A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2005 Tomato tips

Howdy! I came across this yesterday in a newsletter I get, and thought I'd share it with you all...

When cleaning the garden in fall, don't discard unripened tomatoes. For the best way to ripen them indoors and have great flavor, pull the tomato plant out, roots and all. Shake off the dirt. Hang the plants from the rafters, upside down, in either the basement or the garage. The tomatoes will ripen "on the vine." They taste almost as good as they do in summer. And they taste much better than what's available in the supermarket in winter! We have had fresh tomatoes until Christmas this way. I once accidentally cut the plants off and did not keep the roots intact, and it still worked. Happy eating!

Thanx Mary!!!
I've already been wondering the best way to ripen my tomatoes at the end of the season. I thought of picking them and putting them under fluorescent lights......I had no idea if this would have worked but I no longer have to wonder......your way sounds good to me!!
Christina

I have a lot of my mom's "thrifty european" in me. Heaven forbid if I let something go to waste.
Christina

Yep, Mary, that's what I do and fortunately I have the space to keep all those vines inside the house. We did have tomatoes up until Christmas last year and our entire family was amazed and thrilled by that experience. I tend to use ripe ones more than green ones as a rule (I detest the thought of fried anything, let alone fried green tomatoes, too much grease), but this year, the boyfriend grew a huge forest of peppers and we also have a forest of tomatillos so I'm thinking we'll be canning a bunch of salsa verde to have on hand when the glaciers start to form and I start California dreaming in January.

Julianna