Tomatoes on Parade

My kitchen windowsill a few days ago.

I may be whining, but happily my mouth isn't too sore for me to eat the tomatoes that have finally come ripe in my garden. The squirrels got a few while I was in New York (Boy Wonder was a bit lax about harvesting), but they haven't made any raids lately--knock wood. The day after I got back, I harvested the Big Mutha: a Hungarian Heart that weighed in at 1 lb, 5/8 oz. It's pictured at top, leading a train of plum tomatoes, plus a seashell and chicken wishbone (for scale and artiness).

Hungarian Heart is an heirloom variety that's "indeterminate," meaning it grows like Audrey 2. Below left is what it looked like last week. It got so bushy and heavy that its cage fell over; the table is propping it up. On the right is as it looks now after being pruned ruthlessly. The fruits are so heavy that often the stems are too weak to support them, so I made slings for some of them out of cheesecloth. Darling Husband noted that the sac in the foreground looks remarkably scrotal.