First Tomato Boil Down

Today is a Most Significant Day in our garden calendar. It is the First Tomato Boil Down.

This is the day when we have too many ripe tomatoes to eat, so we boil them down and freeze them, in today's case until we have enough for the first quantity of sauce.

We have been keeping preserving records since 2001, although the data did not really get comparable until 2005. And this is what we have found for the First Boil Down Day.

10.02.2005 First boil down, mainly Romas

07.01.2006 First boil down, mainly Romas, a few Grosse Lisse. We knew that was a really
early year.

28.01.2007 First boil down, mainly Romas

16.01.2008 First boil down, mainly Romas. This was the best year in memory - usually we
eat the last boiled down ones (ie use is pasta etc) about August. This year they
lasted until New Year's Day in 2009 - and we still have tomato soup left.

25.01.2009 First boil down - mainly Earliest of Them All. The Romas are all still green, and
the Grosse Lisse are an almost total failure. The Amish Paste are not far away.

This is them - we find they are a true climber, and have taken the top out now. next year they will go up a really tall trellis, if we can find one.

And memo: don't plant tomatoes on red stakes, or use red ties. It makes it really hard to sort out the ripe tomatoes.