Tomato Harvesting: How To Harvest And Store Your Tomatoes For 6+ Months!

By following these simple steps, you can easily pick and store tomatoes to enjoy fresh, flavorful tomatoes throughout the year. Harvesting and storing tomatoes from you garden can be a challenge. From pest, diseases, and weather, picking your spring crops can present an issue. This how to manage your vegetable harvest will show some insight on when to pick your tomatoes, how to ripen them to perfection. Then a simple storage technique to use while you are waiting for the rest of the tomatoes to ripen for canning.

There are several reasons why you may want to pick tomatoes early and freeze them for storage:
1. To preserve a bountiful harvest: If you have a large quantity of tomatoes ripening at the same time, you may not be able to use them all before they spoil. Freezing them allows you to preserve the tomatoes for later use.
2. To save time: Freezing tomatoes allows you to prepare them in advance and have them on hand for quick and easy meals.
3. To enjoy tomatoes out of season: Freezing tomatoes allows you to enjoy the taste of fresh tomatoes even when they are not in season.
Here's how to pick tomatoes early and freeze them for storage:
1. Harvest tomatoes when they are firm and fully colored but still slightly green. These tomatoes will continue to ripen off the vine.
2. Wash and dry the tomatoes thoroughly.
3. Remove the stem and any blemishes from the tomatoes.
4. Cut the tomatoes into desired sizes or leave them whole, depending on how you plan to use them.
5. Place the tomatoes on a baking sheet in a single layer and freeze until solid.
6. Once frozen, transfer the tomatoes to a freezer-safe bag or container, removing as much air as possible to prevent freezer burn.
7. Label the bag or container with the date and store in the freezer for up to 6 months.
By picking tomatoes early and freezing them for storage, you can enjoy the taste of fresh tomatoes year-round and reduce waste from a bountiful harvest.
Heirloom tomatoes. Roma. Beefsteak Tomatoes, Cherokee Purple. Organic gardening. Tomato Harvest.