Wow, sounds like an expensive proposition. You'd have to send them overnight or at least priority mail. At any rate, I'd pick them half ripe for the sake of shipping. Wrap in newspaper, not plastic. Good luck. Teach her to garden why don't you?

I shipped some ripe maters and onions to my Mom in California from Nevada overnight. She said they were fantastic and in good shape when they arrived. I used UPS overnight. Sure it was a little expensive but she's worth it.

Greg
Nevada

Thanks for the tips. She lives in a townhouse, so she doesn't have a yard.. but I'm going to coerce her into a little container gardening somehow.

She's probably one of the very few people that I'd even consider going to the trouble and expense of doing this for, but she's just one of those people who have done a lot for me, so I think it would kind of be a cool surprise.

If I were you, I'd check with UPS and see how long ground shipping takes. You might very well find that it only takes two days from SC to Chicago, depends on where you are. Then I would pack them in peanuts so that they don't shift at all when the box is shaken, because it will be. Get a good sturdy box. You will save considerable money compared to overnight, and a ripe tomato should last two days. Ship on Monday or Tuesday so that the box does not sit in a truck over the week-end. UPS is extremely reliable.

Petro

UPS Ground time in transit is 3 days. Cost for a 10 lb package is just under 15 dollars. If you grow indeterminate s you can pick them just when they start turning red and they should be almost ready to eat when they get them in Chicago. I cant tell the difference between vine ripen and bag ripen on my tomatoes.

Thank you so much for all the help! eurolarva.. that was totally awesome of you to get that information for me. I'm going to do it.

And if you want, send her along to Judy's SWC instruction website. She grows tons of tomatoes in Self Watering Containers that would fit nicely on a deck or patio. They fit two tomato plants so she could have tons of tomatoes all season with indeterminates.

Good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: Judy's SWC instruction page

I am worth it. Anyone want to ship me fresh garden veggies? haha

tell her to save a few seeds from the toms she likes the best. Are they heirloom toms.

Send her some green ones for fried greem toms. hard to buy really good green ones.

I was just visiting my parents in Seattle who were lamenting both store bought and their own garden tomatoes. Seattle's weather is just too cool to grow good tomatoes I guess. Even though I hate tomatoes I've decided to grow them next year and ship them so thanks for the hints.

Well, I didn't have any suitable ones ready so send (that's a totally different story), but i went to the farmer's market. I found an old guy there who had a bunch of mostly green tomatoes. I bought some of those, some yellow squash and some cukes. Since UPS was three days and USPS is three days too, I packed it all in a flat rate box, said a little prayer and sent them. I'll let you all know how it goes.

Thanks for all the help!

Update: I mailed the veggies priority mail on Friday and she received them on Monday. Aside from a little mold on one cuke, she said everything was wonderful. I had even included a little box of cherry tomatoes and they made it without a problem. She said that none of the tomatoes were at all green when they got to her and seemed to be at the perfect stage of ripeness.