoli and cauliflower will be damaged if the temps drop below 22 degrees for 8 consecutive hours, Kale and Collards are invincible. I use smooth seeded peas, mostly Willett Wonder, but sometimes Alaska. I have overwintered standard shelling peas, but did get damage in really cold winters, which affected the stand. Snow peas take teens and 20's in stride, but I rarely grow them as I have limited use for them. We get a snow or ice storm about every five years. Really beautiful to see the plants covered in wet snow. Of course I only grow short day winter onions, Not that I can't grow the others, but because they take too much space and water in the summer. One great thing about winter growing, I don't have to irrigate. No Tunnels and I have not use row covers for twenty years. When I did it was primarily to protect plants like tomatoes, melons when I was striving for an early crop. Even then I use more hot caps than row covers. I no longer enter early tomato contests. More patience in my old age I guess. Use to win a few with the old June Pink and later with a Henry Field hybrid called Hi-X. Great earlies that are no longer available.

>> Snow peas take teens and 20's in stride, but I rarely grow them as I have limited use for them

Wow, those and snap peas have become my favorite vegetables. I see that I'll be busier in the winter than I thought.

>> Rick there are many varieties of Sugar Snap Peas that are 30 inches or lower. You just have to choose the right ones for your set up.

I MIGHT try bush peas again some day, but I like pole plants much better. I really bothered me to give up the yield and space-saving of poles, but still watch the bushes flop lazily down onto the soil.

RickCorey said:

>> Rick there are many varieties of Sugar Snap Peas that are 30 inches or lower. You just have to choose the right ones for your set up.

I MIGHT try bush peas again some day, but I like pole plants much better. I really bothered me to give up the yield and space-saving of poles, but still watch the bushes flop lazily down onto the soil.

I don't like the really short ones myself and refuse to grow those. But the ones 30=36 inches should do you nicely. They still need a support but it would be a low one.

I guess I will widen my filter for peas to try.

I already bought a bush bean, ‘Rocquencourt’ or 'Beurre de Rocquencourt' because the only yellow wax pole bean I know of is 'Neckargold' and I already have that.

This is an active thread! I had a long day at work, now unwinding and reading all the posts. Well our frost date is supposed to be Nov 1 ish, but last year we didn't have frost until well into December! All I want out of my fall crop tomatoes is some green tomatoes that could be used for fried green tomatoes! Mine are not flowering yet but they could certainly flower and bear green tomatoes in November so I'm just going to see what happens. It was in the 90's all week! Nights are low of 70 for now.

RickCorey said:I guess I will widen my filter for peas to try.

I already bought a bush bean, ‘Rocquencourt’ or 'Beurre de Rocquencourt' because the only yellow wax pole bean I know of is 'Neckargold' and I already have that.

I grew Rocquencourt this season for the first time. It is a nice bean, tastes good. But didn't produce as much as I thought is should. Maybe needed more sun but it was in the veggie garden and should have had plenty. Tomatoes on one side and cucumbers on the other.

SCButtercup said:This is an active thread! I had a long day at work, now unwinding and reading all the posts. Well our frost date is supposed to be Nov 1 ish, but last year we didn't have frost until well into December! All I want out of my fall crop tomatoes is some green tomatoes that could be used for fried green tomatoes! Mine are not flowering yet but they could certainly flower and bear green tomatoes in November so I'm just going to see what happens. It was in the 90's all week! Nights are low of 70 for now.

Good for you going for it. Nothing ventured nothing gained.

It's nice to see someone interested in tomatoes enough to try a second crop growing into late fall/early winter. My season begins in February and extends to frost...whenever that happens. By about this time of year I am just a bit sick of tomatoes and growing them and I am ready for so down time. Usually in November, December and January I get asked to do some gardening presentations for local civic groups, so I am never really out of the garden.

Go for all you can get between now and frost....or even later if you can cover the plants. After the first touch of frost there is generally nice enough weather to continue. I am going to begin tearing the non-producers out this week.

"By about this time of year I am just a bit sick of tomatoes and growing them and I am ready for so down time. "

LOL, this is one of very few years when I have been able to say that! The stars aligned to give us a really nice gardening summer for once -- the one time that I planted 20 tomato plants instead of my usual 12 or 14... Holy Moly, our friends are starting to avoid us because even THEY have had enough of my tomatoes!

Next year I'll probably be back to whining that I'm never going to get enough tomatoes to make salsa from...

No condolences necessary!
No frost yet here!
Monday morning got to half a degree above freezing!
Now the week is good! 20 ºC or 70 ºF all week!
Still have some tomatoes on the plants!

My friends have NEVER complained that they have too many tomatoes.

I have been removing sickly or weak plants and loosers here already also. Plenty of tomato plants left.