Garden -- late tomato flowers

I'm a little late discussing flowers on your tomatoes.
It's late in the season. 
In 6 weeks (by Columbus day) you will be pulling out your tomatoes.
If you have flowers on your tomatoes now,
PICK THEM OFF.
It's too late for them to produce anything as the sun gets lower in the sky
and the light hours get fewer.
You're not wasting anything.
They will keep the tomatoes you have from maturing.

One other thing.  If your tomatoes are cracking at the top,
I'm guessing you've had all the rain we've had, which is a lot.
If the cracks get worse and expose the inside of the tomato, they'll develop disease.
DON'T use completely cracked tomatoes for canning.
You can, however, cut around the cracks and use the good parts in cooking, salads and so on.
So pick them before the cracking gets worse and finish the ripening, if they're not ripe,
inside in a paper bag with an apple.

© Patricia Jo Heil, 2013-2018 All Rights Reserved