zebras, sun gold, chocolate, and italian ice

tomatopalooza!  tomatonucopia!  tomatomania!

I tried to count the tomatoes growing in the garden right now, and lost count after about one jillion four hundred thirty-three bazillion five hundred sixty-two.

 

Purple Russians ripening.

Italian Ice!  They were advertised as white, but came out a very light yellow.  They’re super hard to see though – this pic makes them look somewhat contrasty with the leaves, but in real life they are pretty much invisitomatoes.

The Jaune Flamée has been extremely fruitful – literally.  They’re perfect and small and sweet as hell – definitely adding these to the repetwah.

Cherries!  Sun Gold – probably my favorite cherry – it’s so ridiculously prolific and tolerant, and the orange cherries are pretty much candy. The Italian Ice are also really sweet & juicy, and so pretty!  The chocolate cherries (purplish ones) are also fat and juicy, and a little more complex than sweet.  And I’ve yet to try a ripe zebra cherry, but the bright red one with green stripes in the back is the first one!  Also pictured is a Purple Cherokee, which are so far the only full sized tomato that have ripened, but which are also strangely smaller than they were last year.  Fine by me, because I can just eat the whole thing at once!  I’m tormented with conflict between wanting to make everyone I know taste this so they understand my passion, and keeping them a well-guarded secret so I don’t have to share!   

I also finally harvested the first purple bell pepper (which is now red)…

…but sadly something happened to it while I was trying to be patient.  I’m not sure if this was an insect of some sort or maybe it was just starting to go bad – it had strange black stuff on the inside. 

I cut off the bad part and washed it out, and since I was so curious how it would be, tried to eat the good half.  The good news is it was more substantial and thick-fleshed than my attempts at peppers in the past…but the bad news is it tasted TERRIBLE and I had to throw it out.  Not quite sure what happened there…hopefully some of the others on the plant will fare better?

I’ve also managed to harvest one zucchini, but the plants are really not looking very healthy. It seems like they flowers are not getting pollinated, which is pretty strange considering all the bugs that are constantly flying around.  But a lot of the zucchinis start out looking promising, and end up looking like this. One plant is looking especially sad. But there are still a bunch of new flowers and zucchinis that look healthy, so hopefully there are still abundant zucchinis in my future.

One of the most delightful things about a garden is the anticipation it provides.
~W.E. Johns, The Passing Show