Tomatoes: Summer's Going Away Present

I find experimenting with different varieties so much fun that I go overboard. Every spring I tell myself that I should only try one or two types this year. But when I look at the seed catalogs there are always too many choices.

My grown-up rationalization says that my friends and neighbors would be disappointed without my tomatoes to watch over and devour. Besides, if there's a bumper crop I can always can them, I tell myself.

Well, bumper crop or no bumper crop, my garden is always picked clean by September. This inevitably sends me into depression thinking about not having garden-fresh tomatoes during the winter.

Then, each year I go through the same ritual: I drive out to farm country and buy two or three bushels of romas. I spend days cooking and canning quart after quart of tomato sauce and salsa. And, because you can't have enough tomato dishes around, I make eight to ten quarts of soup and freeze it for cold winter nights when I need to remember that summer will return, or just want a quick meal.

I even eat tomato sandwiches for another week.

Funny how much little things can influence your life. Those two Roma and two Beefsteak tomato plants were my first love affair. Thirty nine years later, I've never looked back and have no regrets.

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