Tomatoes on the March

Tomatoes are on the march in the Urban Homestead. It has been a very good year. I moved them into the back garden beds as part of a crop rotation, where they have always been very happy, in the garden beds or in big black tubs.  There are two beds of tomatoes: one for sauces and one for eating out of hand.

                I made a few changes to the varieties that I plant. I added Grandaro, a large paste tomato that I found in the Johnny’s catalog. It has been very prolific, which huge fruits that are resistant to blossom end rot, which has always been a plum tomato problem in my yard.  On their own, two plants are responsible for almost all of my sauce. I will be planting these again. I also planted two new sandwich varieties. A friend gave me some free oxheart seeds, so I planted them. They are truly the size of an ox heart, and ne plant put out over a dozen large, richly flavored fruits. They were excellent on a tomato sandwich. The other new variety was Tangerine, which put out round orange globes that were also yummy in salads with basil and olive oil. Add the usual varieties-- Sungold and Peacevine, Heinz  and Stupice, as well as the winter Longkeepers—and I had a perfect mix of color and size in the back yard.

                This year, I experimented with tomato sauce. For years, I have roasted most of my winter stores, slicing them in half and roasting in a hot oven until wilted. This year, I took out the crock pot for a little variety. I chopped the tomatoes into quarters, sloshed half a cup of water into the base, and turned it on to slowly cook down. Overnight, with no effort, I have a thick and chunky sauce. It piles up in the fridge until I have three or four quarts, then I can in into pint jars for winter soups and lasagna. I have roasted, sauced, and salsa-d enough tomatoes this year that I am seriously thinking on planting half as many, only for eating, next summer.