Big Beef is Ready!

Big Beef Tomato

I just had to share this photo.  I finally was able to pick my first beefsteak tomato of the season (Big Beef) and it’s gorgeous!  The photo doesn’t give you an indication of size, but it’s a double-handful.  My guess as to weight is just about 1 lb.  You can click the photo for a bigger photo.

Picked This Week

I was able to pick quite a bit this week.  Husky Cherry Red produced quite a few very sweet cherry tomatoes.  I’m afraid they never make it to the house, as I tend to snack on them in the garden!

Juliet also had two ripe grape-shaped tomatoes.  I haven’t tried them as yet, but I am hoping they are more flavorful this year.

Better Bush had several ripe tomatoes this week, and I see more that are ripening.  The plant does look rather sad, but I am waiting until I have all the tomatoes harvested before removing it.  It’s a determinate anyway, so it’s really given me most of this year’s harvest.

The one that I am most excited about – aside from my lovely Big Beef – are my Black Cherry tomatoes.  I picked three of them today and they very much live up to their reputation.  They are very sweet — almost like eating a piece of fruit.  Which is of course appropriate, since technically tomatoes are fruits (berries, actually)

A Funeral This Week, Too

I pulled out one of my Isis Candy Cherry tomato plants — one of the big bushes.  All the sudden it started looking…weird.  It wasn’t the water problem, but I really didn’t like the looks of things.  And since I have several more of the variety planted, I can afford to lose one.

And Coming Up

I have my seedlings for Rapunzel and Indigo Cherry Drops getting ready to go out to my new shade house.  Loxahatchee (which I planted much later) still needs to spend some time under the grow light before I put it out in the shade house (i.e., my former greenhouse).

The shade house is where I will put some of my tomatoes, peppers and orchids.  Part of my problem in my summer garden is that the sun is just way too strong — the plants don’t stand a chance come midday.  The heat is also a problem.  Well, the shade house will help with those problems immensely.

I’ll do some separate posts regarding the shade house and the grow light that I’ve been trying out.  The grow light is rather exciting, because 1) I have never had such beautiful seedlings when growing on a windowsill (even a south-facing one).  And 2) the grow light was really inexpensive, and I didn’t need any special setup.

So, that’s it for now — catch you later with more updates!