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The First of the Season

August 4th, 2014

Last Thursday  I plucked the first ripe tomato from the vine and popped it straight into my mouth.  There was no saving to share with Mr Chiots, very selfish I know, but he doesn’t care since he doesn’t like tomatoes quite as much as I do.
first ripe tomato
This is a ‘Tess’s Land Race’ currant tomato, the same one that ripens first just about every year. I find that I enjoy this lovely variety until the big beefsteak tomatoes come on, then it’s simply too tedious to harvest the tiny tomatoes. I’ll pick them if I need something extra for a recipe, or if I want little tomatoes for a salad. But once the beefsteaks come on they are forgotten.

What tomato variety ripens first in your garden?

12 Comments to “The First of the Season”
  1. Chris on August 4, 2014 at 7:41 am

    Small yellow pear tomatoes. We have been planting them from saved seeds for at least 35 years.

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  2. Nebraska Dave on August 4, 2014 at 7:48 am

    Susy, I do have some ripe tomatoes but I don’t know what kind they are and the one I sampled had a very large hard core and didn’t taste very good at all. I’m wondering if it’s the result of the weed spray. The plants themselves have looked scraggly all summer. The green peppers are producing a small amount but nothing like in years past. Not much else is happening in the garden. I never have planted a fall garden before but I’m considering one. I still have 77 days until the first frost day arrives so that should be time enough to grow a little something, don’t your think.

    Have a great enjoying the garden harvest day.

    Reply to Nebraska Dave's comment

  3. Misti on August 4, 2014 at 8:14 am

    Just when I’m about to take all of my tomatoes down! I still have some yellow pears that are ripening and a few other green tomatoes but we’ll likely not have any new flowers and they tomato plants look ugly right now.

    Let’s see, this year since I planted three starts first, we had a Creole tomato that was ripe first. I think the yellow pears were next though.

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  4. Mrs. H on August 4, 2014 at 8:42 am

    Our cherry tomatoes were the first to ripen this year. I forgot the name, but it is a seed from Botanical Interests and these plants are small enough to be grown in flower pots.
    I also planted an Early Girl and the heirloom Mr. Stripey. I’ve had only one red tomato off the Early Girl (she wasn’t so early) so far. It had the grocery-store-tomato taste and texture…bleh. No more Early Girls in my garden after this year. I planted it only because the regular heirloom tomatoes I started from seed died.
    Still waiting on Mr. Stripey to start ripening.

    Reply to Mrs. H's comment

  5. Sara on August 4, 2014 at 9:34 am

    Our first were sungold cherry tomatoes, they are orange and the sweetest! One of the only non-heirlooms we grow but still a favorite. We also dry these once the main tomatoes start coming in, just cut in half and squish out a little of the pulp and throw in the dehydrator, they are almost like candy.

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  6. Lorna on August 4, 2014 at 2:48 pm

    It was a race between my Jaune Flamme and Tess’s LR Currant. They both won! I love to snack on the currant tomatoes as I work in the garden, while the Jaune Flamme are excellent eating in every way (I especially like to dry them).

    I have a question about your currant tomatoes–from the picture it looks like you stake them? This is my first year growing currants and they have taken over the garden! They sprawled so far and wide the stakes simply were not doing the job (three per plant!). I’ve thought about letting them grow over cattle panel? Am I just having an odd batch, or do they always sprawl ‘out of control’? Will definitely grow them again though!

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  7. Sarah on August 4, 2014 at 3:03 pm

    It’s hard to imagine just now getting tomatoes. Mine have been done for a few weeks now, I’ve cut them all down to stumps and will try to let them re-grow for a fall harvest.

    The first I usually get are a grape tomato, very tasty, not too sweet like cherry tomatoes – I can’t stand them.

    Reply to Sarah's comment

  8. Joy Giles on August 4, 2014 at 3:40 pm

    What a difference a region makes. Most of our Spring/Summer tomatoes are done except for smalls. Just planted Fall tomatoes two weeks ago. Love homegrown tomatoes.

    Reply to Joy Giles's comment

  9. Trish on August 4, 2014 at 6:07 pm

    wow, I am interested in where some of you commenters are located. I am zone 6, and have been getting tomatoes for about 2 weeks. Early girl is my favorite, it produces so consistently, until frost. I don’t grow any heirlooms – my soil is so poor, they can’t grow well. I do amend, but it is hard to replace what Mother Nature didn’t provide.

    Reply to Trish's comment

    • Sarah on August 5, 2014 at 4:34 pm

      Austin, TX

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  10. Kristen on August 5, 2014 at 1:09 am

    My first tomato was a sungold cherry tomato. My 7 year old loves to cruise through the garden and snack on them. We had a silvery fir ripen a few days later.

    Reply to Kristen's comment

  11. Maybelline on August 5, 2014 at 2:05 am

    WHAT?! Just ripped out the 1st bed of tomatoes. Getting things ready for the fall/winter garden.

    Reply to Maybelline's comment

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This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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