Abundant Tomatoes

Through the month of July my garden was pretty much neglected. The sprinkler system watered it it for me, but not one person went out there and weeded for me. When I got back home this is what my tomato patch looked like. In just three months my tomatoes turned into a jungle. For those of you who didn't see what they looked back at the end of May you can look here.

I remember the first time I grew tomatoes here, I didn't know what to do. The jungles started growing, and I managed to make a tunnel through each row. That year there was a huge production of tomatoes. I was giving boxes away. The next year I cut down on the number of plants and started cutting vines that were out of control. Last year I pruned even more vigorously then ever, but then I didn't end up with enough tomatoes. Part of the problem was that I tried some varieties that didn't do as well as usual.

This year I got back to the tried and true varieties: Early Girl, Beefsteak, Roma, and Sweet 100 cherry tomatoes. And I'm not going to prune if I can help it. Instead to tame the jungle, I went out with some string that used to hold together hay bales, and started tying up tomatoes. It took me quite a long time. It was hot, but I had to wear long pants, long sleeves and gloves. I get quite itchy when working with tomato vines.


I was really happy with the results. I could then walk down the paths and pick a very abundant crop of cherry tomato crop into an extra large bowl. There were a couple of the larger tomatoes ripe also, with many more almost ready. We really had a feast for lunch. I look forward to the long harvest which stretches far into October. It is so good to have enough to share.