The tomatoes have been dribbling in one to a few at a time, but today I was able to pick my first basket, only 2/3 full, 16" across by 5" deep. Last year I picked a basket every few days. But I did have 90 plants instead of 24. I finished my pvc pipe tomato house and covered it with plastic the day before the end of summer rains started. But to prevent it from being blown away like last year I ran the plastic to the ground so it has basically no ventilation. I'm seeing more mold, especially at the stem end or in cracks. I don't know if opening the plastic up a little on a sunny day might help that... I know I am going to devote more space and time to other vegetables that are not so picky, like beans, cucumbers, squash, and greens. I've seen a couple of other local gardens recently that had very large and lush plants with very few tomatoes set on, or lots of tomatoes but very few ripe. It's a tough year. Here is a link that might be useful: my tomato house

Have you posted at the harvest forum? They can give you some great canning tips. They (and I) always recommend the Ball Blue Book of canning - if you don't have a copy, you should pick one up, it's a great resource. These are the steps I always follow, I find that it's a good formula and always works for me. Hopefully it's not too much information - I'm probably being too thorough, but better safe than sorry. 1. Wash jars. Wash rings, rinse new lids. Put lids in a small saucepan with water on "low" so they get warm and the rubber becomes soft for canning. I set up a workstation - basically a kitchen towel spread on the counter next to my stove to set jars on while I fill them, and keep the rings at a corner of the towel, within reach. The rings don't have to be hot. I also dampen a paper towel for wiping the jar rims clean before putting lids on, and keep that handy on one side of the towel. 2. Put jars in a big canning pot**, filled so that the jars are covered with 2 inches of water. The jars will be full of water, which will sterilize them as they heat. Put the lid on the canner (if you have a pressure canner, just set it on, don't tighten). 3. Bring water in canner to a high simmer, while preparing food for canning. I usually crank the heat to high and turn it back when I hear it starting to boil. 4. When food is ready to be canned, the water in the canner should be plenty hot, so it will come back to a boil quickly. If it's not, keep your food at the ready. (You want those jars to be sterile if you're heating them in the water.) 5. Pull a jar out of the canner using a jar lifter, and carefully pour the hot water from it into the sink. I have my own angle technique that works - just be careful when you do this, because you pretty much have to pour the water toward you to keep the jar in hand with the lifter. Practicing with cold water isn't a bad plan if you haven't done the pour before. :) Or if you're more sensible than I am, you might set the jar down for a moment on your towel, then pick it up again from the side with the lifter and empty it that way. 6. Fill the jar with food to be canned, wipe the rim, put a lid on, then put a ring on. Tighten the ring to finger tight - it should be snug but not super tight. (All the ring does is apply a little pressure so that there is good contact between the lid's sealant and the jar rim - it doesn't hold the lid on; the natural vacuum will do that.) 7. Put filled jar back into canner, and pull the next empty jar. Repeat steps 5-6 until all jars are full. I do these steps as quickly (but carefully) as possible so that the first jar sitting in the hot water doesn't end up with soft pickles. 8. Put lid on canner when all jars are filled. Bring back up to a boil (should only take a few minutes, since the water has been simmering the whole time). Start timing when the boil starts, and pull the jars when the timer goes off. If pressure canning, you would wait 5 minutes (possibly more) after the timer goes off to pull out the jars. **If you're lucky enough to have a dishwasher, you can put the jars in there on sani-cycle and it will keep them hot as long as it's closed. Still, you'll have to be sure to get the canner simmering with enough water to cover the filled jars by 2 inches, and starting the heating while you're prepping food is good timing. With a dishwasher you won't have to deal with pouring hot water down the sink. That's how my mom always canned. I wish my husband would hitch up our dishwasher. Someday...

There can be several possible reasons but without seeing the fruit they are just guesses. Can you post a photo that shows the difference? Have they been sprayed or dusted with anything? Are the shiny ones older and closer to ripening? That changes both skin thickness and the surface tension. For future reference you might want to read through some of the many discussions here about BER and its causes. There are all sorts of fantastical claims of cures out there and most are hogwash. :) But some of them can be quite harmful to the plants. Whatever "pills" you gave them had no effect on it, merely coincidence in timing. It disappears all on its own as the plant matures and the roots develop as long as the plant has sufficient soil moisture to work with. Dave

Yeah there are many ways to ripen green tomatoes but even more recipes for using them as green. So are you looking for things that can be canned or frozen for long term storage or just ways to use them in cooking? With cooking recipes you can use them in in the same amounts in any recipe where you would normally use ripe tomatoes. Just gives a different taste to the dish. Also great in salads, on the grill, pizza, diced as an ingredient in meatloaf, ever had green marinara sauce on pasts? Green tomato enchilada sauce, green tomato salsa, mixed with hot peppers for hot sauce, even green tomato ketchup is quite popular. Pickled green tomatoes with onions, fermented green tomatoes, added to mixed vegetable pickles, Bread & Butter Green Tomato pickles, dill tomato pickles, green tomato chutney, green tomato mincemeat, etc. What to do with green-tomatoes discussions Only limited by your imagination. Dave