Week 10: The challenges of tomato season

Beautiful tomato beds separated by
pepper plant beds to improve
air circulation

Last week brought the welcome surprise of red slicing tomatoes in the CSA share. While we knew there were a few ripe tomatoes out there last week, we were pleased (and relieved!) that our first harvest brought in enough tomatoes to begin offering them to our 550 shareholders. Because it was the first week of harvest, the tomatoes had to be very limited in order to ensure that there were enough available for every share over the course of the week, but we anticipate that as long as plants remain healthy, production will steadily pick up over the coming weeks.

Tomatoes are one of the most exciting and stressful crops for us to grow at Appleton. They're exciting because fresh local tomatoes are delicious and they herald the height of the summer vegetable harvest. They're also stressful because it can seem like the success of the season hinges on the success of our finicky and demanding tomato plants. I say that tomatoes are demanding and finicky because they are labor-intensive and because every year we worry that after all our careful efforts trellising, weeding and irrigating, late blight could swoop in and wipe out the entire crop before we get to enjoy the literal fruits of our labor. That doesn't stop us from making the effort, but I never feel like I can truly breath a sigh of relief until we've made it into September with a few weeks of tomato harvest under our belts.

This year we made a few changes in our tomato crop plan to try to ensure a successful crop. We're growing more late blight-resistant varieties out in the field and a couple of new and exciting cherry tomato varieties in the Pick-your-own. The major change that many veteran shareholders will notice is that we have shifted the bulk of our heirloom and paste tomatoes out of the PYO fields and into the regular fields where the crew harvests for shareroom distribution. After some careful evaluation of our crop plans over the past few years, we came to the conclusion that this plan would lead to a more efficient allocation of the crew's labor and hopefully a more consistent harvest of heirloom and paste tomatoes.

PYO tomatoes

There are a couple of reasons why I believe we'll be able to do a better job of growing tomatoes this way. While PYO tomatoes are a fun and important part of the Appleton CSA experience, it's a simple fact that plants that get picked by hundreds of people 5 days a week don't remain as healthy or last as long as those picked 3 days a week by a crew of 5-7 experienced farmers and apprentices. Pick-your-own tomatoes also don't get picked as systematically and evenly as they do in the regular fields (many of you have probably noticed how the beginning of PYO crop beds often get picked over quickly, while the ends of beds often have an abundance of ripe or over-ripe crops that sometimes go to waste). As a result of moving heirloom and paste tomatoes out of the PYO fields, I'm hopeful that we'll be able to increase the yields and the picking life of those particular plants, and therefore we'll need to grow fewer tomato plants overall on the farm. By decreasing the amount of tomato plants we grow, we're able to better care for the ones we have (both in the field and in the PYO garden), hopefully leading to happy plants and a better picking experience for shareholders in the pick-your-own fields.

So far, I'm really pleased with how this plan has worked out. I think that both the field tomatoes and PYO tomatoes look beautiful - they are better weeded and trellised this year than they have been in the past couple of years, and as a result, the plants look healthier. With fewer tomato beds to worry about, the crew has also had more time to care for other important crops like peppers and eggplant. As with every crop in farming, there's no guarantee that your most thoughtfully laid-out plans will lead to better harvests (weather systems don't really care about your plans!), but I think that this plan is setting us up for a better chance at a successful tomato season.

What's in the share: Lettuce, Carrots, Ailsa Craig Onions, Kale, Escarole, Summer Squash/Zucchini, Cucumbers, Eggplant, Peppers, Red Slicing Tomatoes, PYO Beans, PYO Cherry Tomatoes*, PYO Flowers, PYO Herbs.
New this week: Watermelon, Celery, Chieftain Potatoes (red skin, white flesh).

*Late blight has been reported in neighboring Middlesex County. This disease spreads quickly on wind and rain, so during wet weather, we will close PYO tomatoes to reduce the chances of the disease spreading to Appleton. Please do not enter tomato fields when we have closed them!