Sunday, August 06, 2006

Tomatoes need rain

Above is a picture of our small garden area.
It has been sooo HOT that our plants are beginning to die. So hot & dry that the grass & weeds didn't grow up between the plants to shade them, as in past years. We don't water anything...we plant and let mother nature do her part.
We're getting some nice tomatoes and have even fried a few green ones.

Not all the plants look as bad as the 2nd picture. This one looks a little greener, but it has some dried leaves on it too. The reason you don't see any ripe tomatoes on any of our plants is because Jimmy is right out there early in the morning and picks everyone of them off.

We haven't had too much trouble with spots or the tomatoes rotting. The only rotting that occurs is when we can't eat them fast enough, after they are picked. Isn't it amazing how fast a home grown tomato rots...In just a few days.

I did an experiment a few years back with store bought, hot house tomatos. We bought 3 and tried to eat one of them...you know what I'm talking about...they look like a tomato and that's where the similarity ends. We let the other two sit on our counter for...get this...THIRTEEN WEEKS. They never rotted. They only had a little indentation where they had sat for so long. That's when we asked ourselves, "what are they doing to these tomatoes?"

So, home grown tomatoes is all we eat...We haven't bought a tomato since my little experiment.

13 comments:

TJ said...

I got my first two maters yestidy!!!
I have two patio plants and the Master Judges said I should have chosen cherrie tomatoes for better yield in my enviroment...How Martha Stewart of them...I'm getting plenty thankya!! They aren't as big as yours though!!!
Loved the cukoo joke!!!
:-D

Susie said...

Wow, that does make you wonder what they put on storebought to ripen and preserve them!
I only wish we could get even one tomato! The plants look good, but no fruit sets on even if they blossom (the blossoms just dry up)

Carole Burant said...

We have lots of tomato plants in our veggie garden and they're all starting to really produce now. For now we only eat the ones that ripen but later in the season when the colder temps arrive, we pick them all and put them in boxes downstairs with newspaper covering them. As they ripen I make canned stewed tomatoes with them...the I can use them all through winter to make my spaghetti sauces, etc:-) We hate the store bought tomatoes...tastes like cardboard most of the time!!

Sarabeth said...

I think the sunflowers are beautiful next to your garden.

MrsGreenThumb said...

You live in the perfect environment to grow tomatoes. We have no luck with tomatoes here. They are one of the vegetables I like most. Mostly we buy vine tomatoes, they have a semblance of taste like a home grown tomato. The rest are bred to go around the world and never get rotten, I think. When my sister and your brother came to visit a couple of years ago, I had one request. Bring home grown tomatoes, they didn't and was I disappointed. Enjoy, enjoy, you are sure lucky.

By the way, I used to buy heirloom variety seeds from Shepard seed company in California. They were European varieties that were incredibly sweet and tender. Do you ever start your own plants? You should try it next year and see what you get.

MrsGreenThumb said...

Sandy, I just looked it up, it was a Carmello tomato and you can find it at www.Reneesgarden.com
Apparently she sold out to White Fence Farm and then started another seed company.
https://www.reneesgarden.com/seeds/packpg/veg/tomato-carmello-p.htm
Copy and paste that into your browser, I loved that tomato.

Rachel said...

Your tomatoes are pretty. We need rain here too. It has thundered all evening. I think just south of here they must have got a good one because it just seemed to sit there a long time before it moved on. It did not move thisaway though, unfortunately.

I can just see Jimmy out there picking those tomatoes early every morning!

Thirteen weeks!!!! Great jumping tadpoles, that is incredible. Makes you wonder doesn't it? They sure don't taste anything like home grown.

Sandy Hatcher-Wallace said...

MrsGreenThumb...thank you for the link. I will visit the site and also pass the information on to The Four Bears in the Woods. They start their tomato plants by seed and that's where I got my final plants this year. Something happend to the first planting.

Rachel...I really liked your expression, "great jumping tadpoles."
We didn't get any rain either although it thundered all evening. I drove through Brodhead,Ky. today and their thermometer read l02ºf. I couldn't ride long today...it was just to stiffling HOT...I only made it to Danville, stopped and ate at Shoneys and came home. I drove the curvey back roads and I was beat when I got home.

muylajuana...thanks for the compliment and I can imagine the tomatoes cooking on the vine. They just melt into a pancake looking wet spot on the ground when it's so hot. Glad you stopped in and I hope you visit again.

Tammy...who are these Master Gardeners? hehehe
I'm glad you started getting some tomatoes. This is the first year that we didn't put out any cherry tomatoes. They did so well last year that we couldn't keep them picked off fast enough.

Sue...your gonna have to ask MrsGreenThumb about what is wrong with your tomatoes...I just plant mine and let them do whatever they are going to do. Maybe you need some little honeybees to polinate the flowers?

Pea...I tried putting the green tomatoes in boxes and covering them one year, but they all rotted so now we just fry up the green ones that are left on the vine. I usually make medium & hot salsa with all our garden veggies, but this year I have been so obscessed with learning to ride that I have neglected everything.

dr.charles...those sun flowers are really very tall and come up on their own every year. They originated when we planted one huge sunflower and as the birds ate the seeds they scattered some, so now every year we get these sun flower bushes, as I call them.
The garden is hanging in there and I'm really surprised with the soaring heat that we have had. My raspberries, which are drought resistant are doing better than anything...they're over producing their little bushes off.

sarabeth...thank you for stopping in and I also love the sun flowers growing in that corner. They want to come up everywhere, but that little corner is their appointed home.

Alipurr said...

wow, that is certainly scary about the grocery store tomato

rdl said...

Congrats!! on Largest!!from fellow contest winner. Where's the party??

Anonymous said...

A party sounds like a grand idea!

Molly said...

I am in awe. That is Some Tomato. Congratulations.

somershade said...

Congradulations mom on winning the Contest for the largest tomatoe.cool,fun!
I left a comment for you on the winning site :)Nice trophy