I adore this dish. It’s so fast to make, so healthy and yet so tasteful. PREPARATION TIME 10 MINUTES For 2 people, served as a main course: Shish kebab stick…
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Question by peg: Help! I think my tomatoes are ruined!?
I have two small gardens. One has cherry tomatoes with a few regular tomato plants mixed in and I have another with regular tomatoes and cucumbers. My problem is it’s been raining here for a couple of days now and when I checked on the garden the tomatoes look like their all bursting out. Some are still very light red in color, not ready to be picked. I want them to grow to full size then pick them but the rain is ruining them! Can someone give me any advice to save my tomatoes? Thanks!!
Best answer:
Answer by duaner87421
Once a tomato starts turning from green to red, it won’t grow much larger. It can be picked and it will continue to ripen and once it’s red to your liking, it will taste no different than if left to ripen on the vine. So pick the tomatoes that have began to ripen before they split from too much moisture, bring them inside to a window and in a day or two they will be ripe.
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Valentina’s a lefty!!! Just noticed that, sorry… Looks real tasty. May
cook this some time, looks yummy!
Sooo good.
I’m gonna try this tonight
Sembrano ottimi domani li metto nel menu
Well….I think the first guy said it all…and pretty well…enjoy your tomatoes!
you can try to shelter them from the rain….or you could put fresh, dry soil around them..
Also, if you have big tomatoes that are red-ish (like orange or half red) you might be able to pick them. Once you pick them put them in a brown paper bag in your kitchen/warm ish room. They will ripen in the bag. not all the way, but they will ripen if they’re halfway there already. Just make sure to check that they don’t ripen too much! And store them in your fridge afterwards.
Pretty good answers, but DO NOT put your tomatoes in the window, or in the refrigerator, either, for that matter. Once they are picked, more sun will not help them ripen. And refrigeration kills the flavor.
If the cracks are small, try leaving them on the vine for a day or two to see whether they heal. Sometimes they do. You can test for yourself whether tomatoes picked with a little color and allowed to ripen taste the same as tomatoes left on the vine to ripen fully. In my experience, they do not.
Next year, make sure you give your plants at leasr 1 inch of water, applied slowly, per week. And plant them VERY deeply. Dig a hole deep enough to bury the plant so that only the top set of leaves shows, and even that is below ground. Snip off the leaves that will be buried. As the plants grow, fill in the hole. Deeper plants have more roots, and handle dry spells better.
A tomato fruit is 95 percent water, so tomatoes need a lot of water to grow and develop fruit. Tomatoes should have about 2 quarts of water per day per plant until first harvest. Plants that are yielding fruit will need 2 to 4 quarts of water per plant.
Soak the soil thoroughly when watering. Frequent light waterings will encourage a weak root system. Mulching with straw, clean hay, compost, paper or plastic will reduce soil water evaporation. Plants growing in small containers may need daily waterings.
It sounds like yours have had plenty of water. If you have too many your neighbors would love to have some!!
Tomatoes are very acceptable to cracking, select a variety next year that won’t crack as easy.
Check out this website on growing tomatoes:http://extension.missouri.edu/explore/agguides/hort/g06461.htm
If you are unhappy about the cracking, pick the tomatoes now. The answer to the ripening is to take some of the vine with the tomato, just like you see in the store!! It really does work — the tomato will continue to absorb sugars from the vine as it ripens if the stem remains attached.
From Real Food Markets:
You don’t have to do anything to ripen tomatoes at home. Just put them on a plate and let them be. If you’re in a great hurry, put them in a paper bag with a ripe banana. It will share its abundant natural ethylene and the tomatoes ripen faster. Never refrigerate tomatoes; the cold stops ripening and destroys flavor compounds. The window-sill business is another myth. They don’t need sun or drafts or anything. The middle of your kitchen or dining room table is fine.
Anyway, hope this info helps — sorry you are having all the rain — wish I was!! We’ve had a 6 week drought here!! Good luck.