Upside-Down Tomatoes-- Week Thirteen; The First Tomato!!

Monday, 20 July 2009; Grumpy's Castle Grounds --

Another warm sunny day and Grumpy continued daily to monitor the progress of his Upside-Down tomato plants. These were planted way back on the 24th of April. Progress has been slow but persistent; Grumpy has been equally persistent: he was determined that the first tomato that became ripe would be split and shared with the Grand Mother (baker of those delicious, delectable Lemon Meringue Pies). Today was the day!!

Pictured here is that first fruit -- a beautiful, spotless red. Looks just like a good ripe tomato ought to look, right?! Grumpy thought so, so he plucked it from its place on the vine and placed it carefully on the kitchen table where the Grand Mother and Grumpy could admire it.

This tomato vine (on the right in the photo) is believed to be "Early Girl", but Grumpy isn't sure. At any rate, the fruit appear to be on the small side -- this first one (and the others ripening on the vine) are just slightly smaller than a tennis ball -- larger than a golf ball. But it isn't the size that counts; it's the taste, right!?

Next came the sharp knife, which cut cleanly through the center of the tomato revealing its bright red and juicy interior. Well, the core showed some green below the stem. The taste test revealed the truth: this was a sweet, flavorful tomato -- admittedly a little "green" tasting near the core, resulting in the Grand Mother opining that "it could have stayed on the vine a little longer". Grumpy agreed; the next tomato (there are at least two more that should be ready to pick in about 10 days) will wait a couple or three days after it turns "good and red".