Friday, August 8, 2008

Several Suns And Red Tomatoes

As the official tender instead of the international observer of the roadside vegetable garden this year, the Ritual of the First Tomato fell upon me and I have failed. I just picked it with no fanfare and put it in the same bag with squash and cucumbers and some of the world's smallest edible cantaloupe. I haven't even eaten it yet. I wanted to let it ripen a couple of more days.



Tomatoes number two and three pose for a closeup before they were picked and placed beside tomato number one on the kitchen counter. We need to eat the last two store bought tomatoes and cleanse our palettes before sampling the first real tomatoes of the season.



Damn Haywood County UFO's! If the saucers are not showing up in my western views, then their propulsion trails are.



The first tomato is the reddest of the bunch on the bottom right. I wait until they are pretty ripe before I pick them, but even with Uncle Ernie watching over the roadside vegetable garden, I am not going to push my luck. There are critters out there, even if they haven't found the goodies yet.

Framed by the Delicata squash, survivors of the Big Wilt, and one of the world's smallest edible cantaloupe, not much bigger than an orange, the first tomatoes of the season make a fetching still life.



We had glazed Delicata rings for lunch today. They were very squash like. I already ate the first of the world's smallest edible cantaloupe. The five spoonfuls inside tasted just like cantaloupe.



WUT? I go to the headquarters of many garden blogger things to report on the Ritual of the First Tomato only to be challenged again. Fine then. Just wait til my WUT ripens.



Last year's judging for The Ritual of the Tiniest Tomato was suspect, as most judging of these little competitions are. That is why I know I have the world's smallest edible cantaloupe chilling in the refrigerator for breakfast tomorrow.

11 comments:

Frances, said...

The judging is suspect, isn't it? I definitely have the number one WUT, but dare it be positioned for judging? It may be something that rhymes with figged! The smallest edible lope, or should we say loupe is very handsome. You may have something there, for I can barely eat a whole regular sized one and hate to waste. A new cultivar is born. How often are your UFO sitings?

Les said...

I have never heard of Delicata. Do they look like little watermelons or is that a trick of the camera?

Carol Michel said...

What, the judging is rigged? I didn't even win the smallest tomato last year, so how could it be rigged.

But I agree that judging size is easy, it is either small or it isn't, but ugly is in the eye of the beholder. It may just be something we end up debating all winter to get ourselves through until spring, or not.

Those are very fine tomatoes you've picked, still time for a little ceremoney or ritual before you eat them.

On the cantelope, I didn't plant any this year so I'll judge that yours are the smallest and you can have that prize!

Carol, May Dreams Gardens

Christopher C. NC said...

Let's just say that I would not be surprised if China wins an unusual number of medals this year at the Olympics. Their athletes are used to the air quality I suppose.

Carol, I don't recall much with clarity. Lucky I remembered the Ritual of the First Tomato. A certain grower of tiny toms wasn't disqualified on cultivar grounds?

Les, no trick of the camera. The Delicata have white skin with green stripes and speckling.

Christopher C. NC said...

Oh, the UFO's. They show up in about 1% of the pictures. Not a lot, but fairly regular over the course of a year.

Anonymous said...

Christopher, You have a great sense of humor! I love your posts! I need to go and check my sunset photos since I have never noticed any UFO sightings in my pictures. I need to look more closely in the future.

As for your tiny cantelope, I had to laugh at the picture next to the pint of half and half. THAT put it into perspective. :))

Frances, said...

Uh oh, so busted! Now you know there are more readers out there than just Siria, les, and Chuck b., even without nude shots.

Anonymous said...

Great looking tomatoes, delicate & the lope. All looks good. I like to use the delicate to make pies with. Family likes better than pumpkin. Would like to try growing them here but may be too hot.

chuck b. said...

Who did win smallest tomato last year? Was it me? I remember feeling denied, but was I justified?

I envy your melons.

Christopher C. NC said...

Siria, other than "Next Year" what else is there to do but laugh at the world's smallest edible cantaloupe.

Nothing gets by Carol, Frances. She's one sharp judge of things.

Lola in south Florida, winter time, October to April, is prime vegetable growing season for you. I bet you could grow the Delicata just fine.

Chuck there is no need to envy my tiny melons. Trust me on this. I think the actual tiniest tomato winner was a women in California. I forget her blog name, but she had some very tiny cultivar, ten fit in a thimble. The sense of denial comes in the judging portion of the Ritual.

Annie in Austin said...

It was Chigiy who won - and she gets tomatoes practically all year, Christopher.

The pounds and pounds of tomatoes that Philo and I enjoyed earlier in the summer don't even count as tomatoes according to Carol. She wants them to be ripened on the vine. But I'm not stupid enough to do that! It's more important to eat tomatoes than to win a contest.

The melon is enchanting and should win something just for being cute.

Annie at the Transplantable Rose