Well, I feel like a true pioneer woman today... except that they didn't have a freezer! Technically, you're not supposed to water bath can tomatoes from dead/dying vines, so I have to freeze everything or pressure can it (which I just don't have the energy for).
My tomatoes, for those who haven't heard, have succombed entirely to late tomato blight. I'm about to head out and rip up every last plant, bag it up, and throw it away! I can't even compost them (sigh). But I harvested every last usable tomato and made 7 pints of green tomato salsa, 1 quart of green tomato ketchup, and pureed 10 cups for breads/cakes this week. I'm about to tackle the last bit of red tomatoes for some sauce for the freezer. I'm afraid to just freeze the tomatoes themselves because the few who have blight already on them are succombing. I'm afraid it might still eat the tomatoes in the freezer. So, I'm going to cut out all bad spots and cook those babies with some fresh basil--maybe I'll do some soup. I'm WORN OUT. The green tomato salsa and ketchup all got made today. I'm pooped. I'm actually glad I won't be harvesting any tomatoes next week. And then I'll start to get sad. Maybe my peppers will do even better without the competition for light and nutrients (my tomatoes have grown over everything and are so congested thanks to all the rain--it's no wonder they all got sick).
Here's my tomato count for the season: (no doubt it would be higher if the stupid squirrels hadn't shown such a love for green tomatoes--no telling how many they carried off!) (this includes everything I picked--many of which I've given away)
Romas: 58 (mix of several--some from Parks and some from Lowe's)
All-Purpose: 35 (mix of Rutgers (they do well for me), Fabulous, Early Girls, Celebrity)
Mr. Stripeys: 12 (these are my favorite and this is the healthiest plant... sigh...these babies are HUGE, very cool-looking tomatoes--even the green ones are prettier than other green ones)
Orange Cherries (cups): 8
Yellow Pears--cherry type (cups): 8
Green Tomatoes: 6 pounds miscellaneous plus 30 all-purpose/Mr. Stripeys and 20 Romas
