{"id":111,"date":"2007-10-08T06:00:52","date_gmt":"2007-10-08T13:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.washingtonwinemaker.com\/blog\/2007\/10\/08\/rhubarb-wine-and-tomato-wine-harvest-complete\/"},"modified":"2007-10-08T06:00:52","modified_gmt":"2007-10-08T13:00:52","slug":"rhubarb-wine-and-tomato-wine-harvest-complete","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/washingtonwinemaker.com\/blog\/2007\/10\/08\/rhubarb-wine-and-tomato-wine-harvest-complete\/","title":{"rendered":"Rhubarb Wine And Tomato Wine: Harvest Complete"},"content":{"rendered":"

Harvest your rhubarb early in the fall<\/strong><\/p>\n

I pulled in the last of the rhubarb<\/a> on 10\/5\/07. The 11 oz (312 g) brought my total for the year to 62 oz (1737 g), which is about what I harvested last year. October is a bit late, and I had to discard many stalks. Next year, I’ll need to get out there and harvest in September.<\/p>\n

Prune and train your tomatoes<\/strong><\/p>\n

I was out in the garden during September, that’s when I took the last of the Gold Nuggets. I harvested 4 lb 5 oz (1950 g) on 9\/15\/07. That brings my total for the year to 17 lb 14 oz (8132 g). I learned a lot this year, but the most important lesson is to make the effort to prune and trellis your tomatoes. I wrote, back in July<\/a>, about pruning my tomatoes and that I would do it in “baby steps.” Well, baby steps just didn’t cut it. Tomatoes grow fast and furious; you need to be out in those beds, with your hand pruners, a lot to keep them under control. I didn’t do that, and my Gold Nuggets, which are supposed to be self supporting, just flopped over onto the ground and spread out. This meant that a lot of tomatoes were in contact with the ground and\/or covered by vegetation. A good trellising system would keep them off the ground and a pruning regimen would direct the growth. The result would be more fruit, less rot, and an easier time harvesting.<\/p>\n

Switching hats: from gardener to winemaker<\/strong><\/p>\n

So lessons learned. Next year will be better. In the meantime, I should get about a gallon of rhubarb wine<\/a> and a gallon of tomato wine. Most of my wine and mead will be from purchased fruit and honey, but these two batches, and the Oregano Wine<\/a>, are from fruit, vegetables, and herbs that I grew myself. That’s the sort of home winemaking that I love.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More on growing rhubarb and tomatoes for wine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gardening"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t