I have three tomato plants that are still producing. I went out this morning and plucked about 15 from the vines. Several were near perfect, while the others had a bit of black at the tops. For lunch, I sliced up two of the smaller ones and ate them with a dab of mayonnaise and lots of salt and pepper. They were amazing. Plump, ripe, juicy, and exploding with flavor. I don’t know what it is about late fall tomatoes, but they are the best.
They say that tomatoes need at least 6 hours of direct sunlight each day, as well as fertile soil with good drainage. Though the days are growing shorter, my little garden still gets 6 hours of sun, and though I have no more blossoms on the vines, I will be picking tomatoes until the first frost.
They also say that if you can protect the vines from frost and keep them warm – perhaps next to a building – you can pick tomatoes up through December. Lots of gardeners in the deep southern states plant tomatoes in the fall and do quite well.
In another few weeks, I will no longer get fresh tomatoes and will be forced to buy those “plastic” tomatoes at the store.
But come next June, I’ll be picking ripe tomatoes once again.
