Tons of tomatoes: A photoblog of our fruit so far

As we spent our regular evening time in the yard.  Carly took some pictures of our several varieties of tomatoes that have all grown, flowered, and are bearing fruit.  It is so exciting to watch them mature. 

Black Cherry - This tomato is pushing six feet tall and has vines all over the garden.  The clusters of fruit are too numerous to count.  The fruit is supposed to be a deep red, almost mahogany, with a smoky flavor.  This is what they will look ripe: http://rareseeds.com/black-cherry-tomato.html

Yellow Stripey - is an heirloom that will be orange with veins of yellow to bring unique color to the tomato.  It is nearly as tall as our black cherry and in the same area of the garden.  Here is what we'd like to see on our table: http://store.tomatofest.com/Early_Yellow_Stripe_Tomato_Seeds_p/tf-0158.htm

Winter Squash - This volunteered next to our largest tomato vines and has thrived.  We haven't been able to identify what kind of squash it is, although it appears to be a winter type.  If anyone knows what exactly this is we would be happy to know.  The flowers keep coming and the fruit is getting bigger!

Pineapple - The Pineapple tomato was put in a spot in the garden that didn't get light like our biggest plants.  It hasn't kept it from producing over a dozen fruits with flowers all over.  This tomato is supposed to get BIG.  Like as big as a slice of bread big.  We have some lucky sandwiches in our future.  Hopefully we will see several of these weighing in over a pound!: http://rareseeds.com/pineapple-tomato.html

Yellow Pear - is our other cherry variety of tomato we planted.  We placed it right next to the black cherry which has brought a huge wall of fruit filled tomato vines.  The color and size is something we are excited about.  How exciting to offset the color of our other tomatoes with these beautiful, yellow, ovals.  Check them out:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pear_tomato

Our yellow pear & black cherry have interwoven into each other.  It is only fruit shape that helps us figure out which vine is which.

Yellow pears on the top left with black cherries front and center.  Dozens of fruits on each vine with more coming every day.  Snacks, salsa, and sauces in our future!

Spaghetti Squash - We think this might be a spaghetti squash but we aren't certain

 Because we also think this could be spaghetti squash.  All we know is that our compost pile has filled in every mistake that our "green" green thumbs were not able to grow.  We have volunteers, especially squash in many varieties, fruiting all over the yard.  We are excited about them all.

 

Yellow Summer Squash - This is something that was planted on purpose.  The small plant is producing some pretty fruit that should be on our table quite soon.  This came from Kenny for mother's day.  What a great gift.

 Kale - Our Kale was planted early and all over the yard.  Our most successful plants are yielding leaves the size of your head.  The leaves are a greenish red that is unique and beautiful in our landscape.  Why not plant kale instead of flowers?  What a beautiful, crinkly, edible plant.

Cucumber - The last time we weeded the garden we found a corner that wasn't planted so we threw in a few cucumber seeds left over from last year.  It is great to watch plants that were sown on purpose start to come up in the garden.

Roma - More tomatoes!  We chose a roma tomato because of the traditional size and shape.  We figured it would be a reliable producer.  Then we forgot about it.  The poor tomato was looking meager and stuck in the shade of a fern.  Carly trimmed the fern and weeded thoroughly and now we have fruit on our small little plant.

Winejug- This plant is currently sporting one of our biggest fruits.  The spiraling vine is about four feet tall and will yield oblong shaped burgundy fruit with copper spots.  We can not wait to see these mature.  Here is what we hope to see: http://loghouseplants.com/plants/?product=tomato-wild-boar-farms-hybrid-wine-jug

Carrot - We have never really had luck with carrots but this year we have a handful of our carnival blend of carrots that have come up.  It is hard to get excited about a carrot top but we will certainly share when the root is out of the ground.

Black Krim - this heirloom was the inspiration for growing heirloom tomatoes.  It was what we were seeking the most when we went shopping for starts and bought the only one we could find which looked anemic but we gave it a shot.  It looked that it wasn't going to survive because it was planted next to our roma and really lacked light.  A transplant has rejuvenated it.  Now it is about two feet tall with a few fruit on it.  The large, blackish red tomato is something that seems destined to a plate with a dash of salt and pepper.  Here is what we are hoping to see: http://store.tomatofest.com/Black_Krim_p/tf-0063.htm

Big Beef - who doesn't like a big, red beefsteak tomato?  With all the heirloom varieties we planted we figured having a regular beef steak tomato would be a good idea.  It has a handful of fruit and is showing signs of starting to change color.  Here is what it will look like: http://www.directgardening.com/detail.asp?ProductID=5306

Imperial Star Artichoke -Lastly our artichoke garden is doing well in spite of a pretty obvious aphid infestation.  We didn't expect any fruit this year because everything we read said that we shouldn't expect fruit the first year you plant.  However, buried in the thistle leaves and bugs are the evidence of a little choke.

We are truly excited to see our garden come this far.  There are plants all over the yard with flowers.  There are fruits that are maturing.  We want to share our experience with you all, from seed, to plant, to plate.