Heirloom Tomatoes Heating Up
The beginning of July usually signals the start of big harvests of heirlooms tomatoes and this year they are a few weeks behind but are coming in solidly now.
It is always an exciting time when we are able to have lots of heirlooms and cut up slices of them for sandwiches almost bigger than the bread.
A number of factors delayed the heirlooms from disease issues in the greenhouse to weird weather and pasts in the field that slowed down the ripening.
Luckily the plants are bouncing back and the next succession that didn’t have as many challenges we are starting to harvest.
There even are some tomatoes ripening on the other property which is a few degrees cooler and should be ready later. It is our second year on that property so we are still learning when is the ideal time to plant there.
We expanded the varieties we are growing this year to try out a few and see what ones can be added to our stalwart favorites.
Our favorites Marvel Stripe, Cherokee Purple and German Johnson have started ripening along with Dr. Wyche’s and Golden Jubilee.
It is great to see the table start to have a multitude of colors and sizes of heirlooms that each have their own best ways to eat them.
The temperatures rising this week are one of the reasons the tomatoes are ripening more and today will be the second day in the row in the triple digits.
It is expected temperatures for this time of July and the forecast does show it cools down for the next week.
On the farm we are starting work early to get everything we can done before the temperatures reaches its peak usually from 3-6 p.m. Making sure everyone is drinking enough water and keeping as cool as possible with breaks in the shade is the focus.
Sometimes we go in the cooler for a few minutes to really cool down as it stays around 40 degrees to keep the veggies cool.
Benefitting from the triple digit temperatures is the ripening of the French Charentais melon. It looks similar to a cantaloupe with the orange flesh but the rind is much more gray than the cantaloupe.
The charentais are considered to be one of the most flavorful melons with an amazing sweetness and fragrant aroma.
It is very fun to sample a couple of the varieties of melons and see which one is your favorite as everyone has their own preferences of what is most delicious.
Most of our time on the farm is focused on harvesting with heirloom tomatoes, melons, basil, peppers, summer squash, okra and eggplant among others coming in.
The Early Girl tomatoes are also picking up with good sizing on them and delicious flavor. The hot weather combined with the slightly under watering the early girls helps them develop their flavor even more.
The plants have been filled with green tomatoes and just over the weekend they really started to ripen. There are still lots of green tomatoes on the plants so we will be able to harvest from them for the next two months.
