The first home-grown tomatoes

I've harvested three nice-looking Cherokee Purple tomatoes this season so far, two yesterday and one today - the first large tomatoes of the season. 

Cherokee Purple tomatoes

The tomato plants in the raised beds are amazingly robust (hmm, it must be that good purchased compost) and the chard just keeps coming.  The beans, eggplants, squash, and tomatillo plants are all doing well, too.

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Tomatoes

I harvested the first tomato of the summer today.

Admittedly, it was small (a Sweet Million) from the earliest planted tomatoes in the large raised bed here in the mountains. But all of the tomatoes are growing vigorously, and I'm training them into their cages, supports, or spirals!

More exciting, to me, is that I've got beets developing plump roots (!) That vegetable compost with composted cow manure must be good stuff. I've not had any luck with beets before, so I'm thrilled. Not to mention how robust the chard is looking (and it's quite delicious, too).

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Early tomatoes

I spent some time this evening tying up tomato vines. I didn't bring up tomato cages from my main garden in the Piedmont (Clemson, SC), so I'm relying on bamboo stakes and stretchy plant ties, at least while the plants are still small.

There's time enough to add the vinyl-coated tomato towers that I like to use, but that are hard to find, at least in sturdy versions (there are plenty of flimsy sorts to be had). Or maybe I'll just use extra tall supports, and train the vines to use them!

The first three tomatoes that I planted, two Cherokee Purples and a Sweet Million, are flourishing, in spite of being subjected to sub-40°F temperatures shortly after planting. (In contrast, the peppers planted the following weekend were stunted by the cold, and have been replaced...)

I'm thrilled with how successful the lettuce and arugula has been, and maybe I'll finally have some decent chard (not to mention beets and carrots) to harvest, too. I think chard requires more nutrients and water than I've ever given it before, even though it's supposed to be an easy vegetable. So the current plants are thriving in nice raised beds filled with compost!

P.S. CEN, notice the arrow -- that's your Meyer lemon behind the tomato plant; it has 4 young fruits, along with a cluster of new flowers.

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