Yup, another tomato question.

[Paper Roses]

The weather is turning here and I'm not sure what to do. I always have a nice back yard garden but this summer I planted only tomatoes and basil. The basil did poorly and is now dead. I usually dry it and give everyone I know a jar for use during the winter. Not this year. I don't even have some for myself.

Now to the tomatoes. This year I have them in pots for the first time. Since the growing season has been so bad, it took them a while to get going. Have picked 8 or 9 and a few more will be ripening. These are Big Boys and they are still green and small. The plants look healthy and have blossoms on them that will never grow. Should I lop off the the greenery except the parts of the plants that have decent size green tomatoes on them?

This time past years, I've been passing tomatoes over the fence. Neighbors with no gardens loved it. Not this year. I've never had to prune the plants much other years, just cut off the suckers.

Thanks for any advice.

[bvar22]

1. Don't know what zone you are in.

We're in zone 7 (Central Arkansas), and still have time to make tomatoes if we have a late frost. We have been thinning tomato clusters down to one or two good tomatoes per cluster, and pruning back branches that are showing signs of blight, but haven't started pinching blossoms yet.