Yes, Bonnie. The amount of time the fruit stays on the vine increases the sweetness, it also becomes softer to the touch and deeper in color. The tomato is a fruit that has seeds inside. The plant knows that the ripening seeds are close to maturity, during this time the tomato starts to color. The color intensifies as the fruit ripens. The fruit is ready to pick when you clasp it and it comes freely off of the plant. Tomatoes continue to ripen after being picked. Let a few get more strongly colored before you pick them and see if you notice a flavor difference. I think the taste will be much more palatable. I'm growing several cukes this season but the ones I've already harvested are "Green Fingers" which are picked small--about four inches long. They are AWESOME!!! Here is a link that might be useful: Green Fingers

hi, "Crops planted A few days before and 2-3 weeks after really excel due to the extended daylight and heat. 1 day during Summer Solstice is like 4 days in early may" If I'm right your saying to plant later than may 15, wouldn't it make more sense to plant earlier so the plants root system is well established and has recovered from any shock before the magic days of the solstice? I understand that If I was planting in to the ground this would not make sense because cold soils would stunt the plant. however I have raised beds that are already at 45*near the bottom of the bed when the surrounding soil is still frozen. come may the soil should be a nice 55* or so and perfect for planting in to. I'm just wondering if I could get an earlier harvest than the middle of july because I saw some past post's of people in Colorado (z4 & z5) were harvesting tomatoes around the 4th of july withvarieties that have longer DTM than mine. thanks for the help so far.

Well, around here people put tomato transplants in on Memorial Day weekend. That's what I did. They're growing fairly well - about 2-3 ft tall. Some had blossoms at transplant time, but I pinched them off. Too early. We've had some chilly nights. I hope we settle into some nice steady summer weather. Last night I wore wool socks & covered up with two blankets!

So we were out picking yellow squash yesterday. I picked one, turned around, and repo dog did her best "I'm a good girl, see how good I sit, now please feed me what you have!" --waggy tail and all. I said, "Are you really serious? You want to eat yellow sqash? *waggy tail*. So I gave her a yellow squash. She ate it. Then later she ate my cantaloupe rind. she is a weeeeeird dog. :)