[CSA Update] Welcome to week 15

I see red all over the farm - and it makes me smile. Lots of red in strawberries and tomatoes!

I seeded the tomatoes back in January that is just starting to pick now.

Nothing tastes like ripe tomatoes picked off the vine.

Can you remember that tomato smell? Imagine a greenhouse filled with that smell and the sun shining through.

The greenhouse tomatoes are grown in pots. I tied them to the ceiling more than 20 feet above. They are determinant - which means they don't bush and just keep growing like a vine.

Tomatoes can be half a pound to two pounds or more individually. As they develop, I need to protect the plant and the fruit.

I limit tomato clusters to 5 or fewer. For the first year, these tomatoes have been cared for by my son, Joseph. He has been pruning, tieing, and monitoring after school.

It is a great-looking crop so far.

In April, I seeded the tomato plants that are now out in the fields growing. Those will start picking in July just as the greenhouse tomatoes finish up.

I have another set of tomatoes that I will be transplanting in the next couple of weeks so that we can enjoy tomatoes through to the end of the CSA.

If I could order the perfect weather for tomatoes they want temperatures in the 80s to low 90s. They need lots of nutrients - which usually means a high-quality compost with some potash mixed in. They don't like being too wet, and they split if they get too dry. They are demanding - and they know they are the star in the summer baskets.