The Most Interesting Tomato Plant of the Month! September!

Tomato Plant of the Month

I don't always grow tomatoes. But when I do? I grow some very strange plants that cannot be identified. This is what it is like to grow your own tomato garden, my friends. Sometimes you know what you are growing. Other efforts are complete surprises. That is the story behind the Tomato Plant of the Month for the month of September. I cannot begin to tell you what variety it is.

I've chosen this one plant for a reason. The picture located above right is an example of the harvest from this one plant. That is not the total harvest. It is just the harvest that came off this one plant on the day I took this picture. That's why I took the picture to be completely honest. This one plant, the plant of the month, has been churning out round and red tomatoes since early July. It is still churning out tomatoes in the month of September. I could have taken five more photos of the daily harvests from this one plant, but WHY?

Mystery Plant

I can tell you one or two things about the September Tomato Plant of the Month. It is not what tomato growers call a "Determinate" tomato variety. This list comprises a small number of varieties. They are marketed under names like Early Girl or Better Boy and a few others. These types of "Determinate" varieties, which also include some types of Roma or Paste tomatoes, will usually result in one large harvest. The plant might spit out a few more tomatoes as the season progresses, but the idea behind "Determinate" plants is one big harvest.

Indeterminate plants, which are also known as "heirlooms," are different. They will also produce one big harvest. They will also produce a second big harvest. If you're lucky, you might even receive a third big harvest. Indeterminate, or heirloom, plants take a bit longer to ripen than the determinate varieties. But, the advantage is they don't stop producing. They will keep forming new tomatoes throughout the growing season. I live in California. The tomato growing season here can be very long. It can start as early as March and keep right on going until the Thanksgiving holiday arrives in late November.

Plant of the Month

As much as I would like to tell you the name of this variety, I cannot. This is due to a gardening "accident" that took place earlier this year. The seedling plants that I received had been scattered about due to this accident. Which means every plant was a complete and total mystery. As these plants started to grow and produce ripened tomatoes, I could correctly guess the names of some varieties. The "Lemon Boy" variety was easy to spot because those tomatoes turn yellow when ripe. I could also spot the Kellogg's Breakfast plant, because those tomatoes ripen into a pleasing shade of orange.

However, most tomato plants produce round and red tomatoes. The vast majority of the tomatoes in this year's garden produced round and red tomatoes. How can you tell them apart? The short answer is: you cannot. You just enjoy them. You turn them into a lot of tomato sauce or canned tomatoes. You give them away to friends and neighbors. That is what I've been doing with the tomatoes from the September plant of the month since July. It started to produce early. It is still producing in September. It may keep right on producing through the months of October and November. I really don't know.

Tomato Sauce Project

I have been fortunate (lucky) enough to grow some varieties that have been as productive as this one plant has been. The variety known as Druzba comes to mind. Druzba is an heirloom that came to America from Bulgaria. This variety also produces a ridiculous amount of red and round tomatoes throughout the growing season. This variety produces tomatoes that ripen early. It also produces tomatoes that will ripen in November, provided the weather cooperates. But, the September Tomato Plant of the Month is not a Druzba. How do I know this? Because my tomato growing buddy who provided me with starter plants during spring planting efforts did not plant Druzba seeds.

So, while this plant may act like a Druzba, it is not a Druzba.

I suppose the name of this plant could also be Prarie Fire, Bella Trix, Say Brook or Original Blue Ribbon. These are varieties that produce red and round tomatoes. These are also seeds that my tomato growing friend DID plant. So, I suppose it could be one of these. Except, all of these varieties are listed as Determinate. This means one big crop of red and round tomatoes and not much else. That doesn't match what I'm growing.

Lots of green tomatoes

The bottom line is I'll never really know for sure. But it really doesn't matter. Because backyard tomato growers pray for production like this. It's a non-stop harvest so ridiculously large that you will never eat them all. You need help.

Thank goodness I have friends and family that love vine-ripened garden tomatoes as much as I do.

Grow Tomatoes, My Friends.

The HAUL

Heirloom Tomato Haul

I haven't been blessed like this for a very long time. Not since my gardens were located in North Natomas and I was using a different blog from a past lifetime. The haul of tomatoes, peppers, onions and basil currently coming out of the Citrus Heights garden is one for the ages.

The photo you see pictured to your right is just one part of it. I picked this for a canning project last weekend. This sink full of ripe heirloom tomatoes came from approximately half of the plants in the garden. I'm still harvesting from the other half that didn't get touched, hoping that my neighbors don't get tired of my never-ending gifts of vine ripened tomatoes.

I've stopped waiting for the 101st Airborne Rat Army to show up. It's nearly September now. In the past two or three years, this garden would have been decimated from top to bottom by now. Every tomato still on the vine would be damaged with large and disgusting chunks in the shape of large, sharp rat teeth. It was impossible to walk down the garden rows, unless you enjoy rats suddenly zipping across your shoes as this walk interruped their non-stop feeding regimen and garden destruction habits. It was really something to experience. Depressing too.

Single Plant Harvest

But the introduction of "The Mango" as my neighbors now call him (they did name him, after all), has meant all the difference in the world. I kept waiting for weeks on end for the 101st Airborne Rat Army to parachute in on any given night and lay claim to the ripening heirloom tomato crop. They never did. Not with The Mango, my tiny orange rescue kitten from the Bradshaw Animal Shelter, now patrolling the garden area.

His presence has resulted in what is pictured above left. That isn't a harvest from my heirloom plants. That's from ONE plant. Plus, that is just the harvest from that ONE plant on the day this picture was taken. I've been pulling tomatoes off this ONE plant for weeks. It's still loaded with tomatoes that are still green at the moment. Which means another monster harvest from this ONE plant is coming soon.

Processing Tomatoes

So, with heirloom tomatoes literally coming out of my ears, it was time to put some old gardening tools to work again. This would result in a project I had not undertaken for nearly a decade. I would turn a sink full of vine-ripened heirloom tomatoes, garden bell peppers and jalapeño peppers, garden grown onions and basil, and turn it into as many jars of spicy tomato sauce as I could get.

This was an all-day job for two people a decade ago. I'm alone now. I wouldn't be all that surprised if this job took me more than a full day. That did happen, but only because I ran out of canning jars and the all important canning jar lids. The lids are the one thing you cannot recycle. Once they've been used, you cannot use them again.

Simmering Sauce

I'm not sure why I chose to hang onto all of the old garden canning equipment when I found myself living alone again. Anyone who has been through this experience, and a lot of us have, will find themselves throwing away a lot of old and unpleasant memories. This I did through the years, but I kept the old water-bath and pressure-canning equipment sitting on a shelf in the garage. It had gathered a fine layer of dirt and dust through all those years of inactivity. But you know what? You can wash the dirt off. You can enjoy life again.

Turning a sink full of heirloom tomatoes and peppers into jars of spicy tomato sauce is a fairly simple task once you've done this a few times. The first step is to wash and core the fruit. It's then cut into chunks and liquified in a food processor. The amounts are then measured and added to a large pot. Once everything is added, you bring the mixture to a boil and let it simmer.

The Payoff

I wanted a thicker sauce this time. So, rather than just one hour of a hard simmer, I kept it going for two. It's useless to keep an air conditioning unit working during a project like this because the heat coming out of the kitchen is fairly intense. Of course I would choose the hottest day of 2022 to take on such a project. That only makes sense. I had forgotten about the kind of heat that comes out of a kitchen when a pressure canning unit is hard at work.

The end result is 13-pints and three quarts of the thickest sauce I've ever created. Do you really think I'm going to consume this much heirloom tomato sauce during the winter? Are you insane? That's what neighbors are for. The same neighborhood children who gifted my orange rescue kitten with the name of "The Mango" will get to enjoy the results of his non-stop garden patrol efforts.

The Mango

If "The Mango" enjoyed tomato sauce he would most certainly get his fair share. After all, he earned it. But, he's more than content with his kitten kibble. The only snack he seems to enjoy is the ocassional bug he hauls in from the backyard. This is one garden assassin who works cheap.

The Most Interesting Tomato Plant of the Month! August

Garden Protector at Work

I don't always grow tomatoes. But when I do, I grow the fattest, most colorful and tastiest of heiroom tomatoes! And this year, thanks to that creature pictured to the right, I'm enjoying a banner harvest for the first time in years.

That's right! Heirloom tomato season is now officially underway in these parts. The plants are literally producing so many tomatoes at the moment that I'm literally begging neighbors to take them from me.

In the past, I might have tried to can some of this bounty for winter use. I do have recipes for numerous tomato sauces. I've done it before. But, so far, the energy just eludes me. Most of my time is spent harvesting, packaging and delivering this enormous haul to neighbors here, there and everywhere.

Kellogg's Breakfast

Which brings us to the most interesting tomato plant of the month. It's August. This is the month of heirloom tomato production in California. In past years? An army of rats would have decimated this garden by now. The only pictures that I could show at this point in the garden season were photos of heirloom tomatoes that were half eaten, covered with aphids and other bugs, and just plain spoiled.

But that isn't the case in 2022. Mango, the kitten rescue procured from the Sacramento Bradshaw Shelter has somehow managed to keep the ravenous rat army, every last one of them, at bay. I haven't lost a single tomato to a rat raid. There are no rat raids. No other wildlife raids either. The creatures who feasted on previous garden efforts last year, the year before that and even the year before that, are avoiding the garden like it's some sort of plague.

Which is just fine by me.

1.5 lbs.!

The most interesting tomato plant of the month is a variety I've grown before, but never enjoyed the bounty of a harvest like this one. This variety is called Kellogg's Breakfast. It is considered to be one of the finest open-pollinated tomato plants ever developed. It received it's name, not from the makers of Kellogg's Breakfast Cereals, but a railroad supervisor by the name of Darrell Kellogg.

This variety hails from West Virginia, but Kellogg helped to popularize it from his gardens located in Redford, Michigan. The food editors at Sunset Magazine declared it as one of the best heirloom tomato varieties ever developed, and legendary heirloom grower Carolyn Male made sure to list Kellogg's Breakfast in her time-honored garden bible called 100 Heirloom Tomatoes for the American Garden.

Heirloom Tomatoes

This variety was christined with the name of "breakfast tomato" because of its unique and outstanding orange flesh and orange colored juice. It is simply one of the sweetest varieties you will ever have the pleasure of tasting, and just one of these tomatoes can fill up a standard serving bowl once it's been sliced into delicious, mouthwatering chunks. It's also a favored slicing tomato that's been known to cover more than a few Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato sandwiches.

Kellogg's Breakfast is one of those few late-season rewards that heirloom tomato growers dream about all winter and spring. The season is never quite long enough, no matter how productive the plant might be. These fruits easily top 1 lb. and a few might even tip the scales at 2 lbs. or more. It's not a perfectly round tomato. No heirloom really is. Most heirloom tomatoes look like garden nightmares. Kellogg's Breakfast is no different. It's lumpy, bumpy and just plain good.

YUM!

The garden is producing lots of tomatoes like this at the moment. So much so that choosing a "tomato variety of the month" proved to be difficult. There are others in that garden of mine who are attempting to knock Kellogg's Breakfast off its lofty perch, but that is a tough task for an heirloom delicacy like this one.

Grow Tomatoes, my friends.

KOMPOT!

Bandit and Mango

I must admit that it has been a very nice experience to live right next door to a husband and wife who were born in Ukraine. They both arrived in California decades ago as young children. They were immigrants in what must have been a strange new world for them. But, they adapted. They grew up. They met, they fell in love, got married and started a family. This journey came to my attention when they purchased the home next door some years ago.

I couldn't ask for better neighbors. Sometimes I feel like I've won a lottery of life. The children from this marriage have been called upon, or put to work so to say, to name the beasts that are pictured above. Both cat and dog were procured from the Bradshaw Animal Shelter in Sacramento County. The dog, a Border Collie, was christened with the name of Bandit. The kitten received the title of Mango.

Recent Tomato Haul

I've come to learn that this family loves the produce that comes from the over-sized gardens that I plant every spring. I always make the mistake of planting far too much than I could ever consume, which means the multitudes of tomatoes, squash, peppers, onions and other garden goodies are always searching for a home. They have found a home next door (and elsewhere).

They have also been introduced to the tree-ripened delight of Black Mission figs. I first experienced this delight last year when the tree I planted three years ago suddenly delivered a small crop of fruit. Although I've planted and nurtured a multitude of fruit trees, this would be my first experience with tree-ripened figs. Oh my! I can begin to understand now why figs were, at one time, the most widely planted of all fruit trees in California.

Black Mission Fig Tree

The crop that is coming off the tree this summer can be described in many ways. But, the word "small" is not one of them. Dozens of figs are now ripe for the picking every single day. While I always enjoy five or six pieces of daily, tree-ripened fruit, the dozens that are coming off the tree right now are a bit much. They have found a home next door, across the street, down the block and even at a local dog park where Bandit can terrorize other dogs and dog owners.

It is this gift of fruit, plus other summer garden produce, that resulted in the discovery of an old Russian and Ukrainian heirloom recipe. It's called Kompot (Kohm-Poat). It's a simple way of using a lot of tree or bush-ripened fruit to make a fresh and natural fruit juice that is out of this world GOOD.

Black Mission Figs

I suppose you could call this the old-fashioned way of making Kool-Aid. It's just much healthier. It's also much, much better.

The introduction to this crazy-good concoction made a surprise appearance at my front door the other day. It was a gift from my Ukrainian neighbors. This particular Kompot was made with strawberries and blueberries. I instantly fell in love with it. I'd never tasted anything like it. I would come to learn that Kompot can be made with any combination of tree-ripened fruit. Or, it can be made with just one type of tree-ripened fruit.

Like, Black Mission figs, for example.

Making Kompot

The glass jug that my neighbors of Ukrainian descent used to introduce me to the wonders of Kompot would be returned two days later. That's how long it took me to drink a quart of strawberry and blueberry Kompot. It was that good. But, this jar would not be returned empty. It was cleaned and filled again. It would be returned with a Black Mission fig mixture of Kompot.

If one were to cast votes on this matter, I would personally choose the Kompot that came out of the neighbor's kitchen. That combination of strawberries and blueberries was truly something special. I wish I could share that taste with you. It is out of this world good.

Black Mission Fig Kompot

But, other people also get to cast votes in this election. It's a split decision. The neighbors who introduced me to Kompot claim they like my Mission Black fig creation just a tad better.

You can't ask for better neighbors. You really can't.

This is the recipe I used to make my own version of Black Mission fig Kompot. I also modified it a tad, so I've listed it below. Although this is a recipe that I used to create Kompot from Black Mission figs, any fruit can be substituted.

This is the month of August in California. What California fruit ripens during the month of August? EVERYTHING!

Have fun!

Black Mission Fig Kompot

-25 soft to the touch, tree-ripened Black Mission figs

-1.5 gallons water

-1 to 1.5 cups sugar (depending upon how sweet you want it)

Directions:

-Cut figs into quarters and set aside

-Fill a large pot with 1.5 gallons of water and bring to a boil

-Add quartered figs and return to a boil

-Reduce heat to a simmer. Do not cover pot

-Simmer for 30-45 minutes.

-Turn stove off after simmering is complete. Add sugar to water and fruit. Stir to mix. I covered the pot and let this mixture sit overnight.

-Straining the fruit from the liquid is tricky. I just dumped the entire concoction into a plastic one gallon jug. I used a colander to strain the juice into two half gallon jugs. Seeds from the figs do pass through, but I didn't mind. If you want a clearer fruit juice, minus the seeds, you can place cheesecloth into the colander during the straining process.

The left-over fruit used from creating this mixture is also very tasty. It can also be used in another dish called Kissel. This recipe comes courtesy of Natasha's Kitchen. Scroll past the Kompot recipe to access the instructions for Kissel.

The Kitten Chronicles

Mango

Meet Mango. That's the name that the children who live next door to me bestowed on the beast of a kitten that I adopted as a four-week old in mid May from the Bradshaw Animal Shelter in Sacramento County. He may look cute. He is cute. But, Mango serves a far more important purpose than just pure orange kitten cuteness. Mango is my new garden enforcer.

The Sacramento County Shelter likes prospective kitten owners to fill out a lot of paperwork before any adoption can take place. I clearly remember one question that the Bradshaw Shelter posed: "What do you expect your new kitten to do?" I nearly put down something snarky like "croon like Frank Sinatra," but I had second thoughts. I just put down the following: "be a typical kitten."

Bandit and Mango

In all honesty? I adopted Mango for a reason. The first was to become a lifelong pal to the Border Collie named Bandit. The same neighborhood children who named Mango were called upon to name the beast I brought home from the same Bradshaw Shelter in July of last year. But, Bandit needed a buddy. Bandit got a buddy. It worked. When the two aren't trying to bite each other to pieces in a never-ending play session, they are curled up in the most ridiculously heart-rendering pose you will ever witness.

They are my new Frick and Frack.

The second reason why I adopted Mango was out of pure garden frustration. An army of rats, opossums, skunks, birds, and other wildlife regularly assaulted the large gardens that I planted the previous two years. The large heirloom tomato crops were chewed up and eaten. Every kernel of Golden Bantam corn was stripped away and consumed. The California Wonder Bell Peppers were hauled off and spirited away. My nightly garden raiders even developed a taste for Yellow Crookneck Squash!

Garden in July

But if this wasn't bad enough? It didn't stop there. The 101st Airborne Rat Army that dropped in every night weren't just satisfied with stealing every last heirloom tomato. They didn't stop until they had consumed large portions of the plants themselves. Which should be poisonous to them. Unfortunately, these rats seem to be immune to anything in the deadly Nightshade family.

I've faced raids by rats in the past. In my North Natomas gardens they would drop in from time to time to filch a tomato or a mandarin. They might have even drilled a hole into a watermelon. But that damage was minor. I could live with one or two missing tomatoes. I could lose one watermelon or cantaloupe and "be one with nature."

But the garden raids that started two years ago were like nothing I had ever witnessed or experienced before. I had never before lost an entire crop of Brandywine tomatoes. Watching 60-70 Lemon Boy tomatoes suddenly vanish in the space of a week was simply too much to bear.

Tiny Kitten

Those big, giant, old-fashioned rat snap traps were not the solution. Sure, I might get five or six of them. But that didn't stop the dozens that came over the fences every night. Rat poison wasn't an option. That will just kill anything and everything that eats a poisoned rat. Besides, given a choice between rat poison and a vine-ripened Mortgage Lifter tomato, the rat is always going to choose the Mortgage Lifter.

Rats aren't stupid. They are, however, destructive.

Enter Mango. Stage right. I didn't really have high hopes. After all, the boy I had adopted was just a kitten. How is a small kitten going to stop a big and nasty rat? Or, more to the point, the 101st Airborne Rat Army? These are big, nasty, mean and hungry creatures. Will a kitten really stop them? A tiny orange ball of fluff?

Garden Enforcer at Work

That answer, so far, is yes he will. Yes, he has. But the most important test is yet to come.

Mango's education as a garden enforcer started with small prey. My boy began to haul small bugs into the house. Much to my horror, I realized those small bugs were, in fact, cockroaches. There's nothing quite like the feeling of dread that washes over you when the kitten hauls in a big, fat, fast cockroach and then drops it on the carpet.

Cockroaches run very fast. They head for the nearest dark crevice of safety, where they can set up a new home and produce lots of other cockroaches. That's what these bugs intended to do. Unfortunately, none of them were fast enough. Just before they could reach any measure of safety, Mango would catch them, flip them in the air, pick them up, bite them and start the entire play process all over again. When the roach stopped moving, he ate it. Every last bit of it. Munch, munch, munch.

You and I like popcorn, right? Perhaps a crunchy bell pepper? Tree-ripened fruit perhaps? My cat likes cockroaches. A lot. Deal with it. When he decimated the cockroach population in my yard, he took his hunt to the next door neighbor's house. The neighbor did not complain. Not one iota.

Squash Plant Patrol

I didn't adopt Mango to kill rats. I know this will probably happen at some point, but that wasn't my intention. My hope was he would scare them out of his yard. This is exactly what has happened. I can hear the squeals of terror that come at night when he surprises one. The next sound I hear is that of a rat scurrying over the fence to safety. That's fine with me. He's scaring the rats. He also chased a baby opossum into another yard. Perfect.

But, the biggest test is yet to come. The Garden Enforcer is doing his job, so far. However, the main crop of heirloom tomatoes has yet to ripen. While Mango has already prevented many raids from taking place, the real test will come in August, September and October.

Zero Damage

But, if you were to ask, my answer is "so far, so good." I'm harvesting vine-ripened tomatoes. I'm harvesting perfect Yellow Crookneck Squash. Garden peppers of all shapes and sizes are turning red and haven't been molested. Compared to what took place the previous two summers, the change has been dramatic.

But, will it last? Stay tuned. The Kitten Chronicles, featuring Mango the Garden Enforcer, will continue.

Fence Post Onions!

Fence Post Onions!

What's this you say? You can actually grow onions on an ordinary fence post? A stick of wood? A perpendicular onion crop? Bunions on a barricade? Shallots on a shield? Of course you can! Would I lie to you?

Stay tuned for the book! "101 Easy and Simple Steps to Grow Onions on Fence Posts." Which would be a big waste of money. Although I have written a book, it's not about growing onions on fence posts. You cannot grow onions on fence posts. Yes, I am lying to you. Despite the visual evidence presented to your immediate right, I did not grow onions on a fence post.

Yes, I did grow onions. No, I did not grow them on a fence post or any other type of wood. However, the onions pictured on that fence post are, in fact, the onions that I set into the ground as young plants on a cold and dark day last February.

2022 Onion Crop

That said? Ye olde fence post is serving a valiant purpose. Besides it's primary function to keep garden-thieving rats out of the garden, it's also a great spot for CURING onions. That's exactly what is taking place right now, at this very moment. My fantastically large onion harvest (featuring red, yellow and white onions) has entered the "cure" stage following this weekend's harvest.

What is The Cure? It's an English rock band. But this isn't the cure you're looking for, nor is it the process I'm describing.

Curing is the process that takes place AFTER the onion crop is harvested. It's a period that can last for as long as two to four weeks and the end result is an onion crop and harvest that will last for months without spoiling. Onions that haven't been properly cured still taste fine. But, even after cooking, they can also be a bit rubbery. I know this from experience. I used two of these small onions in last night's garden soup creation. Even after simmering them for 30-minutes, they were still a tad rubbery.

Enormous Onion

But they still tasted great! Plus, they will taste even better after they've cured in our hot California summer weather for a month or two. That's the nice thing about onions. I can leave them right where they are and they will last until the next crop is planted.

The process of curing dries the onions out a bit. The skins that make up an onion change during this process and get a bit tougher. The sugar in a home-grown onion gets a tad sweeter. The longer these onions sit and cure, the better they get. These are all good results.

There are roughly 140 onions in this year's harvest. Am I going to eat 140 onions? Heavens, NO! That's what neighbors are for. Fortunately, I'm blessed to live around a number of families who all share one thing in common. They all love onions.

Rat Hunter Inspection

Thank goodness they all love Yellow Crookneck Squash as well, otherwise I'd be in trouble. They are all getting squash at the moment. Soon, they will all get onions. Tomatoes, peppers, potatoes and bush beans will soon follow. I keep my neighbors well stocked with fresh produce. I kind of like this role.

This crop of onions is the end result after planting one or two Intermediate Day Sampler packs provided by Dixondale Farms in Texas. These packs arrive as small starter plants, maybe two to three inches in length. They are planted in early to mid February. Once planted, they grow like gangbusters. Or, onions. By early to mid July, it's time to harvest.

I never really did experience a tremendous amount of success with growing onions until I finally followed the advice of others and turned to Dixondale Farms. The fact that this one operation has been providing onion plant starters to backyard growers large and small since 1913 should be enough to tell you that they are doing something right. If the act of growing onions is an art form, they are the American version of a da Vinci or Van Gogh.

Onions Will Make Him Cry

It's a fairly simple task, actually. Just use the Dixondale Farms map to determine if you live in an area designated for Long Day, Intermediate Day or Short Day Onions and place the appropriate order for the area of the country you call home.

How good are these onions? Very good. So good that they just might convince Robert Smith that he needs to do a rewrite on one of the key songs that made him famous.

The Most Interesting Tomato Plant of The Month! JULY

Streaky Mystery Tomato

Grow Tomatoes My Friends...

The most interesting tomato plant growing in the garden during the month of July has absolutely nothing to do with the famous Dos Equis beer advertising campaign. Except that is interesting for one very specific reason: I have exactly no idea what this tomato variety is, nor the type of tomato it will deliver. This plant and the tomatoes on it is pictured to your immediate right. Notice those streaks? That is what makes it interesting.

I can guess, from looking at pictures of tomatoes, and I think I've got it figured out. But, until the tomatoes on this plant reach a stage to where they actually ripen, the true identity will be unknown. This is the result from an accident involving numerous tomato starter plants that were knocked askew during a home remodeling project. As a result, the starter plants that my tomato growing friend delivered earlier this year came with a giant question mark.

Nels Christensen-USS Kitty Hawk

I know it would be convenient to blame this little problem on the friend who provided the vast majority of my garden starter plants this year. But, seriously, you can't blame Nels Christensen for this problem. That's Nels pictured to the left. Forgive the blurry image if you will. It was taken some time ago, while Nels was serving his country onboard the USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63) supercarrier during the Vietnam War. Nels survived the conflict, came home and now provides starter plants for my Citrus Heights vegetable garden.

But this little garden starter plant mixup was not his fault. Even if it was, you can forgive a guy who served his country in the Gulf of Tonkin.

As a result of the tomato starter plant mishap that took place earlier this year, I really do not have any idea of what is growing in the garden this July. I can tell you the garden is home to 22 tomato plants. But that's about it. The tomatoes that these 22-plants hold, and they are holding quite a bit this year, are an absolute mystery.

Interesting Plant of the Month

In some strange way, this makes gardening a bit more fun. I may ask Nels to perform another remodeling project, and suffer through another accident, at his house next spring.

This particular plant is developing new tomatoes at a rather rapid clip. The way they are clustered together would lead me to believe that this could possibly be a cherry tomato variety. Not just any cherry tomato variety, but something rather special. How many cherry tomato varieties develop streaks? As someone who has grown a vast number of cherry varieties, I can tell you from experience that the answer is: Not Many.

It is true that cherry tomato varieties come in a vast number of shapes, sizes and colors. Although I'm partial to a variety called Black Cherry, that doesn't mean I won't grow anything else. My summer vegetable gardens have been home to a great many cherry varieties. There is no greater joy in life than harvesting a late summer bowl of vine-ripened cherry tomatoes. A bowl of that late season color is striking to say the least. These cherry tomato types are great for snacking. It's probably one of the healthiest summer snacks you could choose.

Interesting Stripes

While the identities of the plants that I was provided with this year are unknown, the news isn't exactly all bad. The seed list that my garden friend created survived this horrible early season accident. That list gives me something to check. Thanks to Google images, numerous pictures of each variety on this seed list do pop up. Nels and I have deduced that the Most Interesting Tomato Plant for the month of July could be one be one of two choices: Patty's Striped Beefsteak OR the Black Strawberry Tomato from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds.

While I would be absolutely thrilled to report that one single tomato plant in my garden has developed 50-75 beefsteak tomatoes so far, and appears ready to develop far more, my guess is this isn't a beefsteak variety. A check with the Baker Creek Seed website however, provides photos that indicate my "most interesting tomato plant of the month" is, in fact, the Black Strawberry.

This isn't a horrible development, by the way. Not by a longshot. If you were to believe, or buy into, the marketing language from our friends at Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, the Black Strawberry produces a lip-smacking result: "A bowl full resembles a luminous and luxurious bunch of gems, and indeed the flavor is decadent and indulgent, with perfectly sweet and tart balanced flavor!"

From this colorful language I guess one could infer that this is a good cherry tomato.

Customer reviews, however, are a bit more honest. I must admit, those reviews aren't half bad. Of the 18 people who have taken the time out of their day to review the product, most indicate that it's a keeper. Jill from San Diego wrote the following: "Not only are they beautiful but they are good! They have a deep, complex flavor and are better when they are soft and the bottoms turn red."

The Most Interesting Tomato Plant of the Month (July Edition) has grown to a height of five feet so far, which means it's growing faster than other plants in this year's garden. It's developed an extraordinary amount of fruit so far, and seems destined to develop a lot more as the summer moves forward. Which means, hopefully, a large bowl or two of cherry tomato varieties in my kitchen as the summer growing season moves forward.

Grow Tomatoes, My Friends.