Game over: Paul Robesons, blue tomatoes, and summer

Taken on August 27th

Well that was...quick. June, July and August slipped in and out the door unnoticed in 2014's unseasonably cool and wet summer, and now we are in fall mode. To say that I am disappointed is an understatement. Firstly, the Cherokee Purple and Thessaloniki vines succumbed to early blight. Not One Single Salvageable fruit. Then, adding insult to injury, the Paul Robesons were hit with late blight. I refuse to yank the plants out of the ground, choosing to snip off the diseased fruit and leaves instead. If the half dozen on the vine pull through without the dreaded brown patches, it'll be a miracle.

Initially, my opinion on the blue tomato trials was unsatisfactory. The first crop was medium-sized and the blue was more on the top - not on the bottom (which turned from green to red when ripe). Successive fruits were smaller and round, like in this double image above. Maybe it was due to the size and shape, but note how the inky blue-purple dominates the skin surface. These make an interesting and colorful addition to a salad when cut into wedges, but the flavor is nothing remarkable.

The Paul Robesons that didn't get hit with blight ripened beautifully on the vine. They have really great flavor and a firm, meaty texture that makes them wonderful for sandwiches and also in a caprese salad. Look forward to growing these again next year!

Blue tomatoes gone rogue and a lightning show

Well so much for growing blue tomatoes this year. The seeds (purchased online from an italian source) germinated quickly into healthy seedlings, but the end result is nothing like what I saw on the website. Apparently the owner had the same problem because last time I looked, she was lamenting the fact that hers didn't turn out blue either. I wonder from where she sourced her seeds (and more importantly, can I trust that they aren't some half-baked Frankentom experiment). The tomatoes have the taste and firm flesh of the greenhouse type, and they took forever to develop in our less than summery temps. Then miraculously, when we got a nice dose of hot weather last week, a few of them suddenly turned red overnight.

These were harvested this past Monday.


And this is what they looked like a few days prior on the Thursday before that.

We are getting some crazy hot then cold conditions which have brought on seasonal storm conditions. Just this past Saturday night we were treated to a lightning show right from our terrace. Never seen anything like it, and it was kinda cool hearing the owls in the forest and also some noise from the village festival down at the church. I was actually standing out there for 10 minutes even if the clip is only a few seconds.

First time blue tomato trials

Note: left taken on 6/23 and right on 7/1 - a striking difference in 8 days

Last year I bought blue tomato seeds (from an online italian source) so I hope these will turn out in the way that they were described - blue. The tomato crop this year is going to be modest, at best, since I have only 4 varieties in the ground. I can't wait until I can pick one right off the vine.