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Old January 28, 2022   #7
HastingsMN
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: Minnesota
Posts: 12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by VirginiaClay View Post
I try to keep track of amounts harvested but it ends up being something like "picked two trays of big tomatoes and one tray of romas & cherries." I can't figure out how people are able to track specific numbers and weights of the tomatoes they pick, when they grow multiple varieties. Do you carry a scale into the garden and record weights/names/numbers as you pick? Do you mark a variety code and a plant number on each tomato with a Sharpie and weigh them later? Do you have a paid assistant? I tried the Sharpie method and it took three times as long to pick the tomatoes that way, not what I want in mid-summer when it's a billion degrees out there.

Still, third time's a charm, and I know this will be my year of journaling success.
Yes, it's this bit that I have trouble figuring how I will do it. I have about 20-25 plants (and I do the ugly freehand drawing too which is handy when the labels get lost under the mulch!). The first few to fruit get more attention paid to them, but by the beginning of September -- and some of my favorites aren't ready till then -- it's a rush before or after work, and it's 87 degrees and humid, and all the buckets are already full on the deck, so I have to find some boxes to take produce to share at work or the food shelf.

I do like the Sharpie idea, I mark the ones I'm going to use for seed. I don't do it for all of them because I give away so many, and I think people might not like ones with marker on them. Maybe I could go to the dollar store and do a color=coded bucket arrangement.
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