My first ripe tomato of 2009 - June 21
This is a much more momentous occasion than you might think – I’ve never had ripe tomatoes before July 4, and usually a week or even two later. The plant is an “Early Girl” which honestly is not all that tasty of a tomato variety – and yet compared to the trucked in tomato like objects in the grocery stores (at as much as $2 a pound!) they’re pretty excellent. A Home grown tomato is another thing that even when it’s bad is still pretty danged good. If I were only growing a few tomato plants “Early Girl” wouldn’t be the variety I would grow – I would grow “Celebrity” for it’s admirable if not outstanding taste plus unsurpassed reliability and disease resistance. Fortunately for me I can grow lots of tomatoes.
This plant was set out in my 50 dollar greenhouse on March 15 from seeds that I started using home made bottom heat in February, and is one of my greenhouse experiments – to grow extra early tomatoes.
So, two weeks isn’t really all that much earlier – is this experiment a success or not?
I must say that many gardeners in my area are not having stellar results this year, because wet weather prevented an early start, and more wet weather has caused poor germination, water logged roots, and a general failure to thrive. That’s because they don’t use raised beds, and therefore have poor drainage. Also the ongoing abuse of their soil caused by the application of chemical fertilizer and pesticides is not conducive to healthy plants when the weather is less than ideal. Healthy soil makes healthy plants.
My tomatoes are thriving on an application of compost + a scoop of rabbit manure (possibly the most excellent fertilizer there is) and a bit of lime in the planting hole and a weed suppressing mulch of grass clippings. Other than caging them and pulling the occasional weed I haven’t had to do a thing since planting. Soon will come the best job of all – eating home grown tomatoes.
Happy Organic Gardening!
Here’s my first one: http://recyclebills.squarespace.com/recycleblog/summers-culinary-masterpiece-arrives.html
PS. I’m adding you do my blogroll: http://recyclebills.squarespace.com/recycleblog/add-your-green-blog-to-recyclebills-blogroll.html
Wow, I’m envious! We’re still several days away from our first ripe ones. Lots of green but no red yet. Our cherries will ripen up first.
Yeah, usually “Juliet” is my first one to ripen. It’s time to be really vigilant about watering (but not too much)to prevent blossom end rot.
many thanks,
might be an anomily with the cultivar? oh well be nice eating all the same especially on a corn beef sandwich.
just in case all our garden nutrients are derived from kitchen scraps, tucked under the mulch, and green type mulches ie.,. spoilt hay or sugar cane mulch plus used water from the kitchen with my wee water added. we us no manures or fertilisers, manures are too had to source.
will us humanure when i get into the swing a bit, did for ages when in rural and we had a composting toilet.
It definitely is a property of the variety “Early Girl” is well known as not being all that tasty, but like I said it’s still better than what you can get in the stores.
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It usually bears about 10 days sooner than most others though so it’s worth a plant or three for that reason.
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We keep rabbits now (for about 3 1/2 months) so that is where we get our fertilizer. We kept rabbits for several years earlier in our life so I know what I’m saying about the quality of the fertilizer.
wow good looking tom’s hey?
obviously of course you don’t have tropical fruit fly to contend with, but then being in a green house that would control them anyway.
no experience with greenhouse growing here, not needed but? how do you get on for pollination? ie.,. most of us rely on pollinator insects, bees mainly.
yes more gardeners should use raised beds for a variety of reasons. just wonder with the flavour of the fruit, which seems to be hand in glove with the aroma of the fruit, so wondering how you feed your medium?? do you rely on worms? what sort of light is dominant in the greenhouse eg.,. natural or artificial??
just thinking out loud, maybe any one or a combination of these could have an effect on the flavour? like here late tomato’s those are the ones that are persisting into early winter, though they look as good often not as big, and smell as good the flavour is more tangy than sweet as they should be. this by my interpretation being because the days are shorter and cooler and the nights are longer and colder. they also take heaps longer to mature and ripen on the vine, the best upside no fruit fly attack.
but no matter! at the end of the day a home grown piece of fruit far outstrips any bought from a shop.
Sorry about that. I set them out in the greenhouse, but once the weather warmed up nicely I took the cover off of the greenhouse. So, no worries for pollination. I mostly plant right in the ground even in the greenhouse – so yes, earthworms all over the place. They like rabbit manure.