The Great Tomato Experiment

As I think about corn, I can't help but think about Tomatoes. Both are indigenous to the America's. The original American (North, Central and South) foods. I love a good home grown, true vine ripen tomato. I won't eat anything from the stores. They were picked green and gassed. they have no flavor. But these tomatoes, these luscious tomatoes are to die for.
Growing tomatoes in Tucson is a challenge. when the temperatures go above 95 the plants stop producing fruit. They don't like the heat. Every other year I have planted Tomatoes I gave up on them after about July. This year I did something different. First, I planted them very early, the first week in March. By mid May we had Tomatoes galore. That lasted until the end of June. No more tomatoes. The plants looked thin, weak, hot and tired by mid July. They stayed that way until the beginning of September. then the plants took off. They grew and grew. Flowers and fruit. Beautiful little plum and cherry tomatoes. A few nice slicers.
So, the plants are now 9 months old. Here's a video of the plants on Thursday (Christmas day) before we had the freeze (and when you look at this video understand that this is only 6 tomato plants):



Now the freeze took out some of the outer leafs, but the fruit and leafs that were protected are still quite alive. So we have covered them for the last two nights to see how they will hold up. Here's a picture of the plants covered:



I'll keep you updated on how they turn out and how old they grow to be.