I believe it was the last of Patti’s competition seed from last year, so not one I’ve grown before. It certainly isn’t thriving in its pot, but thems the breaks with winter growing. Beats succumbing to bacterial speck like thirty others I’ve lost in the last few months.

Mark_Thompson wrote: ↑Tue Feb 18, 2025 10:45 pm but thems the breaks with WINTER GROWING (bolds/caps/italics mine).

(checks thermometer [-3°F/-19.4°C] wind chill? fuggedabboudit!) Note to self: Establish MAUI Mark_Thompson Winter Growing Relief GoFundMe Page...right after sock drawer's been sufficiently rearranged...

The Gotch

@Mark_Thompson, meant no disrespect, just an (admittedly) verbose effort to point out that the concept of Winter Gardening in these here parts is as alien as pond hockey would be in Maui.

The Gotch

Gotta try harder than that to offend me

The Gotch

A Yeller ripening in the late afternoon sun in anticipation of participating in the fast-approaching Monday Morning BLT Brunch: The Gotch

The Gotch

Day 55 of 2025-21st Century Silver Jubilee Year Of The BLT!, 310 remain. Monday Morning BLT Brunch participants include a nice Purple, and a Green-Streaked Yeller, from Woodman's with appropriate @Mark_Thompson price-controls ($1.29/lb.) applied: Astern: Sliced: And ready for delicious: The Yeller was a little under-ripe and on the bland side, but had a nice, firm texture. Never had a bad Purple from Woodman's, and didn't start today; excellent taste!

The Gotch

Home bacon, baby greens from the potting table tray and a Sutherland’s Domingo for the fruit. Definitely paid more than @Cornelius_Gotchberg’s $1.29 a lb for this fruit, but I think money well spent. Been waiting on this one for a while!

Damned Fine lookin' Tomato!

Using the signature @Mark_Thompson Slab-Slicing method©™®?

Priceless!

The Gotch

Tomorrow's Monday Morning BLT Brunch participants ripening in the early March afternoon sunshine: The Gotch

Day 62 of 2025-21st Century Silver Jubilee Year Of The BLT!, 303 remain. Today's Monday Morning BLT Brunch participants are a nice Purple & Yeller Heirlooms from Metro Market @$3.49 lb., via Del Fresco Pure Canada (https://delfrescopure.com/our-produce/tomatoes/) Woodman's didn't have their marvelous $1.29 lb. array this week, leaving The Gotch to cover an unanticipated, financially ruinous overage. The Butter-n-Egg money's been spent on...um...Butter & Eggs, ergo, the unbudgeted shortfall will likely require we take in wash. View from the Bottom: Sliced: And plated: Both were (IMO) optimally firm. How was that evident? No seed/locule drippage. Both had a real satisfying, Tomatoey taste, with the edge going to the Yeller.

The Gotch

The array of vine-ripened Heirlooms @Metro Market (supplied by Nature Fresh Farms Ontario, CAN [https://naturefreshfarms.com/]), flanked by Red Ball singles (right) and on_the_viners to the left. The Yeller & Purple in the upper center were selected to participate in the fast-approaching Monday Morning BLT Brunch.

The Gotch

Day 69 of 2025-21st Century Silver Jubilee Year Of The BLT!, 296 remain. Those who have been following already know the details of today's Monday Morning BLT Brunch participants: Rump Region: Sliced: And plated: Both smelled great and had a fine. fresh Tomatoey taste, with the nod going to the Yeller thanks to a nice citrusy undertone.

The Gotch

I'm not sure if it classifies as a BLT, but I had a bacon double cheeseburger from A&W yesterday. I'm pretty sure it had bacon, lettuce and tomato on it, anyway. It also had pickles and onions. Also, it was delicious. The bacon had a really surprisingly nice flavor. I think this was my first fast food in five years. It came with French fries and a soft drink (in my case, Orange Crush). which I also appreciated. It could have done with some ketchup, though; they gave me fry sauce instead (but it wasn't too bad, and technically, there's ketchup in fry sauce). It was expensive for what I'm used to (it was 10-something for the meal), but they actually gave me a huge hamburger that was super tall, just like the ones you see in ads on TV. This was much better than my previous A&W trip where I probably got something without bacon. The teen burgers I had in Canada about twelve years ago were excellent, but they don't sell those here (they weren't as big as the bacon double cheeseburger I got yesterday, though). I haven't tried the Papa burgers, which they do have here, though (I'm thinking those are intended to be an upgrade of the teen burger; I think they have Papa Burgers in both countries). I just checked; the Papa Burger does not have bacon, but the Teen Burger does. It sounds like the bacon double cheeseburger is pretty much a bigger Teen Burger with an extra patty. But of course, none of these have thick slices of exotic heirloom tomatoes.

@Shule; it's hard to come by above average vine-ripened Heirloom Tomatoes this time of year for us above 30°0′N, but they can be found.

I have two (2) go-tos in the 77 Square Miles Surrounded By A Sea Of Reality: Woodman's and Metro Market.

It gets better.

While visiting a friend in the hospital today, her other visitor was none other than the Produce Manager for my Metro Market.

Telling her I worked the Produce Department of Metro Market's Grandaddy (Copp's) over 50 years ago AND informing her I'm a Tomato Rancher of (arguably) some distinction AND tantalizing her with the promise of some of my 2025 crop, and The Gotch done got himself an IN!

NEVER underestimate the Raw Power of the Organic Home-Grown Heirloom Tomato!

C'mon, how do you think I secured the...um...support of the Iron County Miner, the Iron County Register of Deeds AND the Forestry Department, and numerous Iron County merchants and building/landscaping contractors.

And my entire neighborhood? Fuggeddabouddit!

The Gotch

THEY'RE BACK, 2.0 Woodman's $1.79 vine-ripened Heirlooms, from the Heirloom Tomato Mecca that is Canada: A FINE selection from which to chose: How fine? So fine that The Gotch gave fellow TJer @bboomer a heads up, and he headed out to avail himself of a rare March bounty; rare for these here parts, leastways.

Picked out a nice Yeller & Purple for Monday Morning BLT Brunch; stay tuned...


The Gotch

Found 'em! Not bad at all!

The Gotch

The Gotch