It's that time of year when tomatoes are ON the vine, are heavy, beefy, but not ripe...(well, at least not in my garden...We got a slightly later start owing to a colder, wetter and longer than usual winter this year)...
Challenge this poses (as anyone who's grown a tomato plant knows) is keeping leaves and fruits off the ground, bugs and worms off your leaves and plants, and soil accessible for turning and fertilizing.
Decided to try my hand at several different varieties of tomatoes this year ~ (See Karlen branch out.) Last year it was pretty much Better Boys and Pink Girl all the way, all the time (all of which did ok; yet all of which were grown simply because that's what Thurman grows). Thurman, btw, wouldn't give you a plug nickel for the little kinds, like cherry tomatoes or grapes, but in honor of living my Independence Day all year round...I independently ventured out and purchased a wide variety of plants never before tested by me. And while only my grape tomatoes, thus far are red, I'm feeling good about my Romas, my Jet Stars, my Heinz Heirlooms and one really nasty, gnarly looking Brandywine that even "I" admit looks inedible, (though I'm told not to judge the thing by its cover...That it stands to be the tastiest 'mater of the lot if not the winner of the ugly tomato contest at the local farmer's market, rules for which I need to read up on~)
Thanks to my fellow farmer who spotted me a few ripened tomatoes in exchange for some lovely golden egg squash growing prolifically on my end... I've just this week entered the gorge-fest of tomato sandwiches, complete with the usual side effects resembling my pre-pubescent break outs of old. Usually takes about a week for my body to adjust to in the sudden influx of acidity...No doubt, my skin is its cleanest in the summer months. Just about the time I get the poison ivy under control, it's tomato season! ...My body just loves this gardening thing~ But hey, even body parts have to take one for the team when it's growing season. I can literally say I've got skin in the game~)
Additional thanks to those helping me re-stick toppling plants until such time that the weighty clusters of tomatoes give me the big picking "thumbs up" by turning their cheery, cherry red.
In the words of that great poet Guy Clark, "What would life be without homegrown tomatoes?"
No truer words were ever spoken (or sung):
~
"Only two things that money can't buy and that's true love and home grown tomatoes" ~
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