HOMEGROWN TOMATOES
Homegrown tomatoes are the best. Every year I plant a cherry tomato and have always had success in getting a bumper crop. Last year, for the first time, squirrels had been stealing lots of tomatoes as soon as they ripen. So while you can try to keep them out of your yard, it’s usually better to outsmart them. To protect your homegrown tomatoes against squirrels wrap individual plant of tomatoes in small pieces of bird netting. Squirrels seem to be most interested in stealing tomatoes just as they ripen, so wrap the mature fruits and ignore the green ones.
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I also buy directly from farm, off season I don’t have a choice and I buy it from grocery store. Not the choice I prefer, bought tomatoes from store are usually picked while still green and ripen by the time they hit the shelves. Ripened tomatoes taste much better than tomatoes that have been picked green and then ripened.
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There are hundreds of tomato varieties. From marble-sized grape or cherry tomatoes, to juicy salad tomatoes, meaty paste tomatoes, and huge, sweet, beefsteak tomatoes. Their colors range from deep crimson to orange, yellow, green, purple, and chocolate. My favorite tomato varieties so far are Big Boy, Cherry and Beefsteak (heirloom) tomatoes.
The Big Boy tomato is a classic variety that has great flavor. This is a big, sandwich-type slicer with smooth, bright red fruit. Big Boy tomatoes are resistant to cracking.
- Extra-large fruit
- Rich flavor
- 1 slice covers a sandwich
- Indeterminate, grows tall and produces throughout season
Cherry tomato plants produce sweet, small gems that are easy to grow, and they ripen quickly. So flavorful, it's tough to resist eating them straight from the vine. They're wonderful as a healthy fresh snack or tossed into salads.
- Bright orange, red or yellow when ripe
- Intensely sweet flavor
- Heat-tolerant
- Indeterminate, grows tall and produces throughout season
- Disease resistant
Beefsteak (heirloom) tomatoes are delicious, flavorful, meaty fruits have smooth shoulders, not as rough and ridgy as Beefsteak and the blossom end scars are smaller.
- Delicious, flavorful, meaty fruits.
- Luscious red fruits averaging 17 oz.
- Prefers full sun (6+ hours) and well-drained soils. Grows to be 6-8 feet tall. Fruit size is large and will weigh about 1 pound
- Plant 2-3 feet apart with 3-4 feet between rows.
All three varieties of homegrown tomatoes are perfect combination with salad. Our family’s favorite classic cucumber and tomato salad just got better with the addition of avocado, a light and flavorful lemon dressing and the freshness of cilantro. Easy, excellent avocado salad.
