Tomatoes At Last

We planted tomatoes today! Yes! Since I arrived we have been thinking about tomatoes. There were starts that we were pricking off and transplanting, and tending, and selling. We've had tables made of pallets covered with flats of tomato starts. We sold hundreds at the Edible Festival, and started some after to sell at market.

Now, after a month, we are putting some in the ground. There is excitement in this . . . we are all looking forward to eating "Black Krim" and "Green Gage" and "Podland Pink." Who wouldn't be?

We have around 66 varieties of tomatoes and have planned their planting with care. When the harvest comes, we want to be able to tell which variety of tomato is which, so have put grapes beside beefsteaks, and reds beside yellows, etc. If you walk down a row you will pass 8 "Black Zebras," a tomato with a medium sized darkly striped fruit, then 5 "Beam's Yellow Pear," which is self explanatory. Our tomato plots are mosaics of color and shape, even if currently they are all 4 to 8 inches tall with only 6 green leaves.

We still have more re-bar to pound into the ground, and trellising to mount, but we feel like we have made progress, putting in 5 long rows of tomatoes. Also, a very large section of the garden has been mulched with organic hay, bought and delivered in "rolls," as I discovered "round bales" are called in South Florida.

Then, on Sunday, we go to Pinecrest for our first regular market.