Tomato Season.. Picking By the Bucket!

You guys, it’s raining tomatoes on me!  Send help… bring canning jars and freezer bags, I’ve got tomato sauces lined up and ready for you!

This Summer we planted triple the amount of tomato plants which is resulting in a whole lot of tomatoes.  How many?  We bought a small freezer for our garden goodies that we freeze, mostly tomato sauce.  Already a few racks  in the freezer are full of sauce!  My goal is to go a entire year without having to buy any tomato sauce, so I’ve been stocking up!  Last year I lasted until April and then I had to cave and buy a jar in the store, but I’m hoping to last until next year’s tomato season.  

 We mainly grow 3 types of tomatoes, cherry, roma and beef.  Here’s my original post on when we planted the seeds and moved them outside.  Besides sauces, I’m slicing and dicing salsa like a crazy woman, throwing cherry tomatoes in my mouth and dabbing a touch of salt on a sliced beef tomato and eating it raw.     By the way, my favorite tomato sauce recipe is this one that I use almost every time.  You can substitute cherry tomatoes for your kind, I use it the same way for beef and roma tomatoes.

Here’s some of our plants, all in 27 or 5 gallon containers.  On a rooftop.  Gosh, I love saying that.  Tomato high 5.  Did I mention (I know I didn’t) that we already picked over 120 pounds of vegetables so far this year? On a rooftop.  Garden love high 5 and back flips (careful). 

And now let’s take a look at what’s growing on these plants.
Plenty of big beef tomatoes ready to turn red..

This mammoth of a tomato ready to be picked.

And when I say mammoth, I mean big.  How big? Ok, look at this guy.

Aren’t you in love with that big ol tomato?  So heavy I can finally build up my arm muscles that don’t exist.

Want to see some other big beef tomatoes? Sure you do.

All colors of the rainbow..

This guy has a interesting shape which makes him every interesting. I like to talk about my tomatoes like they are human.  I am not crazy. I am tomato lady.  

Bags and bags of roma tomatoes… who wants salsa?

And hey cherry tomatoes, you guys are crazy and just grow, grow, grow.  Lookie, I’m coming for you!

Gotcha.. hundreds of you guys.

Each one even prettier than the next, but don’t tell the one previously.

So now I surround myself in the kitchen making sauces for hours.  The air conditioner is on full blast because the oven is on at 425 for hours.  But this is all for the love of tomatoes..

And then after you make 40 pounds of tomatoes into sauce, you think you’re in the clear, then you go up into the garden the next day and start all over again.  Goodness, help me, I’m in tomato land.

Love,
Tomato Lady

How’s your garden going? How’s those tomatoes? Do you like to march tomatoes up your cat’s belly too?