To me, the quintessential summer vegetable, is the tomato. It reminds me of my grandfather's garden. He would compete with his neighbors for plant vigor and earliest vine-ripened tomato of the summer. His buddies would debate the best sources for starter plants, varieties, and planting techniques. Each winter, I dream, plan, and strategize to produce delicious tomatoes before July 4, boost yields for sauce-making, and grow flavorful tomatoes for a caprese salad.
The 2014 growing season was one of my least successful growing seasons based on my three goals. Many tomatoes were harvested green and ripened on the kitchen counter. Aside from fresh eating, I only had enough tomatoes for 1 batch each of ketchup and sauce. Flavor was at times bland and occasionally sublime.
The biggest surprise of the summer was a new variety 'Schmmeig Striped Hollow' from Fedco Seeds. It outproduced all my other paste and slicing tomato varieties. The fruit cavity is hollow with little seed production making them ideal for stuffing and an interesting addition to summer tomato salads.
The two hybrids that I grow each year, 'Juliet' and 'Sungold', performed as expected. The season was just too cold for the 'San Marzano' plants. My best paste tomato variety of the year was 'Grandma Mary's', which I grow every season to compare to new (to me) varieties. I tried Weisnicht's Ukranian tomato, great flavor, meaty texture, and worth trying for a second season. All varieties were purchased from Fedco Seeds.
No comments:
Post a Comment