Tomato time

It’s tomato planting time!

 Even those of us who garden only on the balcony can pop the plants of this favorite veggie into large pots and they will reward us with plentiful succulent fruit all summer long. Tomatoes don’t like standing in the rain, so they are happy on a covered balcony.

The only problem with growing one’s own tomatoes is that one is forever spoiled – the taste is indescribably better than the usual mealy, watery, store-bought items. The choice of plants is dizzying and an education in itself. I stand in the veggie section of the garden center, inhaling the unique aroma of tomato leaves and studying the colorful labels scattered among the pots. There are varieties bearing fruit large and tiny, ribbed and date-shaped, yellow, purple or pink, types new and heirloom, hybrid and grafted. The mouth waters. One refrains from taking one of each.

The best attribute of heirloom tomatoes is their superior sweetness. Apparently the bright “tomato red” that we associate with the fruit is the result of a natural genetic mutation that unfortunately means sacrificing a sweet taste. Consumers seem to have preferred the red to the sweet for decades, but this is changing, thank goodness, with the reintroduction of heirloom varieties. They tend to produce very tall, sprawling plants, not the best for my small space.

But ah, the grafted plants, with a hardy root topped by a tasty, heavy bearing variety; the resulting combinations enjoy the best of both. I’ve grown these for years, eschewing the small, compact varieties bred especially for the balcony. They bear too little fruit and all at once. I tie up the larger plants so they don’t take over the entire space. I’m rewarded for the extra price I pay for grafted plants by freedom from disease and a luscious, bountiful crop all summer long.

And now I hope you’re starting your own tomato pot garden, maybe under the eaves on the south side of the house. Enjoy!