Reality of Finality
The reality of the finality of the heirloom tomato season has been both obvious and fairly rude. The usual gentle slide towards the inevitable six months of winter was a whole lot steeper this year as we went from an unbelievable summer to late fall early winter in the space of a couple weeks. Indian summer failed to make any kind of prolonged appearance and the generally dry clear October that continues to ripen fruit never materialized. We had anticipated some type of reprieve so we could harvest the last of the tomatoes for seed saving, however it seems we may have missed that opportunity.
We had managed earlier to collect some of the season’s best heirlooms for next year’s crop. Carefully fermenting the seeds and drying them in batches in anticipation of yet another bigger more robust season then the past. The process is not difficult, but it requires the best tomatoes to achieve the best results going forward. We have saved various heirloom tomato seeds for years and the success rate of germination has been fairly high. Next season we just need to make room on the calendar a little earlier to start the process so we can increase the scope of our collection. In any event the process shall continue despite the presence of a killing frost and the sounds of the furnace!
We had managed earlier to collect some of the season’s best heirlooms for next year’s crop. Carefully fermenting the seeds and drying them in batches in anticipation of yet another bigger more robust season then the past. The process is not difficult, but it requires the best tomatoes to achieve the best results going forward. We have saved various heirloom tomato seeds for years and the success rate of germination has been fairly high. Next season we just need to make room on the calendar a little earlier to start the process so we can increase the scope of our collection. In any event the process shall continue despite the presence of a killing frost and the sounds of the furnace!
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