Umm, Yeah, It's a Tomato!!

Let's get one thing straight:

I may be fairly decent when it comes to growing a tomato -- but I still suck when it comes to taking a picture of a tomato. In this case? It's not just the *first* tomato of the 2010 summer garden season. As you can tell by the extra-blurry photo to your right -- it's the first TWO tomatoes.

Well -- OK -- actually -- to be brutally honest -- it's not the first. Venus and I picked one a little early about ten days back. It was a paste variety tomato. Yes -- it was red. Yes - it was soft. And -- yes -- it tasted like something that comes out of the bottom of my tennis shoes after a long day of working in the Bird Back 40.

I never thought tomatoes could taste like that.

But that one didn't count! It was still cold. It didn't get the heat nor the care that tomatoes need to thrive and pump out the good fruit. These two however -- got a little bit of everything. They got a nice home in nice soil. They received the best in fertilizer -- water and care. And -- thanks to the past couple of days -- they also were the recipients of some mighty fine tomatoey-growing weather.

When just the thought of stepping outside in the sunshine brings sweat to your brow? It's good tomato weather.

The variety in this case? Cuor Di Bue - also known as -- Couer De Bouef. The starter plant -- which is now about five feet tall and fruiting like mad -- is/was a gift from Farmer Fred Hofman. A rough translation is "Ox Heart Beef." The online reviews are -- in a word -- outstanding.

Our tomato growing efforts are really starting to pick up now following an extremely slow start to the 2010 Summer Gardening season. The good weather is finally here -- plus the return of an old friend to the garden (he buzzed right in on Saturday) -- tells me that tomato season might be a tad late.

But it's looking up kids.