40 or more plants... what do all you do with the produce?

[keithaxis]

So I have been maintaining the garden and have been noticing that I will be getting at least 30 good fruit off every plant (30 miminum some will probably get more than 50 tomatoes on a plant).

I never imagined all the plants doing so well as last year I had terrible production...and I was able to give away at work what I did not eat fresh or make salsa from...

Do I find a person who sells at a farmers market and offer them nice heirloom tomatoes for $1 per pound? or sell on craigslist for $2 per pound? or maybe find a local eatery that maybe needs a 2 month offering that would match what they currently pay or those cheap, terrrible tasting ones? or do I just keeping giving away to my coworkers for free?

As I was walking the garden last night is when it hit me. I was looking at all the tomatoes (ARGG, Cherokee Purple, Brandwine suddaths and otv and yellow, dr wyches yellow, kelloggs breakfast, mortgage lifter, box car willie, caspian pink, cuostrolee, black prince, paul robeson, black from tula, black krim, german johnson, omars lebanese,druzba) and started adding up,,,hmmm..if I get 30 tomatoes on each plant times 40 plants that 1200 tomatoes or way over 600 pounds worth...

What a difference a year makes....

Thanks,

Keith

the other ten plants that make the list to 50 are all ping pong sized or smaller cherry sized so I do not count those...

[Worth1]

Sounds to me like you need to get off of the computer and start eating.
Or hit a restaurant up, Give some to the old folks, they remember what a good tomato taste like, put up a tomato stand, send a box to me, make salsa, freeze some, make more salsa.
Just a few suggestions!
(((((((((Man you need to get busy!))))))))) :wink:
Worth

[bigcheef]

I’ve been making salsa and selling it at work. People can’t get enough and you don’t have to worry about spoilage if sales get slow.

So far I’ve made a decent profit….

Enough to buy lots more seed packets for next year!

RIK

[cottonpicker]

Got excess produce??? We eat a LOT...then, I make soups, veggie stews, sauces, and give LOTS to neighbors. NO problem using it OR sharing it!!!

LarryD

[barkeater]

Last year I grew 33 plants. Even with eating at least 2/3 a day fresh I had an awful lot, even giving bags of them away. I bought a hand crank food mill for about $50 last year from the Lehman's catalog, and that took care of my excess tomatoes. I'm now finishing up my last quart of sauce out of about 40. As it takes about 7 1/2# of maters to make a quart, that took care of 300#. This year with 44 plants, I'll be putting up salsa, some whole tomatoes, and I'll try ketchup again - which was a flop last year (bad recipe, only tasted the cloves).

[Earl]

If you try the local resturants, don't bother going to any of those chain types. They've all told me they can't buy for individuals. Find those locally owned and operated.

[landarc]

Or, if you would like to entertain an idea that doesn't involve making a profit, you could consider giving some to a food bank, church or senior center group that would like to give a treat to some of their folks.

Now, I am all for making money, just thought I would put a different idea out there. I like the salsa idea myself but do not want to go to have to sell to people, too much of a hermit.

[Adenn1]

I have a small garden in comparison, and aside from sharing with neighbors and friends, I do make an effort to take what I can down to local shelters...they are so happy to see someone come down with fresh, home-grown produce. I know what is given away is used to nurish the needy and neglected. I work in the criminal justice system and deal with the "front end" of the tragedies that plague our society...sharing what I love to grow is my way giving back to the unfortunate of the "back-end" of the system.

[melody]

I have a nursing home and an assisted living home that I take excess produce to. I make sure that no matter how terrible my tomato year is, that they get something.

I even supply the assisted living with a few plants...which they have the best time trying to select from the seedling offerings. I've done the SSE slide show there too, which they enjoyed alot.

This year should be a banner year for my 'gifts'....vines are loaded, and there's no sign of disease so far.

[Reign]

I give to food pantries. Around here it gets hard to find pantries that will take fresh produce from home growers. I found one that gets around it by sending their own people to "pick" the produce. Early this year I had a few cheesecakes left after a party. I took them over to an adult special needs house. They were grateful. This year they got berries and will get some tomatoes and melons.

[kimpossible]

I really like the idea of senior's homes ... you know that those who like tomatoes will appreciate something that doesn't taste like cardboard, and it might bring back some good memories for them.

I will have a huge surplus this year (100 plants) and will make as much salsa, basic sauce, and canned whole tomatoes as I can, besides all the fresh eating & recipes.

I have a teacher friend who is a chef & teaches home economics (probably an old term - I don't know if they call it something different now), in the school system, as well as cooking classes for adults, etc. I think she might be just as excited about all those varieties as I am! She volunteered to set up a stand with me at the local Sat. morning market to sell the surplus. It's a good idea, as I want to get more people in the area interested in heirlooms and perhaps get some spin-off seedling sales next year. (You've got to start somewhere! )

[giardiniere]

Originally Posted by kimpossible

I have a teacher friend who is a chef & teaches home economics (probably an old term - I don't know if they call it something different now), in the school system, as well as cooking classes for adults, etc.

I believe the PC terminology is Family and Consumer Science now.

[kimpossible]

Do all those stay-at-home Family & Consumer Scientists get paid $120,000 a year? (They should, esp. with a title like that!)

[Worth1]

Maybe they should get one of those Guburment Grants.

Worth

[landarc]

Don't you need some kinna degernate disease to get one of those