On saving green tomatoes and relationships

Before I dive into how to solve a green tomato problem, a friend of mine recently shared some insights about how gardening works as a relationship coach.

“We love working on gardening projects together. My husband is the project guy, and I’m the maintenance person.

“We love watching everything grow and we love hanging out in our yard. We love chatting about what we want to grow, what changes we would make, what we are learning.

“Gardening is a fantastic idea for people to do together. He likes to watch me weed, and I like to watch him turn the compost pile.

“And every year on Mother’s Day, we go out to collect beach peat!”

Her comments got me thinking about my upcoming Kodiak Gardening Workshop (Oct. 1-2). I contacted each person who signed up and suggested they bring their spouses or partners. The response was an emphatic, “Yes!”

This “yes” response is what Dr. John Gottman, world-renowned for his work on marital stability, calls “turning towards” your partner.

He says that the strongest relationships are built from the ground up. (Now there’s using a garden metaphor, right?)

“One of the greatest predictors of a relationship’s success is the ability to turn towards each other,” says Gottman, “constantly developing the bond by making an effort every day to reach out to your partner and accept bids for emotional connection.”

I’ll share more about “turning towards” at the end of today’s column. But let’s get into green tomatoes.

Thanks to hoop houses and greenhouses, fresh, locally grown tomatoes are more commonplace than a novelty.

But as we enter the fall season with diminishing light and cooler temps, tomatoes are slow to green up. And it’s not unusual to be faced with plants still brimming with yellow blossoms. Pretty they are, but not productive.

Today I’ll share how to apply the Rescue Remedy for green tomatoes.

Since tomatoes are less apt to ripen on the vine and new fruit is unlikely to develop into full-sized fruit — now what?

Never fear. The best chance for end-of-the-season tomatoes is to bring them indoors to finish the process. Here’s what to do:

If your tomatoes are growing in pots and the plants and pots are not too large, you can bring them inside. Another option is to uproot the plants and hang them upside-down in the garage or basement to finish ripening. No need to fuss with the leaves. They will simply dry up and fall off.

Ah, if you’re seeing a touch of orange or red on those green tomatoes, picking them individually and bringing them inside may give you the best chance for ripening them. That’s because tomatoes, like many fruits, continue to ripen once they’ve been picked thanks to ethylene gas.

Ethylene is a gas produced by fruits, including tomatoes, that promotes ripening. Many commercial tomatoes are actually picked while still green for shipping and ripened at their destination by introducing them to an ethylene-rich environment.

As for flavor, tomatoes ripened after picking are sometimes not as tasty as their vine-ripened counterparts. But for home growers, it’s a great way to rescue those late-season crops.

Left on the countertop, tomatoes will produce ethylene on their own and ripen eventually. The process can take several weeks, though.

Tomatoes aren’t the only fruit cranking out ethylene gas. Storing green tomatoes with other ethylene producers such as apples and bananas (yellow with a touch of green), can speed up the ripening process considerably.

If, for whatever reason, you end up with a bunch of green tomatoes (or you don’t have time or patience to wait for them to ripen up), here is my favorite recipe:

GREEN TOMATO SALSA

5 medium green (or red) tomatoes

2 jalapeño peppers

1 small onion

1 garlic clove

2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

1 tablespoon vegetable oil (optional)

Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a food processor. Pack in jars (I used straight-sided peanut butter jars) and store in the fridge or freezer. If you choose to freeze your salsa be sure to leave enough room for expansion.

Making green salsa can also be a valuable act of “turning towards” your spouse or partner.

“Each opportunity to turn toward or turn away from your partner is a chance to either chip away from or strengthen the base of your relationship.”

As in my friend’s case, gardening presented the perfect opportunity to strengthen their relationship. 

“The only reason I finally got a greenhouse is because my husband got into gardening, too!” she said. “I waited 20 years and now he’s all in! Oh yes! We love it.”

Late summer garden chores:

There are only a few seats left in my 3-part Kodiak Gardening workshop. For more info and to register: https://gardenerscoach.com/kodiak/

Keep your eyes open for spring bulbs. Rooted (formerly Strawberry Fields) and Sutliff’s expect arrivals soon.

Start or replenish a compost pile.

Last call to sow spinach seeds and garlic.

Marion Owen is co-author of the New York Times bestseller Chicken Soup for the Gardener’s Soul, which is available through Amazon. To learn how to garden in Kodiak, sign up for Marion’s Kodiak Gardening workshop at https://gardenerscoach.com/kodiak. To ask a gardening question: marion@gardenerscoach.com.