Tangled Branches: Cultivated
happenings in and around my zone 6b gardens in northern Virginia and in central Virginia
Monday, August 03, 2009
One Ton Tomato
Are we having a big-tomato contest this year? 'Cuz I think this could be a contender.
That's almost 2 pounds of 'Kellogg's Breakfast', or 1 pound and 15.4 ounces for you precise types. A mere factor of 1000 away from a One Ton Tomato.
I know that at least one other garden blogger has heard the Michael Nesmith version of Guantanamera aka One Ton Tomato. The video below doesn't have the original video footage, but the audio sounds like I remember it when I saw it on Television Parts.
How do I know that at least one other garden blogger knows of this song? Because, while searching for original video footage, I found a comment by Annie in Austin on Chigy's Gardener's Anonymous blog about it.
If they had the internet back in the dark days of 1985 Michael could have looked up the lyrics in seconds, or even watched a video with subtitled lyrics.
But back to my tomato. The B side, as usual, isn't as popular. More than a little cat-facing here, but it looked callused and dry, so I think the inside is going to be just fine.
If you're wondering what I did to get such a large tomato, the answer is Nothing. Well, not much of anything. I did prune off some of the lowest side branches so it wouldn't get too unruly for the tomato ladder that's supporting it, but that's about all. Last year, I tried tomato pruning (to 3 stems) for the first time, and concluded that it wasn't worth the effort. I thought pruning might produce fewer and larger tomatoes, but I don't think I got any this large last year from this variety - Kellogg's Breakfast. One of my favorite varieties for flavor, by the way.
And I've been singing One Ton Tomato all morning...
Labels: tomatoes
4 Comments:
That "ugly side" is very ugly. Our state fair is having a big tomato contest on Saturday but entries start at five pounds. I don't have any tomatoes that will get anywhere near that big, so I'm impressed with yours!
Carol, May Dreams Gardens
Bwaa haaa haa. Was doing a Michael Nesmith imitation as soon as I saw the title but didn't realize it was on my Permanent Record!
Entangled, that one ton tomato probably weighs more than all the itty bitty ones we've had in the past 2 weeks. And once you cut around the ugly, bet the rest tastes wonderful.
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
Carol: That's why I showed the good side first. ;-) Five pounds to start? Wow, there must be some dedicated big-tomato growers in Indiana. We went to a county fair last weekend, and I would have won that contest.
I liked your tomato sundae, BTW!
Annie: The internet never forgets. ;-)
The tomato was fine inside and we got 3 meals from that 1 tomato - BLTs, BLT salad, and sauce for Patatas Bravas.
Will you be able to have fall tomatoes once the weather cools off (and the rains come)?
What restraint, Entangled, to use the One-Ton for 3 meals!
In "normal" year people here plant a fall crop of tomatoes, expect some cooling and rain and hope frost holds off long enough to get some fruit. But that didn't happen last year ...drought just hung on.
El Nino may arrive this fall with floods instead of drought.
We always get a few tomatoes, but it seems much harder for home gardeners here to get any real amount compared to Illinois, Indiana, etc. Even the most skilled and renowned local farmers like Boggy Creek, who have extra fields in other counties, can't get decent crops in many years.
But a few is better than none ;-]
Annie
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