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The warm weather this year has vegetable gardens producing earlier than normal. One day this past week, I heard one gardener already talking about harvesting tomatoes.
The tomato is the most commonly grown vegetable in gardens. Gardeners will grow tomatoes if they don’t grow anything else. Tomatoes are easy to grow, and everyone who grows them has their special way, but there are some problems that affect tomatoes.
Disease problems can be reduced by following a few simple rules. The first rule is to buy disease-resistant plants. The letters behind a variety’s name tell what diseases it is resistant to: T-Tobacco Mosaic Virus, V-Verticillium Wilt, F-Fusarium wilt and N-Nematodes. Resistance, though, does not mean the plants are immune.
The second rule is to practice rotational planting. Don’t plant tomatoes where tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant or peppers were planted last year. Soils in these areas may harbor leftover diseases. Bury all plant debris when tilling. By burying old plant debris 6 inches deep, disease organisms can be kept away from the plants. Also, mulches should be pulled back an inch or two from the stem of the plants.
Even if you do everything right when it comes to disease prevention, tomatoes can still get disease. The most common tomato disease now is Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus (TSWV). Most of the viruses that cause disease problems are spread by insects, such as aphids, whiteflies, plant hoppers or thrips. TSWV is spread by thrips. When a plant has TSWV, the top looks stunted or wilted, and the young leaves may turn yellow and often have brown or black discoloration. The veins on the underside of leaves may thicken and turn purple. The fruit can have circles on them that are raised or flat. Ripe fruit will have yellow circles or semicircles. The stem can have long brown lesions.
Once tomatoes get the disease, there is no control. There are two varieties of tomato that are resistant to TSWV. They have been on the market for five years. I grow them in my garden, and have had good success. The skin of these tomatoes is a little thicker than other varieties. The flavor is good, and is best if the fruit is left on the plant as long as possible before picking.
If there are plants that show signs of TSWV, destroy them as quickly as possible early in the season to prevent spreading the thrips. Seal them in a plastic bag. Even after the plant is pulled up, thrips can leave the plant to spread the virus. If the tomato gets TSWV late in the season, let the infected plants finish ripening the fruit they have. Late-season infection is less of a concern.
The next problem that I am getting some calls on is bacterial wilt. Bacterial wilt causes a rapid wilting and death of the plant. The plant dies so quickly it does not have time to yellow. Most callers say that the plant looked good one day and looked like someone poured boiling water on it the next. An easy way to identify bacterial wilt is to cut through the stem of the tomato and look at the center. Bacterial wilt browns the middle of the stem. On bad infections, the pith may be hollow.
Unfortunately, there are no controls or resistant varieties for bacterial wilt.
This disease will also attack peppers, potatoes and eggplant. If bacterial wilt is a prolem, dig out infected plants and soil and discard. Make sure the discarded soil is not in an area where you will plant vegetables in the future. Do not plant tomatoes, peppers, potatoes or eggplant there for at least four years.
Another concern of tomato growers is rolling of the plants leaves.
Leafrolling occurs when the plant has set a heavy load of fruit and the light intensity is high, or it can be caused by wet soil. Some varieties of tomatoes will roll their leaves more than others. The condition is harmless. However, there is a virus that can cause this problem. The only way to tell if this is a virus is to look at the fruit, which will be misshapen or have dark spots on it.
3 – Pk. Tomato Craters
EarthBox 1010002 Garden Kit, Terra Cotta
Black Sea Man Tomato 10 Seeds – Heirloom
John from www.growingyourgreens.com shares with you his favorite ways to grow tomatoes vertically using a tomato cage. In this video John will explain why common tomato cages you purchase at a big-box store are worthless, and what you should be using to grow your tomatoes vertically for the highest yield and easiest harvesting.
Video Rating: 4 / 5
This unit is amazing and comes with EVERYTHING NEEDED FOR A SMALLMID SIZE GROW. All you need is water seeds This unit includes a HUGE array of accessories that covers all aspects of indoor gardening A full DVD instruction video is included as well This unit works great for mother plants or to do a start to finish grow for up to 10 plants. We ve been designing stealth grow boxes for over 10 years and we are currently the world s largest manufacturer of premade grow boxes. This is our newest unit that lacks in stealth but makes up for it in RAW YIELD If your looking for the most efficient and easy to use system on the market for cost effective smallmid size growing then you NEED The Tomato Tent . Grow Tent Enclosure With Cooling Fans. Our exclusive cooling system keeps your Tomato Tent internal temps near room temperature. Light Proof Exterior Chamber. Reflective Mylar Surfaces. Waterproof Floor Insert. Draw String Power Cord And Fan Seals. Over 1 000 CFM of cooling and air exchange allows for proper CO2 exchange for your plants. Features Inline Air Cooled Reflector With Inline Duct Fans. 400 Watt MH HPS Lighting System. Dimable 400 watt digital ballast runs both metal halide and high pressure sodium bulbs. It can be run at 50 75 or 100 power to save on energy and extend the life of your bulbs. Six inch inline aircooled reflector is also included to maintain cool running temperatures and allow plants to grow around the bulb without burning. This style reflector also makes running CO2 more efficient in the cabinet as it does not exchange air from within the cabinet at all. 400 watt metal halide (MH) bulb is included for the best imaginable vegetative growth designed specifically for growing plants This bulb is high in the blue spectrum and mimics a typical summer day. (4 000K/36 000 Lumens). 400 watt high pressure sodium (HPS) bulb is included for terrific growth in the bloom stage. This bulb has more red spectrum that typically mimics
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Tomato Growing Secrets
Secrets of Growing Tomatoes
The Complete Guide to Growing Tomatoes: A Complete Step-by-Step Guide Including Heirloom Tomatoes (Back-To-Basics Gardening)By: | Contributing columnists
Published: May 16, 2012 Updated: May 16, 2012 – 8:00 AM
Those who read this column regularly know I like to pick a plant from time to time and talk about where it came from.
The Mortgage Lifter tomato caught my attention this year. It is an interesting name and I thought it should prove an interesting study. I was not disappointed.
The story starts with a man named M.C. “Charlie” Byles. He never had a great formal education. He started working at the age of 4 in the cotton fields of North Carolina. He was a very determined and intelligent man who usually achieved whatever he set out to do. He eventually became a pilot, a wrestler and a mechanic by the time the big war broke out in the 1940s.
Charlie eventually settled in Logan, W.Va. He had noticed there was a road going up a mountain there and that the coal and log trucks would often blow their radiators, roll back to the bottom of the mountain, then wait until they could be repaired. Charlie bought some land at the bottom of the mountain and opened a garage that specialized in repairing radiators. Because of this he soon became known as “Radiator Charlie.”
Charlie liked German Johnson tomatoes and grew them in his garden every year. However, he felt there could be an even better tomato so he set out to create it. He had absolutely no experience in breeding plants. He studied what he could find about how flowers are pollinated and observed what went on in his own garden. He soon felt he could create a method to do his own pollination using plants that he chose for their specific growth and fruit characteristics to create his ideal tomato.
He started with a German Johnson and then planted nine other tomatoes in a large circle around it. The other tomatoes he used were Beefsteak, an unknown Italian variety and an unknown English variety.
He used a baby syringe to collect pollen from the pants in the circle. He was very meticulous so as to keep the pollination closely controlled. He then pollinated the blooms on the German Johnson plant and waited to see what he would get. He saved the seeds from the tomatoes he thought were the best. The next year he planted the seeds and selected the best looking plants.
Once again, he planted nine plants in a large circle with one plant in the center of the circle. The then collected pollen with a baby syringe — again — and pollinated the blooms of the plant in the center of the circle. Radiator Charlie was diligent. He kept repeating this process for seven years. He was finally rewarded with plants that would reliably produce the same great tomato every year, the tomato that he was finally satisfied was the best a tomato could be. The tomatoes would also produce seeds that would come back true to his variety every year so he could enjoy the same great fruit every year. It was known as “Radiator Charlie’s” tomato.
His friends and neighbors agreed that he had produced a great tomato and the word spread. This was in the 1940s. The tomato was so popular that some people would drive long distances to Logan, W.Va., to buy his seedlings for $ 1 apiece, a hefty sum for the time period.
In a few years he had sold enough seedlings to pay off the mortgage on his house. Thus the name, “Radiator Charlie’s Mortgage Lifter” tomato. In the mid-1980s he shared the seeds with the Southern Exposure Seed Exchange and it was soon available through most of the country.
The tomato plant has an indeterminate growth form and can reach up to 6 feet in height with a wide spread. It is a vining tomato that will grow and produce all summer. The fruit is large, pink to red in color, and can weigh up to 4 pounds each. This is considered to be an heirloom tomato.
Plant a few this year and enjoy your garden.
Sutphin is an extension agent with the Virginia Cooperative Extension, Danville Unit Office. Contact him at (434) 799-6558.
Betty Boop – Vampire Tomato Juice – T-Shirt
List Price: 19.99
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Tomato Saver by Gourmac
3 – Pk. Tomato Craters
EarthBox 1010002 Garden Kit, Terra CottaCheck out these Tomatoes Guide images:
Luxury Desserts – Menu – Red Emperor
Image by avlxyz
Photographer’s note: apologies for some dodgy photos… the evening light through yonder window broke my Exilim’s exposure algorithm. Maybe I need a polarising filter to cut down the glare.
Consistently winning 1 or 2 hats since 2004 in The Age Good Food Guide. The Westernised favourites were very good, even if they were sweet and sour sauces. The more Asian oriented 琵琶豆腐 Pei Pa Tofu was not bad and the 上汤芥菜 mustard greens in superior stock was tender and just bitter enough to detox your system, or so general manager Christine Hua claimed.
My favourite of the night were the 干煎虾碌 Mandarin Prawns. They are traditionally pan-fried with the shell on in a sticky dark caramel sauce with a hint of tang from a splash of Worchestershire sauce. Red Emperor’s version was "lightly battered prawns tossed with a tangy blend of tomato and Worchestershire sauce", according to the menu. The crispness of the batter was indeed reminiscent of the crisp shells you would normally peel off, with the bonus of being edible!
Red Emperor Restaurant
(03) 9699 4170 / (03) 9690 7359
Level 3 Southgate Shopping Centre
Southgate VIC 3205
www.redemperor.com.au/
Reviews:
- Red Emperor – Mietta’s – dinner review
- Red Emperor – The Age Good Food Guide, Mobile Edition – Yum Cha review
- Red Emperor Chinese Restaurant, By Jane Faulkner, The Age, Epicure, October 11, 2005 – Yum Cha review
- The rich list, by Matt Preston, The Age, Epicure, August 16, 2005
- Emperor strikes back, By John Lethlean, The Age, Epicure, May 7 2002 – Yum Cha review
Photos:
- Five dishes to start including 琵琶豆腐 Pei Pa Tofu and 上汤芥菜 mustard greens in superior stock
- 姜葱鳄鱼肉 Stir-fried Crocodile Fillet with Ginger and Spring Onion – AUD38
- 川椒袋鼠肉 Sichuan Pepper Kangaroo Fillet – AUD28
- 干煎虾碌 Mandarin Prawns – AUD39
- 中式牛柳 Cantonese Beef Fillet – AUD34
- 京都排骨 Peking Pork Cutlets – AUD24
- 杏仁饼 Complimentary Almond Cookies
- Luxury Desserts – Menu
- 澳洲野味 Dundee’s Selection – Menu
澳洲野味 Dundee’s Selection – Menu – Red Emperor
Image by avlxyz
Photographer’s note: apologies for some dodgy photos… the evening light through yonder window broke my Exilim’s exposure algorithm. Maybe I need a polarising filter to cut down the glare.
Consistently winning 1 or 2 hats since 2004 in The Age Good Food Guide. The Westernised favourites were very good, even if they were sweet and sour sauces. The more Asian oriented 琵琶豆腐 Pei Pa Tofu was not bad and the 上汤芥菜 mustard greens in superior stock was tender and just bitter enough to detox your system, or so general manager Christine Hua claimed.
My favourite of the night were the 干煎虾碌 Mandarin Prawns. They are traditionally pan-fried with the shell on in a sticky dark caramel sauce with a hint of tang from a splash of Worchestershire sauce. Red Emperor’s version was "lightly battered prawns tossed with a tangy blend of tomato and Worchestershire sauce", according to the menu. The crispness of the batter was indeed reminiscent of the crisp shells you would normally peel off, with the bonus of being edible!
Red Emperor Restaurant
(03) 9699 4170 / (03) 9690 7359
Level 3 Southgate Shopping Centre
Southgate VIC 3205
www.redemperor.com.au/
Reviews:
- Red Emperor – Mietta’s – dinner review
- Red Emperor – The Age Good Food Guide, Mobile Edition – Yum Cha review
- Red Emperor Chinese Restaurant, By Jane Faulkner, The Age, Epicure, October 11, 2005 – Yum Cha review
- The rich list, by Matt Preston, The Age, Epicure, August 16, 2005
- Emperor strikes back, By John Lethlean, The Age, Epicure, May 7 2002 – Yum Cha review
Photos:
- Five dishes to start including 琵琶豆腐 Pei Pa Tofu and 上汤芥菜 mustard greens in superior stock
- 姜葱鳄鱼肉 Stir-fried Crocodile Fillet with Ginger and Spring Onion – AUD38
- 川椒袋鼠肉 Sichuan Pepper Kangaroo Fillet – AUD28
- 干煎虾碌 Mandarin Prawns – AUD39
- 中式牛柳 Cantonese Beef Fillet – AUD34
- 京都排骨 Peking Pork Cutlets – AUD24
- 杏仁饼 Complimentary Almond Cookies
- Luxury Desserts – Menu
- 澳洲野味 Dundee’s Selection – Menu
A message from Stephanie – Annie Smithers Bistrot
Image by avlxyz
We started with the cheese puffs, and it was like biting into little puffs of air. It was so light that spearing it with a fork was too hard, and we had to resort to fingers. We suspect that it is a basic souffle mix dollopped into hot oil and fried to a light and airy puff. Amazing.
Once I saw that the cheese puffs were a manageable size, I immediately added the duck neck sausage to our order. Not long after, 4 small discs of minced pork appeared. I love a good sausage and this didn’t disappoint. It was served with segments of orange that provided a nice foil. There were also a few boiled baby beets hidden under the leaves and it seemed a bit too tender compared to the nice big flavoursome beets we were used to.
Julia was very impressed with the duck fillets, and she remarked several times how tasty the flesh was. I prefered the smoky grilled quail, but it was true, the quail meat was tender and juicy like the duck, but didn’t have the richness of flavour of the duck. The pommes anna under the quail went amazingly well with the madeira sauce. The crispy bits of potato on the edges were also very good. The French beans were tender and so full of Spring sweetness.
We ended our meal with a good coffee and tea, and the profiteroles to share. We both loved the chocolate sauce, but we prefer the choux pastry at Laurent Pattiserie.
Annie Smither’s Bistrot & Produce
03.5422.2039
72 Piper St
Kyneton VIC 3444
www.anniesmithers.com.au/
Reviews:
- Annie Smithers Bistrot, By Necia Wilden, The Age Epicure, September 27, 2005 Score: 15.5/20
- Annie Smithers Bistrot The Age Good Food Guide 2009 – 1 Chefs Hat
- Annie Smithers Bistrot, Kyneton – The Breakfast Blog, Saturday, May 13, 2006 chicken livers, bacon and spinach on toast. One of several tempting dishes on offer at Annie Smithers Bistrot. I love the smell of offal in the morning. 16/20 "mmm… liver"
- Annie Smithers Bistrot – Mietta’s good gutsy French based dishes
- Annie Smithers’ Bistrot – Gourmet Traveller Annie Smithers, another Stephanie Alexander alum, is consolidating her empire, a shop and bistro showcasing Central Victorian produce. Assured cooking means primary flavours shine: succulent, flaky trout almondine tastes river-fresh; sweet scallops cooked just-so are plated with discs of smoky chorizo; sweet-salty tomato Tatin is the pick of the entrées. There’s usually offal on offer, perhaps creamy brains wrapped in prosciutto, and veal schnitzel, topped with a fried egg and anchovies, is pub-simple (and sized) but restaurant-finessed. Strawberry vacherin elevates berries and cream to a fitting conclusion to the meal: simple, comforting, classy.
Food Photos:
- Cheese Puffs with tomato and chilli dipping sauce AUD7.50 – insides
- Duck Neck Sausage stuffed with pork mince and pistachios with babybeets, green leaves and orange AUD18.50
- Quails petit-duc – par boned and grilled, served on pommes anna, with grilled mushrooms and madeira sauce AUD30
- Duck fillet with orange marmalade glaze, pan-fried potatoes AUD22.50
- Profiteroles filled with vanilla ice cream and drizzled with warm dark chocolate sauce AUD14.50
- Long Black AUD3
- Mariage Freres Tea AUD4.50
Decor Photos:
- Specials Board
- Long Dining Table
- Object d’Art
- Business Card
- back
- Produce Store
- A message from Stephanie
- Gumboots – Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation fundraiser AUD40
The Too Many Tomatoes Cookbook
List Price: 19.95
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Canning Tomatoes By Hand: Enjoy Fresh Tomatoes Anytime You Like By Learning How To Can Tomatoes At Home With This Short And Complete Guide On Tomato … Instructions To Help The New Homemaker
Tomatoes: A Gardener’s Guide
The Tomato Handbook: Tips and Tricks for Growing the Best Tomatoes A Firefly Gardener’s Guide
Tomato: The Indispensible Guide to Tomatoes. From Cooking and Growing to a comprehensive Variety Guide, plus over 160 Delicious Recipes–Everything You’ll Ever Need to Now About Tomatoes
Tomahto (Denver Post file photo)
Gardeners are accustomed to hearing outrageous claims for new plants or products that promise: Better yields! Increased disease resistance! Improved vigor!
Some of us fall for the hype, even though we know it sounds too good to be true. However the hoopla that’s growing around grafted tomatoes may be the real deal.
Grafted tomatoes are gaining ground with gardeners who are looking for ways to improve their tomato-growing efforts. Research shows they can double harvests on super-strong plants that resist most soil-borne diseases.
In grafting trials for organic heirloom tomato production at North Carolina State University, researchers found that grafting provides a site-specific management tool for soil-borne diseases such as verticillium wilt. Using the stronger rootstocks increases yield through added vigor and nutrient uptake.
If you live where the weather is perfect for tomatoes, “the effect of grafting is minimal,” said Chieri Kubota, professor in the school of plant sciences at the University of Arizona in Tucson.
“The big effect of grafting is growing in miserable soil, where there aren’t as many nutrients or there are high levels of salt in the soil or where there is disease pressure. That’s where you can see a big difference with grafting.”
In other words? In a lot of Colorado gardens.
Grafted vegetables use the old-fashioned propagation method of attaching the top part of one plant, called the scion, with the root system of another plant, called the rootstock. It’s similar to grafting that’s done with grapes, fruit trees, and even roses.
The new brand of grafted tomatoes, called Mighty ‘Mato, uses well-known tomato varieties prized for flavor, such as Brandywine and Sungold, grafted onto a wild, almost bulletproof tomato rootstock known for shrugging off difficult environmental conditions.
The process of grafting vegetables dates to the 1920s in Asia, when horticulturists used it to prevent fusarium wilt in melons. Now nearly all tomatoes commercially grown in Korea, Japan, and Australia are grafted.
John Bagnasco, president of GardenLife, a California-based online store (www.gardenlife.com) began studying grafted vegetables about four years ago. In 2011, he formed a partnership with Alice Doyle of Log House Plants called SuperNaturals Grafted Vegetables, LLC (graftedvegetables.com) to bring grafted tomatoes to home gardeners.
“This is going to change the way Americans grow vegetables,” Bagnasco said.
Just imagine: The great flavor of an heirloom tomato growing on a sturdy plant that’s resistant to almost all soilborne diseases and nematodes. Because the plants are so vigorous, Bagnasco said, gardeners can expect to double or triple the number of tomatoes grown on each plant.
“Actually, that’s a conservative number,” he said. “In California we might get 5 or 6 Brandywine tomatoes on a plant, but with the Mighty ‘Mato Brandywine we get 50 or 60, which is 10 times the amount. That’s not true for every variety, but you will get at least double.”
SuperNaturals offered the Mighty ‘Mato line of grafted tomatoes to gardeners on the West Coast last year and sold 30,000 plants. This year the company has orders for 300,000 plants and is working with Plug Connection to produce 1 million plants next year.
Territorial Seed Company, based in Cottage Grove, Ore., was the first mail-order catalog to offer the Mighty ‘Mato grafted tomatoes after trying them in its gardens (territorialseed.com). Territorial also offers grafted eggplant.
“What I noticed was that rather than the plants maturing faster, it struck me that they held on later. They kept producing and pumping out tomatoes,” said Josh Kirschenbaum, product development director. “The plants looked healthy and had such an extensive root system we practically needed a backhoe to dig them up.”
Gardeners have responded — also with vigor. Territorial Seed has sold out some varieties. The double variety of Sungold and Sweet Million is especially popular because it’s a novelty to grow two flavorful cherry tomatoes on one plant.
There are special instructions for growing grafted tomatoes, such as planting the graft above the soil line and removing side shoots (suckers) that form below the graft. Pruning and staking instructions differ depending on whether the tomato is a determinate or indeterminate variety.
Gardeners may be able to find Mighty ‘Mato varieties at area garden centers that carry Hardy Boy plants, but might want to call and ask first.
Jodi Torpey coordinates the local Plant a Row for the Hungry program. For information, contact her at Jodi@Western Gardeners.com.
Austram 19010707 Tomato Tamer 60″ Austram 19010707 Tomato Tamer 60″ Features: Tomato cages Keeps your plants upright Metal Height: 60″
List Price: 8.48
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Some cool Tomatoes Guide images:
Agnolotti at the Fox & Hounds, Battersea, London SW11
Image by Kake Pugh
"Home-made Agnolotti of ricotta and spinach with tomatoes, thyme & parmesan", £10.
Links:
Website
Randomness Guide to London
Zero-Zero-San-Francisco-heirloom-tomato-salad
Image by foodnut.com
Zero Zero – San Francisco – Review
IMG_0294
Image by roberta_la
Tomato Festival Guide
How to Grow Tomatoes: A practical gardening guide for great results, with step-by-step advice and 200 colour photographs
Replacement Short Right Guide Rod for Redco Tomato Pro
Never Pay for Tomatoes Again!Growing up with an Italian grandmother, a tomato-sauced based meal was pretty much the norm in my family. And although it’s delicious, tomato sauce can present a very specific problem when it comes to leftovers. (Not that Grandma would allow us to leave leftovers, but that’s another story.) Namely, that the acids in tomatoes can stain plastic storage containers. This is one of the reasons tomato sauce is sold in glass jars. So how do you un-stain your containers?
Photo from Flickr user Joost J. Bakker IJmuiden
One way — probably the most obvious — is to let the container soak over night in soapy dish detergent. But if this really worked, then you wouldn’t be reading this piece. That’s where baking soda comes in. Just making a thick paste of baking soda and water, and use it to scrub the container. The mildly abrasive mixture, plus the almost bleach-like power of the baking soda can remove the stain. Really, what can’t baking soda do?
If that doesn’t work, there is one last result — letting the container soak in water overnight, except this time substitute the dish detergent with a few drops of bleach (or bleach-based kitchen cleaner). This will completely obliterate the stainage, but is best reserved for really extreme cases on high-quality containers and using the most minimal amount of bleach possible.
Black Krim Tomato 30 Seeds – Russian Heirloom
Muir Glen Organic Diced Tomatoes, No Salt, 14.5-Ounce Cans (Pack of 12)
EarthBox 1010002 Garden Kit, Terra CottaGrowing up with an Italian grandmother, a tomato-sauced based meal was pretty much the norm in my family. And although it’s delicious, tomato sauce can present a very specific problem when it comes to leftovers. (Not that Grandma would allow us to leave leftovers, but that’s another story.) Namely, that the acids in tomatoes can stain plastic storage containers. This is one of the reasons tomato sauce is sold in glass jars. So how do you un-stain your containers?
Photo from Flickr user Joost J. Bakker IJmuiden
One way — probably the most obvious — is to let the container soak over night in soapy dish detergent. But if this really worked, then you wouldn’t be reading this piece. That’s where baking soda comes in. Just making a thick paste of baking soda and water, and use it to scrub the container. The mildly abrasive mixture, plus the almost bleach-like power of the baking soda can remove the stain. Really, what can’t baking soda do?
If that doesn’t work, there is one last result — letting the container soak in water overnight, except this time substitute the dish detergent with a few drops of bleach (or bleach-based kitchen cleaner). This will completely obliterate the stainage, but is best reserved for really extreme cases on high-quality containers and using the most minimal amount of bleach possible.
The tomato (Solanum lycopersicum, syn. Lycopersicon lycopersicum & Lycopersicon esculentum) is a herbaceous, usually sprawling plant in the Solanaceae or nightshade family that is typically cultivated for the purpose of harvesting its fruit for human consumption. Savory in flavor (and accordingly termed a vegetable; see section Fruit or vegetable below), the fruit of most varietals ripens to a distinctive red color. The tomato is native to South America. Genetic evidence shows that the progenitors of tomatoes were herbaceous green plants with small green fruit with a center of diversity in the highlands of Peru. These early Solanums diversified into the dozen or so species of tomato recognized today. One species, Solanum lycopersicum, was transported to Mexico where it was grown and consumed by prehistoric humans. Many historians believe that the Spanish explorer Cortez may have been the first to transfer the small yellow tomato to Europe after he captured the Aztec city of Tenochtítlan, now Mexico City in 1521. Yet others believe Christopher Columbus, an Italian working for the Spanish monarchy, was the first European to take back the tomato, earlier in 1493. The earliest discussion of the tomato in European literature appeared in a herbal written in 1544 by Pietro Andrea Mattioli, an Italian physician and botanist, who named it pomo d’oro, golden apple. The word tomato comes from a word in the Nahuatl language, tomatl. The specific name, lycopersicum, means ”wolf-peach”. Aztecs and other peoples in the region used the fruit in their cooking; it was being cultivated in southern Mexico and probably other areas by 500BC. It is thought that the Pueblo people believed that those who witnessed the ingestion of tomato seeds were blessed with powers of divination. The large, lumpy tomato, a mutation from a smoother, smaller vegetable , originated and was encouraged in Mesoamerica. Smith states this variant is the direct ancestor of some modern cultivated tomatoes. The tomato is now grown worldwide for its edible fruits, with thousands of cultivars having been selected with varying fruit types, and for optimum growth in differing growing conditions. Tomatoes are now eaten freely throughout the world, and their consumption is believed to benefit the heart among other things. They contain lycopene, one of the most powerful natural antioxidants. In some studies lycopene, especially in cooked tomatoes, has been found to help prevent prostate cancer but other research contradicts this claim. Lycopene has also been shown to improve the skin’s ability to protect against harmful UV rays. Natural genetic variation in tomatoes and their wild relatives has given a genetic treasure trove of genes that produce lycopene, carotene, anthocyanin, and other antioxidants. Tomato varieties are available with double the normal vitamin C (Doublerich), 40 times normal vitamin A (97L97), high levels of anthocyanin (P20 Blue), and two to four times the n
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Growing Tomatoes: How To Grow Tomatoes That Are Big, Colorful, Juicy, And Tasty!
Growing Tomatoes (Nk Lawn & Garden Step-By-Step Visual Guide)
Tomato Container Gardening – “11 Simple Steps & Secrets To Healthy Harvests From Small Spaces”
Photo by JENNA BUZZACCO-FOERSTER
Naples Tomato closed April 28 after operating for eight years off U.S. 41 in North Naples.
A rotten split between Naples Tomato and its former landlord has landed in court.
CS Tamiami LLC, which owns the North Naples building once home to the popular Italian restaurant, is suing its former tenant for $ 167,000 in unpaid rent, as well as damages caused when owners took furniture and equipment from the premises.
“It seems a little beyond what you consider reasonable damage for a restaurant moving out,” CS Tamiami LLC general counsel John M. Morgan said. “I think our biggest concern was the amount of damage they did, and that it’s going to impede our ability to put another tenant back in there, which is important.”
Edmond Koester, a lawyer for Naples Tomato owner Jack Serfass, said the restaurant’s lease allowed for Serfass to remove most items from the site upon leaving in late April. The landlord alleges Naples Tomato wrongfully took grills, ranges, refrigerators, built-in tables and more.
“They were owned by Naples Tomato and they had the right to take them out,” Koester said of the items. “Naples Tomato left extraordinarily valuable assets with the landlord to compensate the landlord. We’re surprised, given the clarity of the lease, that this is an issue.”
The landlord says Naples Tomato representatives trashed the site while removing equipment, leaving electric wiring and gas lines exposed and trash strewn across the restaurant. The lawsuit doesn’t list a dollar value on the items removed, but Morgan estimated it at “well in excess of $ 200,000.”
Morgan said CS Tamiami, which took over the building in late March, never wanted to evict Naples Tomato.
“It’s not so much that they left, which was uncalled for and a breach of their lease,” Morgan said. “It’s the way they left and what they did to that property.”
Koester said Naples Tomato doesn’t owe any back rent because it had an agreement with the previous owner and Wells Fargo, which took over the foreclosed property, to operate for free while working on a new lease arrangement.
“It’s not uncommon for landlords to make deals like that to keep those tenants,” he said.
When CS Tamiami bought the property, it refused to continue the agreement, Koester said. Morgan responded that CS Tamiami was handed a ledger from Wells Fargo showing the back rent.
Koester criticized CS Tamiami for going after Serfass after the restaurant went belly-up following eight years in business.
“To sue them anyway when you know you don’t have any opportunity to collect because they don’t have any assets left, that’s spite litigation,” Koester said.
Morgan said Naples Tomato brought the lawsuit on itself.
“While they want to be the small entrepreneurs tromped on by the big company, I’m sorry, you stepped across the line and acted badly,” Morgan said. “If they’d asked us if there was a professional way to exit this, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”
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