My garden plants were bought in mid-May. Then school was out, my sister’s wedding and a flurry of business travel and my first ever garden was yet to be planted. My dear mother and Hunter planted it for me while I was away on a business trip the first week of June.
Then came our landscaping crew in early August and the vegetables got the boot. I transplanted the tomatoes and peppers to a new garden which completely stunted their growth.
I’m a first year tomato grower so I was not sure if I would have any success at all. Please ignore the weeds around this plant. I am growing plenty of tomatoes and weeds. I also took the photo in the dark the other night so it is not great but you can see I have many small green tomatoes which is the case for all twelve of my plants plus many still have blossoms on them. The same goes for my pepper plants. I have at least one hundred tomatoes and fifty peppers left in my garden…not close to maturity.
Friday night there was SNOW in SEPTEMBER in technically the SUMMER in North Dakota. It stayed to the north of us but there were frost warnings.
Operation Save The Tomatoes (and peppers) came into play at our house.
I could not stand the thought of my tomatoes freezing and yet I wasn’t ready to pick these babies. The freeze warning was just for one night and then they will at least have another week or two to continue to grow.
Miss E and I trekked out with every blanket and quilt we could find in the basement to cover the garden, in the dark with jackets and hats on in 37 degrees.
Covering the garden saved the tomatoes and peppers thanks to our efforts of Operation Save The Tomatoes.
But I am only buying time. After all we live on the soon to be frozen tundra, the windy frozen tundra. My tomatoes and peppers cannot be tucked into their cozy blankets like this for too much longer and survive.
Do I dare pot up my tomatoes and peppers and bring them inside? Will they keep growing and ripening?
Or do I just pick the green little tomatoes and peppers and bring them inside to ripen?
Insight to help this fledging gardener out with Operation Save The Tomatoes is much appreciated.
I just puked in my mouth a little. I’m in an outdoor wedding in OCTOBER in jamestown. Can I borrow one of your blankets to go over my strapless, sleeveless dress? :O)
Good luck with the tomatoes! I have no input. I am not a gardener…but I enjoyed the post!
Hey Katie –
I learned the hard way to always buy “early girl” type varieties of tomatoes. They’re supposed to mature in 55 days versus 70-80 like most varieties. Your green tomatoes will ripen if you pick them. They’ll ripen faster inside in the sun (on your kitchen counter) or more slowly if you put them in a cellar or dark place. Good luck!
Leah K.