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| As stated on my journal entry: We have 12 heirloom tomatoes busting out of their cages, bell peppers, hot peppers, eggplant, and one not very happy Brussel Sprout. We've followed organic gardening practices, and the tomato yield this year is turning out to be overwhelming. We actually bought some Mason jars in preparation for canning. Our tomato varieties include red, orange, yellow, green, purple and black, with these names: Green Zebra, Regina's Yellow, Isis Candy, Peace Vine Cherry, Black Pear, Persimmon, Speckled Peach, Druzba (Russian for "friendship"), Eva Purple Ball, Indian Moon, Cherokee Purple, Black from Tula, and Aung Ruby's German Green. Peppers are Fat-N-Sassy, Northstar and Hungarian Hot Wax, and the eggplant is Diamond. |
From tomatoes sprouted from seed and the Persimmon variety freshly transplanted … to:
Some of our indeterminate tomatoes are over seven feet high now. If we only had more land or sun…
| A Green Zebra on the vine. As you can see they turn yellow when ripe, and are a regular slicing tomato. Color means nothing! |
Left is Aunt Ruby's German Green, still not ripe. Right is Green Zebra on some minerals.
Clockwise from left: Cherokee Purple (two), Indian Moon (large
yellow),
Black from Tula (2),
Isis Candy (yellow cherry with red stripes),
and Druzba (red)
Clockwise from upper left: Chrokee Purple, Druzba, Black from
Tula, Green Zebra, Persimmon (yellow),
Druzba (again),
Eva Purple Ball (pink at lower
left, so far the most delicious), topped with Peace Vine Cherry.
Meet Mr. Tomato Hornworm. He likes to eat tomato plants. A few won't do too much damage.
| Sadly, the Tomato Hornworm "can be parasitized by a tiny naturally occurring braconid wasp, which lays its eggs on the caterpillar. The wasp larvae munch on the inside of the caterpillar as it dines on your tomatoes. Actually, once the larvae hatch out, the caterpillar stops eating, though it lives for a while before dying. The caterpillar soon takes on the appearance of a strange white spiny creature as the dozens of wasp larvae's cocoons appear on the surface of the caterpillar's body. If you don't use chemical sprays, it is likely these beneficial insects will have a presence in your garden." [The Tomato Festival Cookbook] |
Eggplant flower. Even with the holey leaves, the eggplant is thriving:
… as are the Hungarian Hot Wax Peppers (right). They'll turn red when ready.
Where are these photos from?: These are photos I took in our garden. |
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©1999 - Present, Marlene Bruce |
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