Planting Tomatoes. And More Tomatoes. And Still More Tomatoes.

My friend Michelle kindly supplied me yesterday with 14 varieties of heirloom tomato plants, 28 plants total. The varieties include Black Cherry, Bloody Butcher, Ox Heart, Black Tom, Sungold Select, Brandywine, San Marzano, Orange Banana, Cosmonaut Volkov, Costoluto Genovese, Soldacki, Peach Tom, Green Velvet, and Orange Strawberry. Some of them sound downright tasty. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing the different tomatoes they produce and putting them all to a taste test!

Today I braved the 87-degree, ridiculously humid weather and planted every one of them. I didn't want to take the chance that it would rain AGAIN before I could get them in the ground. Or that I would leave them sitting around, neglected, like I did my first batch of tomatoes. I didn't have enough stakes, so tomorrow I will need to run to Menards to pick up additional stakes for support.

Speaking of which, my previous neglect of the hort-sale tomatoes didn't seem to do any lasting damage. With some grass clippings, stake support, and regular grow juice from Mother Nature, these plants are really greening up, filling out, and blossoming!

With today's planting of the heirlooms, my tomato plant count is now about 38. Which doesn't count the seedlings that I'm waiting on . . .

Okay, so maybe I'm a little tomato crazy. But you know, tomatoes do make great salsa. And you can can or freeze them (I'll be freezing them; I don't have the patience for canning.) And honestly, I suspect many tomatoes will never even make it into the house. They'll be eaten right there in the garden, warmed by the sun, their juice dripping down my chin. That day seems so far off right now, but it will be here before I know it.