KC Tomato Times Blog

Due to the predicted high temperatures next week, we have changed the time of the tomato tasting to 9:00 a.m -noon on Saturday, August 4th.

August 4th is rapidly approaching and everything is lining up to make this year’s event one to remember!  Most of the tomato plants survived the extreme weather we’ve had and their fruit is ripening now…things are a bit early all around this year, but I think we should have plenty of ripe varieties in 3 weeks to let us all try lots of different types of tomatoes.

Make sure you e-mail me, add a comment to this post, or RSVP at our Facebook page so that I can be prepared.  Feel free to bring any friends or family  members that love tomatoes!

I am very excited to have Local Pig joining us to provide bacon for BLT sliders this year.  If you haven’t been down to their store, you’re missing out on some of the best bacon, sausages, and fresh cuts of pork, beef, lamb, goat, and turkey you’ll find in town.  They are down in the east bottoms and a bit difficult to find, but it’s worth the journey!

Now on to the details of the tomato tasting!  This is a family friendly event open to all those who love to eat the best tasting tomatoes on the planet  It is located at Roe Park which is located just north of 425 and Roe.  It is almost across from Suburban Lawn and Garden on Roe.  Parking is limited early due to baseball players and their morning games, but after 11:30 or so the crowd thins out.  If you can, carpool with fellow tomato tasters to save on parking spaces.  We’ll be set up in the shelter to the south of the parking lot by the children’s playground.

We’ll start the event around 9:00 a.m.  We should be done by noon.

Every year I have people ask me if they HAVE to bring tomatoes in order to attend…absolutely not! If your plants were eaten by a dastardly critter or you just didn’t get the garden in this year, that’s perfectly fine.  Come and join us and celebrate the bounty of tomatoes!

If you want to, feel free to  bring some breads, cheeses, or other things that go well with tomatoes.  You’re also welcome to bring any tomato themed dish…salsa, bruschetta, tomato pie, or any other creations you would like to share.  If you bring a dish, please bring several copies of the recipe to share.

If you do have ripe tomatoes, please, please, please, please bring them!  Label them with a non-toxic sharpie marker by writing on the stem end.  I’ll have plates, cutting boards, and knives to serve your tomatoes.

Bring a lawn chair and something cold to drink (no alcoholic beverages allowed at Roe Park).  Seating is limited as the tables will be covered in tomatoes, so please bring a lawn chair or blanket to sit on.  The weather is typically hot, but the entire area is very shaded.

I will have prizes for two categories again this year.  Largest tomato and most labeled varieties of tomatoes brought.  Bring in your biggest, most monstrous tomato from your garden and we’ll weight it.  Landon brought in a monster Linnie’s Oxheart last year..who will have the biggest one this year? Marinda brought in a bushel basket of varieties last year…who will bring the most different types of tomatoes this year?

One last thing you will want to bring is a notebook and pencil.  There will be so many different types of tomatoes that it is impossible to remember which ones you really liked.  Bring a notebook to write down their names and comments on their flavors so that you can remember which ones you want to grow next year.

I’m looking forward to seeing all of you again this year as we try to make this unique event better each time.  If you have any questions at all, please e-mail me.

Not sure what to say about this weather… just speechless.

Most of my tomato plants are doing ok…much, much shorter than usual as they have stopped growing vertically as they spend their energy trying to cope with the heat.

I lost 4 plants completely (2 ananas noir and 1 cherokee purple heart) due to some sort of physiological condition due to heavy early fruit set and the heat .  We did manage to save the fruit from them though.

A few of my plants are still setting fruit in this high heat somehow, but most of the plants are just dropping any blossoms that form.  It looks to get a bit cooler this week, so hopefully I’ll get some fruit set for a late summer harvest.

I really think the plants are doing well all things considered.  The silver mulch film is bouncing a lot of heat off of the soil keeping it cooler.  Watering very little in May and June forced the plants to have deep roots and I think this is what is keeping them going.  Regular weekly spraying of fungicide and good pruning of any disease has helped as well.  It was a lot of work, but we’re starting to harvest a lot of  tomatoes now.  First BLT of the season!

I’ll post up in a week or so with details on the Tomato Tasting…all things considered with the weather this year, we look forward to another great event on August 4th!