My husband made a delicious Caprese salad for dinner last night with store-bought tomatoes and basil. It’s one of our favorite dishes. He found plump, flavorful heirloom tomatoes, filled with juicy sweetness. Today, at last, we have our own ripening tomatoes on the vine and a healthy crop of basil.
I planted three organic starter plants on one side of the City Picker planting system, and three sets of seeds on the other. Everything came up. When the pumpkin vines took over the area between the garden beds, I simply rolled our tomatoes to a sunny spot on the walkway, something I couldn’t have done otherwise. I’ll definitely plant tomatoes in the box again.
Okay, all you tomato growers: are your tomatoes ripening on the vine? Ours took 94 days from seed to red fruit.
Tomatoes and Basil
Tomato Quirks: I learned a thing or two from this article.
The Green Grower: Bonnie vegetable starters now come in biodegradable “pots” that go straight into the ground with the plant. No more plastic pots!
The World’s Largest Tomato: A record holder at over 7 pounds.
Insalata Caprese: My husband usually just wings it, but here is a recipe similar to the one he prepared.
Gardening Nirvana 
Those toms look great – mine are a wishy washy orange colour that are crying out for sunshine 🙂
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I’ll do my best sunshine dance and will hope for clear, bright skies. Orange is close to red…I think you might be just around the corner.
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Now, if we could just talk Pamanesca into cooking up some of her famous Putanesca . . . and inviting us over to her new house to eat it!
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That would be divine.
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Coincedentally, that’s also my favorite salad. Your tomatoe’s look absolutely perfect, like the Brad & Angelina of produce. I went back and looked at the planters too, if we’re still here next spring I must look for them. They look so tidy. I’m not sure if tomatoe’s are a vegetable or a fruit but I think they last longer in my ‘fruit’ bin in the fridge.
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Technically they are a fruit, though we often think of them as vegetables. I sliced up the innaugarl tomato this morning and ate half of it before breakfast. It was sweet through and through. I will definitely plant the Bonnie Organics again, and I’ll also use the City Picker. You set up the box with drainage, fertilizer, mulch and a watering tube up front. Then all you have to do is keep the water tube filled. It’s been great.
I thought you were moving to the Bay Area so we could scrap, shop, sew, chat, eat, pet our kitties, blog, garden, exchange seeds, etc.?
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Technically they are a fruit, though we often think of them as vegetables. I sliced up the innaugarl tomato this morning and ate half of it before breakfast. It was sweet through and through. I will definitely plant the Bonnie Organics again, and I’ll also use the City Picker. You set up the box with drainage, fertilizer, mulch and a watering tube up front. Then all you have to do is keep the water tube filled. It’s been great.
I thought you were moving to the Bay Area so we could scrap, shop, sew, chat, eat, pet our kitties, blog, garden, exchange seeds, etc.?
PS “Brad and Angelina of produce” You are so funny!
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‘The Bay Area’, I really like saying that. Sounds completely Posh. Your folks must have really had the Wanderlust in their bones. That must have been a great adventure. Ha, it’d be fun for sure, how would I ever find time to look after Jim? You must be the most organized lady in the neighbourhood!
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I never thought about it as Wanderlust, but now that you mention it, I guess they did. Mom was born in Nova Scotia, then moved to Vancouver for five years, served as a WREN in WWII (at home) and at some point moved to Ontario where she met my dad on a blind date. Dad lived in England, then India, back to England, then Canada and the US.
Mike’s family also moved around a lot. His dad was from Italy, immigrated to Argentina during the war, then moved to the US with Mike’s mom. In the US, they bounced back and forth between California, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, much to the chagrin of the boys.
When we got married, much as we love to travel, we both agreed that we wanted to raise the boys in one stable home if possible. So far so good: Other than a six week stay in a local residence in at the end of a remodel, we’ve stayed put for 16 years.
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