I planted tomato plants successively. It didn't help. Used store plants in late March (coved every night because of frost). Bushes grew really big, over 5 ft across and 4 ft high before fruits ripened. Planted in May and June from cuttings and seeds, minimal ripening on all plants from September. I agree that the air temperature is key, although all my plants are not ratty, very full loaded with green tomatoes that don't ripen. I'm in Stockton, very close to Sacramento. I did have a bunch of tomatoes ripen last week. I think it's because the temperature were higher than normal last week.

Betty, It sounds like you had a wonderful French adventure this summer! I'd glad most of your plants made it. I cannot remember where you are in Oklahoma, but if you're in northeastern OK, The Tomatoman's Daughter is open now with fall transplants. I'll link her website below. Many local nurseries have fall tomato plants, some big box stores do or will in the next couple of weeks and some growers sell them at Farmer's Markets. I usually grow my own fall transplants, but even though I got the seed out at the right time and have it right here on the table beside me, I haven't started any. I'm still on tomato overload from summer and don't even know if I want to grow fall tomatoes. I do have quite a few plants that are really healthy, have fought off persistent pests, and will survive and produce for fall if I don't yank them out, so that may be the route I take. Tomatoes that look almost dead are pretty good about coming back given the chance, but there's no guarantee of that. Fresh fall plantings often have a lot more vigor because they haven't been fighting the pests and diseases for months. The advantage of keeping spring-planted plants going is that they have a huge root system already. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: The Tomatoman's Daughter

I think you've done amazingly well to bring that tomato back. I saw the previous discussion but didn't have high hopes. There is a lot of new growth there, just as you say, perfect the watering. You might try the bamboo skewer trick. Stick one down into the pot and leave it there, draw it out like a car's dipstick, to see where you are at. The root zone should be moist but not wet. Also, you could take a shoot off the top of that plant, and start another one. It is easy to root tomato cuttings. With what you've learned the next cycle should go much easier. Here is a link that might be useful: VIDEO: Propagating Tomatoes from Cuttings

magsnj, first off, sorry for jumping down your throat with my initial comment. I guess you couldn't know that we're dealing with a seriously ill DH here, and to have the first comment bring it all back, on a post that was meant to be something completely different, just hit me wrong. Please accept my apology. Now to the more fun stuff :-) Autumn4 & chrissyb2411, yes they last all week with no problems. In large part it's due to the newer refrigeration technology and partly re. bagging them and getting as much air out as possible. I'd say it's 80% fridge technology though. My old 17 year old GE wouldn't keep anything fresh past a few days, but our recent bosch and now this kenmore pro both keep veggies well past a week, and many veggies up to 2 weeks, and fruits easily for a week or longer. ck_squared & scrappy25, thanks! mlweaving_Marji, it's a Kindred sink and the smaller (prep side) bowl is 16" x 10.5". akchicago, I so agree! I love prepping facing the room; it's such a nice change from my old kitchen where my prep space was in a corner between sink and range. It was a nice big expanse of prep space, but facing the corner wasn't exactly conducive to socializing. The fridge is the Kenmore Pro all refrigerator, which I believe is a rebadged Frigidaire (or Elux .. not sure, I've gotten different answers each time I asked sears). oldbat2be, LOL on the melodrama!! Are you sure you aren't my long lost twin sister? :-) PS. we'll eat those pears no problem ... that's only one a day each for the week, and we tend to have fruit for breakfast and lunch, and sometimes even after-dinner snacks. The miracle will be if they actually last out the week. JessHS, just keep at it and you'll see it will eventually work itself out. You have a much tougher job to 'systemize' because the youngsters can be so picky. For us, I just buy mostly whatever's on sale / in season and make them into portions for the week. The trick for me is not to cut them up in advance. A portion might be an apple & pear in a baggie, then a snack-sized baggie of grapes for lunch along with a banana. If I'm on the road that day I'll just grab them up and stick them in my lunch bag with a bottle of water and it's as easy as that. If you have to cut up the apples or pears for your little ones, you necessarily have to leave it to the last minute. :) One thing you might at least try is getting those individual snack-sized baggies (they're smaller than the sandwich bags) and portion some baby carrots, grapes, cherries, etc for the week.... then see if your kids might eventually switch to eating whole fruits instead of having them cut up. I know, easier said than done, lol. illinigirl, you will love the layout, i just know it! My measurements are 42" countertop edge to edge on the range side and 43" countertop edge to fridge door on the the fridge side. With handles factored in, it's 37" at the narrowest point where the range handle is across from the dw drawer handle, and 40.5" at the narrowest point where the fridge handle is across from the countertop edge. romy718, OMG I am the total opposite of you. I wish I could garden but I just look sideways at a plant and it seems to wilt. And I know this sounds very weird but I actually like going grocery shopping ... somehow it's just my nice alone time if that makes any sense, haha, and I do get a little thrill out of getting a good bargain. You know you're getting old when the big Friday night excitement is checking out the flyers LOL!! kaysd and ali80ca, I used to think that washing and prepping veggies would shorten shelf life, but experience has told me otherwise. Perhaps it's because I do baggie them in small portions, so it's not like a single stalk of rotting broccoli could affect the whole ... or a single moldy strawberry can't ruin the entire pint. I do "baggie" almost everything in sandwich bags or in medium-sized freezer bags (the latter are better sizes for broccoli & cauliflower so I use the freezer bags for those and sandwich bags for the rest. Things I don't put in sealed ziplocks are mushrooms and asparagus ... though I do pre-prep those. The mushrooms get washed and put in baggies but don't get sealed and they last a week no problem (I know you're "supposed" to leave them in paper bags, but with the newer fridges they can be pre-prepped no problem in my experience). I wash asparagus and put them in unclosed baggies with a wet paper towel around the bottom on the stems ... then at dinner time I just have to grab a serving, break the stalks, and go. Pretty much everything else except for squashes and the like gets baggied up and sealed though. lavender, thanks for the nice comments and I know you'll get your dream kitchen one day, and hopefully sometime soon. Meanwhile you have your DH back and that is truly priceless. :-) a2gemini, agree about the berries. No issues as long as there's no sugar added. They keep very well as long as they're bagged in smallish portions.