Wednesday, July 22, 2009

First Tomato of the Season


Last week brought our first ripe tomato in the garden. I am so behind on this blog, it is already old news, since I have picked several more since then!



The first ripe tomato this year was the heirloom Nyagous. It is in the 'Black' tomato category, as you can see by the darker shoulders, which have a greenish tint to them. It really is a beautiful tomato, hails from Russia, and the taste is wonderful! It must be picked while the shoulders are still green for proper firmness.






Here it is on a salad plate. You can better see the richness of the colors in this photo. It is a perfect salad size tomato and grows in clusters on the plant. Since picking this, I have also picked several full sized ripe Goliaths.



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In an earlier post entitled Tomato Trials I stated that I was sticking with the 'tried and true' this year. Well, that was my true intention....until I checked out a book from my local library called The Heirloom Tomato by Amy Goldman. If you haven't seen this book, it is a great read! Even if you only gaze at the beautiful photos of all sorts of heirloom tomatoes, it is well worth your time. After reading Amy's description of each tomato included in the book, I ended up adding several new heirloom varieties to my tomato line up again this year. Hey, a girl can change her mind... right? :-)


Currently growing in my garden are: Paul Robison, Juane Flamme, Green Zebra, Aunt Ruby's German Green, Purple Russian, Speckled Roman and Black Brandywine. (I only chose ones rated as having excellent flavor). I'm also trying a few heirloom cherry tomatoes......Black Cherry, Aunt Ruby's German Green Cherry, and Matt's Wild Cherry. So, stay tuned for a report later on in the year!



18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Connie,
You have to be Queen of Tomatoes. It looks perfectly delicious.
Donna

Kathleen said...

That is a gorgeous tomato Connie. I love the black shoulders. It's so pretty it would be hard to cut into!!

Unknown said...

3 colours in one tomato! Beuatiful and riped tomato! Bon apetit!

Roses and Lilacs said...

Nyagous is one I hadn't heard of. I love the blacks and purples, they are my favorite. This year I have Black Krim but no tomatoes yet. BK and Cherokee Purple are my favorites. Please post about Black Cherry, I have wanted to try that one, heard it's really good.
Marnie

Catherine said...

Excellent to hear from you again! That tomato looks lovely, such interesting colors. How is the flavor? My tomatoes are now just coming on, few, small, and green.

Randy said...

If they keep coming up with different colors for tomatoes pretty soon all salads will look like rainbows. Isn’t it amazing? --Randy

Victoria Williams said...

OH Connie, good for you! We've yet to see a ripe tomato! Yours looks luscious!!!!

sweetbay said...

Those black tomatoes are gorgeous. They are my favorite, acid and sweet. I don't think I've ever grown any as pretty as that though!

O.I.M said...

hi connie. that tomato looks delish! my tomatoes still have a ways to go. I'm trying green zebra too but so far its performance has been underwhelming. can't wait to see how you make out with yours.
irena

Catherine said...

Just wanted to add that we ate our first tomato yesterday, the one from you, the Goliath. Jay had small slices on his hamburger, I had the rest on my salad. Thank you very much! The flavor was just okay, and there are more coming on now.

peggy said...

hi, just happened on your blog and I love your tomato report. We had a real wrangle here in Michigan with the weather this year so I'm still waiting for the Brandywines which first got frostbite then recovered. If you have a minute could you let us know if you order seed and where. thanks so much.

Connie said...

Cat - The flavor is rich and complex, sweet and tangy at the same time.


Peggy - Most of my seeds were obtained via Gardenweb.com. They have a neat seed trading forum and it's a great inexpensive option, when you only need a few seed to try.

Iowa Gardening Woman said...

Nice looking tomato, great presentation also. We do not one tomato turning yet.

Kathi said...

Great looking tomato! My tomatoes are way behind yours. I have green ones though and I understand that green ones eventually become red ones...

Kerri said...

That's one of the prettiest tomatoes I've ever seen. Beautiful photos!
Isn't that first tomato exciting..and delicious? :)
I picked my first handful of cherry tomatoes last week. Yum! None of the bigger ones are ready yet. Our vines are not looking particularly healthy. Their feet are too wet with all the rain we've had. I hope they survive.

em said...

thanks for visiting garden fool! yes, that is a handsome tomato! i'm pretty jealous, since here in the east my tomatoes have late blight. i've had to pull up most of them, and so far only have 3 cherries and two sauce tomatoes for all my work. hope next year is better. i'm glad to see somebody having success elsewhere!

Anonymous said...

Hi Connie~~ Of course you can change your mind. I think you're in good company here. Your tomato on the plate looks like a plum and in my opinion rivals the beauty of any flower. I hope you'll post photos of the rest of your crop as they ripen.

tainterturtles said...

The Heirloom Tomato book by Amy Goldman sounds interesting. I checked and no libraries in our library system has that book...darn.

Your tomato photos are great.