The 2020 first tomato harvest from our garden has occurred! On June 7th we picked six tomatoes. This year was one of the earlier dates for the “first pick” that we have had.
I decided to do this year’s first pick of tomatoes when they were just a little greener than I normally would. This should allow the plants to work on making more fruit as opposed to putting energy into ripening the ones that were already turning red. At least that is the thinking in some circles and can provide some logic for picking early! As the tomato harvest season picks up, and I am not as anxious for the taste of the first tom, I will let them fully ripen on the vine before picking.
June 7th First Pick, Not Quite Fully Ripe 
June 12th, Ripe, Sliced and Ready to Eat!
The cultivar picked was a Celebrity variety which I have had good luck with in the past. They are advertised as having a 70 day maturity. I transplanted them into my temporary raised bed greenhouse on April 6th and picked them on June 7th. That is 62 days from transplant to picking. I had them finish ripening indoors for another 5 days. So a total of 67 days from transplant to ready to eat.
I have also been tracking the growing degree days that we have had. I want to try and correlate the advertised maturity days with the actual degree days for our growing zone. From April 6th to June 7th these tomatoes have had 1123 degree days of growing conditions. Granted, since they were in a temporary greenhouse for much of that time they have had ideal growing degree day conditions. I plan to post more information on growing degree days for vegetables in future articles.
Since we picked these we have had Mortgage Lifter, Beefsteak and Homestead varieties also mature for picking. So, we have been getting a nice supply of fresh vine ripened garden tomatoes from our garden. A nice treat for mid June!
