Operation Tomato

It was time to try and rescue some of my tomatoes, the night time temps here in Alberta are falling  FAR below 10 degrees at night (that’s Celsius) with daytime temperatures consistently not reaching much past plus 15.

When I woke up this morning, out here in the burbs, it was plus 5. Brrrr.

Tomatoes get very, very mad in this kind of weather. They will walk into your house, slap you for your impudence, then settle down where it’s warmer. Or just wilt and die on you.

I have been hoping since the cold, cold end of August we had here that we would get a burst of heat in September, as we have some years.

I gave up today. It’s not going to happen. What happened to the beautiful hot autumns we used to get?

So I tested out 4 tomatoes and put them on my windowsill to ripen, which they did beautifully.

Now.

There is a longstanding argument over whether you should ripen them on a windowsill or covered up in the darkness.

I can’t taste the difference. I have done the cupboard ripening and they tasted great. That process took three weeks, so I think it’s a great way to lengthen your ripening time.

There are theories that the seeds inside are what that ripen it, that once taken off the vines they need no sunlight, that you need the ethylene from say, bananas to help ripen them.

What I do know is that they turn red on my windowsill. And that everyone under the sun will argue with you over the method that works best.

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Fast ripening-windowsill.

Slower ripening – cold storage covered with newspaper with plenty of space between them.

Now, I actually want these to ripen as fast as possible so I can do some canning with them. They are a motley looking bunch but I am hopeful.

And not only are the temperatures dropping, blight is spreading in Edmonton. Sure, it’s not going to be for much longer, but I have such a poor yield that I am not risking these tomatoes at all.