They Are Finally Here!

Red tomatoes!!!! I seriously thought it wasn't going to happen this year. With all the damp, cool, rainy weather I had all but given up on my tomatoes. Indeed this will go down as the coolest, wettest, and shortest summer on record in New England - resulting in later than normal and smaller than average harvests. But then a few days ago on August 17 I noticed a lovely deep shade of crimson poking out through the lush tomato foliage. Yes--it was my first large, ripe tomato of the season! A nice juicy Big Beef!

I've been harvesting very small amounts of cherry and grape tomatoes since July 30th - very, very small amounts, but we've had no large varieties ripen until this week (a full month later than usual). Sad thing is that the vines have had green tomatoes on the vine since June but they all seemed too stubborn to ripen.

Week after week they would just hang there hard and green - at one point I felt they were mocking me. Maybe they were in protest of the bad weather - kinda like I've felt all summer. Then it seemed a miracle happened - summer finally arrived on August 10th in New England. Yup..... for those of you not living in the NE you read that right..... it wasn't until August 10th that we actually got some real summer weather. The kind of weather that makes you want to go to the beach or lazily sit under a shade tree and do nothing but nap and sip ice cold lemonade. And it wasn't until summer actually arrived that the tomatoes started to ripen.

I was so in awe of my first red beauty that I must have taken 20 different pictures from all angles (I'll spare all of you those pictures in this posting.) I then placed it on a cake pedestal in my kitchen and just stared at it for a good hour it seemed - well at least until Andy had to ask me what I was doing. "Are you just gonna stare at it or slice it and eat it?" He said in a somewhat annoyed voice. "Cause if you are not going to cut it and eat it - I will!" "I'm dying for a garden tomato!" "Oh no you don't!" I said as I guarded the tomato with my life. "You come near that thing with a knife and there will be hell to pay!" I said sternly. Ok... at that point I realized that maybe the cool weather had killed off a few of my brain cells. I sighed and got out the slicing knife. But, I just couldn't bring myself to do it. So there sits the tomato a full 3 days later and still not eaten. Maybe tonight I'll finally bring myself to do it. But it has to be done right.... it has to be dressed properly with a bit of balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, and sprig of basil. Something I've waited this long has to be savored. I know I have to get moving on it .... I'd be crushed if the darn thing started to rot before I got a chance to eat it.

In the meantime.... the other warm weather veggies are ripening fast as well. The yellow peppers are taking on a gorgeous lemon color.

And, another of my favorites - deep purple eggplants.....

The butternut squash has started to grow.... and grow, and grow, and grow..... Definitely will be bumper crop this year for these. I've got only 3 plants and but probably over 30 squash fruits growing.

So as I relish in the delights of summer's late arrival I feel a little melancholy. For although summer is finally here, Labor Day is only 2 weeks away. The other day I heard the sounds of football (American Football) on TV. Andy was watching the New England Patriots play in a pre-season game. I almost threw my shoe at the TV. I have nothing against football really, but I'm not ready for Fall yet no matter how beautiful the foliage is in New England - after all summer is just getting started.

Talking to Tomatoes

As you can see by my sidebar I'm a fan of Johnny Seeds. I'm on their email list and received this from them today.

Dear Johnny's Catalog Store Customers,

My vegetable garden is in except for the tomatoes and a few other stragglers. The tomatoes are always the last to go in perhaps because of their status as the crown jewel of the garden. Every year I pore over gardening articles with tips on how to grow the best tomatoes. Everyone seems to have an opinion on how to get the best tasting tomato. It starts with choosing a variety to grow: heirloom vs. hybrid, determinate vs. indeterminate. I opt for a mix. At planting time the debate shifts to mulch: red vs. black plastic, or a cover crop of crimson clover or cut Sudan grass, or, heaven forbid, just plopping the transplant right into the soil. I have done them all. Next come the pruning theories: one leader or two or just forget pruning all together. I usually go with one leader. Recently, various methods of trellising have drawn attention. There are tomato cages, staking, the Florida weave, the Dutch spiral, the Caribbean quadrapod, the English long row, and on and on. Ugh, it is enough to send a gardener packing her spade and hoe and heading to the produce aisle or better yet the farmers' market.

It was in this context that I recently read of yet another study on growing the best tasting tomatoes. The British Horticultural Society is conducting a study at Wisley in Surrey to see if tomatoes respond to voices. Auditions were recently held and a cadre of people with different voices was selected to read verses by Shakespeare and John Wyndham. Recordings of the readings are being played to the roots of the plants while a control group of tomatoes grows in silence. The study follows claims by the Prince of Wales that he talks to his tomatoes and thinks it helps them grow. While the study is fun, a BHS spokesman says it is definitely a serious study.



The results of the test have yet to be released. However, past tests have shown that plants respond to grower's stress; i.e. if you think your plant won't make it, it probably won't. Bottom line here is don't worry about whether you should talk to your plants or not, just enjoy them. When you are taking a break from the garden, don't forget to check out the June edition of "What's Growing on?".

Happy gardening,
Joann Matuzas
Johnny's Selected Seeds Catalog
Store 955 Benton Ave.
Winslow, ME 049011

I must say that this email had me in stitches. Now I've been known to talk to my houseplants. Yes, I often talk to my orchids and African violets thanking them for their wonderful blooms and encouraging them to bloom. There are some benefits of Andy being deaf - one being that he can't hear my wacky conversations with the plants. Anyway, I do think that if nothing else good energy is contagious and talking to houseplants promotes good energy, which might promote growth. But, I don't know if I'd go so far as talking to my tomatoes. It would just be another reason for my neighbors to think I've completely lost it!

What do you think? Do you talk to your garden or house plants? Share your thoughts.