I finally have some pictures of tomatoes! These photos are a combination of freshly harvested tomatoes and greenies we brought into the house to ripen, in hopes of saving them from critters.
I'll start with the greenies pictured above. These were all solid green when Booh Bear picked them. We had lost too many huge, luscious tomatoes to invisible deer *eye roll*, squirrels, and rabbits. I should have taken the photo after they all turned, but I found the mid-ripening-process colors fascinating to look at. At full ripe we had a range of reds, yellows, red/purple, and yellow/red. They looked beautiful and tasted delicious!
This next picture was a fresh batch that was brought in one evening. Most prominent in this photo are my Sunrise Bumblebee cherry tomatoes. Aren't they lovely? Not only are they photogenic, but the flavor is tomato perfection! I would describe them as relatively mild, with a seemingly low acid content and good mouth feel. I have already harvested some seeds to dry for next spring. <3
The other small tomatoes pictured above are your standard orange plum tomatoes, along with some yellow pear tomatoes not quite in view. Also pictured is a smaller yellow mortgage lifter.
The larger tomatoes, like this steakhouse, have been ripening mostly indoors. This is one of the smaller ones, but it gives you an idea of the size we are going for. I am serving these up in meals as quickly as I can get them ripe, along with the equally-large hillbilly potato leaf tomatoes. (Those are large red/yellow streaked heirlooms.) The flavor is bold, and everything you would expect from a hybrid tomato. They are delicious in fat, meaty slabs on a sandwich or in wedges served raw. <3
This is part of our most recent haul. I say part, because I literally just tried to get a good mix of what we were harvesting into the photo. The basket in the background is the standard shopping size hand-held basket like you might find at a grocery store. (It was given to us by an elderly friend who had had it for decades.) The take I have partially pictured here was fully half a basket, both green and ripe.
We took in sixteen different varieties of tomato that day alone, I believe. In fact, out of the twenty-three varieties of tomato I have planted, we have confirmed harvest of twenty-one of those (as of yesterday) in total. There are two that I have not seen come through yet, although I swear that a couple of the ones we had to throw out (half-eaten on the vine) fall into those categories.
One tomato missing from my harvest so far is the black early, which plant got accidentally snapped in half early in the season. The other is, I am guessing, a plumito. Those look like the shape of bell peppers, even though they are tomatoes. I have yet to see any, although I did see plenty of them green on the vine. It may not be their time yet.
This is a picture of different kinds of 'cherry' tomatoes. There are nine distinct varieties pictured, although I forgot to add the tenth. I placed a chocolate cherry in the picture, but not the black cherry. I have both. :) Not pictured are the yellow pear and the red cherry tomatoes we harvested earlier in the season.
Again, you see most of these varieties because I took seeds from two variety packs I had purchased at WalMart and Sam's Club, dried them for a week, and then germinated them here at home. I do not even know what the long red paste tomato is called. It tastes a bit like a roma. They hang on the vine looking like jalapeno peppers. haha I am getting quite the return on those two purchases! ;)
One last picture before we go...
We are done with zucchini, cucumber, and broccoli for the year. I have some baby romaine lettuce growing. We are just now beginning to take in orange bell pepper. My peppers in general (green, orange, and mixed) are still growing very slowly. Our potatoes were gorgeous, and tasted *so* good! I will definitely be growing these again in the future! Spaghetti squash has tasted delicious, as well. Butternut (only a few of each of these things pictured) squash has been prolific. I keep spotting another and another hiding out there in my jungle. In fact, we have shared more spaghetti and butternut squash with our neighbors than zucchini. That is crazy! The picture only shows a couple, but you get the idea.
Something killed my cantaloupe vine. That was heartbreaking for my daughter, who so dearly loves them. The watermelon vine put out two small melons, but those also fizzled out before we could really enjoy them in fullness. Most of our fruits and veggies have produced, but you can see that some had an off-year. Next year, I am going to consider working harder on a smaller garden.
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So there you have it. If you were curious about the myriad of tomato varieties we have growing, this is your answer. They are definitely coming up! It took ages for them to ripen, we have dealt with critters eating them, the weather has been hot and brutal at times, but we have persevered. The 2018 garden season had a late start and has had a difficult summer, but it *is* producing goodies. We are very blessed. <3
Don't forget to tend those spiritual gardens! Feeding the soul is as necessary as feeding the body.
