I only wished I had your promblem!
You can freeze them but the finished product isn't as good as if you canned them.I haven't had to much luck dehydrating juicy things, but they sell sundried tomatoes so you could try a batch. Do you have a food bank near you? You could call and ask if you could make a few "one time only" drop offs.How about contacting a restaurant? They may be able to take a LOT of your fresh produce. And you could make some money to boot. If all less fails the compost pile would love them I'm sure.

NEVER!!!!

I have TONS on the go...

Here is a link that might be useful: Boris' Boxes

Well, let's just say you'll be popular with the neighbors, LOL.

Also, if there's a yahoo freecycle group for your city, you can always advertise there. Many people will be glad to come and pick your tomatoes for you. Or perhaps a 'Free tomatoes, U-pick' sign at the end of your driveway. Or maybe you can find someone willing to pick and can all your tomatoes for you for a fee.

There's nothing wrong with just growing things for the fun of it. We do a lot of that too. But for heavens sake, don't throw all that wonderful food in the compost bin! LOL.

We do have local food bank that takes fresh produce, we took a load of lettuce there earlier in the summer, felt good to do that :)

I am also going to save a lot of seeds so that should help too.

Well, after last year, when a woman came by and said "I hear you have too many tomatoes, i'll take them OFF YOUR HANDS!-- I decided never again. This was after i took some too the senior citizens center, and was turned down, and the food pantry wouldnt even unload them for me.NOW, i have almost a 100 almost hens, that will love and appreciate every one, and give me fertilizer to boot.

Frozen tomatoes are great in soups, chili & stews. No good for sandwiches.

I've heard that dehydrating grape or small cherry tomatoes works well (and concentrates the sweetness). I have a dehydrator that I've never used, but I believe this might be the year.

I dehydrated a load of grape and cherry toms yesterday, they taste great.
Also, I cut the big ones into 1/4" slices and popped them in the freezer.

Now I need a bigger freezer ;(

Tomatoes are easy to freeze whole. Then when you take them out, run them under water and the skins pop right off. I like sauces, soups and stews without the peel. Of course, you would need an extra freezer for the amount you have!

I actually took some down to the foodbank yesterday as I had already loaded up the dehydrator once again. The freezer is quite full already and the tomato plants are doing great with loads of new fruits and flowers on them.

I am picking every other day, except the cherries which have to be picked each day but many of those dont make it out of the garden:)

Especially the Snow White cherries, has anybody else grown those this year, OMIG they are wonderful, they stay a creamy yellow color and taste amazing.

Now, what to do with all the peppers!!!

Aaargh!!!!

Mr. Tamater,my hats off to ya. i'm in 7b also but don't have your problem,just the oppisite. on those "snow whites ,will ya share the seeds? they sound wonderful.molly[sewnmom7@yahoo.com]

Wow. Termater, how do you grow tomatoes so well? I'm in VA in a similar climate (I guess), but my plants usually succumb to some foliage diseases long before the cold weather (they are starting to look bad now, except my "Red Currant").

Those Snow Whites do sound good (I have the best luck with cherry types). Did you get the seeds at Baker Creek (rareseeds.com)?

By the way, so far I'm not very experienced with the flavor of different tomato types, but I love my "Red Currant" alot, and so does my 4 year old daughter (they're so small she can easily eat them whole). Yum yum! (Though they do seem to crack often, it doesn't bother me since the cracks are small and they taste just as good.)
Red Currant seeds: http://www.superseeds.com/vegt-w.htm

Regards,
--Riff.

Here is a link that might be useful: Snow White seeds at Baker Creek

Riff,

I save my own seeds from healthy plants so my chances of diseases are less compared to buying unknown seeds.

I also pick my toms at the breaker stage and let them ripen fully indoors so that they dont crack on the vine, especially with all this rain.

I apply compost tea/fish fertilizer every two weeks to all the garden, I am sure that this also helps keeping diseases at bay.

Molly,

I will be posting available seeds for next year and yes you can have Snow Whites :)

This year I have crossed a Principe Borghese with a Double Rich for an outstanding paste tomato, I dry them and freeze them, they are great in trail mix :)

Thanks for the tips. Now my tomatoes are getting bigger cracks, so I think I'll try picking some earlier. I use LOTS of homemade compost, but have never tried using compost tea or fish emulsion or whatever. I will next year; I've got to try something to extend the lifespan of my poor plants. So far I haven't used any fungicide/pesticide in my garden, but I'm beginning to wonder if it's possible to grow healthy tomato plants without chemicals. I assume it's possible, I just have to figure out what works for me. My other vegetables grow just fine.

Thanks, and good luck with all those tomatoes!

--Riff.

Riff,

When you start your seeds in the spring you can soak them for a few minutes in a 10% bleach solution or hot water if you dont like bleach. This will eliminate many diseases inherent in the seeds.
All my veggies are organic or beyond organic, some of the tomatoes are actually grown vegan (no bloodmeal or bonemeal)

Next year the whole garden will be vegan.

Well, send them to my pesty squirrels! No, but I've got 60 plants and every time I check, almost daily they've either chewed one off a plant or bitten into it. So I can't get upset about too many tomatoes.
We make our own sauce, mostly Marinara, sometimes with meat. My husband also likes doing it with hot peppers. Sauce takes a lot of tomatoes and is great if done with some plums, cherries and large varieties. Plums give it the thickness, but the others will give it flavor. Try making sauce. If you don't care for the Italian flavors, try making a standard tomato sauce. Leave out the oregano and thyme. Go with basil, onion and garlic for flavor.