Last Chance Redux

Remember this from the other day? Cracked tomatoes. What comes with cracked tomatoes is diluted-flavor tomatoes. Thanks a lot rainstorms. Incidentally, the Black Russian tomatoes had more flavor than the Black Krim. I figured them for the same. Figured wrong.

We had to harvest anything near ripe, anything with even the faintest blush of color, because we are a day or so away from leaving town. I even took two really large but totally green fruit. August is a terrible time to leave the vegetable garden, but it's the best time to get away.

Finally we discovered what the 'Indigo Rose' tomato looks like ripe! It's gorgeous, really, with a red bottom and black-purple top. Taste? The jury's out, as I'd like to try more than one and not after too much rain, but it was mildly tart, with an almost green tomato flavor. Fun fact: This tomato has been hybridized as a high anthocyanin tomato. Anthocyanin is responsible for the dark coloring, and only appears on the top where the fruit receives direct sunlight. It appeared to me that this tomato was a cross between a more or less "wild" or "old world" tomato and a more highly bred tomato thanks to the dark coloration that recalls other nightshades. Turns out this is true.

The 'San Marzano' tomatoes are doing excellent, although the vines are not quite as large as last season.

I seeded these a month ago. After three weeks of not sprouting, I gave up on them -too hot for romaine seeds I said. Then, on the day I transported the seed tray to the beach farm, there they appeared. A week later they look like mini-romaine. I should have seeded more!

The carrots are up and well, while Larry's leftover broccoli isn't too shabby. My starter tray brassica -the prized purple cauliflower and Romanesco broccoli, are barely surviving the onslaught of cabbage worms. The cauliflower has been transplanted into the beds, new irrigation lines trained on them. I poured some fish juice onto the small Romanesco sprouts in hope that it energizes them into out competing any worms that evaded the two finger pinch.

Basil, green beans. Successive plantings of green beans saves us from overload. Smart. Should've been doing this all along. Vacationing, however, means picking fancy French filet beans too late. French beans don't tolerate being over-sized, whereas their American counterparts are pretty comfortable with it.

And here our box of tomatoes, most eaten that night, the rest given away. Tomorrow we leave, cats in tow, for Minnesota and all that awaits us there. I'll be scouting for old-fashioned manual farm tools, studying tractor implements, and keeping my eyes on the woods in search of mushrooms -it's been too long. It was near this time two years ago that I found the large Laetiporous cincinnatus. This time, we eat.