My orange tomatoes have ripened first this year. This is a variety called Orange Blossom. Perfectly ripe today. I had a few slices on their own, the rest on a yummy steak sandwich for lunch. And then I had a second ripe orange tomato in a fresh potato salad for dinner. Delicious!
Of five Farmer's Market tomatoes I tried together last year, Orange Blossom one was the tastiest. It will look very nice with red and purple tomatoes when they ripen.
For the past three years now, my first ripe tomato has been on the same day - July 31! Here's my 2007 first, and here's my 2006 first. Hhmmm. Maybe next year I can beat this date....
I am still very disappointed in the tomatoes at my community plot. Gretta has a nice post on her site about septoria leaf spot, the disease my plants seem to have. These plants are almost completely defoliated now. This has to have an effect on the fruit. Fortunately, the tomatoes in my home garden are not affected at all. And I have one lone Cherokee Purple out at the community plot that I planted later and in a separate bed. These plants are looking very good, though the tomatoes are still green. I'm glad I didn't have all my eggs in one basket....
Solanum lycopersicum
A number of heirloom tomatoes are known to have some resistance to Septoria leaf spot. Doing a little surfing, I came up with Brandēva and Eva Purple Ball. In my experience Silvery Fir Tree is pretty disease resistant. While not always interesting for eating, current or wild tomatoes are very disease resistant and might be worth trying.
ReplyDeleteThe problem we have around here is late blight, and almost no tomato varieties have resistance to this.
Great gardening blog!
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry about your tomatoes, but that orange one sure does look good!
ReplyDeleteThe rains in MA have made my tomatoes and peppers extremely unhappy. 2 of my pepper plants in an apparently drainage-challenged spot look like they are crying for help. I don't know if I will lose them or not. I picked the half-grown peppers from them, I don't know, so as to strain the plants less, or perhaps just save something edible should the plants die altogether. My tomatoes have no new yellow flowers, but lots of yellow leaves. I have been getting enough ripe tomatoes (cherries, mostly) for a dinner each day, but little more. Rain go away!
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