Greetings from my garden where I just picked and ate my first tomato of the season. I decided this event was a good reason to post for Dear Friend and Gardener, Dee's virtual garden club for those of us who grow our own vegetables.
I also decided the first tomato of the season was a good reason to recreate one of my classic tomato pictures, which I posted way back in 2008 in a post titled "Ritual of the First Tomato".
I enjoyed writing that particular post, making fun of myself and other gardeners for the big fuss we make when we harvest our first tomato of the season.
It is a Beefsteak variety, I think. I'll have to double check the tags tomorrow. It isn't, or shall I say, wasn't, very big. I already ate it. It was six nice bites and of course I let some of the juice drip down my chin and onto my shirt. That's the proper way to show you really love a tomato.
Do you know what else is special about this tomato? No, not that it looks good on a satin and lace pillow, though it does look good on a satin and lace pillow, doesn't it?
What's special about this tomato is it is the earliest ripe tomato I've ever picked from my garden since I started keeping records. I need to check those records to see how much earlier it is, but I would guess it is about two weeks earlier.
I'm not sure what I did different to get it to ripen earlier. I bought the same small size plants I always buy and I planted them in mid-May, like I always do. It's a puzzler.
I have no other tomatoes close to turning red, so it will be a while before I'm harvesting tomatoes faster than I can eat them. I look forward to those days!
Elsewhere in the vegetable garden, the green beans are forming and there isn't a bug on those plants. I should also have squash and cucumbers to start picking soon and my sweet corn is tasseling.
We've had quite a bit of rain so far this growing season so the peppers are sulking and look terrible. They would prefer it be a little drier, I think. Oh well, we don't always get the ideal growing conditions for everything. I hope the peppers will start to grow better in the weeks to come.
I also hope your gardens are doing well and you are starting to reap the rewards of growing vegetables.
Hortifully,
Carol
P.S. - I am also starting to pick red and golden raspberries, just a few here and there for breakfast. They are delicious!
Comments
I've been getting Hawaiian currant tomatoes for about a month now here in North Central Texas, but the big Homestead 24's just really started last week, followed by the Anahu's. The Black from Tula's are taking their time :-) About the time you are picking them faster than you can eat them, we'll be done with tomatoes until fall... just gets too hot to set fruit here.
I don't have any picture of the harvest on a satin pillow - I have been using a wooden cutting board as my back-drop. Something more manly and utilitarian about getting them on the cutting board for the pictures I guess. And not wasting any time after the photo shoot. Have a good holiday tomorrow.