I have a good supply of ripe tomatoes.
For over two months I have been going every day to the garden and giving a little pep talk to my plants: C’mon guys, c’mon, get going. I’d like to see a bit of red here. I’d like to see more than a bit of red, actually! Oops! better be nice and supportive, or I’ll be eating green tomatoes all summer long…
Well, here we are, enough ripe tomatoes that we can regularly have a tomato based main dish. Not just a little side salad or a garnish on a sandwich, but a real tomato based main dish. We can now eat tomatoes for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I thought this day would never come.
This plate of Early Girls, Sun Golds and a lone Green Zebra is a sample of what I’m harvesting these days. I am very glad that this year I planted mostly early varieties, I still don’t know if I am going to get any Brandywine or Cherokee purple tomato.
After months of eating the cooked tomatoes that I preserved last year, I now only want them raw: a ripe tomato, a pinch of salt and a few drops of olive oil. If I want to make a meal out of it, I’ll boil some noodles, toss them with the dressed tomatoes, add a few fresh herbs and finish the dish with grated manchego cheese.
Despite this unusually cold summer I have also been harvesting some red peppers and quite a few eggplants, and precisely because of this usually cold summer, I’ve got plenty tender lettuce, greens, and carrots. Now that the tomatoes are ripening I can look around the garden and see what my husband has been trying to make me see for a while, that this garden of mine has been feeding us well with a variety of vegetables all along.
For more delicious pictures and stories of harvests and to add your own, head on over to Daphne’s Dandelions, host of Harvest Monday, and take a look at what other gardeners have been up to this week.
August 16, 2010 at 4:42 pm
Glad you finally get a big tomato harvest, hopefully it will keep producing until November for you.
The ones in the plate look so pretty and juicy, and the yummy pasta makes me hungry.
August 16, 2010 at 10:49 pm
I certainly hope so, It would be nice to keep having fresh tomatoes till November. We shall see…
August 16, 2010 at 7:44 pm
Well, you already have more ripe tomatoes than us! On the upside, our Cherokee Purple’s are FINALLY turning color after the warm weather this weekend, so there’s still hope! Really though, enough with this chilly summertime weather already! Hope the rest of your (and our) tomato crop ripens soon!
August 16, 2010 at 10:48 pm
Good luck with your tomatoes! We are just now getting a few warmer days, I do hope this little warmer wave extends up in your direction.
August 17, 2010 at 12:23 am
It’s a great feeling when you see so much red tomatoes!
August 17, 2010 at 7:37 am
Hi Angela,
These look beautiful! I made a big bowl of bruschetta last night with my tomatoes and basil. And your husband is right, that “little” garden of yours has been feeding you very well for as long as you’ve been posting.
Best wishes, Heidi
August 17, 2010 at 11:05 pm
Bruschetta, thanks for the reminder… Congrats on your tomatoes! You’r likely to be getting better tomatoes in your northern latitudes than I am getting in southern California.
August 17, 2010 at 7:48 am
Yay, congrats on your tomato bounty! That’s a beautiful bowl filled with beautiful tomatoes. There really is nothing like a fresh sliced tomato with a sprinkle of salt and some good olive oil, mmmmm.
That warm weather you’re getting is staying just out of reach for us, one sunny but cool morning, and now it’s back to gray gloom. *Sigh* But, like your garden, mine is being good to us in spite of the weird weather and critters.
August 17, 2010 at 11:12 pm
I am sorry to hear the hot weather is not reachng you yet. It seems that it will cool down here too in the next few days.
August 17, 2010 at 8:56 am
Yay for tomatoes. I have lots, but I haven’t had lettuce since June. Its been way too hot here.
August 17, 2010 at 11:13 pm
Our weathers are switched this year… With all the tomatoes you have you’ve got no time to miss lettuce!
August 17, 2010 at 4:17 pm
Your tomato pictures looks really beautiful, and the description of your pasta with fresh tomatoes and herbs is really tantalizing. I love manchego with crackers or on sandwiches, but I never thought about grating it over pasta. Must try this sometime!
August 17, 2010 at 11:14 pm
Yes do, try it, and let me know if you like it.
August 18, 2010 at 1:44 am
Congratulations on first big tomato harvest.
My tomatoes are near their end, blight got to them. But I managed to get enough to make some tomato sauce.
August 19, 2010 at 2:09 pm
You did make a tone of sauce, lucky you. Your tomato harvest has been truly impressive!
August 18, 2010 at 1:18 pm
I hope your counter and tables are groaning under the weight of tomatoes soon!
August 19, 2010 at 2:09 pm
Thank you, I hope you are right. I so wish that to be true.
August 19, 2010 at 1:50 pm
I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again:
“All winter long is a culinary bummer.”
Okay, it’s not me but darnit if it isn’t true. My husband says (with the exception of perserved tomatoes) he is on a tomato fast until they reappear in summer.
Nice harvest.
August 19, 2010 at 2:07 pm
Yep, your husband’s got it right, looks like he knows how to live well.