Should the tomatoes be ready now?
We planted them, just as we usually do, not as many as in previous years, but whatever. And we usually plant Sun Golds, which are those little orange cherry tomatoes, which are so sweet and so delicious and I adore them. And grew like mad.
But we couldn’t find them this year, and I reminded myself that everything doesn’t have to be exactly the same every year, so go with the flow.
So we got another kind, I forget the name, and I have to say this is a different experience.
First of all, this plant, this particular plant, was never happy. It is in a perfect tomato place, many plants have thrived here before, but this one, I could tell from moment one, was not enthusiastic.
It produced two little tomatoes, bigger than a cherry tomato but not as big as a big tomato, and they were growing nicely, even as the leaves were giving up the ghost.
They tried to grow, but yeah, they were not happy. See all the yellow leaves? And it had just the right amount of water and sun.
It tried, it really did, but I could hear the death rattle. I picked one of the tomatoes, the redder one, while it was still too green, after the rabbits got the other one.
We put it on the windowsill to ripen, and here it is. Next to a peach. You can see the size. ::shaking head:: It did the best it could.
As for our other tomatoes, they look like Roma tomatoes, that Italian tomato shape. They are still super tiny. Should they be so super tiny still?
Even the grocery store, Whole Foods, does not have those fabulous tomatoes that I long for every year. Why? Even the heirlooms are not tasty.
One of my favorite things in the world is tomato toast. It is toast, with tomatoes on it. No mayonnaise, no butter, no anything. Just toast and tomatoes. The tomato juice sinks into the toast, and it is ambrosial.
But the better the tomato, the better the tomato toast, and so far we are at 80% good.
What’s your tomato situation, Reds and Readers? Are you as fond of them as I am?
((PS: AND THE WINNER of HER PERFECT LIFE IN gulp, mass markeet paperback is : DEE! Email me your address at hank@hankphillippiryan.com)
This year our poor garden has been attacked by voles . . . we planted tomatoes, but the voles have feasted on our plants, so it's no tomatoes for us :(
ReplyDeleteVOLES! (I always think of WItness ForThe Prosecution, where one of the main characters was Leonard Vole, and you have to think Agatha Christie chose that name on purpose...
DeleteWe have been working on planting our backyard hill with native plants and were planning to put in all kinds of vegetables. However, our landscape person took forever to get the hill ready (removing old plants, mulching, etc.) and only just planted a tomato plant (plus all of the other things up on the hill) about two weeks ago! Late July! I wanted another type of tomato so went and got a smaller variety that is supposed to be a Fall harvest tomato. So far we have three biggish tomatoes on the first plant and one tomato and lots of blossoms on the second plant. They’re all green, but the person at the nursery assured me they can grow almost year round in San Diego. (I tried to get a grape tomato plant and she said they didn’t have any at all this year. Maybe the Sun Gold and grape tomatoes are taking the year off?). — Pat S
ReplyDeleteSO funny how it all depends on so many things!
DeleteHank, so sorry about your tomatoes. Have never grown any, that talent was all my mother’s. One thing that struck me was you write that you have always planted your tomatoes in the same place. Could the soil be worn out? Mother always moved her plants around in the garden plot so that one year it was tomatoes and the next green beans. Elisabeth
ReplyDeleteThat's what I'm thinking too.
Delete"Growing tomatoes in the same exact spot year after year triggers nutrient depletion and soil-borne pest or disease buildup." There is a protocol to renew the soil - I'd check for online tips.
DeleteYes, that is such a good thought--but that weary tomato was in an all new spot, which is SO weird. I think it was sickly from the beginning.poor thing..
DeleteHank, seems some of us took “just as we always do” very literally. Elisabeth
DeleteI don't grow tomatoes anymore plus I don't like tomatoes only Campbell's Tomato soup
ReplyDeleteClassic!
DeleteSo funny Crystal! I love Campbell's Tomato Soup too. And also their Alphabet soup (not sure what they call it now). Their soups have a lot of salt so fortunately they offer low sodium choices. Yeah!
DeleteSorry to break the news, Hank, but I'm having a great tomato year up here on the NH border, including three Sun Gold plants. The blasted woodchucks have taken bites out of a few low-hanging green tomatoes but most survive to ripen, especially now that the plants are taller.
ReplyDeleteAs Elisabeth says, it's good to rotate where you plant a particular crop if you can. And it's always important to add more organic material to the soil in the form of compost at least every year. The yellow leaves look like a deficiency.
You must have a farm stand or farmers market around somewhere in Newton. They will have good tomatoes, for sure. If I lived closer, I would drop off a bag of mine!
Yes, I think that plant arrived deficient, frankly. And so much depends. on location and timing and so many other factors. Hurray for your sungolds!
DeleteSorry about the tomatoes. My sister grows the cherry ones and she collect a small bucket full every morning.
ReplyDeleteWhen they are successful, they are so wonderful!
DeleteHank, sorry about your tomatoes. I know that you are disappointed. The weather had been impossible for some products, too hot, too wet, too humid. I cringe when I hear about crops failing, fields flooding, late frosts in Spring, drought in summer. In the grand scheme of things, I lose herb plants all the time, so I go to the store.
ReplyDeleteYs, so agree. To me it is only a few tomato plants,but to farmers, it is a livelihood. It is really consciousness-raising, isn't it?
DeleteWe're having similar issues with our two tomato plants. One just never thrived and has withered away. The other one looks healthy and has a few tomatoes, which at this rate, should be ready to pick by Thanksgiving.
ReplyDeleteI think our garden needs to be fertilized. Hubby is going to plant winter rye once it's done for the year. Also, I recommend dropping a couple of calcium pills in the hole you've dug for the tomato plants in the spring. Hubby forgot this year, so that's what I'm blaming the poor results on.
Ohhh. that is ia brilliant idea!
DeleteAnnette, do you mean calcium pills such as those humans take or are there special calcium pills for plants? — Pat S
DeleteMy sister in Iowa has just made 8 pints of salsa with her tomatoes and has offered up romas and grape tomatoes to us after our visit this weekend.
ReplyDeleteSO terrific! I have never made homemade salsa..hmmm...xoox
DeleteOh Hank, I’m so sorry about your tomato experience this year! We don’t grow our own anymore (woodchucks, rabbits) but are lucky to be near two great farms with stands in Concord. There is nothing like a fresh tomato! I could eat them with every meal while in season. Maybe I’ll try tomato toast for breakfast!
ReplyDeleteTomato toast is THE BEST. Add a little salt or. crazy salt if your metabolism allows... :-)
DeleteI first found this in Spain, but there you also rubbed the toast with garlic!
DeleteGardening is the ultimate life lesson. This year is never like last year, and next year will be different, again, and we just have to put up with it... Our tomato plants are wild, with fruit on the vines, and some of them even ripening. But the variety I bought that I thought would be purple when ripe are not that, at all. This year's variety starts green, turns purple, and then red and they must be red before being eaten. Did we keep the tag to know what we're eating? No, of course not.
ReplyDeleteOh, you are so wise! That is so true! xxx
DeleteHank, growing tomatoes is such an iffy experience. Between the increasing shade in my yard and the squirrels, I've given up trying to grow them. Pick a new, sunny spot for next year. And ask at the nursery about your preferred variety.
ReplyDeleteYes, I so agree with all you say. ANd the squirrels, yeesh, they take one bite and then leave the rest behind just to taunt us..
DeleteI am a dud at gardening, and it has been quite a few years since I even tried tomatoes. When I did, I had one or two moderately productive years folllowed by one that looked like the ones in your pictures. Even in the good years, it was a constant battle to keep the critters out of them long enough for me to get to enjoy any. I do absolutely love the flavor of a fully vine-ripened tomato, and I count on the kindness of friends and the occasional find at a farm market to get me by now.
ReplyDeleteYes, I am definitely in the kindness of friends--and farmers markets--stage now!
DeleteSorry about your tomatoes! I love a good home grown tomato, but haven't tried to grow them myself for a long time. I'm hoping my kind friends will have a few to spare this year.
ReplyDeleteOh, they will! xx
DeleteI am so sorry Hank. That is always so disappointing. Could the garden center have mis-labled the plant? I would check the soil, it may need different nutrients or some other change in the soil.
ReplyDeleteYeah, its something like that, definitely. Or just...whatever. On to the famers market this year!
DeleteLast year the cherry tomatoes were great. This year my tomatoes are suffering a blight in Fairfax, VA. I heard this sad story from others in the area too. This year I planted Big Boy and Early Girl in pots, fenced in so that deer can't get to them, but their vines have sprawled over everything else in the garden. Even tomato cages couldn't contain them. I pulled the bad leaves but not sure that helped. Lots of tomatoes though, just not ripening yet.
ReplyDeleteLOVE your perseverance! xxx
DeleteWelcome to farming, Hank. Your tomato crop failure is a teeny tiny example of what happens to crops, unfortunately.
ReplyDeleteI am the Garlic Lady, well known by friends and family for my big, healthy heads of garlic, and for growing enough to share with all and sundry. But this year the heads were puny and sickly looking, only the second time this has happened in 17 years. I did everything the same as usual, too, including moving the bed to a new area every year, adding organic matter, covering with straw, etc. It's a mystery.
My tomatoes also did not do well, probably because of drought while we were in Spain. We had gotten SO much rain before we left, and more was predicted, so I didn't arrange for watering while we were away. Big mistake. All but two of my vines got blight, but the tomatoes were cracked and diseased from too much/not enough water, mostly. (I rotate their location every year, too.)
On the other hand, we had so many strawberries I had to just freeze them whole, and the raspberries are producing a second crop right now. The green beans are finally producing, and in great quantity. The lima beans I planted, supposed to be a bush variety, are actually a pole variety, and are sprawling all over the world, and the cucumber is making so many every day I am going to put a basket out by the Little Free Library and a sign to take them, PLEASE.
Tip: You do not have to leave tomatoes on the vine until they are perfectly ripe. It's actually better if you harvest them when they are half ripe, with lots of color, because they already have all the sweetness and flavor of a fully ripe fruit. There is less opportunity for the squirrels and birds to take their greedy ways with your tomatoes if you pick them, too. Turn the 'mater upside down on a counter--not in a windowsill or in a paper bag, that is not necessary--and it will ripen on its own in a few days. Even green tomatoes can ripen off the vine. At the end of a normal season, when there are a million still-green tomatoes on the vines, I have picked them and stored them on paper in a cool place to ripen. Last year we had fresh, perfectly ripe tomatoes well past Thanksgiving, because I had trays of tomatoes ripening in the basement.
Oh, that is so brilliant~ I always thought taking them off green was a last resort--this is is wonderfully instructive. ANd yes, I keep thinking about my tiny silly situation--versus the risks that farmers take every year. I am in awe and covered with respect.
DeleteIt was life-changing to learn about ripening tomatoes off the vine.
DeleteI only grow flowering plants on my balcony, but my upstairs neighbors grow three kinds of cherry tomatoes plus a few strawberry plants. My reward for watering in the summer when they’re on vacation for three weeks is all the ripe tomatoes and strawberries I find. I like the trade!
ReplyDeleteYUM! So great!
DeleteI planted Sungolds in pots on the patio. And we have literally hundreds of green tomatoes.
ReplyDeleteAnd precisely two that started turning yellow last week.
At this rate we should have a bountiful tomato harvest by Thanksgiving.
But we are getting great ones of all varieties in our CSA box.
Never a dull moment! But the sun golds will all turn yellow at the same time, and it will be wonderful!~
DeleteI no longer garden, but it seems like the tomatoes are late to ripen around here this year and are smaller, too. Just got some from a nearby farmstand--great flavor, but small!
ReplyDeleteSO strange!
DeleteHere in central Florida we need to wait until Fall to plant tomatoes as the summers are too hot. I have not had success in the past but plan to try again this year because I love fresh tomatoes. The squirrels and fruit rats love them, too, so I may try growing them on the screened porch although I am not sure they will get enough sun. (Barbara C.)
ReplyDeleteLet us know how it goes! xx
DeleteArgh, don't talk to me about tomatoes. We planted our usual half dozen, in fabric tubs on the south side of the house. We had one compact cherry that produced like crazy, then something came along and ate all of them. Now it's too hot and all the plants are sad and sprawing. Most of them are still flowering, however, so we may have tomatoes in November... Hank, I never see Sun Gold in the nurseries here anymore, either. Usually I can get a variety called Sungold and they are good, but so far this year's has produced TWO tomatoes.
ReplyDeleteSO frustrating, Debs! Is "spawing" a typo or is that a thing? That is is a wonderful word. The Reds are not conquering the tomatoes this year, that's for sure!
DeleteMaybe "sprawing" is a thing. They are certainly doing it. And I meant Sun Sugar as a replacement variety for Sungold.
DeleteMy CSA farmer friend talked about unpredictable growing seasons, one reason they planted many different crops, and why we never knew for sure what would be in our shares.
ReplyDeleteAnother friend put cages atop his raised beds, to allow humans to get some of what they grew.
-- Storyteller Mary
Yes, the humans definitely have to fight for the food, that's for sure! xx
DeleteI miss the tomatoes I grew up with in Indiana so much! The fruit rats always beat us to the tomatoes in LB. Now that I live on the 21st floor, We might have a chance, but we travel too much.
ReplyDeleteThe best tomatoes I have had since the Indiana garden were in Maasluis Netherlands. We were doing a hike and a grocer came out with the most beautiful stem full of tomatoes and they were amazing.
I planted tomatoes for the first time this year with a lot of help from my gardening sister-in-law. She added powered milk (for calcium), tomato fertilizer, and gardening soil when we started. It’s been a rough summer for weather here…heat domes, tornadoes, straight-line winds, no rain, too much rain…awful. One storm damaged a tree and it tackled all of one tomato plant and part of another. Those two have had some tomatoes, but not a lot. Another plant looked like it had fungus so I trimmed it quite a bit and then it thrived. A few weeks ago I added more gardening soil and all the plants perked up and produced better. I may do that again. So…mixed results for my first attempt. (Oh, and one plant was labeled beefsteak, but appears to be an heirloom tomato instead…odd.) What has grown have been so good!
ReplyDeleteWe didn't put in a garden this year, but I am addicted to tomato sandwiches. Whole wheat bread, mayo, red ripe tomato, lots of salt (don't judge, please) and pepper. Most tomatoes are meh. The one today - five stars. It's hit or miss, but when it hits, nirvana.
ReplyDeleteOH, you are so right ,when the yare good, the yare terrific. ANd I love the salt, just saying.
DeleteI've just realized it's August 13th and I haven't had a single garden tomato sandwich yet! Argh! I'm going to get some excellent bread at the bakery, stop at the local farm stand, and get in on the action before it's too late.
ReplyDeleteGood plan!
DeleteAfter reading some of your comments I think you are right, the plant may have not been healthy from the start. Sometimes that happens. Bummer for sure. Sorry!
ReplyDeleteMy tomatoes came and went in May so i am not a good one to judge by -- being in AZ and all. I do have blossoms on my plant and expect I'll have more by October. It's a double crop out here, assuming the plants can survive the summer!
ReplyDeleteEvery summer I always look forward to tomatoes on toast with salt and pepper, and lots of mayo. We got our plan ts in late this year and don't have much of anything. It has been so hot and rainy this summer, they either grow too fast and split or the plant just gives up. We put in Roma and Stripies. I find the yellow tomatoes flavorful and less acidic. I do hope we get some soon or I will have to go to the Farmer's Market.
ReplyDelete