7 Tricks for Getting Garden Tomatoes in Later Than the Neighbors

Oh! It’s a sad day every fall when the tomato plants finally give way to the cold weather, and the endless onslaught of fresh tomato sandwiches comes to its culmination.

Garden-grown tomatoes, in a world usually consumed with hothouse tomatoes, are a sublime experience, on that home growers get for two or three months every year. Then, it’s over until late summer rolls around again next time.

For those who really those homegrown tomatoes, there are ways to extend the season a little later in the year. In the right climate, i.e. the tropics, tomato plants are actually perennial and can grow/produce for several years.

In other words, with a bit of imagination, ingenuity, and initiative, we could be enjoying home-produced tomatoes beyond the normal expiration date of our plants. Who wouldn’t want that?

Focus the Energy

One of the challenges with late-season tomato plants is that they tend to carry unripe fruit into the final days. Rather than plump, juicy tomatoes, we get a harvest of green tomatoes, which can be a lot of fun to use but are not what we grow tomato plants for.

To focus the energy of the plants on ripening the fruit faster, there are a few things we can do to get our tomatoes to mature before the first frost gets them.

1. A good start is pruning away the excess. All of those dying leaves, the stems to nowhere, the new flower buds, the ripe tomatoes, the tomatoes that have no chance of making it to maturity—this stuff is deflecting energy away from our fruit. Even the distant roots (8 inches or more) can be trimmed from two sides of the plant.
2. Next, we turn off the waterworks. Tomato plants that aren’t getting water will focus on ripening the fruits that they have in place, working to ensure they have reproduced in time. if rain comes during this time, be sure to keep the tomatoes dry if possible. A quick burst of water can cause the tomatoes to crack.

Controlling the Harvest

Most home growers know that tomatoes harvested too soon, as happens with most supermarket tomatoes, aren’t as sweet and juicy. Like many fruits, those last days on the vine are when the magic happens. However, when the weather or plant isn’t cooperating, is it not better to do what we can for tomato’s sake?

1. When tomatoes have begun the change from green to pinkish, they have already gained a lot of the flavor they’ll get. Harvests can be taken early and allowed to ripen on a sunny windowsill so that more energy can be put into the green tomatoes still on the vine.
2. If the weather is set to take a steep downward turn into the below-freezing range, it’s better to go ahead and harvest even green tomatoes. These can be wrapped individually in newspaper and stored in a cardboard box in a dark, dry spot. Some of them will ripen over the next month or so.

Adjusting the Micro-Climate

If the weather just stayed warm for longer, more fresh tomatoes would come. Of course, while we might not want Climate change on the grand scale, but that doesn’t mean we can make some adjustments on the microscale. If we keep our tomato plants from freezing, better yet if they are actually warm, we can harvest tomatoes throughout the fall.

1. Extending the growing season can be as simple as covering plants with blankets on cold nights or putting up temporary (repurposed if possible) plastic sheeting over them for as long as they can hold out. If the sheeting can go all the way down to the ground, blocking out the cold night air, it’s even better.
2. Another common trick—particularly when the frost has come before you are ready—is to pull the plant up and take them safely indoors, such as a garage or basement, and hang them upside down.
3. For many veggies, a cold frame works wonders for keeping the frost off of plants. Tomatoes are too big for cold frames, but building a movable hoop house can totally work. Basically, this is an unheated greenhouse and can keep tomatoes going until the deep freezes of winter have fully arrived.

And, hey, when the stars align such that there are too many tomatoes to handle at once, there’s always a way to preserve them for later, even without canning. Homegrown tomatoes taste better that way, too.

• One last tip is that only indeterminate tomatoes will be late-season possibilities. Determinate tomato plants, which give nearly all their tomatoes at once, stop producing once they’ve put out their harvest.

Related Content:

• Tips for Pruning Tomatoes
• 15 Totally Tasty Vegan Tomato-Based Recipes!
• How to Save Tomato Seeds
• Why Homegrown Tomatoes Are So Much Better for the Planet and You

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