Trees, Turf, and Tomatoes

When I started the Texas Master Gardener program last January one of the first speakers we had said, "The majority of questions Master Gardeners get are on, what I call, 'the three Ts' - turf, trees, and tomatoes. That's what Texans care about the most when it comes to growing things." Boy, was she right!! Texans love a good shade tree, a beautiful green lawn, and home grown tomatoes in the summer. Last, year I barely made any tomatoes. The soil was wrong and I most likely had an odd variety of tomatoes that don't do well in our Texas heat. This year I was determined to get it right. I composted for months to get a rich soil for growing vegetables, and I read all I could and asked a lot of questions in class. The picture above was taken several weeks after I planted my tomatoes. I planted about February 15, babied them through some very cold nights, and took their frost blankets off on warm days.
This is how they looked about June 15. They had grown to way over my head. Many of the branches were so heavy with tomatoes they were breaking or resting on the ground. Because of the huge success I had with the tomatoes this year, I am already looking into a support system for them to grown on next year.
I am very pleased with my tomatoes this year. I had more than I knew what to do with.
After eating sliced tomatoes became a little old, I had to learn how to do other things with tomatoes.
I learned to roast tomatoes. My family LOVES these!! They are so easy to make.
These are the roasted tomatoes poured hot over Philly cream cheese. Incredible!!
These are fried green tomatoes and Videlia onion dip. Fantastic!!
Another favorite is tomato and cheese sandwiches. Very good!!

I hope you are enjoying locally grown vegetables, too!!