Tomatoes

With so much emphasis on locally grown food, you really can't get much more local than in your own garden. This year I planted some tomatoes in containers on my patio.

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Have you ever tasted a tomato ripened on the vine in the warm summer sun? The difference between a grocery store tomato and one grown locally is huge. Most of the tomatoes you find at the store are picked green and artificially "ripened" later. The final product you buy is a mealy, tasteless orange/red orb, bred for shipping hardiness and not flavor.

It's a shame though because there are so many tomato varieties out there that are hardy, easy to grow, and most importantly, flavorful. So being the cooking enthusiast that I am, I decided to grow three varieties of tomatoes.

I've decided the Sun Gold, La Roma, and San Marzano tomato varieties. The Sun Gold should be ready first (~60 days) and is supposed to be a very prolific producer with really sweet yellow cherry tomatoes. My La Romas should come up 2nd at ~70 days and I chose them because they are fleshy, great for cooking, and should provide meaty, fresh flavor.

The last one, the San Marzano, is supposed to be the king of tomatoes and is THE tomato for making sauces and paste. It grows long tomatoes with little gel, thin skins, and have a higher pectin content to give sauces body. This is definitely a tomato you can't find fresh at the grocery store and they go for $5-$6 a can. If you're lucky you might find them at the Farmer's Market. At $6 for a seedling, it looks like a pretty good deal since plants can produce over 200 tomatoes in a season if taken cared of, and since it's an indeterminate variety, it'll keep growing if you keep it warm and under grow lights. Indoor garden anyone?

I've decided to grow everything organically using organic fertilizers, compost and potting soil which I bought at Swanson's Nursery here in Ballard. They were so helpful with information on how to care for the plants and what types of soil I needed to keep them happy. The pictures I posted are from about 10 days ago and I'll post up pics of them as they grow. Hopefully this tomatoes will turn out!