We awoke to a temperature of 30° this October 5th morning. Last night I walked around the garden and said goodbye to the colorful annuals in the borders. My patch of small zinnias were lovely and full of bees yesterday. Today the blooms are gone. My cheerful impatiens gone. My favorite snapdragons? Faded but survived. Marigolds? Gone. My gorgeous purple vervain? Gone.
I covered my tomato plant last night hoping to save the plant that is chock-a-block full of green tomatoes.
Yesterday’s tomato plant
It was a fail. The plant is very sad looking today. There will be another freeze or frost tonight so tomatoes will be picked and used in the kitchen… fried, green tomato jam, relish, plus experimenting with new recipes like the Green Tomato Breakfast Bread I made yesterday using shredded green tomatoes.
The recipe may seem somewhat farfetched but it passed inspection by mister gardener. The sweet breakfast bread recipe that is said to be from East Europe. I started with tomatoes, then added dried cranberries for New England, some walnuts that we both love and the result was a sweet and moist winner that we enjoyed for dinner last night and breakfast this morning.
PS: We couldn’t taste the tomatoes!
We draw the line at things like green tomato hotcakes or green tomato smoothies… but if there are any suggestions for using up green tomatoes, we’d like to know!
I had a friend in Virginia who picked them green, wrapped them individually in newspaper and kept them in the garage til Christmas. Somehow they magically “ripened” and we’re decent for slicing.
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Now that’s a good idea. We have a nice basement bulkhead we can store potatoes, etc. over the winter. Tomatoes may do well there. Thanks!
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It was cold here too. Not ready for 30 degrees.
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I’m not ready for this either. The thing is after these two nights, we’re supposed to have nice fall weather. I still have enough color to make me happy.
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Green tomato mincemeat is an old time favorite. But perhaps you did not grow up eating mincemeat pies at Thanksgiving and Christmas?
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No, I have never had mincemeat pie. Does your recipe contain suet or meat? Our tradition is Figgy Pudding served flambé on Christmas Eve. Very fruity and I wonder if the taste is similar to mincemeat pie.
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Sad to see the flowers go but the bread looks delicious!!! I may have to try this with ours!
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I must admit that I didn’t tell mister gardener the ingredients before he ate a slice. But he liked it enough to have it again this morning.
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Cranberry and walnuts can trump any other ingredients, and I’ll bet the fresh green tomato made it very moist. 🙂 Cold here too. I’ve got everything cut back except one bed, and I guess I’ll dig up my dahlia bulbs tomorrow.
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That’s exactly what I was counting on. I was afraid the bread would be St. Patrick’s green! Where do you store your dahlias?
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Hi. The bread looks fabulous. I could go for a couple of slices right now. See you —
Neil S.
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Yesterday I made marmalade, and tonight we’re having green tomato casserole. I might be going a little overboard… 😆
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It is always sad to see the frost take away the garden’s beauty. I make fried green tomatoes and can relish. Often leave green tomatoes on the window sill to ripen.
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We have a few more fried green tomatoes on the menu this fall. Yesterday I picked over 40 tomatoes from one plant and left many small ones on the plant. Many are on the windowsill, and a good number used to make green tomato marmalade… a first for me. I do love green tomato relish.
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That sounds and looks pretty good.
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I always hated that first freeze when I lived in a 4 season climate. All the beautiful flower gardens gone over night!
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And then it was a balmy 75° today, just three days later!
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That sounds like the weather swings we would get in Denver. I remember a Sept snow one year…then right back up to the 70’s😊
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It looks like you got enough suggestions for green tomatoes. I will mention one more, even though we get only very few that do not ripen. I simply pickle them. The green fruit does not have much flavor itself, so takes on the flavor or whatever herbs get added to it.
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Hmmmm… when I finished cleaning off all the tomatoes I had over 100. Many were very small and I bet they would be great pickled. I’ll have to look up some recipes.
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