We have been enjoying fresh tomatoes from our garden for quite some time now. There just is no comparison between homegrown and store bought tomatoes. I actually don't like the store bought ones very much. It wasn't until I grew my own tomatoes that I learned what a tomato really should taste like.
We did a bit of research into various kinds of tomatoes. There is a farm near our home that grows a variety of heirloom tomatoes that are amazing in color and shape. We are inspired to give a few a try next year. Does anyone have any experience with a particular variety? Source for seeds?
We completed our study with a few tomatoes from the garden, closely observing the seeds and flesh of the tomato.
The notebook page was filled out and filed away in the nature notebook.
But as usual, most of our time was spent outdoors in the garden looking at the plants, blossoms, and ripening tomatoes. There are quite a few blossoms on each of our two remaining tomato plants. The weather is still pretty hot and I think we have a good chance of having tomatoes at least until the end of the month.
We noted the smell of the tomato plant when you rub it and how it makes most of us itchy after working in the garden. This year is the first time we have pruned our tomato plants as they grew and it seems to have helped in two areas. First, we seem to have larger tomatoes and secondly, the plants don't bend and break so much.
We use a wire tomato cage around each plant to help support the branches but before trimming, the branches still try to get really long and scrawny. We trim those off as they start to stick out over the path.
Tomatoes are a great crop to grow in your garden. If you didn't get a chance this year, make sure to plan to grow a few in your yard next spring and summer. You will not be disappointed.
Barb-Harmony Art Mom
