CHECK OUT MY TOMATOES!

Ripe heirlooms are finally starting to show up in my garden. I'm so excited. This is my first Bull's Heart. It's a pink oxheart with Russian origins. You can't tell from the picture, but it's shaped like an apple instead of a tomato. This one weighs just over 8 ounces.



This is my first German Queen. Darn thing weighs over 14 ounces. Just for kicks, since I had nothing better to do at 3:30 this morning, I measured the circumference and it's 12.25 inches. William's HEAD at birth was only 10.4 inches. This thing is bigger than my kid's head! Alas, its life was a short one, because it became a tomato sandwich today.





We also did our first dried tomatoes last night. I had more sungold cherry tomatoes than I knew what to do with, so we put them in the food dehydrator just for kicks. OH MY GOD, are they good! Just like candy! (well, almost like candy) Another week or two and we will be overrun with ripe cherry tomatoes of all colors, so anyone who wants to swing by can take some home!

Not that anyone asked, but this is what we've got in the garden this year:
Opalka (paste tomato)
Costoluto Genovese (ruffled red paste tomato)
Black Cherry (just what it sounds like)
Fireworks (bright red slicer)
Giant Belgium (pink beefsteak that gets between 2# and 5#)
German Queen (red beefsteak)
Isis Candy (red and orange striped cherry tomato)
Snow White (white cherry tomato - hybrid)
Mule Team (red slicer that is "tangy")
Grape (red grape variety)
Lemon Boy (yellow slicer - hybrid)
Azoychka (Russian yellow beefsteak)
Carbon (deep red/black slicer)
Bull's Heart (pink Russian oxheart)
Sun Gold (orange cherry tomato - hybrid)
Mexico (red slicer with origins in Mexico)
Super Marzano (paste tomato - hybrid)
Pineapple (yellow beefsteak with red streaks - tastes like citrus)

If you REALLY need to see pictures of what these look like ripe, then check out Gary Ibsen's Tomatofest page, where he has pictures of most of these heirloom varieties. I can't show you a picture of the first Fireworks I harvested because I ate it like an apple straight from the plant. It never made it into the house! Nothing more delicious that a ripe red tomato still warm from the sun.

We set out 35 plants. (yes, 35) One Opalka died and was replaced by a Costoluto Genovese that I rooted off another plant. We added a second Azoychka that I rooted off a broken stem. There are also six cuttings in my windowsill that have been rooted and are just waiting on a spot to plant them! Anyone need a plant???

I'm also attempting a purple bell pepper out there, but that's another topic...