We have tomatoes!

We grew three varieties of heirloom tomatoes this year: Virginia Sweet, Striped German, Cherokee Purple, and Brandywine. They all had decent yields through late July into early September. Their colors are beautiful but their shapes are irregular and sometimes cracked. Their draw is in their flavor more then anything. I have found heirloom tomato varieties to have such a rich range of flavors, its so much fun to taste them all and find which you like the most. Both the Striped German and Virginia Sweet are sweeter and their flesh is bicolored. Of the two, I think I prefer the Virginia sweet. The Brandywine was a solid tomato, its what you hope every tomato you get at the grocery store or farmers market will taste like, consistent, predictable and doesn't disappoint. The Cherokee Purple, however is my absolute favorite. They are a dark reddish purple, with some green on top near the stem. The flavor was so wonderfully rich I was loving every bite. Sorry I can't recommend any specific seed companies, we purchased our Virginia Sweets and Striped German plants as seedlings from Charlottesville City Market, and the Cherokee Purple and Brandywine as seedlings from Charlottesville High School's Garden Sale.

Lastly we have cherry tomatoes, which are just the most prolific tomatoes, they are more like a glorified week which is nearly impossible to kill. Starting in June and ending in October, our cherry tomatoes just wouldn't quit. They kids could help me pick, and would do more snacking then collecting. Its a great plant to give them some ownership over because they are so prolific and hardy.

Whenever I had a basket of cherry tomatoes and no idea what to do with them, my fall back was to roast them with a little olive oil and salt in the oven. From there I would make sauce, freeze them for use later, toss them in pasta, or just eat them as is.