Sunday 12 August 2012

Toms not Tom's.



Above is what is commonly known here as 'La Portuguese', a non-F1 Beefsteak/Marmande type tomato that slices into those delicious solid rounds of tomato that we all remember from our childhood visits to France. Seeds are passed around each early spring.



Here is the Italian tomato of tinned tomato fame; the Roma. The perfect fruit for pasta sauces, pizzas, and preserves. It grows in profusion and doesn't seem to give a damn about water. I shall have to go picking.



And this is the tomato I always end-up regretting having planted. We eat the first few with gusto, then as they ripen by the thousand (each day) we end up abandoning them. As you can probably see by the 3 pix above; we are inundated!

I have also grown one other variety this year. A rather ordinary, bog standard, round, average-sized job, that we have been eating up-until 'La Portuguese' began to ripen. I can't remember its name, but now that the 'Portuguese' are plentiful they shall only be used for cooking.

On a separate note, the absolutely charming daughter of some summer-visitor-neighbours has just been by to ask if she can come round to speak English with me. I think I may get her to help with my preserves; chopping, stirring, nattering.... all in English. Can't be bad!
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14 comments:

  1. You do have an abundance and what a wonderful way to "speak english" by chopping etc..a great idea,and some words might crop up that would not normally,such as buggar when you cut your finger or worse lol...have a great harvest.

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  2. Now you really are showing off! Interesting to see the Portuguese tomato looking very much like the Marmande - incredible how they ripen that well outside where you are. They put my measley crops to shame. Enjoy your English lessons.

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  3. When you say "Seeds are passed around each early spring", is this the method you use for planting? What a useful way to commemorate the boys' visits every year, and I understand that tomatoes thrive in these 'conditions'.

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    Replies
    1. As they are a non-F1 variety, we simply keep seeds from one year to the next. Very economical, and fabulous Toms, Tom.

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    2. Are you deliberately avoiding my bad-taste scatological reference to your tomatoes, Cro? Some of the best ones I have eaten were found growing in sewage farms!

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    3. Have you ever eaten (drunk) Argan Oil? The indigestible seeds are eaten by goats, then 'recuperated' before being pressed for the very best oil.

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  4. Wish I could grow tomatoes like you. I'm so jealous.

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  5. I've got some tomatoes like those beefsteak ones in your top picture. I save the seeds from year to year. Actually there are very few seeds in them but they germinate well. They're a bit funny looking but the taste is out of this world.

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    Replies
    1. Sounds like it could be the same variety. It probably goes by different names in different places.

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  6. Wonderful specimens there yer Cro-ship!

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  7. Will you take a shipment for ripening? I have a greenhouse full and thanks to the total failure of the British summer, they're all green.

    It's either that or chutney.

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    Replies
    1. Rusty; I'd plump for the green tomato chutters.

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  8. You can always freeze #3 if you've got the room to freeze. We have long winters here, and adding some frozen or tinned tomatoes from one's own garden is a breath of summer in January.

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