At Long Last! TOMATOES!!!

We have had a Perfect Gardening Storm at my house: triple digit temperatures, broken irrigation sprinklers and a new lawn service that couldn't cope with it. That left my lovely garden a crispy shade of brown and my heart broken. But I'm happy to say that my tomatoes made it through and are finally pumping out fruit. YAY!!!

This is the oddest year! We should have been picking tomatoes for 6-8 weeks. Fortunately, the tomatoes I've been able to beat the squirrels and birds to (the heat seems to have made the beasts even more desperate than ever for things juicy) have been just delicious. Here is the assortment I picked one day last week.

In the background you will see the large, yellow Kellogg's Breakfast. This is a sensational meaty beefsteak with a great flavor. Yellow tomatoes are interesting for their lighter, more citrus-y flavor. Kellogg's Breakfast has all of that and more.

In the front are some smaller tomatoes. From the left you can see Black Cherry, the little yellow Sungolds and Stupice.

A few days later I got the first of my Noire Charbonneuse. This is a tomato that I had never heard of before but I was encouraged when I chose the plant at the nursery to know that they are French and "black". Black tomatoes are my very favorite. The color is shocking to some and utterly unappetizing to others. To me, it's the promise of intense, complex flavor. The French tomatoes I've grown before, Dona and Carmello, have been consistent producers of full-flavored tomatoes. So, how are the Noire Charbonnese? Well, here they are. What do you think?

My verdict is that they are probably the best tomatoes I've ever tasted! It would be nice if they were a little bigger. They're supposed to be about 8 ounces and the biggest one I've picked yet is only 4. But in every other respect these guys are a 10 out of 10.

I know I've been a BAD blogger. But I hope to have more to say tomorrow about how I used these. And I hope soon I'll be able to beat the local fauna to some other varieties very soon.