TOMATOES

Undoubtedly the greatest pleasure from the potager is the tomato.

Close your eyes, and imagine a warm Summer morning, plucking a small sweet tomato, warm from the sun and popping it into you mouth mmmmmm. I dream of the thought

Sheila and I had dabbled in growing tomatoes in the greenhouse when we lived in the UK – mainly from seed. To this day Sheila swears that by talking to the individual plants the yield would be improved. She named the individual plants, and, experimented by turning her back on selected plants .

However, after we had purchased the plot of land adjacent to our house in France, growing tomatoes became an outside activity, a revelation, and a huge pleasure.

Before our first attempt at growing, we visited a potager across the river in Le Rosiers-sur-Loire, and bought some tomatoes for lunch – 8 varieties, all bio, ranging from large beef steak, green striped, yellow, white and even black.

We sat outside in the hot sun and devoured a large plate of sliced tomatoes, drizzled with olive oil, torn basil, a sprinkling of red wine vinegar and accompanied with fresh bread from the boulangerie. That lunch is an abiding memory for us both.

Once we cleared the land, we proceeded to purchase 50 plants, 6 varieties. Wow! We could not believe the success that first year.

The crop was pretty modest, but the flavour from the fruit was way above that of shop bought produce, and apart from one year when all the plants died within the first month of planting, we have enjoyed bumper crops.

Of course eating them fresh is a delight, but it’s also wonderful thinking of ways to use up the surplus, and this can run into many kilos!

It is a challenge. Each year we have jars, and, jars, jars of

ROASTED TOMATO SAUCE,  SPICY ROASTED TOMATO SAUCE. SUNDRIED. GREEN TOMATO CHUTNEY. PICKLED GREEN TOMAOTES.

– the list is endless.

We constantly search for new recipes, and last year we discovered a brilliant “pickle” in Lindsey Barnams amazing book  “The Great Big Tomato Book”.

Another growing season is now upon us and the anticipation of which varieties we shall plant is under discussion .