Last night I picked one of my “Mortgage Lifter” tomatoes. Check out that link for an awesome story about how they were developed and got their name.
What a beauty! It was about 4″ across, and a really pretty pink, which the camera cannot capture.
And it tasted just as good as a home-grown heirloom tomato should. It was just screaming for some mozzarella and basil.
But the funny thing? I have 4 tomato plants growing in a row. Except for the Juliet cherry tomatoes, which you can see a few of below, this was the only ripe tomato. All of the other tomatoes on all of the plants are still whitish-green. They’re not even starting to become red yet. Most of the summer crops are ripening a few weeks late this year because of our really cold spring, but it’s bizarre that there was just this one ripe tomato on all of those plants. The “Mortgage Lifter” is in the foreground of the photo below – it’s the one I put on the tomato spiral.
But at least the tomatoes that are on the vine are big. These are my Brandywines – they’re also about 4″ across. This is the first time I’ve had success growing a Brandywine, so I’m looking forward to actually getting to eat one.
I’m afraid the tomato spiral hasn’t been such a great success, though. Just in the past week, it’s gotten too top-heavy and started leaning. We’ve had some pretty violent winds recently, which hasn’t helped at all. I had to tie the spiral support to some stakes to help keep it from falling over, but I keep expecting to go outside and find my beautiful Mortgage Lifters on the ground.
I’m not sure if I’ll use the spiral again next year, but if I do, I’ll plant it between two of my heavy-duty concrete-reinforcement wire tomato cages, and strap it in securely. I’m sure it could be supported by building a frame, but that sort of defeats the purpose. My tomato cages may be ugly, but they’re very functional.
Cabled Sheep lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, where she enjoys knitting, cooking, and munching veggies out of the garden. She never tires of Utah's glorious landscape.
I love your small yard that you have made so functional and beautiful.
We’re having tomato issues here, too – and we’ve had an unusually warm spring and a hot summer. Our cherries are ripening slowly, and we’ve just had a few large tomatoes, picked prematurely because the squirrels seem to think the most perfect ones are for them. Bastards.
Our large tomatoes are also green; the cherry tomato is giving us a small handful several times a week. We were late getting them in the ground, so we’re taking the blame. Could you use your spiral for a different veggie next year?
Such a weird growing season everywhere…
All tomatoes in our area are slow to ripen. Hopefully they’ll be as worth the wait. Your tomato cages are ingenious. We’ll be stealing your idea next year!
I hesitate to speak too soon, but our tomatoes appear to be making a comeback! SB quit putting all the root booster and other gunk on them after the fusilium wilt arrived, we just removed the infected stems and watered occasionally (although they have a drip irrigation thing going all the time). Now we have a few very small tomatoes! I hope they start looking like yours soon!
So pretty!
Has it been a mild summer over there? That might explain the slow moving tomatoes. That or they know their fate. ;^)
I’m so sorry the spiral didn’t work out. Maybe for a more petite kind of tomato?
Oh yum! That is one gorgeous meal! I hope you found some nice cheese, basil and olive oil.