BLTs and Tomato Woes
The garden this year has been pretty chill. Many of the annoying weeds of years past – like thistle, have been replaced by grass, purslane (edible) and creeping charlie (edible). I used a bale of straw to cover many of the walking areas in the garden and that helped a bit, and as a result we have spent far fewer hours weeding in the garden, which has been SO nice. Everything has been growing great except for the tomatoes.
We planted the tomatoes the last week of May during the Memorial Day weekend instead of during Mother’s Day, which meant they were about three weeks behind when we would normally harvest. Here’s how they look. Last year around this time I had Romas and Juliets (grape variety romas) spilling over the tops, and taller than me!
This Year’s Tomatoes (2014)
The Juliets are doing excellent, but the Romas have been plagued by what I can only guess is Early Blight. (All my tomato plants have a least a touch of it.) I mulched the base of plants to help with dirt splashback and I’ve been Serenading them once a week on recommendation from the local gardening guru Doug Oster. It was important for me to find a product like Serenade that is kind to the biodiversity we have going on in our garden and yard. It will not hurt the bees, fish, birds, humans etc. The plants are looking better as a result of selectively removing the diseased portions of the plant, plus the Serenade ($9ish a spray bottle).
Here’s a few of the first of the tomatoes we have harvested. I love the Juliets, and wow are they BIG! The biggest Juliet tomatoes are 2-3 times the size of store bought grape tomatoes. They are perfect in salads, salsas, and sandwiches.
Unless tomato output increases, we (okay ME) have been pretty particular about how we use the tomatoes. I really like to highlight the flavor of the fruits and vegetables that are in season. There’s nothing better than eating something you grew, these tomatoes are amazing! So far they’ve made their way into omelets for breakfasts and BLTs for dinner.
The Awesomeness that is the BLT
I can not recall ever having a BLT growing up, and I know it’s one of those classic sandwiches, but I have been making up for lost time! When we lived in Florida there was this awesome little restaurant with the most delicious BLT. I don’t know why I never had a BLT, I mean I always loved bacon so why not a bacon sandwich? I fell in love with the BLT (and so many other foods) from Rooney’s. So much bacon between two pieces of toast with creamy mayo, crisp lettuce and juicy tomatoes.
When we do eat bacon, we spend the extra time to find an all natural / uncured bacon (uses natural ingredients for the curing process rather than sodium nitrate/nitrite). Always trying to find ways to cut down on the unnecessary products we ingest. We made this sandwich with Giant Eagle’s store brand by Nature’s Basket. It tastes really good too!
So, as a grown up I want bacon and tomatoes on all (okay, maybe not ALL) my sandwiches now! The kid me would have laughed that that thought, because I *HATED* tomatoes with a passion growing up, maybe that’s because that’s all we had in our garden?
Enjoy!
BLT Sandwiches (Bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich)
Ingredients
- Bacon
- Bread
- Lettuce
- Tomato sliced
- Mayo
Instructions
- Cook a few slices or a whole package of bacon, until crispy. Set aside on a paper towel lined plate.
- Toast two slices of bread, OR use leftover bacon grease to toast bread in. (Cook until lightly brown and toasted in a skillet.)
- Spread mayo on one or both slices of toast, then add bacon, lettuce and tomato.
