Tomato Crazy

We finally got the first tomato out of our garden. Let's see, I guess we officially picked it on the 1st, so our first tomato wasn't until September! Next year we plan to get them in the ground before June, although of course we are also handicapped by the fact that the plants don't get full sun...there are trees and houses and fences and stuff that block them from getting as long a day of sun as they might want to ripen some tomatoes.

Of course my goal was to get the tomatoes up higher than the houses...since it's the leaves that need the sun and not the tomato fruits, I figured that would work great. My bf didn't quite see things the same way, though...he basically nixed the idea of putting up a second level to our cages, which would give them support up to ten feet into the air. Drat! Next year, I don't think he'll have a choice, though...it's not like they stop growing just because you don't provide a support.

We asked my bf's mom to stand by the tomato plants with the first tomato in her hand. I'm not sure what she's doing, trying to make it look like the tomato is still on the vine maybe? That first tomato actually came from one of the self watering planters, not the raised bed! We didn't want to try to tell her to do something else, though, since the real reason we wanted her to stand beside the tomatoes is she's so short we figured she'd make them look really tall. I don't know if it really worked, though. Next time maybe I'll get on the ground and take a picture of them reaching up towards the sky...that ought to do the trick.

In appreciation for her watering the tomatoes faithfully every day, we gave my bf's mom that first tomato. I think she was pretty happy about that, because she'd been going on and on about how some of them seemed ripe to her and I think she really wanted one. Did she eat it though? No! She stuck it in the refrigerator to chill it and then eat it later.

WHO REFRIGERATES A VINE RIPENED, JUICY, BEAUTIFUL, PERFECT TOMATO THAT IS READY TO EAT?????

Okay, my bf's mom, that's who. I kinda wish we'd eaten the first one now, since *ARGH* refrigerating a tomato causes it to lose flavor and develop a mealy texture.

Speaking of moms...we were going to FedEx my mom a few carrots from the garden, but we're running a bit low now and my bf gave a few big 'uns to his gardener's eight year old son the other day...I guess the boy was really impressed to see these huge carrots get pulled up out of the ground. Probably more impressed than my mom, who wouldn't actually be there to see them come up out of the ground anyway, but we are definitely looking forward to planting some more for our "winter garden" since we just attended a lecture on winter gardening in this area last week. Maybe we'll send my mom some "winter garden carrots".

Winter garden for us = fava beans...lettuce...garlic...onions...and carrots!

 

Yes, in case you didn't catch that before, I said my bf's gardener. His mom waters our tomatoes and he has a gardener come take care of his yard. When I described the raised beds I thought we should use in his yard, he had me take pictures of the plans and then printed them out for his gardener, and had his gardener build them and get the soil and compost for them. That's pretty funny if you ask me.