First Tomato of 2020!
The first tomato has been harvested and, as usual, it is something to celebrate!
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| Bloody Butcher |
While I'll pop the first cherries right into my mouth when they ripen, the first larger tomatoes are usually destined for a BLT - tomato season is the only time of year we eat them since the tomato flavour is such a big part of that sandwich.
But this year, BLTs will have to wait. I am fresh out of Bloody Butcher seeds, so I have these marked to save. And just so that I don't forget, I try to place a marker in front of each variety to be saved as a reminder.
Some tomato varieties are prone to cross-pollination issues while others are not. The difference rests in the flower formation - varieties where the stigma sticks out of the blossom are likely to be cross-pollinated while those where it stays inside the blossom are not.
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| It doesn't look like cross pollination will be an issue, but it's hard to tell.... |
To increase the odds of getting seed that is true to type, I decided not to plant the Bloody Butcher tomatoes in the tomato bed, but they received a spot by themselves in one of the ornamental beds.
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| Two Bloody Butcher tomato plants amongst the calendula & zinnias |
When it comes to saving seed, I like to use the first tomatoes out of the gate, before we have any disease issues that could possibly contaminate the seed. So my perfectly ripe tomato will be sliced, the seedy gel will be set aside....and the rest will go promptly into my mouth. Shhhh....don't tell the others 😉
I've saved tomato seed in the past - in fact, the current planting of Bloody Butcher tomatoes started with saved seed. Sometimes, however, germination wasn't stellar. I've done the standard method of fermenting the seeds for a few days, than washing, drying, etc.. but I've been rather haphazard about it as I "knew", generally, what to do.
This time round, I've decided to re-read and follow the exact advice in the tomato section in "Seed to Seed" before I get started.
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| The "Bible" of seed saving.... |
I'll also save seed from the next tomato that matures but, after that, it will be time to enjoy!
Yippee! The first tomato is always cause for celebration here, though we had cherry types before the first slicer came last week.
ReplyDeleteI've saved seeds from one cherry tomato plant (Robe Mountain Tommy Toe) this year, and I got out my Seed to Seed book also to refresh my memory. I didn't isolate though because I didn't expect to be saving seed from it, but it exceeded my expectations!
Some times I wish I had the room for veggies .. and then I remember I am terrible at growing them .. better to leave it up to gardeners like you Margaret ! LOL .. OK ... I have to comment on the name of this tomato .. holy smokes "Bloody Butcher" ??? now that might make me glance sideways at the tomato slices as they go on my BTL .. but wouldn't stop me from eating I am sure ... haha
ReplyDeleteCongratulations! I'm happy if I just get a chance to eat the tomatoes I grow. My 'Early Girl' had a couple of close-to-ripe tomatoes and then some pesky critter chewed both the near-ripe and unripe fruit, the remains of which then went into the compost bin. A few more are nearing that ripe point again now...
ReplyDeleteDefinitely something to be celebrated. I'm growing Bloody Butcher this year too but I haven't got any ripe ones yet.
ReplyDeleteWe still await our first ripe tomato.
ReplyDeleteInteresting about which tomatoes are prone to cross pollination but we are too lazy to collect seed although we so have volunteer tomatoes popping upin the greenhouse.
Yay! I am growing two cherry tomato plants on the same trellis with the clematis - we just got our first ripe one yesterday.
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