Winter produce

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Early last month, I shared a photo of our tomato plants still in bloom, even though it was very late Autumn. The photo above is the latest haul, and there are still a lot green tomatoes—in early Winter. It was warmer than normal all Autumn, and there’s probably a bit of a microclimate where they’re planted, but all of that was true last year and we didn’t get tomatoes this late. In fact, by this time last year, the plants were dead. Weird—but welcome!

A post shared by arthur_amerinz (@arthur_amerinz) on Jun 11, 2019 at 6:39pm PDT

The photo above is of the largest haul we’ve had from our tomato plants in the month since I posted the since I posted the photo I mentioned in the Instagram caption above. There have been a couple others, and a couple the birds decided were theirs. But it’s not the size of the yield that’s remarkable, it’s that this is now winter: We’re getting tomatoes in winter. Extraordinary.

In that caption I also speculate on a couple factors that may have helped them along, and the variety of tomato could be part of it, too. But things are definitely different. Is it an early sign of climate change? I don’t know. I’ve pointed out three perfectly ordinary factors that, perhaps when combined, could account for this. Of them, only the warm autumn the past couple years could be related to climate change, but the reality is that I just don’t know.

None of the other garden jobs that I mentioned last month are done yet. This doesn’t bother me—I had some obstacles along the way, after all. And, the weather has been rainy more often than not lately, and I don’t like being wet. Okay, that one’s on me, and I have no excuse for that. But it’s still a thing.

I have something to add to the list, too, a grapefruit tree that’s got a bumper crop this year. That’s a shame because I can’t eat them and we don’t know really anyone who likes them. I’ll put the fruit in our community sharing stand—someone will use them—but after it’s done producing, the tree will get the chop (something we should have done last year).

The grapefruit tree, productive though it may be, is useless to us: We can’t use the produce and have to get rid of it every year (a lot of it rots). Also, it blocks light and sunlight from reaching a raised garden bed behind it, so we can’t really grow anything there. That tree has to go.

Right now, though, my focus isn’t on that tree, it’s on the unexpected extra bounty from the tomato plants, something we never expected. Fresh winter produce is nice.

Related:

"Productive holiday weekend" – When we planted the tomatoes.
"The tomatoes are growing" – The plants were growing well by December.
"Gardening work" – When I noticed the tomato plants were in bloom in late autumn.
"Photo Trial" – They were even the subject of a photo experiment.