Friday, March 21, 2008

Just plain wrong

A tomato plant popped up amongst my cucumbers and beans, and it's still going strong even while all Amish Pastes, Tiny Tims, Olmovics, San Marzanos and the rest have given up under the hot sun and my non-committal watering. It has huge fruits but they are not turning red - I think I've got a Verna Orange on my hands. And much as I love my properly ripened tomatoes, I can't bring myself to eat these. They are orange, not red, and in my world, that's just plain wrong. It's in the league of some of my other strict and inexplicable garden rules:

* Purple leaves are just plain wrong.
* Lilac roses are just plain wrong.
* Daffodils with any pink (or 'salmon') on them are just plan wrong.
* Those little round carrots - the ones that aren't long and pointed - are just plain wrong.
* Black radishes are just plain wrong.
* Freesias without a scent are just plain wrong.

Just something to remember if you ever plan to offer me a salad.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

We bought tomato seedlings at a fete, most of them unlabelled, so we had no idea what we were getting. We were diligently explaining to the lad that we only pick red ones, not green ones, when we figured out that those ones up the end were not going to get red. Because they're green tigerellas.

Lovely tomatoes. But not red. So we hide them from the lad after picking, because we don't want to confuse the 'only pick red ones' message until he's old enough to understand varieties.

Anonymous said...

Kris--I think I've commented before that although I have no real experience, talent, or interest in gardening, (all I do is extremely boring stuff to keep things "neat and orderly" in the yard) I'm always totally riveting--and moved--by your gardening posts--SO, I must have interest, after all--I just didn't know it. So with the inspiration from your blog and my newfound interest, I'm going to start a small vegetable and flower garden and try as hard as I possibly can to make you proud...

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meggie said...

I love to see all the different varieties of fruit veges, etc. I will bet those orange tomatoes taste wonderful! Have you tried the yellow ones? They are nice too!

Kris said...

Inner city garden - yep! For a while I wondered if my kids were red-green colour-blind because I'd say only pick the red ones, they'd nod, and then rip the unripe tomatoes off the plant.

Meggie - they are gorgeous inside, the colour of pumpkin. But I can't eat them on a sandwich. I've slow cooked them with garlic and onions and they smell divine.

MArjorie- that's so sweet and I can't wait to here all about the garden, except if you plant orange tomatoes.

Ariane said...

Freesias without a scent? Wouldn't that just be a weed? I know little about gardening, but if I had the time, a scented garden would be what I planted.

Yes, definitely, just plain wrong.

Anonymous said...

sorry, can't agree with your lilac rose thing. a friend of mine has them and they are siply to die for scent wise.

ps, on your bread post there is a nasty comment you might like to remove, although don't sodding open the comment.

Anonymous said...

Well, I love orange tomatoes and purple leaves, but I'm with ya on everything else.