Finally, a few tomatoes

[kilroyscarnival]

We decided to do a Valentine's Day dinner tonight (Feb 13th) because we both have fewer work commitments Wednesday than Thursday. My sweetie cooked a delicious lamb stew, South American style. I finally had just enough ripe tomatoes to contribute something of my own - a panzanella salad made with some ripe Better Boy and the first of the beautiful Jaune Flamme. I was surprised those were ready. Also in this picture, a few ripe Sweet 100 cherries, and the first of the Mexico Midget and Red Currant. Note: the MM and RC first ones were actually the same size, but subsequent clusters of red currant are really tiny. Still, with some chopped ripe olives, toasted baguette, and herbs, they made a really nice salad. (Forgot to take a photo of that.)

[Sun City Linda]

Aren't Jaune Flamme just the most beautiful lttle globes?

[Redbaron]

Beautiful!

[kilroyscarnival]

Thanks! Yes, and the texture and flavor were good too. They were pale green for so long, and suddenly going orange. One of the Lollipop cherries is starting to ripen too. The weird thing is that Lollipop look so pale in photos, yet the unripe fruit is so bright green, and the Jaune Flamme were so light, I almost thought I had mixed up the plants (I have my yellows in pots together.)

[davidstcldfl]

Very nice...
This week or so of really warm weather, seems to help them ripen quicker.
In the high 80's yesterday and it's to be in the 30's Saturday morning....the poor plants are more confussed then I am...

[paulgrow]

zone envy

[casino]

Ditto, Zone Envy and that photo is a beauty

[livinonfaith]

Oh yeah, definite zone envy here, too!

My Juanne Flammes are only about four inches high right now.

It's going to be a while. But your pictures give me hope, so please keep 'em coming!

[awsumth]

Those are some fine tomatoes!

[Deborah]

You lucky duck !

[Heritage]

Congratulations, Ann! It's great to see you start to reap the rewards of your efforts. I hope you have a long season.

Steve

[FreyaFL]

So pretty! (And...30s?! I'm south of you, but that still means cold for me, too. Brrr!)

[kilroyscarnival]

Originally Posted by Heritage

Congratulations, Ann! It's great to see you start to reap the rewards of your efforts. I hope you have a long season.

Steve

Thanks, Steve! Of the seeds I got from you, those Jaune Flamme have been the front guard. I'm getting fruit all over the Super Italian and Big Ray's, but it will be a while before they ripen.

The Big Ray's is definitely an interesting looking fruit. They look like two-tone green torpedos. I wish I'd realized how long and splayed the foliage was going to get; I'd have planted them a little further apart and maybe caged rather than staked. But they look fine.

[kilroyscarnival]

Thanks, everyone! (Pretend the counter wasn't dirty in that pic. Oops.)

I've been learning a lot on this first-season journey. Have also had a lot of help and hand-holding here. This weekend I think I'm going to have to photograph my pepper plants, as they are a real puzzle. Remember some got damaged by a December frost. Two plants next to each other look completely different and I don't know if there's a remedy.

[kilroyscarnival]

Originally Posted by davidstcldfl

Very nice...
This week or so of really warm weather, seems to help them ripen quicker.
In the high 80's yesterday and it's to be in the 30's Saturday morning....the poor plants are more confussed then I am...

Yikes, thanks for the heads-up on the temp drop, David. I have been buried with work and hadn't checked... as my boyfriend would say, "you work at a TV station and you don't know the weather forecast?" - Hey, I'm working with spreadsheets, not kicking back watching TV.

Yes, I noticed everything did a big jump in growth over the past two weeks with beautifully warm weather and mild nights. I see that it's a low of 37 or 38 but I think I'll definitely cover things up. Sadly, I think my zucchini and cucumber are not going to produce anything. After that frost melted the leaves back in December, it keeps growing more leaves and what look like all male flowers, and one of the three zukes stopped growing leaves and flowers altogether. I may just pull all the plants, build a small high raised bed there where it was a dug bed, and start over. I've started two cucumbers in large containers.