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Waiting Patiently

August 15th, 2013

This year I got my tomato seeds started late and I planted in the garden later than I normally do. So now I’m stuck waiting patiently for them to ripen.
Green Tomatoes 3
Green Tomatoes 1
Green Tomatoes 2
There’s not even a hint of blush on any of the tomatoes, not a single one. I guess it looks like I’ll be waiting for a while.

Are you patiently waiting for any vegetable or fruit to ripen?

25 Comments to “Waiting Patiently”
  1. Marina C on August 15, 2013 at 5:29 am

    Same with my tomatoes, except fir the lovely sunglog cherries, grape tomatoes and purple cherries. They get us started while we wait for the big ones to ripen. Mine look just like yours, green, green, green.
    I planted my squash, patty pan and egg shape zucchini fir stuffing late, so we are just about to stat harvesting them. It seems any borer problems are avoided this way…

    Reply to Marina C's comment

    • Susy on August 15, 2013 at 5:45 am

      Great tip on the borers!

      Reply to Susy's comment

  2. Naima on August 15, 2013 at 6:41 am

    Me too. This is where I’m at, too. I’m worried they will never turn ripe and I’ll have to eat my weight in fried green tomatoes. Although, that doesn’t actually sound all that bad.

    Reply to Naima's comment

  3. Mich on August 15, 2013 at 7:05 am

    Yes I am waiting for tomatoes….

    Reply to Mich's comment

  4. Adelina Anderson on August 15, 2013 at 7:11 am

    We planted tomatoes on time this year, but with the odd weather we are still waiting for them to turn red or yellow. The plum tomatoes are starting and we already had one pink girl.

    Reply to Adelina Anderson's comment

  5. Adriana on August 15, 2013 at 7:27 am

    Tomatoes are slowly trickling into the kitchen. We were hit by some nasty hail that damaged a lot of crops and knocked down a lot of green tomatoes, especially the cherry tomatoes. Normally we would be swimming in cherries while waiting for the others to ripen. C’est la vie…I planted melons later than usual and they being slow with the weather and not being in the greenhouse this year. I’m hoping we get a few before the first frost!

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  6. Joan on August 15, 2013 at 7:53 am

    The tomatoes in my main garden got hit with late blight, so they’re a total loss… I fully expected the ones in my ‘chicken pen’ garden (where the chickens live in the winter) to get hit with blight too, but so far they haven’t. I got two little tiny “Matt’s wild cherry tomatoes” off of the plants this morning. YUM! Other than that, no color though – like you I got mine in very late this year.

    Lots of hornworms this year – I’m picking dozens of them off of my surviving plants.

    Reply to Joan's comment

  7. Lisa Sewell on August 15, 2013 at 7:58 am

    We’ve been eating cherry tomatoes for about a week but the big ones look like they’re far from ripening. I’m anxious for them to start turning so that I can start preserving them. I have a suspicion that I will be buried in tomatoes as soon as summer vacation is over (I’m a teacher) and I have to go back to work!

    Reply to Lisa Sewell's comment

  8. Rocky on August 15, 2013 at 8:07 am

    Welcome to Maine! Your are in northern territory. That means without green house, most of tomato will not fully ripen before the end of season. I hope you like fried green tomato:) Cherry tomato are OK, but for large tomato, I usually prune heavily to restrict fruit number to 3-4 per branch, take off all of side shoots, plus cut the top of vine after 3-4 fruit bearing branches. Yes, that means at most you will get 16 tomato from a plant, but 16 ripen tomato are far better than 30 green tomato. I do the same with determinant tomato as well. 3-4 fruit bearing branches per plant, unless you have a mean to extend the season with a green house.

    Reply to Rocky's comment

  9. Svetlana on August 15, 2013 at 8:08 am

    I was reading a few blogs from mid-Atlantic and New England gardeners who say the tomato sweet spot is September 1st. I am hoping it’s true, because otherwise I’ll be hanging my tomato vines in the basement until they ripen this year.

    Reply to Svetlana's comment

  10. Melissa on August 15, 2013 at 8:17 am

    I just began to get tomatoes about 2 weeks ago, which is crazy late for down here. I’m still waiting on some of the heirloom varieties, only a few blooms on those right now.

    Reply to Melissa's comment

  11. Greg on August 15, 2013 at 8:57 am

    YES!! But not so patiently! My poor tomato plants are only at most a couple feet high (they were closer to double that last year) and though there are plenty of good-sized romas on the vines… they are JUST starting to “blush” (as you say) … I have harvested only two all summer. It’s MID August! Crazy! (I planted them in May! Ha!) :)

    Have been enjoying some cherry tomatoes though.

    Strange gardening summer…

    Reply to Greg's comment

  12. Barbara Shaw on August 15, 2013 at 9:27 am

    I am in zone 7, S.C. I cut some of the large leaves off my tomato vines earlier and I think this was a positive, the sun could get in there and help the green tomatoes to ripen. They also continued to bloom. We have had so much rain fall that most of our garden has not produced very well. We have beautiful plants but very little fruit on any thing except the tomatoes that I cut leaves off . I believe that we just did not have enough sun to set blooms. This is my first experience with too much rain, usually its not enough. I would like a more experienced gardeners take on cutting the leaves off.

    Reply to Barbara Shaw's comment

  13. Heidi on August 15, 2013 at 10:31 am

    I just started getting tomatoes this week in Minnesota. I also went in and gave a major trim back which seems to have helped with allowing the sun to get in there. I have a whackload of green tomatoes everywhere! I am also not so patiently waiting for my Chervena Chuska peppers to ripen….not a one is even close to turning red! I was hoping to roast a batch for sandwiches before school started but I am not sure that will happen this year.

    Reply to Heidi's comment

  14. Nebraska Dave on August 15, 2013 at 10:57 am

    Susy, practically everyone that I communicate with has had the same tomato ripening issue this year. I’m not sure about other parts of the country but I think here in Nebraska it just wasn’t warm enough at night. We have had un heard of cool temperatures in the upper 50s and lower 60s almost the entire summer. There have been just a hand full of 90 degree days and only one 100+ day. That’s almost a year with no summer for here. Rain has been a bit slim starting with July. I did harvest my first tomato a couple days ago with two more blush ones. Other than those three, green rules the tomato plants. On the flip side cabbage has been prolific this year so I will be attempting to make sauerkraut for the first time this year. Green beans ruled the garden with a good solid four and a half gallons from just 10 plants. Lettuce, radishes, onions, and sweet corn all were the best ever. So there have been good crops and not so good crops. It’s just what makes gardening a challenge.

    Have a great day in the garden.

    Reply to Nebraska Dave's comment

  15. Natalie B. on August 15, 2013 at 11:20 am

    Mine are late too. I’ve picked 4 total, but the rest are just green green green. Of course they will probably all ripen while we’re on vacation….

    Reply to Natalie B.'s comment

  16. KimH on August 15, 2013 at 11:41 am

    Still waiting on my tomatoes too.. sigh.. And there arent many of them either.. One entire garden was under water for most of the season so whatever was in it drowned to death.. the other is just short, stunted and not doing well. There are some tomatoes in it though. I did get 3 very large paste tomatoes to ripen. I think they were a Parks Hybrid..
    I’ll head over there today to take a look and see how things are going.

    Reply to KimH's comment

  17. Dillon on August 15, 2013 at 11:56 am

    Oh my gosh! Me too! So nice to hear I’m not alone. I put everything in late this year (first time gardening while pregnant – so my schedule was way off). I’ve been very envious of everyone else’s haul while I sit and wait.

    Reply to Dillon's comment

  18. Janice on August 15, 2013 at 12:49 pm

    We’re in California and just started picking heirlooms a couple of weeks ago. I’m finally at a point where I can comfortably give some away. But there are plenty of green tomatoes on the plants. They haven’t hit their stride yet. I really need to blog about the garden… ITM!

    Reply to Janice's comment

  19. Deb on August 15, 2013 at 6:24 pm

    I have had volunteer currant tomatoes, red cherry tomatoes, and green grape tomatoes doing very well. Just the past few days my Rose Pink volunteer plants are ripening great tomatoes. The largest is 1 lb. 11 oz., a real whopper. Not enough to can but enough to share and eat lots ourselves. Since there’s not enough to can thinking of dehydrating some sliced tomatoes. All heirlooms here, nothing else. Had a great summer. Only 4 worms that I plucked weeks ago, chickens loved them. One other that the wasp laid eggs on so I left it alone. Have lots to ripen. I’m in zone 5B-6A, in Ohio. Put my plants out late May, started them and peppers late April so I’m lucky.

    Reply to Deb's comment

  20. Natasha on August 15, 2013 at 10:45 pm

    Still waiting on my larger tomatoes. My cherry varieties aren’t plentiful, but I have been able to taste a few from each plant! My green zebra tomatoes have had a few ripen. I was really disappointed at the state of my plants until I talked to other gardeners and learned I’m having the same problems as everyone else. I’m eagerly awaiting my Bullheart Tomatoes. That’s the only variety that got a really late start. There are several tomatoes on those two plants and they don’t look like they are all that close to ripening.

    I’ve made some gazpacho using my tomatoes (and other ingredients from friends and farmers markets). That was pretty awesome.

    Reply to Natasha's comment

  21. Jennifer Fisk on August 16, 2013 at 7:58 am

    Oh yes, still waiting for ripening. In Maine, at least on the coast, it is necessary to plant fairly large seedlings and use a black or red plastic mulch to retain heat and moisture.
    One thing you can do to move the ripening along now is to cut the tops of the plants back. Anything that sets now doesn’t stand a chance since the fall Equinox is in 5 weeks. We are on the down hill run, sad but true.

    Reply to Jennifer Fisk's comment

  22. Chris on August 17, 2013 at 4:33 pm

    Living in the Pacific Northwest…I call the land of green tomatoes! We just don’t plant any, other than the grape and or cherry tomatoes…after too many years of picking green ones in Sept. :) Although, if folks like fried, green tomatoes, then this is the climate to grow those in! :)

    Reply to Chris's comment

  23. Caroline on August 17, 2013 at 8:43 pm

    The only tomatoes I’ve been fortunate enough to harvest, don’t really count in my book! I’ve been harvesting the Ground Cherry Tomatoes for weeks and weeks now. It started off as just a couple every day or so, now I’ve got quite the collection on my kitchen counter.

    I’ve got some Bloody Butcher heirlooms that are green, as well as some “mystery” varities – a few plants given to me by my neighbor who started them from seed and didn’t get around to labeling them! Plus a packet from the restaurant Chipoltle – those were free from a Halloween event last fall and, surprisingly, are doing beautifully!!!

    My biggest problem is that the location of my garden gets far too little sun. This was my first year gardening, so the fact that I have any tomatoes is amazing to me! The Chipoltle plant was planted weeks later then the other plants and is actually in the location for next years garden where it gets hours of full sun. Thank goodness!

    I hate to see us all suffer with green tomatoes, but it makes me a little happy to know I’m not alone!

    Reply to Caroline's comment

  24. Sheba on August 21, 2013 at 2:19 pm

    I planted heirloom tomatoes, here in San Jose, a little late too! They are finally starting to ripen at about a rate of one everyday. The plants are over six feet tall and have lots of green tomatoes on their vines. I can’t wait until it’s producing enough ripe tomatoes for me to give away to friends and family!

    Reply to Sheba's comment

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This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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