Meatloaf and tomatoes

Everyone around here likes to garden. Strike that. I and the kids like to garden. While we don't have a huge yard- pool takes up a pretty good portion of the backyard- we have enough to grow LOTS of flowers and some produce, too. There is a whole year's worth of gardening tasks to do around here. But right now, I want to address tomatoes. Those tomatoes are worth much more than one day's worth of activities.

We grow tomatoes every year, many varieties, somewhere between 3 and 10 plants. The absolute best for eating right off the vine, as kids love to do, is the Sungold 100, a small yellow-orangey cherry tomato. They are really sweet and don't take too long to grow. While it's too late to start your tomatoes for this year, put it on the calendar (NOW) for next year....after danger of frost, when it's fairly warm during the day AND at night, preferably. For us (northern CA) , we usually plant in late April. Tomatoes love rich soil and warmth all day and all night, so April is sometimes a bit early even for us...if you get an unexpected frost or cold snap, you can always cover them. Use a sheet or something else permeable.

Tomato related activities:

-This year, we spray painted our tomato cages wacky colors. Fire engine red, robin's egg blue, sort of an electric limey green. Beautiful complementary color combination; the kids loved watching me do the spray painting and helping to choose colors. You can buy them painted, but why? You can create something uniquely your own. And spray paint comes in such an array of wonderful colors now.

-Watering and harvest are a daily affair around here. The Meatloaf has adopted the tomatoes this year and has really taken charge.

-If we really got crazy, we could get into canning tomatoes. But frankly, 5 or more plants is just barely enough for the kids to eat of the vine and use for some cooking. We'd have to have 30+ to have enough to make canning worth it. But I'm putting it out there as an option...

The Meatloaf says that eating a tomato right off the vine is 'like a delicious donut'. I agree.