Vicissitude in The Garden

There's one thing a Kansas gardener can count on for abundance - tomatoes. This photo was taken on July 31, 2007. We had been eating tomatoes for a couple of weeks, so this array is only part of what we had harvested. There are brandywine, Rutgers, Cherokee purple, and other varieties on the table.


Here is the total 2010 crop as of July 31, with the exception of the one tomato we have eaten. The larger tomatoes are an heirloom variety, Abraham Lincoln, and a volunteer - the obviously lobed ones. The romas, usually robust, are simply pitiful.



Tomatoes aren't performing well for anyone here this summer. One friend, whose husband is a highly successful gardener, said that he is pulling up his plants. A Farmer's Market vendor said she will have tomatoes to sell for only one more week. The tomato we bought from her was so tasteless we fed it to the chickens. No one knows why the crop is a near failure this year, but it has shaken our confidence.

Last year I canned 27 quarts of tomatoes. Now I wish I hadn't used them so freely.