Heirloom tomatoes

Hey Ya'll,



My poor container tomatoes just about have whiplash from being dragged in and out. I know, I know...I should probably wait just a little longer, but the earlier they go in, the faster I'll be enjoying them.

It goes something like this; when they are FINALLY ready, I eat them with every meal. I grew my first Evergreen last year and had fried green tomatoes three nights running. I didn't even make it to the livingroom with the plate, I just stood at the kitchen counter and could not believe how good and sweet they were. (and that I actually made something edible!)

They start out like this...



And then before you know it...


And then... (this is a Yellow Pear)



My crowning glory...Fried Green Tomatoes!!!




After I'm over the initial excitement, I'll start sharing them with friends, but by August, I'll be hiding in the bushes, lobbing them at passing motorcyclists. I end up begging complete strangers to please take some off my hands before they rot on the vine. It never fails, but at least I'm consistent.

I remember a few years ago when we had so much rain and all my tomato growing brethren were pulling their rotted plants out of the ground, I was doing the Snoopy Dance all around the yard because I grow mine in containers so they don't drown.

Here I am peeking out from behind the San Marzano...almost like a Bell pepper on the inside, with almost no juice to speak of. Even in containers, you can see how tall they get. I don't pinch mine back and I remove the suckers near the bottom. I'm not follwing any hard and fast rule...I'm just plowing along on my own. I do add calcium and magnesium to avoid blossum end rot. Yuck!


I use good old horse pookey as an organic fertilizer. Don't be scared to try it...it might be crap to you, but it's gold to me! :-)




I've never grown anything except Heirloom's, so I don't know if the hybrids get as tall. Last year, I had to splice stakes together because they were so high. I grew three in-ground last year as an experiment. The up side was that they got VERY big. The downside are these disgusting worms that I think are called cut worms (someone please correct me if the ID is off?)

THIS IS JUST GROSS AND IT REALLY TICKED ME OFF! A perfectly good Rutgers ruined!


None of the container plants harbored any. Could it be a co-inky-dink, or are these little buggers just too lazy to slither up the side of the pots?

On the bird front, it's still a little early for baby hawks and owls. I'm gearing up!

For those of you who are curious about Heirloom gardening, let me clue you in on something...Monsanto wants to control every bite of food you put in your mouth by their creation of the 'terminator seed.' It produces ONE time and that's it. With Heirloom gardening, you will probably pay a little more if you purchase a plant because you'll never have to buy another one! All the babies in the first picture were seeds from my plants last year.

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog....m.

Monteen McCord

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