Those that grow for sauce making in northern zones

[RiverRat]

Catwabbit, I think the only reason it seemed like a South Philly thing was because of all the Italians there; I'm sure it came from them.

I have a friend who used to sell live rabbits to a butcher shop in the Italian Market, and I loved to go with her when she went. DiBruno's cheeses and Fante's were always high spots of the trip - but not cheap!!

Brokenbar, that sounds like exactly the kind of info that Disneynut was looking for. How impressive that you're so organized that you KNOW all that!!

[disneynut1977]

Thank you to eveybody that responded. It does help me a lot.

Camo, wow 100lbs off 1 Cowlick's plant. That's pretty cool.

Anyway, I don't think anyone can tell you how many tomato plants you need to make yourself a winter's supply of red sauce.

RiverRat, I know. That's why I stated in my first post what works for somebody else could very well be different for me. I'm just trying to get an idea from people in simular zones as me what they do for sauce tomatoes.
As for the space, I guess really what my problem is I don't have large area's with full sun (too many full size maples in my yard) and I have a big white-tail deer problem. So my plants have to be fenced in. I can't just place a plant or conatiner plant here and there. If I didn't have the deer problem, I'm fine putting tomatoes here and there even though my full sun area's are all in the front yard.

Stupid deer

Thanks so much
Melissa1977

[yotetrapper]

Nothing a shotgun wont fix. Not sure about your area disney, but I do know NY offers deer damage permits if they're eating your garden!

[RiverRat]

Melissa, I did see your disclaimer, and it looked like Brokenbar was one of the few who could actually give you numbers that you could use to apply to your own situation. That seemed really helpful!

Re: deer, there are lots of places where shotguns won't work: neighbors too close, other gun laws, etc. What we did, aside from shooting as many of the critters as possible during hunting season, was to put up an electric fence around our garden, a few feet out from the regular fence, at the point where they would normally set up to make the jump. That has worked really well. There are also 'wireless fences' that seemed to protect our daylilies down by the water. They have an attractant and a battery-operated shocking device which appears to give the deer the impression that this isn't good browsing territory.

[TomNJ]

I drool when I read about the high yields others get here! I only get 4-5 hours of sunlight per day, so my yields are much lower.

Last year was not typical, given the heavy rain, poor sun, and lots of disease. My yields ranged from 4-7 lbs per plant with beefsteak types giving more than the pastes. Sauce yields ranged from 0.15 to 0.30 quarts per pound of tomatoes, with paste types giving more than beefsteaks. The sauce yields vary widely based on how thick you want your sauce. A reasonably thick sauce needs about 4-6 pounds of tomatoes to make a quart of sauce depending on how meaty the tomatoes are.

TomNJ

[camochef]

Melissa,
That Cowlick plant gave me my first three ripe tomatoes on 29 June and continued to produce through October 31 when I finally pulled it as there was a freeze that evening. So that amount wasn't really that special. It has remained my best producer every year since, but not the numbers of that year as the weather has been much worse. Especially last year!
As far as deer go, we have 11 deer that call our property home! Except for an occasional flight through the tomato gardens they don't do them any harm. I usually plant out about 250 tomato plants of the 600-800 that I start, so I can afford to lose a few.
One year somebody bedded down overnight in a few of the plants but other than that... Sweet corn is a different story, I've given up trying to grow sweet corn as they just destroy it time after time. Replanted many times and still ripped up, I buy it from the stand around the corner now.
Camo

[RiverRat]

Tom, we're in NJ too, but south. It was NOT a good year for tomatoes! Here's hoping this year is better; I need to restock my freezer!

I have never checked by weight; that's interesting.

Camochef, our deer don't get in the garden, but this fall they stripped a young weeping willow tree, in one night, that DH had been nursing lovingly all summer long. He was really upset; I think getting two does for the freezer helped a little but nothing will replace that tree. Who knew they'd do that - no warning at all.

[disneynut1977]

Nothing a shotgun wont fix. Not sure about your area disney, but I do know NY offers deer damage permits if they're eating your garden!

I wish it were that easy. I live in a older development, so guns a no-no. Of course when my hubby and I lived farther north with land I NEVER had a problem with deer. Go figure.



Melissa1977

[darwinslair]

Originally Posted by disneynut1977

I wish it were that easy. I live in a older development, so guns a no-no. Of course when my hubby and I lived farther north with land I NEVER had a problem with deer. Go figure.



Melissa1977

are the people up north, as a group, smart enough to realize that deer are food instead of Disney characters?

Tom

[camochef]

Catwabbit and RiverRat,
I was born in Philly too! Moved to N.J. as a youngster but went back every summer to visit my Grandparents. Moved back to Pa. in '78, but Gettysburg is a far cry from what Philly was. For one thing, I have a few acres on which to garden, and have fruit trees. Couldn't do that at Grams!
Camo

[RiverRat]

My Hungarian grandparents lived on North Second Street in Philadelphia; he was an optometrist and the office was in his house. In the back yard they had a tiny garden, but I don't remember him growing much beyond morning glories. Later when they moved to south Jersey to be near my mother he had a lovely spread of vegetables. I think it was the first garden I was ever exposed to! Somewhere I have a photo of him holding up a beautiful long braid of plump onions.

[disneynut1977]

are the people up north, as a group, smart enough to realize that deer are food instead of Disney characters?

Tom

Yeah, Yeah. I wish when we owned our first house 1 of us had learned to hunt. We owned enough wooded sections we could have set up a tree stand on our own property. We didn't own a huge amount (about 5 acres), but we did have large doe groups come through our yard into the woods ALOT. Would have made it very easy.



Melissa1977
Who doesn't hunt, but would love to have the fruits of hunting stock up her freezer.

[RiverRat]

DH has a deerstand in our woods. It makes it nice. Deer meat is very lean and healthy, too! We make Italian sausage with the scraps after we cut it up.

[Worth1]

Deer back strap pounded out nice and thin seasoned with salt pepper and garlic.
Dredge in flour and pan fry set aside and make deer gravy.
Whilst doing this boil some new potatoes and green beans.
Make biscuits.

Eat!

Worth

[montanamato]

We are lucky enough to have ranch dogs, that keep deer out of the yards and garden....Hunting season for the slow learners too...

I have put up enough sauce to feed a family of 5 for 2 years from 24 plants, and I have put enough sauce for 6 weeks from 125 plants...Seasons and yields here vary greatly with many factors weighing in...

Costoluto genovese was a major player in the past, but now I grow many different varieties and my records are not precise to #'s...Italian paste types are my favorites and I have grown most of the ones you find available easily and many SSE ones...In the past 5 years the standouts for volume have been:
1-Striped Roman-better than hybrids for me
2-Wuhib-sort of small for peeling
3-Hungarian/italian paste
4-Ten Fingers
5-Akers Plum Pink