Tomatoes

Last Thursday, I started canning tomatoes. I have grown the San Marzano paste variety for the last two years. They are extremely prolific, with thick, meaty walls and small, compact areas of seedy goo. I find that they don't seem to ripen evenly, and they detach from their stems very easily as they start to ripen, sometimes before they are half way there. Its hard to pick the ripe ones without disturbing the ripening ones and making them drop off. They have a good flavour, but I think I'll be trying a different variety next spring. If any gardeners out there have a favourite paste tomato that is good for canning, I'd love to hear of it!

 I am pleased with the Rapunzel cherry tomato, and will continue to grow it. It just keeps going and going, even though I am steadily de-suckering it now that the season is winding down. The beautiful hanging tresses of tomatoes glow like red jewels when the sun shines through the laden branches. They are a very sweet pop of tomato flavour, and they dry beautifully. 

 The Mule Team beefsteak tomatoes were grown from old seed this year, and they struggled to attain their usual green verdancy, but have and are producing lovely big beefsteak tomatoes now. They have a delicious old-time tomato flavour, and I will be saving seeds from them, although I am going to be growing a different beefsteak tomato next summer. (the variety yet to be determined!)

I start my tomato plants early, and grow them under lights. The seedlings pop up quickly in this wood-fire heated house, with no need for a heat mat under them. Once the plants are big enough to transplant, I also prune the growing tips to make the plants sturdier. I transplant the seedlings twice as they grow too big for their pots. Each time, I bury the stem as much as possible to encourage a good root system. When mid-May rolls around, I am anxiously watching the weather forecast, itching to get them into the ground. At the earliest 'warm weather' forecast, I plant them out, snipping off all the lower leaves, and burying the stems as deep as I can in a good couple of shovel fulls of compost. I put frost protection around them, (a water jacket) so that once the frost possibility is past, the plants take off and produce fruit earlier than they otherwise would.

The first tomato harvested is a culinary delight, especially if you've been hoodwinked into buying those beautiful looking, but tasteless specimens in the grocery stores!