Our Irvington lot is heavily shaded, so there's not much room for sun-loving vegetable plants. This year we have limited the garden to three tomatoes, one eggplant, six onions, parsley, cilantro and basil. Elsewhere I planted summer squash and green beans. Fresh tomatoes now cover the kitchen bar.
Our favorite tomato is an heirloom, carefully bred over decades by my wife's father in Pennsylvania. He sold seeds under a brand name, but the family saved one variety known by the code name GL-18.
This year I planted early, under a plastic tent, so that we could pick our first tomato in June. I know, however, that tomatoes have a mind of their own; they prefer to grow in hot weather.
Each tomato stalk was given four square feet. We trained the stalks up a wire fence. When squirrels began to eat green tomatoes, we retrieved bags of hair from a local barber and scattered blonde, brown and grey tresses under the tomatoes. The squirrels, I suppose, feared animals of prey.
Now we have more tomatoes than we can eat. We share with neighbors and freeze tomato sauces for later use.
I hear that many tomato growers are disappointed in this year's crop. We did not have blight or fungus rot, but I did immediately cut off stems that began to wilt. We have an abundance from three stalks.
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