KenneyP, if you had written this a day earlier - I'd have thought you were listening too much to Harold Camping!

I looked out my window to blazing Fall foliage around the neighborhood yesterday. It promply began to rain but that did not quench the yellows, oranges and reds in the big trees across the road. I asked, "what does this all mean??"

It means Autumn has overtaken us, I think.

My dwarf tomatoes (New Big Dwarfs) were my most serious failure in the 2011 tomato patch! (I also lost track of the Bulgarian Red plant but that's another story. ;o) To give proper credit for this failure, I've got fingers pointing back at me . . .

The plants looked so very nice when I set them out - so sturdy and healthy-looking! Since they had that upright build, I put them out of the way of the more liberal sprawlers. They went over at the edge of the garden, near the grass and near the plum tree. The slugs promptly moved in on them!

The slugs were all over my garden this year but especially in those 4 NBD's! The fruit was nearly all deformed, perhaps just by the nature of the variety - I'm sorry to say. Add to that, the slug damage . . . I harvested next to nothing from them.

Remarkably, the tomato plants still have some life to them down below the frost damage. We are weeks and weeks after 1st average 32F frost! There have been many light frosts, however.

My hoard of ripening tomatoes is down to 1 28# box! Many are very green so I'm looking at a long run for some of them. Tomato soup is on the menu for today. I'll admit to having whipped cream on my pumpkin pie yesterday but had better see what almond milk, tomato soup tastes like today . . .

Here is Wishing You All the Best, Kenny - with those plants, and always.

Steve

It's been another interesting gardening year, hasn't it?

Kenny, I look forward to many more years of hearing about your adventures in tomatoes! Enjoy those last plants inside. Time to let mother nature put the gardens to bed for the winter. I hope we don't get tree damage in this storm, but they are warning of limb loss since so many still have their leaves.

I dug up my lone experimental Georgia jet sweet potato plant last night. I was pleasantly surprised to find enough tubers for a tasty compliment to our steaks last night with a couple of leftovers. I think I'll try them again next year.

The propane tank is full, the barn is loaded with hay. Now, where did I stash the winter gloves?

Barb