Growing tomato plants 2-3 feet apart isn't that bad. You need to rig up some support for them now (stakes/cages), and trim some suckers to get some air flow if you need to.

Good news for you. Black Krim is Open Pollinated, not a Hybrid, so seeds will come true (if it was Black Krim). You didn't ferment them (which is a way to kill some diseases which can be transmitted by the seed), but they obviously survived. Many people save seeds that way, which is fine if you don't have any disease in your garden.

Watch out for that wood chuck! A fence might deter him, but he can burrow under. I often use a green plastic snow fence around my veggie garden to keep my dogs out and it works.

Linda

"I'd appreciate suggestions on what to do with so many and so close (2 -3 ft apart)."

Honestly it is a bit too late now to do much other than plan better for next year. Given the photo they are too far along to transplant now and survive. And they may be too far along to successfully stake now without breaking branches and damaging roots. Which is why the supports need to applied within just a day or two of planting rather than weeks down the line.

If my patch looked like your photo I would heavily mulch the area all around the plants with straw and just let the plants sprawl on it like they are doing now only on bare ground. You'll lose some fruit to rot and getting in there to harvest will be difficult but the majority of the crop will be fine.

I'd also stop pruning since it is only forcing more new growth and more sprawl while costing you lost fruit.

If you know you have woodchucks in the area then yes, the garden will have to be fenced to keep them out of the garden.

Dave

Thanks, Linda. I think I might have to get the staking & fence up soon. I am a garden hack, so I will look up open polinating. I have green beans that I just keep planting and collecting seeds and replanting. I have no idea what my "variety" is now, but. Get this, some seeds that got left out one winter in some 5a just started growing and have great tasting green beans. If they ripen too much, I shell the beans and put them in veg soup. Buttery and yummy. Clematis seeds won't grow for me, but maybe I need to leave them in an untied pat h for three years.

I LOVE Lab retrievers, btw. Best best dawgs.

Thanks, Dave. I'll follow your suggestions unless I can come up with a Stakeless fence-line sort of support system. I'll put down some cloth and mulch leaves and woodchips o we it. I was too greedy and too busy - too many disparate directions. Live and learn. I have so much to learn. Woodchuck is shy, but I guess he'll still try to wreck my garden. Fence time.

Thanks all. Happy Fourth!

Woodchuck will definitely feast on those tomato plants... along with just about any other vegetable plants you have.

Hi Starsplitter, Dave is right that you can let the plants sprawl. Maybe you could fence the ones on the outside and mulch so that the ones on the inside can safely sprawl. They will be tricky to harvest though....

Green beans usually come true from seed. I don't know why your Clematis won't germinate though. Perhaps they need some cold treatment. You can also try Clematis cuttings.

Labs are great, and enthusiastic about helping with the bounty from the garden :).

Linda

Thanks, Linda. I miss my labbydawg. He was a best friends. I trained him, a shelter dog, to go _around_ the garden and he did. I used to use SIGN language with him. Smart dogs

I bet I can stake the plants a hair. Or use a line of fencing or wire (like some people do with raspberries). Always too much to do and I had a vacation at the critical time and weeks or rain. There's always the farmers' market. That woodchuck is adorable, but I hear you. Why don't they eat bindweed?!

Wait till they start producing! I just counted 80 tomatoes on my 11 compost pile volunteers, and daily there are more. And you have 40 plants? OMG!!

Thanks again, Dave, Linda, Suz and Sey.

I've still to mulch and re-weed them, but we tied the maters up pretty much by stringing fencing in between 'rows'; then I tied up the tomatoes (most, still more to do, but so hot these days). I ran out of Vigaro tape, so used surveyors' flagging. That's too flimsy, so I will redo with more green stretch tape.

Should I add more fertilizer (Tomato Tone, Epsoma, organic)? I plan to mulch with old grass clippings (debris from -- two year old pile).

I cannot afford much more fencing and no time to have it dug down 12", so I'm going to try to thwart woodchucks with with waving, reflecting strips of white trash bags and CD hanging from a "mobile" like length of sapling off a metal pole hook. Maybe a few party balloons as well.

BTW, if I have a lot of the 'black' type tomatoes, anyone know what any pasta sauce or gazpacho made from them will look like? It must be quite something to behold.

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Looking good Starsplitter!

I hope you will have a good harvest!

Linda

Sauces made from black tomatoes looks muddy brown. Not real appealing to the eye. ;-)

Looking better in there. Strips of old T-shirts or any old clothes torn into narrow strips works good for tying up.

Dave

Dave: Sauces made from black tomatoes looks muddy brown. Not real appealing to the eye. ;-)

Mine just look a little on the brick red/maroon side. Still attractive, looks similar to a fire-roasted tomato sauce, and a sprinkling of fresh green herbs does wonders to make a brownish sauce pop and look suddenly appetizing. I also like to throw in some chunks of fresh, brighter tomatoes right before serving, and the contrast makes the sauce look very pretty, especially if it's an orange or yellow tomato.

Thanks again, Linda, Dave, and gorbelly.

You color descriptions are kinder than mine might be. So if I make and sauce, I will be sure to add some red tomatoes or a couple of packs of Ritt dye.

Maybe all the tomatoes will be perfectly shaped and appetizing. High end bistros and cafe's will be pounding on my door to buy them at $8 each! Or I can make up hundreds of tomato flat bread sandwiches to sell at some playoff game or convention. More likely we will eat tomatoes until we never want to see another.

Anyone ever made Black Krim goatice-cream? Chutney?

MI do have a couple of recipes someplace (?) for tomato quiche and whole wheat purposefully homegrown tomato sogged "pizza" with premium olive oil, herbs and cheeses. Good for quick cold brunch the next day (no oregano, it ain't pizza pizza).

What do you folks do with all your tomatoes. I've made a tasty heirloom tomato and arugula salad with pear balsamic vinegar and EVOO. Pretty and tasty.

I'm in love with tomato confits. Slow cooked and stored in olive oil and herbs and garlic. Very versatile. Works on sandwiches, in pasta, chop and throw into salad, on crostini, as antipasto, a topping for chicken breast, etc. You can really throw it into just about anything. I'm also a huge fan of tomato jam. Soooo good with cheese.

For sauce, I like to broil tomato chunks in the oven until there's a little char on the very top and then run that through a food mill, then make sauce from that. Produces a very intense sauce, the oven gives you a big head start on reducing moisture, and there's no botheration with peeling and seeding, etc. Works really well to boost flavor in less-than-peak tomatoes, such as the ones that you ripen indoors after pulling the plants for winter.

I haven't really delved into the world of salsa, so I might have to do that this year.

Gorbelly, yum! Sounds delicious. Do you preserve the confit and jam?

MI love salsas. Best to use firm tomatoes. My sister make good peach salsa with cilantro. I like cilantro. It just tales getting used to. Don't eat it alone (like parsley). Make or order really good food that uses it -- Mexican, like civiche; Vietnamese or Thai fresh salad; Colombian chicken-corn-potato soup.... Ahhh!

Starsplitter, I do preserve the jam. I don't preserve the confit, though. It keeps pretty well in the fridge and gets eaten pretty soon anyway. But I'm sure it would freeze OK. I don't have enough experience to feel comfortable canning anything packed in oil.

Thanks. I'll like for recipes.

I just w t out to Tomato Ranch. Yikes! Those Purple Cherokee tomatoes are big plants! The green tomatoes on them are large even though ~ guess 10 days from ripe. Too hot now, but tomorrow I will have to re-tie a lot of them again. I will have to beat Miss Woodchuck to them. I'll bet groundhog can smell ripe vegetables. The last chuck I spotted had an extra large Beefy T with "Why Have A V8?" written on the front and "Phytes Rock!" on the back. Call the coyote squad.

Starsplitter...I agree about the labs. Never got over the loss of mine..I trained her with hand signals, too...I used to ride horses, and when you tell a dog "no", it sounds like "whoa" to a horse...can't tell you how many times I almost got launched over the horses head due to a short stop! It was self preservation to teach her hand signals!

Interesting, Donna. Labs (and many dogs) are so smart, willing to learn and work, and they can be clowns as well. My lab never smiled, but I've seen some that 'smile'.

We added more fertilizer, finished securing, mulched and put down soaker hoses and watered.