Hi Friends, my name is Christi and I run little Roots Ranch in Stanwood, Washington (PNW Zone 8b). My channel is about sharing my journey and information/tips about gardening, farming, animal husbandry, canning and preserving food. my garden/farm is no till and I use a lot of compost and wood chips. I am slowly growing my knowledge of flowers and also working on a small orchard and a nice berry patch.
I hope you like my channel and thank you for stopping by. I try to post every Saturday so please subscribe to see more content.
Gotta love Washington State - If you don't like the weather... wait 10 minutes or drive 10 miles... Go through some of the comments and you'll see how different towns/cities all over western Washington are very different in weather patterns.
early summer here was in the 90's ( in june) unusually hot for that time of year... You're just 20-30 minutes north of me I think... I'm really confused about "cool and rainy" early summer
89 was the highest temp this summer at the farm (I was thankful it didn’t get hotter). We did have hot days in June but do you remember the 2 big rain/wind storms we had just after everyone put out their tomatoes? I think I actually made a video about preparing/protect tomatoes for one of them. We might also have different microclimates. If you are in a more populated place, it is likely you are on a heat island.
@@littlerootsranch I'm further south of you than I originally thought. I'm in Tacoma... we were hitting 99 in June this year... and maintained 80's and 90's for far too much of the summer... My lettuce was NOT happy.
I am sorry if I missed this, but does this apply to determinate as well? I thought I heard you say only indeterminate but not sure. So helpful, as always!
This is soooo helpful! Thank you! I’m in wa state near Olympia and my tomatoes took a major beating in the thunderstorms about 3 weeks ago! I’m going to prune them to see if I can salvage any before the season is over.
Hey, I'm in Bellingham after 40 years in Marysville area. Quite different here compared to gardening in the Snohomish River Delta area as far tomatoes go here in Bellingham. I have tons of Juliet ripening and kinda sick of them at this point. 🤭. I have some Cherokee purple ripening but no way I'll get all to ripen before splitting once rains start. I'll try top pruning. My one determinate has a few ripe ones. I find a cheap rice or sod knife dedicated to pruning lower branches on the heavy ones work better that pruners. Dollar store water bottle and some rubbing alcohol to spray knife hanging off my overalls if I'm having some early blight. My Juliet are like yours but ripening a lot. My garden is in 20 gal barrel liners cause I have glacial cement and whole property is just full of huge tree roots with 30ft+ evergreen hedges N and S and oak and pine E and W. Only have one area where a huge cedar came down that gets proper sun for some hours. We had such a brutal arctic blast that bout only thing that has produced is tomatoes and straw better. No squash but 2 zucchini. Cukes...look done after 2 weeks. 😢 Everything about 6 weeks behind. Nothing day sensitive has done well but I'm replanting now. Happy gardening.
Hey Christi! Your Lynnwood garden peep here. 🌱 Well, I know what I'm going to be doing this weekend! I've been trying out the yellow varieties this year, with the exception of the Chocolate Cherry tomato you told me about - and you were right! They are delicious! Yeah, I might have to invest in a little greenhouse if I want those beefsteak varieties. Dismal results this year. Thanks, Juneuary! What we need is another month of really warm weather, but in the absence of that ~ snip snip. I think I saw it on MIgardener channel, Luke was talking about putting the just blushing tomatoes in a paper bag with a banana to ripen them. Great demo video - thanks!
Growing up I lived on a farm in Texas, high desert area. Tomato's are barely hanging on by mid June due to heat. Usually your canned most by then. Pamper some thru the heat to August and then they will start setting fruit again. BUT often early Sept has frost spells so we had to pick our green tomatoes. I wrapped them individually in newspaper and stored on shelves in cellar. Take out a few to the light to ripen. Occasionally had ripe tomatoes for Thanksgiving. Sure tasted better than store bought ones now. Yellow pear cherry tomato's often made it to Halloween even with the over night frosts. But beware. They become monsters up here. One plant is more than enough. 😂. Try wrapping green tomato in newspaper or ? Similar paper if you have storage area.
@@littlerootsranch Ok - they're not for me then, time for viewing is limited, getting to the meat of the title promptly is important, repeating the same lines and going astray is too consuming for me, I wish you well and thank you for replying to my comment.
I have a tomato forest like yours, unfortunately I don't have raised beds and have to try to wiggle my way through the forest , but I greatly appreciate this video because all my tomatoes are green and now I will go prune it all back and let those plants know it's time to hurry up! Lol I'm on the north Oregon coast.
Hi Christi. I’m just down the street…about 30 miles south…and growing mostly indeterminate cherry tomatoes. Sungold, Matt’s Wild Cherry (they’re teenie-tiny) and Yellow Pear. All about 8’ tall now and producing. I’m a newbie with these. Is it time to top cherry tomatoes in our area or do we have a little more time for these smaller tomatoes to ripen. I’m getting anxiety just thinking about it!😂
I know, pruning the babies we have been nurturing this whole time feels hard, so hard. I would definitely cut off the flowers and terminal growing buds and reduce water. I promise you will get more ripened tomatoes in the end. What percentage of the tomatoes on your plant are still green?
What do you think of this odd cool August weather here in the PNW? June was so much hotter than usual. I've never seen an August in Oregon with a good 3 weeks in the 70's.
I think we are going back to our normal weather from 5ish years ago. I think we peaked with the hot summers 2 years ago. Part of me loves it and part of me knows it is bad for tomatoes. It was a bad year to grow tomatoes out of the greenhouse for me.
When it rains around harvest time (every year, where I live!), I harvest the pods and immediatly put them in the dehydrator. Harvesting when wet is the worst, they get moldy so fast :( so now they go from outside -> directly in dehydrator. They are dry to open the pods in a few hours only, then once my beans are separated I put those back in the dehydrator. You’re right, harvesting at the right time is the hardest part - in doubt harvest sooner else they rot right there in the field!
That is a really good point. This year, mine are close to being ready. I am going to wait for our warmest upcoming day and try to harvest them late in the day but the morning dew is like a morning rain.
Thank you for the video. Watching and reading the comments is making me feel better about my slow to ripen fruit, now I know I'm not the only one! Will have to try Juliet's next year.
I don't plant tomatoes anymore because I get so many volunteers each year. I just started getting ripe fruit. I have lots of green fruit and flowers. I'm in Clark Co, WA.
thank you! I love being able to track back in time and feel more prepared since you have so many videos! Just when I thought this one didn't have turkeys you said "HI TURKEYS!" lol. This channel is amazing thank you for sharing your wisdom!
I really appreciate your videos from my neck of the woods! I'm trying a new cherry tomato called midnight snack- it is a beautiful dark color. It's indeterminate and has set tons of fruit for the last few weeks, but refuses to ripen. My romas and early girls are slowly putting on fruit.
Oh, that cherry tomato sounds beautiful. I believe the purple ones take longer but I am not sure. Fingers crossed we are right around the corner from them all ripening.
In Langley on Whidbey, like you we have lots of green tomatoes but later to ripen this year. Sun gold and SunSugar are ripening but are mostly garden snacks. Planted Big Beef this year and they are really big but far from ripening . I tried Jaune Flambé this year too, it’s a smaller one but plants are really producing . Thanks for your all your videos!
Horrible problems with diseases on the whole garden bc of the one rain last week here in SW WA. The rain is so welcome -until two days later when the rust comes . It s as if our plants don ‘t know how to handle any summer rain.
Thanks for the video. I live in kitsap co and my tomatoes are coming along ok. I've been in this position before where they were late to really start growning good and then winter came quick and we had to ripen all the green tomatoes by putting them in brown paper bags to ripen (works well). I am afraid that will be the case this year as well. So last night i went through and gave everything a hair cut hoping that the fruit thats there will ripen on the vine faster. My plants were like yours, really tall. So i figures if i trimmed them down maybe that would give the fruit thats there a chance.
I thought my tomatoes were slooooooow, but mine are ahead of yours. Nothing would grow in So King Co until July, and then it got so hot. The peas were doing fine until the heat wave started. Almost all of my lettuce bolted. No bulbs on the kohlrabi. No heads on the broccoli. I had to plant the beans three times, because of the cold ground. I have planted a lot of seeds this first week of August. I hope they mature before the monsoons begin.
Half the romas in my hoophouse haven't grown at all since transplant. I finally figures out that the "clover" growing around those plants is not clover... its called oxalis and it secretes chemicals in the soil to prevent other plants from growing. I was chopping and dropping the "clover", probably poisoning my plants even more! It also prevented all of my peppers from growing too. I'm in western WA
Refreshing to see my tomatoes are the same size. I’m growing them outside too in zone 8b. They will surprise you the end of September on how much you’ll be bringing in basket loads of blushed ones to finish ripening! I ran out of room on my kitchen floor and countertops the last few years with how many I was able to harvest. Wish I could share a picture on here! We use cattle panels to keep them upright because we are on a coastal windy location. I’m still eagerly waiting for a ripe beefsteak, but I’m just being impatient ha! Your plants are looking fantastic!! Don’t forget to tip the tops on the plants in the next couple weeks to concentrate the energy onto the fruit before October ❤ with bit more attention tomatoes will grow beautifully on the coast zone 8b OUTSIDE. But it’s taken me 9 years to perfect. Love seeing your process throughout the season. And something I can compare my garden too. Thanks so much!
do you think we have enough time to grow and ripen the tomatoes? Late start this yr for me too due to the weather, I have lots of flowers too but I'm not sure if we have enough time this yr?
I know, I was getting worried too. For me, with the smaller tomatoes, I think they will ripen (I hope they do). Do you have large slicer tomatoes or cherry/smaller? In recent years, the fall has been warmer but this summer hasn’t been hot like those others were.
@@littlerootsranch I am growing mostly determinate (romas, mid size and big cherries) I did top off some Roma last week. Hope our sunny and warm days stay till late this yr.
I am fairly new at growing tomatos.I live on the Olympic peninsula.Having spent most of my 70 years in SE Alaska I didn't really garden.Are my green tomatoes normal for this time of year.I am at a loss.
Juliet plants are available at Carpenito Bros. I didn't grow any this year. I don't like them fresh, but my wife freezes them on a cookie sheet and then bags them. She unthaws them and the skins come right off. Then she makes tomato sauce.
