Tomato Surprise

The few July tomatoes our garden produced were a bust, but August tomatoes are coming on strong. The trouble is, they aren’t what we were expecting.  I bought most of our tomato plants at Vinland Valley Nursery, just a few miles from Paradise and I’m wondering what those folks were smoking when they planted the seeds.

From Vinland Valley I got four Roma plants to grow in the old stock tank that makes a nice raised bed. Roma tomatoes are a staple in our garden because they are more meaty than juicy, which makes them perfect for freezing. I also bought a yellow tomato and a couple of Rutgers for slicing.

My friend Pam had started seeds of my favorite, Abraham Lincoln, and of a tomato she had crossed between a Cherokee purple and some other variety. She had offered me some of her plants, which she duly delivered and planted for me.

This is today’s harvest: from the upper left are several Abraham Lincolns, an unknown yellow and orange tomato, another Abe, then Pam’s cross with its green shoulders, a strange pepper-shaped tomato with green shoulders, and a flock of small tomatoes from the stock tank.

Clearly the stock tank plants are only half Romas and half golf-ball size orange and yellow tomatoes. The Romas are miniscule, hardly worth preparing for freezing.

The pepper-shaped tomatoes must have come from outer space, but their flesh is rather dry and meaty, so they can stand in for the Romas.

Thank goodness Pam came through. If she hadn’t we would not have a single slicing tomato. Only the Abraham Lincoln and Pam’s cross have been successful. But they are plentiful and delicious. Pam’s cross shows its Cherokee heritage when sliced.

I’ll say one thing for the tomatoes of 2015 – they’re very interesting.

Copyright 2015 by Shirley Domer.