85 Day Tomato

 

We are having a very good tomato year. The plants are eight feet tall and loaded with fruit. The part of me that loves putting by food for the winter is thrilled. The part that worries about climate change is not.

When I first started growing food in our backyard, thirty years ago, I searched for tomatoes that were varied in color and shape, but also ripened early.  I wanted the 70 day tomato, not the 85. I had too many stay green on the vines my first few years and green tomato pie did not sit well in our stomachs.. OSU had been breeding such fruits for years, and I planted those seeds and harvested the fruit in late August.  I often wrapped the cages or placed milk jugs over the plants for a few weeks for extra warmth. I  did not start the irrigation until July because there was still rain and drizzle until the fourth. The season has changed.  
 

These days, my tomato plants are growing rapidly in May and June, even though I start the seeds a month later. I plant them out in late April most years without covering them up. The irrigation is starting in late May or early June, a full month early. The nights are warm, and then hot, by the Summer Solstice. This year, I planted several 85 day plants—ok, I ordered three different large fruited varieties without thinking it through late February because who doesn’t want a two pound ripe tomato in February?—and they are thriving. The plants have been over Mark’s head for a month. The fruit set early and it is rolling in beautifully ripe and colored this week. Early.

Our world is changing. Today, all of the fields are dry and golden, the hawthorn berries are ripe, and the air smells of the distant forest fires, even though the sky is clear. This may be the year of the perfect 85 day tomato here in the Willamette Valley, but other areas are losing their ability to grow our food. Where are we headed?