Early tomato harvest

Although I don't keep records of such things, this is probably the earliest I've ever harvested tomatoes. The tomatoes that I picked this morning are shown in the photo, below. Most are not 100% ripe; but, squirrels and field mice love to eat my produce, so I bring them in a bit early. The large, beefsteak-type tomato weighs 1 pound 5.5 ounces. I only planted two tomatoes this year - in mid-March, as I recall. you can tell that the second plant produces Roma-type tomatoes.

Comments

[Ole Phat Stu]

FWIW, studies have shown that multicoloured tomatoes taste better :-)

[bogie]

Those look like some fine eating - enjoy! Ours are blooming, should be only a couple more months before we can share similar pics.

[Cop Car]

Stu--After at least 72 years of eating tomatoes, I probably don't need experts to advise me on the tastiness of tomatoes. *giggling* Thanks for the advice for others who may drop by!

Bogie--I feel for you having to wait that long; but, such is the price you pay for the benefit of living where you do. These tomatoes are a bit mushy from the heat. They were hiding under the foliage, so I'm not sure how long they had been ready to pick before I found them (they hide nearly as well as the baby wrens hide!) Our weather has been such for the past couple of weeks (night-time temperatures above 75 degrees, every night, and day-time above 100 degrees many days) that no new tomatoes have set on.

[Darlene]

Fresh from the garden tomatoes are just a memory to me. I envy you being able to raise them.

[Cop Car]

Darlene--Already I have harvested more tomatoes this year than last. Some years we do OK...others, not so much. I'm with you, though. Nothing beats eating a juicy tomato while standing in the spot from which it was just picked. Any chance we can move you closer to here? What fun we would have!

[buffy]

I gave up on trying to grow anything but the miniature yellow pear tomatoes that I love and can't always find. I've been buying tomatoes at the Farmer's Market. That works, but it's not quite as satisfying as picking them out of your own garden. Like you, the critters get to my tomatoes if I leave them to ripen fully. One tooth mark here, another there, and Farmer Buffy sees red! lol

[M.E.]

we have a fabulous farmers market here every sunday, and they're already selling tomatoes! one of the rules is that all produce must be grown locally. unlike other farmers markets, ours provides the real mccoy! still, nothing has ever tasted as wonderful as the tomatoes my mother grew in the back yard. she didn't pick them until they were perfectly ripe, and that meant there were mere minutes between vine and table. how i miss her and her wonderful garden!

[Cop Car]

Buffy--I do so like the little yellow pear-shaped tomatoes. (HH says they aren't a tomato if they are yellow!) One would think that we would know how to share! (What's a little tooth mark?)

ME--Glad that you have the farmers market handy. They usually have really good stuff. (I always ask when the vegetable was harvested - usually, that morning!) Now that I've consumed the large, beefsteak-type tomato, I can tell you that it was fabulous. It was less ripe than the Romas which might explain why it was better.

[joared]

Do your tomatoes have true tomato flavor or has it been bred out of them with preference given to their lookin' good???

[Cop Car]

Joared--It's hard to tell on the Roma types as they are mushy (I assume, from the extreme heat we've had this year - again!) but the beefsteak tomato was as tasty as any tomato I've ever eaten. Wish I could tell you the name of it. There was another beefsteak tomato ready for the picking when I watered yesterday morning. Unfortunately, when I picked it, about 1/2 of it was missing. Some critter beat me to it.

[M.E.]

Never mind the tomatoes, tell us your thoughts on the Higgs boson!!! If you please, heh....

[Cop Car]

ME--The announcement is a bit surprising. I think that they are jumping the gun, a bit, myself - much more so than I normally expect from a bunch of physicists! Oh, well, if it makes them happy. I won't live long enough to know the true answer, I'm pretty sure. Perhaps they were afraid that they wouldn't, either.
That said, most physicists seem to be jumping on the band wagon and 99.99% of them are much smarter and much more learned in physics than this old woman! (Maybe I'm just tasting sour grapes because I had no part in the discovery!)
Update a few hours later: I jumped the gun, myself, by commenting before actually having visited the websites of some of the researchers themselves. As usual, the physicists were careful to say that they may or may not have actually detected "the Higgs" boson and quantify the likelihood. It will be interesting to follow their findings in the next several months/years.

[Joy]

Nothing like home-grown tomatoes. These look pretty yummy to me. ~Joy