Meet Roma and Juliet: Growing Tomatoes
It’s our first tomato harvest of the season! We had our first tomatoes with pesto (basil from our garden) served with beets. The kids called it ‘garden dinner.’ If anyone had told me when I was younger I would write about tomatoes in my garden I would have laughed at them. I think I ate too many cherry tomatoes as a child. I am a pretty recent tomato fan, Dave always got the ones that were on my salads, but not any more! I love tomatoes, and love growing our own.
The second year of tomato gardening here in Pennsylvania is going way better than last year. We were newbie gardeners last year with flimsy tomato cages, blossom end rot and tons of dry weather. I did a lot of reading over the winter learning all I could about what we could do better this year and I think it’s paying off.
How I Did It
It’s been about two months since I planted our tomatoes and wow they have GROWN. I am generally on the ball with puns, but it did not dawn on me until my daughter was asking about all the things named Juliet that I got plants called Roma and Juliet (a Grape variety). I planted three of each plant on May 7 and only had replace one Roma due to frost (oh happy frost….) I dug a deep hole, added a few handfuls of leaves, compost and egg shells. Covered with dirt, and buried each plant about 2/3rds of the way so it would build a nice strong root system.
We grew Romas last year and they were great in salads, omelets, salsas, and even sauce made from scratch. I prefer the meaty flesh of the Romas over the larger juicy/squishy tomatoes. The Grape (Tami G) tomatoes we planted last year was huge producers, so of course I wanted to try a similar variety and was sold on trying the Juliets this year after reading the Bonnie Plants website. The girls would snack on the grape-sized tomatoes literally every time we picked them. They are perfect on their own, or sauteed with a bit of olive oil and garlic.
No Fertilizer Here!
Here is what 66 days worth of growth looks like (minus that first plant, it’s two weeks smaller because I had to replace it.) All the plants are flopping over the top of their Texas Tomato Cages (about 5.5′ tall.) We have had a few fierce storms, but the cages and tomatoes are doing great. If you look really close, you’ll see some tomatoes are ripening! We’re right on target for an anticipated 73-80 day maturity date.
I am average height, and these plants are as tall as me! Bring on the salsa, sauces, salads and more! What’s your favorite tomato? Favorite recipe?
