'Maters

We've grown 1, 429 (+- 50) tomatoes this year. I know, because I'm the only one who picks them (lazy freakin' family.. but that's another story that I'll grumble about another time), and it's so boring that I count them. I $%@^&'d up and planted twice as many as I should have, thinking that an expected freeze was going to kill my original crop. The freeze happened, but we saved the plants by draping a towel around each of them. We didn't do anything but that. And they lived! Unexpected, but very cool. But it leaves us with a ridiculous amount of tomatoes.

Here's an example. I picked these Roma tomatoes from 6PM to 6:30PM (good for making sauce, but not so much for eating fresh). I got about a third of the way done with the Romas when I'd had enough (it's oppressively hot in Louisana in June, July, August and the first two weeks of September... also I'm a wimp when it comes to heat), and this is the result:


Don't let the camera fool you. They're beet red. I pick them every night, and leave the extras in a cooler that says 'Free Vegetables' by our Post Office (we have no stores in our town, if you can believe that... it's rinky dink), and by the time I come home from work, it's empty. So far, at least.

Finally, I'll end with a tomato that's unabashedly happy to meet you.


And then there's some corn. But that's a story for another time.



UPDATE 6/16/09: scratch 1429 tomatoes, because it's now 2109 tomatoes. From one and a half 80 foot rows. Unfreakinbelievable. It's gotten so bad that I can't even find enough neighbors to give them to. A LOT of people have gardens in Hicksville, America, and there's only so many vegetables that you can eat or jar in a season. And the corn? Oh. My. God. We planted a 30'x30' patch, and got roughly five times as much corn as you see on our table above, and it all came due in 3 days! Holy CRAP that was a lot of corn. I called in sick one day to help process the stuff since my wife threatened divorce if I didn't (she does that a lot. No worries, but it's best to heed her orders when she gets to that point.)

Before you call me a braggart, know that I'm not taking credit for these ridiculous amounts of produce. It's not because of something I've done. Everyone in Louisiana is experiencing it, perhaps it's an American or even worldwide phenomena. I have no idea why, but it's a banner year. And as an amateur gardener, that makes me very happy. And full.