This accessible page is a derivative of https://www.researchcatalogue.net/view/2951879/3006827 which it is meant to support and not replace.
Image description: A large collection of ripe tomatoes of various shapes and sizes.
Click on https://www.researchcatalogue.net/view/2951879/3006827#tool-3006836 to see the image.
Most gardens in the Abruzzo region include tomatoes. A fond memory I have from one of my first visits was walking around town and seeing huge barrels filled with jars of tomatoes cooking outside numerous homes. Another memory is of a local straniero recounting how the flavour of a tomato was a deciding factor for purchasing and restoring a dilapidated palazzo. While the qualities of these tomatoes can occasionally lead to frustrations in life (it is virtually impossible to buy, let alone enjoy, a store-bought tomato ever again), their cultivation is rather predictable. While a sneaky tomato from last season might produce a surprise addition (what my mother calls a ‘volunteer’), to get a good yield it is normally necessary to plant new seedlings each season (either bought from a store or started indoors at the end of winter).
Once planted, they grow fairly rapidly and, like Amandine, support mechanisms are required. We have mostly used bamboo sticks that grow in a corner of our neighbour’s yard. As the plants grow we connect the stems to the bamboo poles. In our second year our neighbour explained how, instead of store-bought string, we can use pieces of broom plants that grow all around the area on the sides of roads and produce beautifully scented yellow flowers for most of the month of June.
Image description: A scene of a landscape on a bright day, with yellow flowers from broom plants in the foreground and mountains in the background.
Click on https://www.researchcatalogue.net/view/2951879/3006827#tool-3006855 to see the image.
The bees come to pollinate the tomato blossoms, but I often go around and tap the early ones to help things along (the wind also does some of this work). In the early days, it is also important to prune the ‘suckers’ — new little shoots that appear in the intersections of the main vines — as these reduce productivity if left to grow larger. The greatest responsibility is giving the plants water each day at the height of the season. This usually coincides with the driest and hottest period of the summer, but daily watering is also important to minimize skin splitting when the occasional rainstorm passes through. As the yields increase, we begin to process — not jarring (yet), but filling our recently purchased deep freezer with raw, baked, and boiled-down tomatoes.