Tomatoes in November!

[Spongegirl]

I LOVE tomatoes! I planted tomatoe plants in the ground all summer and I still am getting tomatoes from outside. I did cover them one night to extend the season for them. They are thanking me. I just made spagetti sauce that is sooo good! I am still juicing & I sware, I could live off of tomatoe juice. What about that clear that separates from the pulpier (is that a word?) juice? I call that tomatoe water! YUM! Even boiled some pasta in that last night. I can't wait until next year to try my hand at growing the herbs for the sauces and juices. I want to aquire some different tomatoe heirloom seeds, too, rather than get the seeds from the local stores. I want to know more about tomatoe varieties. I want enough tomatoe something preserved to last me until the next season. This year, I have canned some and frozen some, so we'll see how long that lasts. I don't think I have put up very much if we wanted to eat them a couple times a week.
How was everyone else's tomatoes this year?

[ACW]

London UK ,
my toms did well this year 2 containers on my balcony gave me the first small yields ,and still have a few ripe and ripening fruits , they have yeilded me pasta sauce twice a week from mid June thru mid September with the aid of the 3 garden plants , basil for the sauce and garnishes has grown fairly well in a Kitchen window box .
Just wish I had some more sun !
The garden tomatoes ,went poorly a few weeks ago !

[garden5]

I got tomatoes up until the middle of OCT. After that, they harvest drastically slowed down. I also think that the combination of growing heirlooms and planting them way too close together make for an overall lower yield this year. I'll have to throw a few heavy producing hybrids into the mix next year.

[Spongegirl]

its over. the season is over. I covered everything one last time but the hard frost the last two nights took what was left. I did however, salvage all the green tomatoes and got like 50 pounds! Ok, well at least 45 pounds. I guess they will take a long time to ripen and I need to get some paper bags from the grocery to put them in. I'll need a lot of groceries to get that many paper bags for all the fruit. There is so much out there on the vines that I left too. I just hate all that going to waste. Oh, hey, wait it won't, I'll give it to the worms! I think I have been underfeeding them anyway while getting them started, afraid of overfeeding them and getting bugs and grose things. For me, this was a fantastic first gardening experience and Ive already started working on next years plans! ya know what else, I have chosen the wrong major in college. I don't want to be a surgical tech. I want a degree in plants. I think about growing things from the time I wake up in the morning to the time I go to bed at night. I know I want to make $$ right here on my 2 1/2 acres with what I can grow. So now the question is developing what will make me $$ and what degree should I seek?

[The Helpful Gardener]

If making money is at all important to you, DO NOT go inot agriculture or horticulture...

But if you can't help yourself, do ag growing, looking especially at hydroponics and food production. I think it's gonna get huge, and I already know a few people doing pretty well at it.

HG

[Spongegirl]

I've given up $20 an hour behind a desk to work for $20 a day in a barn. Money is not my priority but paying for my utilities is. I don't live with luxuries and extras and don't spend any money. I want to raise my daughters differently than our material obsessed, overindulged society. I want to be with my baby and not stuck in a 9-5 just so I can buy grocery store food and have a satellite and expensive car. Tell me more about what your friends are doing?

[DoubleDogFarm]

THG,

This may have been asked and answered here on Helpful Gardener.

Is Hydroponics and or Aquaponics considered Organic. Isn't the definition of organic, soil produced?

I pretty much left a $20.00 per hour landscaping job, for a $40.00 per hour home business. I do lawn and garden equipment repair. I also sell at the local farmer's market and do small welding jobs.

Turn a hobby into a home business. Maybe sell on Ebay. Be creative. Being home more is great!


Eric

[Spongegirl]

thanks! you're right...I have always thought the best way to live is to make a hobby a business as well. I have many things growing now, for instance, 100 blueberry bushes, for my dreams of the farmers market in the future. Next year, I am planting as much asparagus. I have Mosa Bamboo growing to sell the rizomes in the future and dream of selling herbs for healing at the market (which btw, no one is doing here-herbs). And IMO, organic means without chemical.

[farmerlon]

Is Hydroponics and or Aquaponics considered Organic. Isn't the definition of organic, soil produced?

A hydroponic grower was the speaker at one of our local Master Gardener meetings... the photos of his plants and his production totals were impressive. He grew with mostly organic techniques, but he was not able to be "certified" organic... if I remember correctly, that was primarily because some of the nutrients that he fed the plants were "chemical" fertilizers.
I don't know enough about hydroponics to know if that's "the norm" or not.

[applestar]

I almost split off the new discussions into a new thread since they were getting off-topic -- as interesting as they are -- then realized this is spongegirl's own thread. You may want to edit the thread title? Something like "Love for tomatoes spawns interest in hobby agribusiness"

[The Helpful Gardener]

Hydroponics is simply using water as the medium. I know organic hydroponic growers and non-organic hydroponic growers...

Aquaponics is by definition organic. You are using the fishes waste as the nutrient and their water as the medium. Certainly works as organic for me. Saw a pretty neat aquaponic set-up today, actually...

HG