Only 4 full sized tomato plants of unknown variety, possibly Bonnie’s Best, yielding about 80 beauties per plant. The little ones shown here are called Tumblers & are great for snacking. We have been eating ripe ones directly from our 2 Tumbler plants for quite awhile.
This tomato crop may seem insignificant for someone who is gardening and preserving for a family of growing children, but for my household of two seniors it’s a bonanza! In all my years North of 54 I’ve never had such a bountiful crop, and several of the large ones even ripened on the vine.
Now, as the green tomatoes ripen under their cozy covers, I keep an eye on them, collect those that are ready, and make tomato stuff - a sometimes daunting, time consuming, yet rewarding process. Our favourite lunch has become buttered toast, layered with tomato and topped with cheese, then baked or broiled till the cheese melts. Scrumptious! I used 25 pounds to make spaghetti sauce, plan on using 12 pounds for BBQ sauce, made green tomato relish, will probably make salsa, and am thinking about Bruschetta. The rest I will can as stewed tomatoes. Hopefully by Thanksgiving (Canadian) the tomato bonanza will be stored away for winter - the last garden task until next year. Will I grow fewer tomatoes in 2022? I’ll decide by what’s left in the root cellar come Spring.
These are called Juliettes.They are a bit like a Roma but smaller - meaty with tough skins. Juliettes are an heirloom variety. Heirloom tomatoes are annual vegetable plants that have not been crossbred or hybridized for at least 40 years. They are open-pollinated, meaning the seeds will produce plants identical to the parent plant. This means you can save your heirloom tomato seeds and grow the same tomatoes next year. I had only one plant but it was prolific. Just yesterday, after frost finally scorched its leaves, I picked another half basket.
mltipton.blogspot.com, https://www.facebook.com/Northof543/, Sept. 27, 2021
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