Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Call Me a Fanatic!

Yes, I am blogging about tomatoes again! I can't help it -- I've already tasted my first fruits of the season and I want more. NOW! Patience is NOT one of my virtues, but I suppose I will need to summon some to wait just a bit longer. There will be plenty more to come, I know it!

Unlike zucchini, no one ever seems to complain when they have a bumper crop of tomatoes! Why is that?

So, on a more exacting note, I went out to the garden with a measuring tape, paper and pad in hand to record tidbits of information about my 15 tomato plants thus far. For the record...

My red Brandywine is the tallest, at 47 inches. This is closely followed by the Pineapple at 46 and the Green Zebra at 45. The Champion, a yard sale purchase, is 40 inches tall, while the Oxheart is 38 inches. Several are 37 inches -- Mr. Stripey, San Marzano, and Big Rainbow.

The Tomato Runt Award goes to the Patio, at 28 inches. But, this little gem has 16 green tomatoes just waiting to ripen and end up on my plate! It is just producing its heart out!

The Sweet 100 cherry tomato is next, with 15. This is followed by 11 greenies on the Champion (one on the verge of ripening!) and 10 each for the San Marzano and Mr. Stripey.

I predict a bumper crop! I can almost taste them...

18 comments:

  1. What will you make with them all? You have quite a following going on, so I can see many people love your writing and are following your gardening progress and success! I love all your posts, especially the little treasures you discover along the garden path; ducklings, frogs, the geese's behavior, doggie dishes you make...

    ReplyDelete
  2. I will use some in sandwiches (BLTs), and make a Caprese-type salad (several variations), fresh sauce...who knows what else! Any extra will be frozen or given away.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Those Brandywines grow into monster plants :-) This is the first year I have grown them and they are so big! But......nothing tastes ant better than home grown tomatoes.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I wish tomatoes would fruit all year and that I could have a perpetual supply of them just outside the back door (where the sun would always shine on them) and I could pluck them and eat them whenever I wished, several times a day, hour, minute, once a second . . .

    I could just sit there eating . . .

    Esther

    ReplyDelete
  5. Yummy! A bumper crop of tomatoes how wonderful! My runt so far is Early Girl - which surprises me since they are supposed to fruit early. I took a picture of my first tomato last night. It's little but it's there and I have lots of flowers. So exciting! -Jackie

    ReplyDelete
  6. Esther, that is exactly the kind of gluttony I enjoy!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Oh that reminds me, I need to go buy some San Marzanos. I don't have any paste tomatoes yet. Can't wait to see your results!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thats good, going into garden with measuring tape and the gadgets.... It is nice to record their growth to make us understand better.

    I hope your tomatoes will be basketful!!

    ~ bangchik

    ReplyDelete
  9. Tomatoes are simply the best thing about summer... are they not?

    The spousal unit here continues to eat the never-ending supply from his allotment garden all summer, into Sept, Oct, and yes, even November. They are ripened in paper bags as the season shifts into fall. Set in the sun on the windowsill. I've more than had my fill by then, having enjoyed the juicy, sweet fruit twice a day for 2/3 months. But if plants continue to produce, he continues to eat them... (lack of flavor notwithstanding?) Perhaps I need to master a recipe for fried green tomatoes, Alice

    ReplyDelete
  10. Home grown tomatoes, got to love em! Can't wait, mine won't be ready for a couple of months, kind of slow here in the NW.
    Thanks for stopping by my blog today, and yes I did see them flinging fish at the Pike Place market and I'm glad to say I didn't get slimmed...haha

    ReplyDelete
  11. I don't eat tomatoes but I grow lots for everyone else. My two boys especially love the cherry tomatoes. I do find them a fascinating and rewarding plant to grow though, even if I don't eat the result !

    ReplyDelete
  12. You just carry on blogging about tomatoes to your heart's content! I love hearing about them, seeing photos and finding new varieties.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Too funny - your point about a tomato crop vs. a zucchini crop, and so true!

    ReplyDelete
  14. It's true -- you give your tomatoes away, but reluctantly...and others are all too glad to accept. But, with zucchini, it's "here, take this off my hands!!!" and the recipients say, "well, if I must..."

    ReplyDelete
  15. Oh, your tomatoes are so far along compared to up here. Sounds like you'll have a real bounty.

    ReplyDelete
  16. I am looking forward to tasting my first tomato, but I still have a long wait ahead.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Hey, islandgardener, we just posted another couple of pix of the veggie garden I wrote about earlier this week, including a better one of the tomato stakes. Just for you!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Love the label "Tomato Addiction" !

    ReplyDelete