Last October during a stay in Piedmonte our friend, Domenico, gave me some tomato seeds. He presented "quarantasette semi"--forty-seven seeds--from tomatoes that have been in his family for 200 years. Illustrating on my place mat, he gave me very specific instructions as to their planting and harvesting. I carried my precious cargo home where they were carefully stored until this April.
"La Traversina" our home in Piedmonte
RT helped me fill a couple of trays with Bindweed soil mix and I delicately set my seeds. Using a heating pad as an improvised germination mat I set the trays in my studio under the southern windows and waited.
We do not start many plants on the farm, we buy most of our seedlings, so I was very apprehensive about my project. Just about the time I was giving up hope of a good crop, I spied tiny green shoots.
I lovingly tended my little sprouts for a month, re-potted each into a four inch pot and moved them into the barn. After another month I planted a third of them in a greenhouse.
Due to a late frosts the remainder were not planted outside until late May.
The tomatoes thrived and were soon three feet tall! Beautiful healthy vines covered in blossoms but no fruit. Again, I was in despair but the demands of the farm kept me distracted until nearly August when we began to see little tomatoes. About this time we realized these were truly heirloom tomatoes, long season tomatoes and not hybridized for our zone--were we nuts to try a crop in Idaho!
On the last day of August RT drug me outside to witness a ripening tomato.
Great news--cause for huge celebration--but it is not uncommon for freezing temperatures in the coming weeks.
We harvested our first tomato on September 3rd--isn't she a beauty!
She weighed in at 30.8 ounces. Domenico's tomatoes are huge! What a delight to slice into this long anticipated jewel--sweet, juicy and full of succulent flesh.
Ten days later we created this tent-like structure to protect our tender babies from the first frost.
Notice the clever re-purposing of our over-large zucchini--they make excellent weights.
We survived the first September frost and let the tomatoes continue to flourish til the killing frosts of October. We harvested as much as we could and use the tomatoes as they ripen. Each beautiful fruit is weighed, caressed and cherished. Grazie mille Domenico e Rosanna.
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