tomatoes y tomatillos

finally, a new post. much to share, so let me get started!

first off, tomato production is nearly in full swing. a bit late in the season, but we'll take what we can get. shades of green, gold, orange, and red dot the bed, as evidenced by this photo.

we've been eating them right off the vine; picking bowlfuls at a time; dropping them into salads; noshing on them with fresh mozzarella and basil. mmm.
if i recall, we got about 7 different varieties of seeds, with 8 total plants making it into the bed (we planted 2 "peacevine" cherry tomatoes - already becoming a fast favorite).

"black krim" is the biggest, but we've found that there's something not quite right about it. we've had to cut around a lot of odd looking stuff (i'll have to look more into tomato diseases...). anyway, as an heirloom, it's flavor is wonderful - deep, sweet - and the flesh is a really pretty striated red/purple. this photo is a bit fuzzy, but you can see what i mean about it's rustic visual traits. another variety, "tigerella," has yet to ripen. with the weather cooling down quite a bit, i foresee some fried green tomatoes in the near future.

alongside our tomatoes are 2 tomatillo plants - yes, planted on a whim. i purchased them at the seattle tilth spring plant sale. when they started flowering, i was amazed and pleasantly happy with myself (as if i personally enabled their growth). nevertheless, they have proceeded to form their paper lantern-like skin. but, after reading up on tomatillos on wikipedia, i'm still nervous that they'll actually set fruit...only time will tell. i won't take it as a huge loss if they don't, i mean, at least they're pretty to look at. but yes, i will be very (secretly) happy if they pull through. hello salsa verde.