hey Jean, that is way cool! I still have my tomatoes and they are still producing, not as good quality as in the summer but better than store bought!

Ha ha ha. After I posted this, I did some hard thinking and now I remember I DID put tomatoes in the pile. A boatload of green ones when the frost finally came. (I don't like green tomatoes) And it would have been the exact same time I was putting in those pumpkins from my uncle's fall display....they were too hard to chop up so I left them out until they froze overnight, then thawed, and then they were mush. The pumpkins heated the pile, but obviously not enough. LOL. I've got pumpkin plants (or maybe gourds, I dunno) sprouting in lots of places too. ROFL. In the areas where I've got other curcurbits, I'll just have to let them grow until fruit sets because I can't tell them apart from the melons, cukes and squash. On the tomatoes, I'll pull most of them up, but I'm going to leave a couple just to see what I get. I didn't grow any cherries or grapes...some Better Boys, Early Girls, Caspian Pink and something else I've forgotten. Gonna be fun to see what I end up with. All the plants are ROBUST and healthy as heck. Of course they're growing in a layer of compost! When they first erupted, I thought they were marigolds because I've planted those everywhere. It's taken me a few weeks to accept that I've got tomatoes everywhere. LOL. I got my pile up to 175 in late winter, but obviously only the top half. The pumpkins and tomatoes were in the bottom. I've decided to buy one of those winged compost aerator things so I can mix it up better. I was just kind of fluffing. It's all education....each year I learn more and more. :)

I've had planted tomatoes this october to go through the winter here in AZ. winter. I covered them when it froze and gave them Christmas lights for extra warmth. Plant something you're not too attached to and see what happens. Can't hurt. Might given you something early. Mine made it through the winter and are giving me some early little tomatoes. They are Early Girls. They do, however have some kind of disease (early blight?) from all the rain we had last month. Thank goodness they are far away from the other tomato patch but I'm worried about my year old eggplants and peppers. All of my new seedlings were out in 40 degree weather because of a housefire this winter. They only got covered if we had a freeze warning. They were on a concrete pad and it didn't seem to hurt them one bit.

Still waiting to see what my volunteers will turn out to be. Even though I had several cherries, including Matt's, the mystery plants are definitely not of the cherry variety. I've been trying to guess based on the still green tomatoes. Let's see, what variety comes pre-catfaced? Lol, could be Black Krim (one of my favorites for taste). Not the prettiest tomato, but a favorite for salads and sandwiches, or just plain eating. I wish I had the room to grow all of the volunteers that sprouted, just for the heck of it. But, alas, there wasn't enough room so I had to thin the herd. Volunteers are fun if you're the type who likes surprises and have some room to indulge in those whimsical experiments. I had a Roma that volunteered every year for four or five years. It didn't show up this year and I kind of miss it, as it seemed almost like an old reliable friend.