Record keeping: Is 60 too many?

03/03/2010

Today I planted tomato seeds in 60 peat pots, so if all goes well, I should have somewhere in the neighborhood of 60 tomato plants to plunk into the ground around the end of April. Looking at this photo of pepper seedlings from two years ago makes me feel as if I am behind-- and I certainly am compared to 2010-- but there's still plenty of time. When it comes to tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and so on, there's just no point planting in the ground before the last of April.

But to answer the question, "Is 60 too many?": No. Not for Mr. Big Food and me! 

 

For a couple of years, I recorded the weight of my vegetable, and in particular, tomato harvest. I have graphs,

and tables.

That one is titled, "summary.jpg" and it's from the first year I decided to collect information this year because it might be useful to have in planning for next year. 

One of the things I want us to try this year is making homemade tomato paste. Tomato paste is the only tomato product we buy. For the past few years, and even in down tomato years, we've managed to eek it out in terms of tomatoes. Which is to say, with the exception of tomato paste, we no longer purchase tomato products.

Oh. Wait. That's a lie. Last year was a down tomato year and we have been buying chili sauce. Normally, we make our own. 

Research has shown that under optimal home-garden conditions, an indeterminate tomato can yield about 10 pounds of tomatoes. 

My guess is that it takes a lot of tomatoes to make tomato paste. I planted 10-20 paste tomato seeds today. Two varieties.