Well, finally.
The package clearly implied that I’d have ripe tomatoes by the 4th of July. And here it is the 6th, and I’m just now seeing some ripening (above). Easily week behind schedule, maybe more. And that may not even be the 4th of July’s that are ripening.
I know that gardening is supposed to be a relaxing hobby, an appreciation of the ebb and flow of the natural forces of blah blah blah.
But some people are just wired a little differently. Sometimes you just gotta go with what God gave you. If you swing toward “Type A” on the gardening scale, run with it.
Source: Source: Ripening Tomatoes, Marita Cantwell, Dept. Plant Sciences, UC Davis, Fruit Ripening and Retail Handling Workshop, Postharvest Technology Center, UC Davis, March 18-19, 2013
That’s what I do. Among other things, I check my tomatoes for signs of ripeness, every day. I get out of my chair and walk the back 40 (square yards). Finally, today I was rewarded by the first blush of color. That’s the stage professionals call “turning” (above), and that means that ripe tomatoes are somewhere around a week away.
I could, in theory, pick that tomato now, and in a week, it would be as ripe as if I’d left it on the vine. As I learned in Post G21-038. Some say that. Others disagree. But if pests are a problem, it’s nice to know that I have the option of picking now, and … maybe it’ll still be a pretty good tomato.
Once upon a time, ripe tomatoes by the 4th of July would have been cause for bragging rights. But now, with all kinds of “cold season” varieties, it’s more a matter of picking the right variety than of having any particular gardening skill.
But that’s OK. I still look forward to that first ripe tomato of the year. Just wish it would hurry up.
