Home Depot should publicly apologize for killing the New England Tomato Crop.
This has not been a good summer for us. First, the June monsoons dampened our spirits, and now a blight found on tomato plants from “big box stores” is spreading, literally, with the wind and destroying tomato fields one by one. As any farmer or gardner will tell you, the zucchini and cucumbers are fine, but what we really care about are the tomatoes! You can read about the blight here and the plight of Waltham Fields Community Farm here.
Though I did not buy my tomato seedlings from Home Depot, I’m still noticing damage: yellow, wilted leaves with black spots. Two tomatoes, just days from perfection, had insect holes bored out from the center. I’m cutting back the leaves in hopes of preventing the spread.
I bought several tomato plants at Russo’s, and have a few from my friend Brett. Those from Brett were bred for disease resistance, and so far are proving the most hardy!
This week, I did manage to harvest a few ripe tomatoes — 4 black krim and 3 hybrid big boys. Though the plants are weighted heavy with fruit, who knows if they’ll survive to harvest… so just in case, I made my favorite, quintessential, summer sandwich, best to savor the tomatoes: Toasted Bread, Mayonnaise, Tomatoes and Salt.
Summer Perfection.