A Midsummer Pleasure

Way back in early March, when I placed my tiny tomato starts into the soil,

I thought of this...

A piece of crusty, Italian, rosemary bread.

A slab of sharp cheddar cheese.

 And... some nice, thick slices of heirloom tomatoes.

Oh, salt and pepper!

Isn't food wonderful!

A Taste of Summer

Tomatoes aren't just round and red any more! They are fluted, lobed, scalloped, flattened, puckered and heart shaped. The colors and shades are glorious. They come in variations of pinks, oranges, golds, maroons, redish-browns, and shades of purplish-blacks. The flavors range from, sweet and meaty to fruity and tart or dark and smoky. Look at what we've been missing!

Varieties include, Paul Robeson, old German, Rutgers, Stupice, and Black Cherry

Matt's wild cherry, clusters of 1/2 inch, very sweet, cherry tomatoes cover this plant!

Cherokee Purple

Perfect for a nice tomato sandwich! (my grandpa's favorite!)

Barbara at Tigers & Strawberries has a great post on heirloom tomatoes here.

Also posted at Food Renegade!

A Work of Art!

We are all busy in the garden today. We are cleaning, clearing and setting up the market umbrellas for our garden tour. 

But, look what we found in the tomato bed! Isn't it amazing, it's just like a piece of art!

See you Sunday in the garden!

The World's Most Popular Fruit!

It's time to plant tomatoes, the world's most popular fruit. I'm amazed at the variety of heirloom tomatoes that are available at the local nurseries this year. Many heirloom tomatoes were passed from generation to generation as family treasures. I love reading about the origins of the seeds. The colors, tastes, textures and shape of these fruits are truly amazing (from the catalog photos anyway). I'm addicted to tomatoes. I'd love to have one of each variety. Here are a few of the varieties that I'll be planting for the first time. (I picked these up at Farmyard)  

 Pineapple, a large tomato that ripens to a bright yellow with red stripes. Brandywine, large, pink fleshed fruit, great flavor. These two tomatoes are on the large side, which means they will take a longer time to mature. I'm not sure how these will do in our summer heat. We shall see. Persimmon, this tomato dates back to the 1800's. One of the best shorter season yellow tomatoes. Green Zebra, dark green with yellow stripes, sweet yet spicy and tangy. Stupice, 2 to 3", sweet, flavorful red fruit. Arkansas, yields abundant crop of 8 ounce, round, rose-pink tomatoes. Paul Robson, medium deep, maroon tomato. 

A great place to stay up to date on what grows best in your area is the local nursery. If you listen closely, you can hear your fellow gardeners talking!

Empty garden box and tomatoes... go together.