My folks grew these ultra-goofy-looking tomatoes – I picked them up a few days too late for Molly’s tomatoes-with-body-parts contest, so they didn’t win any prizes, but they sure might have. Photo is blurry but maybe you can still see, they’re pretty hilarious.
What’s the oddest-looking edible you’ve ever grown?
(I must say that most of my parents’ tomatoes look completely normal and perfect – these were special exceptions held out in case they made the trip to the judging on Tiger Mountain!)
Tomato growers in Seattle have been rejoicing as the cool, wet summer finally turned sunny in September. We have now had quite a few weeks of warm, daily sun to help all those slow-ripening fruits and veggies along.
Out for a walk the other day, I was totally blown away by this parking strip tomato patch. Not too many plants, but boy are they producing!
The gardener has opted for stakes and twine over cages. Not sure which method is more labor-intensive, but stakes are probably cheaper. Watering method seems to be a soaker hose, and the soil is fairly average-looking but has probably been amended at least somewhat, to produce such healthy-looking plants. These Romas were really looking tasty.
These smaller, globe-shaped ones were the furthest along in terms of ripeness.
I hope the rain holds off for a little longer so all those big fat juicy ones get ripe.
This street garden is also less than a block away from an elementary school, so I’m impressed that the tomatoes haven’t been pilfered to be used as missiles!
Making a raised bed for your street garden doesn’t have to be a huge project. I saw this option in my neighborhood, two small, square planters with a nicely edited selection of veggies and flowers.
One plant each of squash, alyssum, tomato and marigold per box. They looked so sweet and tidy, and probably take less than 10 min. per week to care for. Each box couldn’t have been more than about 3 ft. across. So cute!
The marigolds were just kind of glowing.
Alyssum and marigolds are both edible flowers, although I find that the marigold taste is a little too intense for me. The flowers attract pollinators for the veggies, so everyone’s happy!
A lot of gardeners in the Seattle area are doing a sun dance right now, hoping for a few more warm days before the rains set in for good. It’s been a cool, damp summer, and many tomatoes are just not ripening quickly enough.
I saw this contraption in a parking strip a few weeks ago when I was out for a walk in my neighborhood. It seems to be a kind of tomato house or cold frame, so the plants could be set out a little earlier than would be possible if they were just out in the open.
I keep meaning to go back and see if it worked!
Man, there are some really tall tomatoes growing in the parking strip gardens of our neighborhood! Not sure if it’s the wonky summer Seattle’s been having (cooler and rainier than usual), or just the variety. Even though the scale is a kneeling 5 year old and they’re in a raised bed, I’d still say these guys were at least 6-footers.
They took up an entire raised planter bed on the street and really looked like some kind of fairy-tale forest. I hope the fruit ripens, it must be a lot of work to stake, cage or otherwise contain such monsters!
Somebody left their Batman and batcycle (is that what it’s called?) out on a raised planter box in our neighborhood recently. I thought it looked nice with the green tomatoes. Maybe Batman’s about to race home to the Batcave and make some green tomato pie?
