@theknottygarden: My MSc brain couldn’t leave this garden hack untested, so I ran an experiment. 🍅🔬 Every fall, I share how to ripen green tomatoes indoors, and every year people tell me their method works better. So I compared five conditions side by side: 🍅 Control group ☀️ Sunny window 🛍️ Paper bag 🍅 Paper bag with a ripe tomato 🍌 Paper bag with a banana The clear winner in my experiment? The paper bag with the banana. 🍌 Bananas release ethylene gas, a natural plant hormone that helps initiate ripening. The paper bag concentrates the ethylene around the tomatoes while still allowing some airflow. Here’s what to do: 🍅 Harvest full-sized, healthy green tomatoes 🛍️ Place them in a paper bag or loosely closed cardboard box 🍌 Add a ripening banana 🌡️ Keep everything at room temperature and out of direct sunlight 👀 Check frequently for ripening or spoilage ❤️ Remove tomatoes as they turn red 🔄 Replace the banana before it begins to spoil Avoid sealed plastic, and discard any tomatoes showing rot or disease. Not every tiny, immature tomato will ripen successfully, but mature green tomatoes can continue ripening indoors. You could be eating garden-grown tomatoes well into fall, long after the plants are gone. Don’t bin your green tomatoes. Bring them inside and let ethylene do the work. 🍅 Save this for your final tomato harvest, share it with a tomato-growing friend and follow for more seasonal garden experiments and solutions. 🌸Erin

Erin Berkyto

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Region: CA

Wednesday 23 September 2026 02:08:25 GMT