In the spirt of frugality we decided to try our hand at gardening. And when I say “we” I really mean my husband. To be fair he does most of the work and of the two of us he has the greener thumb. I have been known to kill cacti, its sad, I know. Ground was dug up, seeds were decided on and away we went not really having a clue what we were doing. At first it was exciting to see something sprout up here and there. Usually followed by head scratching as we tried to remember what was planted there. This was quickly followed by most everything ceasing to grow and then a slow painful demise. Were we watering too much? too little? Was there something wrong with the soil? Then we started some serious fertilizing and before long it was deemed a lost cause and we tried again. The tomato plants we started the first time were from seed so when we spotted already growing plants at the Garden Center we figured we would give that a try. Hubby said we only needed 2 or 3. No! I scoffed, we must need an even dozen. (Alright, I can already hear some of you experienced gardeners chuckling.) And the slow painful cycle started all over again. Great bursts of growth were followed by slow painful (to us) deaths. What initially started as an even dozen of plants ended up being 2 or 3 remaining plants. But then the strangest thing happened. Those diehard plants WENT NUTS! They proceeded to take over way more then their fair share of the garden. And being the silly inexperienced gardeners we are…we let them. At first it seemed harmless. Oh look, theres something budding here and there. Isnt that cute! Granted, nothing has reached full ripeness yet, and its not like we have had the best luck but at last count we had 50 – 60 green tomatoes striving for red from our last few hardy plants. I can think of a thing or two to do with a few of them but we dont even have enough friends and family to give/force upon that many tomatoes. I shudder at the thought of what our predicament would have been if more of the original dozen had survived. There are warning labels on cups of coffee telling you that it might be hot, where was the warning on the plant saying THESE TOMATO PLANTS COULD GO NUTS AND PRODUCE MORE FRUIT THEN YOU CAN USE IN A LIFETIME.
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on those extra tomato’s they can be frozen and used in soups and stew’s later on. All you have to do is blanch them in boiling water and peel of skins then plop them in a freezer bag and freeze.They do well in soups and stews and you can even cook them down and make homemade spagetti sauce out of them. They are even awsome in chili..
You can blanch them (as described above) and throw them in the crock pot to cook down as sauce. Very yummy. Or stop stewing when they get to be chunky style and can them.
Gee, sounds like somebody I know…
I thought the other comments were very good. I also have done something similar and overloaded my garden with not only tomatoes but with zuchini and green bell peppers!! You just learn as you go.
Happy Gardening
Hey, green tomatoes are wonderful if you deep fry them. Dredge them in flour first, then deepfry, just like chicken. They are wonderful. Once they are ripe, you could just boil them down to sauce.Thats what I do. We have four tomato plants, although two are large tomatoes, and two are little cherry/grape tomatoes. We love tomatoes and use them in so much. Chili, spaghetti sauce, salad, or just cut up with some cucumber then salted and peppered. Tomatoes are the best. My kids eat them right off the vine like apples.
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