It’s hard to remain patient while waiting on tomatoes. Summer is stubborn this year. My garden suffers at least a two week delay. The waiting is even more difficult because of the mystery shrouding my vines. I have no idea what to expect in terms of variety. My planted seedlings failed to thrive, so I’m relying solely on volunteer plants that popped up from last year’s crop. I gathered the volunteer seedlings from raised beds and transplanted them to my tomato pots. I raise peppers, lettuce, tomatillos, eggplant, squash, peas, beans, and cucumbers in my raised beds and the tomato seedlings continue to pop up through the other crops like weeds. I may never have to plant tomatoes from seed again. That’s the beauty of raising heirlooms. Heirlooms keep on giving and grow like weeds.
Green globes weigh down the vines, promising a sweet crop and hinting of things to come. It seems that most of my plants are small salad types. I have a few large tomatoes on, but the majority are cherry-sized. Smaller tomatoes are my favorite anyway. Cherries ripen faster, are more split resistant, and the vines seem to fight blight a little longer. And it is the cherries that I found today. I saw red and yellow and a little purple peaking from a camouflage blanket of leaves this morning.
Today’s pick included the classic yellow pear, tiny Hawaiian Red Currant, Cuban yellow grape, and one of my all-time favorites, the purple-hued black cherry. Breakfast this morning was as it will be tomorrow morning, plucked from the vine and eaten in the garden. Summer has arrived, finally.
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