Tomato Tuesday: When to harvest!

This post goes against my theme for the week, but come on, it's Tomato Tuesday! Only a vacation can stop me from doing a Tomato Tuesday post.

We finally made it! Time to harvest tomatoes. Sorry if you are located anywhere else besides Seattle, and have been picking tomatoes for months (wait, I'm not sorry you lucky duck)!

My first tomato of the season!

Harvesting Tomatoes:

• Pick tomatoes as soon as they ripen to allow the plant to focus on the remaining tomatoes. 
• Remove yellowing leaves at the bottom of your plant to allow more sunlight to reach the fruit.
• If temperatures are consistently over 75 degrees in your region and your tomatoes seem to be staying orange (not transitioning to red), you will need to harvest! Once you bring them inside they will turn red. This is because at higher temperatures, the tomato will not make that final transition. 

I hope these don't all ripen at once!

• Feel the tomato, if it's slightly squishy, then it's time to harvest. 
• Once the tomato has "blushed" you can pick it and leave it inside to ripen (remember they need temperatures that are between 65-75 degrees to ripen). I personally think vine ripened tomatoes taste better, so the only reason you would do this is if there is a threat of frost, bugs, animals or neighbors. 
• To pick a tomato, gently pull and twist the fruit from the vine. 

I'm giving these one more day, so close!

My Rambling Red Stripe tomatoes! They are delicious!

I wish I knew what kind of tomatoes these are. I purchased them 4 years ago and have been saving seeds year to year. I've tried purchasing seeds that looked similar, but they never are the same.

Happy harvesting!