I consulted my gardening books for dummies. You've been blighted, they said, give up and pull it all out. Burn the foliage, don't plant tomatoes anywhere in the vicinity ever again. Better luck next year. But no! I thought there had to be another way. The thought of biting into the first juicy vine-ripened tomato was still luring me. I scoured the internet for other alternatives. I pruned like crazy. I sprayed with water/oil/soap solution. I stopped watering altogether to let them air out. Things were looking up. We had a few dry sunny days and the plants were spot free. Then last night it rained. This morning I went out to find multiple tomatoes covered with little brown spots - the telltale sign that they were doomed to a fate of rotting on the vine as the rest of the plant was fully engulfed by fungus. So I gave in. You win, Alternaria solani. I pulled the vines and harvested the tomatoes.
I know some of you readers are experienced tomato growers. What do I do with all of these green tomatoes? I never saw the movie, but I know some people fry them. And the spotted ones - are they safe to eat if I just cut off the brown parts?
3 comments:
You can find recipes for green tomatoes such as fried green tomatoes and green tomato salsa. You can also leave them in a cool dry place and they should turn red. As for the ones with the brown spots, I'm not sure. I think we had a couple last year and Spencer ate them before I could stop him and he's fine.
Ooh...green tomato salsa sounds good. My grandma also mentioned that you can make green tomato pie just like an apple pie. We went ahead and fried half of them, but I'm still deciding what to do with the rest.
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