North Carolina Summer Tomatoes right from the vine will forever be fruit for the mind, scent of summer joy invigorating the nostrils while the taste buds juice before the first bite.
Chris Holton and his garden, Edenton, NC has provided me with a reason to pack my car and head south. How did he keep the birds and other insects as well as knots from this red juicy harvest? I must ask him.
Jesus told stories of the farmer. Let us tell our summer garden stories!
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OMG how delicious and sweet these beautiful tomatoes look. I tried yellow tomatoes this year in a container pot. I fed them so much miracle grow they grew into a very large bush with plentiful fruit galore. When I went far away and did not stand guard to keep the birds away in they flew to gulp the lusicous sweetness contained in the beautiful fruit. When I return they had distroyed the vines and left me empty hulls instead of delicious tomatoes to indulge.
Laugh, live and love! Rena, your garden story sounds like mine. We need to have Chris Holton tell us how to keep the birds away! And, how to grow pretty tomatoes. A friend gave me one with lots of knots and twist and other strange things but it taste lovely.
All I can say is……….thank God my husband is a gardener! 🙂
My daddy was a premier gardener growing chubby, ruby tomatoes as his piece de resistance (besides greens, herbs, beets, etc etc. etc.) Daddy produced so many tomatoes that Sister Grandma canned (I helped a little) dozens and dozens of jars of tomatoes with a basil leaf on top, of course, every year. But, I do not ever remember there ever being knots or dents or bird attacks on any of his produce in his twenty years of farming happiness on that plot of land beside our house.
I wonder why the beasts of the field and the birds of the air are now attacking our summer fruits, these last days. Very interesting. Sorry Rena. What a disappointment.
But Chris Holton proves that it still can be done! Beautiful produce, Chris. Congratulations a goodly harvest.
Chris Holton’s tomatoes sure are beautiful, plentiful and consistent looking…and no cracks, spots, holes or weird shapes like mine! My compost pile sure is getting fed lot of tomato scraps. This year I planted an heirloom variety called Mortgage Lifter. The story goes that the man who bred and developed this popular variety back in the 40’s paid off his mortgage by selling these plants that produced 2-4 pound tomatoes. Sadly, maybe my half-pounders need more water, fertilizer or some mulch? The Sweet 100 cherry tomatoes are producing great but don’t make a very good tomato sandwich. Well, I am thankful for some fresh tomatoes and hoping to have enough to can a few jars.
Debi, you tried real hard but this is No. Va. not NC!
You are right Sara…and that means hard red clay and lots of rocks.
One thing I have done a couple times with many of the tomatoes that have cracks, bumps, bad spots, etc is to juice them in my juicer. It makes a refreshing summer drink. Also I cut out the bad places and used some to make a spaghetti sauce. Haven’t gotten enough at one time yet to can, but so far they have been useful. Thankfully, we have had some rain in this area to get the vines going.
Jesus tells a farming story given to us by Matthew, chapter 13:
“A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. Whoever has ears, let them hear.”
The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables? He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. This is why I speak to them in parables:”
Chris Holton, you have an abundance!
According to Jesus’ story to His disciples, maybe Chris H. knows one of the secrets of
the kingdom of sowing and reaping in the fields. What a treasure that is.