Tomatoes?

My tomatoes has some tomatoes on it, some still growing, some not fully grown. Do I wait until they are ripened, like red or orange?

Yes pick them when they ripen individually.

This message was edited May 6, 2011 8:39 PM

Let's try this one more time so that I don't sound totally illiterate.

This message was edited May 8, 2011 10:43 PM

Depends on what you plan to do with them. If you want them for salads, sandwiches and general eating (or making salsas or sauces) then the riper the better. They should be whatever color they're supposed to mature to, and will "give" when you _gently_ squeeze them :)
Some recipes call for firm tomatoes, so you'd pick them before they're soft.
If you want to fry green tomatoes, ar for green tomato preserves of some sort, then they should be full sized, but not turning yet.
Once tomatoes begin to "blush",(turn color, whatever it may be) they can be picked, and will ripen on the counter, out of direct sun. They will never taste as good as if they are allowed to ripen on the vine, but if you have issues with insects or neighbors, they'll still be far better than supermarket.
Best of luck!

Thank you all, that was a big help.

haha... issues with neighbours... last summer someone decided they liked my astilbe in my front garden and planted a tomato plant in its place!

let me get this right. you mean you had an astilbe planted, someone came along, dug it up, and left you a tomato plant there, instead?

The nerve!!! did it at least have any tomatoes on it???!!! ^^_^^

I've found that sometimes people feel that if they can see something, they should be able to take it. It doesn't happen often around here, but enough to make me wary. The sad part is that most gardeners would be glad to share, if asked nicely :(.

But then, during squash season I have done some things that might be considered a tad un-neighborly, involving unlocked cars and porches....

LOL at the squash!! In our first home (a new neighborhood, with many first-time homeowners and gardeners), people had so much zucchini that often you would wake up in the morning to find a huge pile of it on your front porch!!

Personally, I think you can never have too much zucchini, so I never minded when we were "gifted" with our neighbors excess produce.

However, I would consider removing a plant and replacing it with another just rude.

As important as it is becoming to grow your own produce, perhaps being a little protective is not a bad idea.

I'm considering a "decoy" planting, close to the road. A few hybrid 'maters (don't want them addicted, after all), some cukes, and maybe a pepper or two. Then I'll plant blackberries as a hedge between that and the "real" garden. Not only as a visual shield, but as a physical deterant. In truth, if things get really out of control, I have a clearing maintained in the woods for a Stealth Garden.
Hope it never comes to that. I like to share....

Let's see maybe a green when ripe tomato. That aught to throw your average tomato thief off. Maybe for the plant thief a nettle or some poison ivy.

I like that "green when ripe" decoy!

Unless they're particularly fond of fried green maters....

lorvan - was the astilbe growing in shade or full sun? If the latter, perhaps your neighbor felt sorry for it - hence the swap.

Yes, someone actually dug it out and planted a pathetic looking tomato plant in its place - the kind you can buy from a discount garden center..!!! I was rather angry, to say the least. The astilbe was planted in part shade, part sun. Maybe they felt bad for my black eyed susans... they chopped them to the ground right when they had beautiful flowers. I'm hoping it was just some little kid who wanted to give something nice to his mom. That's what I keep telling myself at least :)

I've had potted plants stollen from my front porch and a neighbor actually try to dig up a couple of roses while we were out of town. This was in my old neighborhood. This behaviour is sooooo aggrivating! Never did find out who took the porch plants but the rose thief got caught red handed. The funny part of that incident was that she was the same neighbor who came over to my house years previous to tell me that I had too many roses in my yard and I would never be able to sell the house if ever I wanted because no one would want roses in their landscape!

I know what you mean, terri. It's very frustrating, especially because we just bought our house a year and a half ago (first time buyers) so I was excited to clean up the yard and make the neglected gardens look good. From my experience, any gardener will willingly give away or trade their plants. But when someone just takes without asking, it's downright rude - and theft! At least they had the courtesy of giving me a tomato plant in return haha.

LOL! We had just moved cross country and were totally new to the area. After a while I decided that we were the type of folks who needed a more rural setting. So we built up as much equity and made as many improvements as we could and started making plans to sell. It was a hard decission, but that's what we did!

dolphin, do you know what variedty you are growing?

Many years ago in WV, a pumpkin vine took over my whole vegetable garden, but only produced one nice pumpkin. Oh well, at least the kids would have a beautiful Jack-o-Lantern, or so I thought. At the end of October somebody walked up in the yard and cut the pumpkin clean off. It was there and then half an hour later, it was gone. Talk about bold!

Mindy

When hubby and I lived in a townhouse, the only thing we could really grow was roses, because we only had two feet off the fence on the outside. So, we bought really nice roses (not garden store - but from a rose company) and planted them. We got all these compliments on our roses - fragrance, colors, etc.

One Sunday (Father's Day) I took hubby out for brunch. We left, and had all the roses (ten bushes, each with at least ten roses on them). We get back 90 minutes later, and THEY'RE ALL GONE. Every one. Over one hundred roses cut off.

Saw one of my neighbors later that day. We're outside chit-chatting. I mention to her some mean person cut the roses (I may have been very descriptive and used colorful metaphors). She got all quiet and red in the face. Then her father walked out of her house with a rose in his lapel. I didn't call her out on it, but I knew.

But I made a point of embarrassing her by complimenting the father on the rose. He asked what happened to my rose bushes. I told him. I then added that the funny thing was that had anyone wanted any roses, all they had to do was ask and I would gladly have cut some roses for that individual.

But seriously - ONE HUNDRED ROSES???? REALLY? talk about greedy!

Terri – The too many roses discussion sounds like a ploy to get a couple of free plants.

Iorvan – Sounds like you need to plant your summer squash out front instead of flowers.

We had a 40 something neighbor and his two kids come over and dig for worms in our yard. They left holes and tools in the flower beds. Husband and I never did figure that one out. Thankfully they have moved to another part of the city.

Yeah, that's kind of what I was thinking. Until she told me she grew up in that town and people who rehab old houses and such just raised the property values and "ruined it" for the "natives". Then we had to keep our doors locked all the time as her children kept coming over and walking right into our house...... It was soooo upsetting at first as I loved that house and we put so much work into it. But the thought of moving to a rural area w/land and more room to garden to my heart's delight sold me on the move!

People's behavior is simple amazing. I put up a fence when my neighbor decided that she and her five kids could spend all day in my backyard on the swing set while we were at work. My daughter was home sick one day, and couldn't sleep because of the noise.

Sounds like a person(family) we call a boundry buster(s). Set a boundry with them and they do it anyway.

So what were they doing walking into the house? In most areas rural or city that might get them accedentually shot. Moving sounds like a good idea.

Our neighbor problem moved when neighbors (us included) on both sides of them put up fences.

It is rather amazing. Our neighbors didn't think they had done anything wrong. Like why he would think that digging holes in a gardeners flowerbed is a good idea.

Good idea Susan.... I should plant zucchini all over the place - then if someone wants to steal some, I'll load 20 more zukes in their trunk :P