Sunday, May 29, 2011

Tomato Agonistes


It is like this every year. I have way more tomato plants than my 24 x 30 foot garden can handle. I am on my knees, looking at the available space and struggling with deep existential questions. Utility or flavor? Practicality or passion? I mean when you are holding an Italian Sweet in your hand ... a plant you know will produce THE best tasting tomato on the planet ... and when I say best tasting I am talking sit down in the garden and weep delicious ... I mean thinking at times that perhaps God actually thought up the idea of creation so that human taste buds could join the fruit of this plant and the Omega point would have been reached --> THAT kind of delicious. And next to the Italian Sweet is the ever faithful Better Boy. The Better Boy will never get blossom end rot, it will not suffer from blossom drop, it will faithfully drop perfectly fine tomatoes into your basket almost until October. Whereas the Italian Sweet MAY give you five decent tomatoes per plant and then turn yellow and decay before your very eyes in mid-August.

What's a mother to do? Which one to choose? Paralyzed, I chose a new variety ... Soldaki.

In the end what all of vegetable gardening is really about is the Tomato .... the rest is a side show.