Last week I tore out the remaining plants in our garden considering the cold was setting in and my plants were dying. Everything except for my cucumber and bean plants were still producing well into October and I honestly was surprised that they did so well for what little work we actually put into the garden over the past year. Anyway, my zucchini and pepper plants were dead, and the vegetables on them were dead too, but my tomato plants were still producing relatively healthy looking tomatoes, and LOTS of them. I knew the plants wouldn’t survive much longer in the cold, and while I could have dug them up and put them in our garage, I’m rather lazy. So I pulled them out all together, and gathered up all of the tomatoes that still seemed good.
Yes, about 90% of them were green. But I didn’t let that stop me. Ripening tomatoes is actually easy and a good idea when you have an abundance, as most gardeners have at the end of the growing season. While there are many methods of ripening tomatoes, I’m using my tried and true method taught to me by a family friend. And I’m sharing it with you.
The lazy way to ripen tomatoes.
Materials:
Green tomatoes
Cardboard box
Newspaper
1. Wash and sort tomatoes. Throw out any diseased or super dark/hard ones.
2. Dry the tomatoes & wrap each in newspaper.
3. Line the box with newspaper, and then line with wrapped tomatoes, no more than 2 stacks high.
4. Leave the box in a dark place, cool place. A bonus is to add an apple to the box, since apples give off a gas that helps the ripening process.
5. Check tomatoes every few days. I usually just unwrap a few to inspect them when I go down in the basement to do laundry. It usually takes a couple of weeks for the tomatoes to become ripe enough to use.
If you only have a few tomatoes to ripen, I use the paper bag method. Stick tomatoes in a paper bag with an apple and leave on the kitchen windowsill, but you have to check the bag every day.
Soon you'll have lots of these!
Yes, about 90% of them were green. But I didn’t let that stop me. Ripening tomatoes is actually easy and a good idea when you have an abundance, as most gardeners have at the end of the growing season. While there are many methods of ripening tomatoes, I’m using my tried and true method taught to me by a family friend. And I’m sharing it with you.
The lazy way to ripen tomatoes.
Materials:
Green tomatoes
Cardboard box
Newspaper
1. Wash and sort tomatoes. Throw out any diseased or super dark/hard ones.
2. Dry the tomatoes & wrap each in newspaper.
3. Line the box with newspaper, and then line with wrapped tomatoes, no more than 2 stacks high.4. Leave the box in a dark place, cool place. A bonus is to add an apple to the box, since apples give off a gas that helps the ripening process.
5. Check tomatoes every few days. I usually just unwrap a few to inspect them when I go down in the basement to do laundry. It usually takes a couple of weeks for the tomatoes to become ripe enough to use.
If you only have a few tomatoes to ripen, I use the paper bag method. Stick tomatoes in a paper bag with an apple and leave on the kitchen windowsill, but you have to check the bag every day.
Soon you'll have lots of these!
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