megan,

>I just harvested over a dozen tomatoes from one plant

Congratulations on your tomato harvest!

> now what do I do?

Um, make a great big salad? A spaghetti sauce? Or just grab a shaker of salt and chow down right in the garden?

> Do I prune or leave it alone through the winter?

While tomatoes are perennials (last for seveal seasons) in their native South American habitat, in North American gardens it's usually best to treat them as annuals and start a new batch each year. I see you are in Texas, so if there is no frost all winter where you live it might survive, but in that case it's likely to get so hot in the late summer that your tomato plant will be fried. By all means experiement with leaving it if you want, but I'd suggest you count on starting new plants next spring.

> Is there anything I can do to get another batch out of my plant?

Probably not. There are some kinds of tomato that bear a little at a time over a long season; this is called INDETERMINATE. These varieties tend to grow very tall. Other kinds, called DETERMINATE, usually don't get quite as huge, and tend to bear a lot of tomatoes in a short space of time. Most Roma types are indeterminate, and if you just got 12 off of one plant and don't see any more that are coming along, it seems almost certain that that's the kid yours is.

If you want tomatoes over a longer period, next time look for a variety labelled INDETERMINATE.

The good news is that if you are in Texas, you may be able to get a second crop of tomatoes in the fall. I know some folks in hot climates on the Tomato forum grow toms in spring to harvest about now, then take a break during the hottest part of the summer (tomatoes won't usually set fruit if it's too scorching, I forget the cutoff temp but it's like 95 degrees), and put new plants in the ground at the end of August or early September for a late fall harvest (when it's way too cold for tomatoes up here in the North!).

> There is NO info on the web about this!

I suggest you go to the tomato forum and read the FAQ --- there is a lot of great basic info about how tomato plants work and how to grow 'em.

Good luck! Aren't tomatoes yummy?

Zabby

Excellent advice from Zabby. Just reading the threads on the Tomato Forum can be a great education.

To add to what she said, if you have room for multiple plants, try some different varieties, some early bearers, some late. Keep notes on which produce well in your garden and what's a good balance for maximum season-long production.

Carol

Because tomato plants can survive a cool winter there, just add some fertilizer around each plant and they should start to produce more soon. If you still see yellow flowers, you will soon see more tomatoes. Here, the season is shorter and so we start plants indoors. Mine have no tomatoes yet, but a few plants have several blossoms. Cold, non growing weather for tomatoes here, is usually at about the middle of September.

I haven't seen any more yellow flowers yet, it's been about a week (and I did make some scrumptious homemade spaghetti sauce!) Would it be better you think to try to get more out of this plant, or just start a new one? My current plant is a little droopy since the harvest.

Megan,

I've been on tomato forums for years & where you live in Texas can make a big difference.

Your local county extension office is always a great place for gardening info. And there is a gardenwebbie community for Texas gardeners.

County Extension Office

Gardening in Texas

jt

Tomatoes can last well over a year. Suggest that you put down some good quality organic ferilizer around each plant base. Pull any weeds you see. Gardens Alive offers a very good tomato/pepper fertilizer. I use it exclusivly here. As a foliar spray you can spray the leaves of the plants in early morning with a fish based foliar spray. There are several types out there. I use the foliar spray on my fig tree too. It must have at least 50 new fig buds right now and its only 5 foot tall in a big pot. As someone mentioned, a tomato plant may only yield a single batch, but that usually not the case, unless you know for sure.

Here is a link that might be useful: Tomatoes Alive