Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Ripening Tomatoes! Finally!

Salsa!  BLT sandwiches!  Spaghetti!  There are so many things I can make!!! 

I gazed lovingly at my freshly picked cherry tomato.  It was bright red, unblemished, firm, and beautiful.  I knew that this first tomato wasn't nearly enough to create any of the recipes I mentioned above, but I like to dream big.

Ripe cherry tomato

As you can see, I moved my spaghetti garden from its original spot on the porch.  While the herbs were doing well in that location, the tomato plants weren't getting nearly enough sunlight.  The tomatoes did a great job of growing, but they weren't ripening.  They insisted on staying green.

Within 2 days of moving the spaghetti garden into the area beside the backyard fire pit, however, they all showed signs of ripening.  That area gets a lot of sun, and the fire pit isn't used very much, so the location was ideal.

The tomato pictured is the only one that has ripened at the moment, but there will be more to follow.  At last count, I had 21 tomatoes growing, all in various stages of growth.

Some have reached the perfect size, and are beginning to show signs of ripening.

full size cherry tomatoes, not yet ripe
Note the slightly yellowed hue

Others are still itty bitty, and radiantly green.

very young cherry tomatoes

The fact that they're all ripening at different times is something that I'm very glad to see.  Can you imagine 21 tomatoes ripening all at once?  That's a lot of fruit to have to use in a short amount of time.  Sure, I could make a sauce using that many, but I like to eat my first harvest raw.  It kind of emphasizes to me that I've done well.

You know... kind of like the caveman that waves his flaming stick in the air immediately upon creating fire.  Same emotion.

Same amount of triumphant grunts and roars, too, I admit...

All of this would be exciting enough, but there's one additional thing I should mention that makes my excitement even more overwhelming.

I still have blossoms in some areas!  This cherry tomato plant is going to be a huge producer!


Woohoo!!!





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