Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Green Tomatoes

This is the only tomato in the garden that's looking exactly as it should: green. It's a green zebra. It's not quite ripe but at least it seems to be on track to make an appearance on a salad plate really soon.

The Petitbec tomatoes are way, way, way behind. I plucked last year's first Petitbec on July 18th. It is now August 10th. August 10th! There's not even a hint of a blush on these little guys.

After an extremely slow start the Brandywine Reds have taken off. The vines and fruit are large and vigorous. But yet again I have not seen anything to suggest the tomatoes will be turning red anytime soon. I'm beginning to wonder if I'll be able to harvest anything before September.

To make matters more frustrating, just look at all this basil. I planted it to enjoy with my not-yet-ripe-and-maybe-never-ripe tomatoes. What a waiting game! I should really just make pesto sauce!

As for those green tomatoes, I'm sure they will come along...eventually. I am planning for a glut of green tomatoes this fall though. I have made pickled green tomatoes in the past. To my surprise they were quite delicious. Are your tomatoes late? What do you do with your green tomatoes?

4 comments:

Helen said...

Definitely make pesto. All the better to have waiting when you enjoy those late tomatoes. I crazily planted tomato seedlings in mid-July, and they are just getting their first *flowers* now. Oh well, they would have gone to waste otherwise. Let's hope for some sunshine (she said, listening to the thunder).

Connie said...

My tomatoes have been in full production for a few weeks now. We have more than we can use, so I am looking to freeze some. I, too, am growing Green Zebra this year. We like the taste and it is beautiful, to boot. ;-)
I save a few green tomatoes to ripen indoors, but most end up in the compost pile.

Nutty Gnome said...

Green tomato chutney! It's definately the nicest way to use up green tomatoes - just let me know if you'd like the recipe! :)

Gardenista said...

Yeah, the garden veggies are all late here. It's so bad that I've just about given up on the veggie garden this year, calling it a lost cause. Your tomatoes do look healthy though!