Hello from the tomato field! It’s more of a sea of tomatoes, or perhaps a jungle. If we didn’t use a hedge trimmer to keep things tidy, the vines would grow so wild that the rows would be impassable. The air smells like tomatoes, and many happy and industrious spiders have strung webs between the rows.
The spiders aren’t the only happy ones. The tomatoes are too; they’ve benefited from one of the mildest summers we’ve had in a long time. Tomatoes like some heat but they stop growing when it gets warmer than 95℉ and drop flowers if it gets too hot, especially if nighttime temperatures exceed 72℉. We’ve been much closer to the ideal growing range this year and the plants are vigorous and healthy and the tomatoes taste great. And you’ve been letting us know how much you’re enjoying the tomatoes in your boxes:
“I am in love with the tomatoes” – Arlene
“The tomatoes in my last box were incredible! What a treat!” Kathy
The lower temperatures are definitely a plus for our harvest teams too. Any summer harvest will be hard, hot work, but harvesting tomatoes is even more so because the picker is sandwiched between two tall walls of tomato vines and the humidity emanating from the plants makes it feel a few degrees warmer than in an open field.
We grow many types of heirloom tomatoes but here’re the main four that you’re likely to see this year:
- Brandywine – deep red, round fruit – a classic heirloom with great flavor
- Marvel Stripe – amazing mix of colors, can grow to be quite huge!
- Cherokee Purple – darker, rose/purple colored, also can grow to be quite large
- Costoluto – red, flatter, daisy shaped with ribs
When Andrew picks out tomato seeds (not just heirlooms, also cherry tomatoes, slicers, and paste tomatoes), he’s considering taste, combined with what’ll yield a good crop. If they’re too big, too fragile, too prone to disease, then they’re not a good fit for us. We also want a nice mix of colors that’ll look nice on a farmers market table, in a CSA box, or a mixed heirloom box (a common order for many of our wholesale customers), in addition to tasting great too.
The heirlooms are just one part of our tomato program. There are separate harvest and packing teams for the cherry tomatoes and “regular” tomatoes (early girls, slicers, romas) and all have been very busy recently, and will continue to be for at least a month or two more!
Enjoy!
Elaine Swiedler, CSA Manager
