Hi Bonnie,

I just have a minute right now! So itÂs completely broken off, right? Wrap a thick rubber band tightly around the bottom of the stem and hang it upside down in the garage, or, better yet, since it still gets hot in the garage, in the basement (I donÂt rememberÂdo you have a basement!) ThatÂs what I do with all my tomatoes when they canÂt stay outside anymore, and I can often eat tomatoes well into January. Since itÂll get hot in your garage yet, I think they may ripen MUCH more quickly than they do in the cool/cold garage, but at least youÂll still be able to use them, and theyÂll still develop home-grown flavor. The ones that are still small and undeveloped will just sort of wither away, but itÂs surprising how even most of the small ones will ripen. I cut all the leaves off of mine or else when they dry and start falling off, they make a big mess all over everything! The rubber band, BTW, is so you have something to hang it/them fromÂif you use twine, itÂll get too loose when the vine dehydrates. If there are more than one stem, just rubberband them all together.

Gotta go,
Skybird

Thanks for the tips, Skybird! Someone on the tomato forum suggested hanging it in the garage too, which is exactly what I did. DH rigged up a hook, and I used a couple of those fat rubber bands like they have on the broccoli at the grocery store. Most of the ones still left on the vine are small to medium, so I'm not sure how many will ripen. I've got about a dozen large ones in the kitchen window, 4 or 5 of them are almost ripe, but some are completely green, so not sure about those either.

Oh, BTW, we don't have a basement, only a crawl space, which I refuse to go in, because we have recently found Black Widows down there!!! Besides, our garage faces north, so it really doesn't get that hot in there, unless the temperatures are in the 90's.

Thanks again for your help!

Bonnie

Bonnie,
I did this last year (short season) with my leftover unripe tomatoes at Skybird's advice and I didn't have a basement. Almost every one ripened! It was quite odd watching green tomatoes pinned to the wall turn red. I did forget to remove the foliage, though, and it fell everywhere...oops.

Skybird, why is it your advice is so good?!

J.

Mine are in pots. Once frost becomes imminent, should I cut them off at the soil or take them out of the pots roots intact? Do they need to be in the sun to ripen?

Eventually I'd love to have my back porch remodeled to be a three-season room with skylights. That way I might be able to give my plants another week of grace spring and fall.

Forget remodeling for people. I want to remodel to please the plants!

LOL! My advice is so good, Jennifer, Âcause IÂm olde, and IÂve learned everything the hard way! The first year I did tomatoes that way, I had heard that you were supposed to pull them out by the roots and hang themÂso that year, not only did I have dead foliage all over, but I also had dirt all over (the carpet) in my basement! The next year I decided NO DIRT, so that year I only had the dried foliage all over the place! The NEXT year is when I not only cut them off at the ground, but also cut off all the leaves, and as near as I can tell, neither the dirt or the leaves make any difference! I would love to see your tomatoes "pinned" to the wall, tho!

Bonnie, for the ones that arenÂt still attached to the vine, I recommend laying them in a cardboard box thatÂs HEAVILY lined with newspaperÂnot touching each other. Then put the box in a dark, cool place. I think theyÂll ripen more slowly and develop more flavor that way. I went back to your tomato thread to see what others had said, and before I started hanging them, I had also heard of wrapping them in newspaper, so I decided to try that one yearÂbut I had quite a few, and I couldnÂt imagine constantly unwrapping them to check them, so I just lined a box with thick newspaper (to absorb extra moisture), laid them all in it, and covered it very lightly with a little more paper to keep the light out, and it seemed to work quite wellÂbut I do think they keep longer if theyÂre still attached to the vine in the Hanging Method!

And, I disagree with the person who said to pick them off of the vine when they just start to ripen. I leave mine on till I want to use them, even after theyÂre completely ripe, and they seem to "hold" for a long time. That, of course, is in winter when the garage is cold, so I donÂt know how much difference it would make now when itÂs still warm out. Just to warn you, every now and then one will fall off of the vines that are hanging (most will hang on till you pick them). I hang mine in the garage now since itÂs colder than the basement, and after a couple of them fell and broke open the first year, I laid some old carpet pieces under them to cushion the ones that fell.

I expect to be out by Silt on the 9th when I leave on my vacation. IÂll email you in the next couple days about possibly stopping by for a potty break! And if thereÂs swap leftovers, maybe I can bring a few things out for you again.

Enjoy your tomatoes,
Skybird

Hey folks, I thought of this thread as I considered the cold weather coming this weekend. If I'm going to hang some tomato vines in my garage to ripen, is it important to bring them in before it freezes, or can I wait and see how bad things get this weekend and them bring them inside later if they froze?

I may just cover them this weekend, since it's supposed to warm up again next week, but I don't know if the covering will be good enough.

Anyway, I'm excited to try the indoor (or garage) ripening method! I just need to know if I should cut off the vines now or wait. Thanks!

Mine are going either in the plant room or the garage TOMORROW. I also have to remember to cut all the mint so I can dry it for tea this winter. Last year I forgot.

Forget about cutting 'em after they've been kilt by the frost, Steve.

I was out in my frozen tomato patch yesterday and rescued a very few green tomatoes right against the ground. DW handed me a pretty, red cherry that was on top - nope, the taste indicated it's on a very quick route to rotting.

This doesn't mean that you couldn't grab everything frozen and make sauce but don't leave 'em on the kitchen counter a moment.

A heavy blanket, all the way to the ground, will go along way towards protecting the plants in the garden. The soil is probably 10° warmer than the air. But, you've got to make an assessment of what the future holds for you. Days of cold wind and near freezing over night won't do too much for the plants. Most people, however, probably prefer the taste of fruit that ripens in the garden to the mild, mild ones that finally turn red indoors.

digitS'