Rant - $5 a pound and they taste like wet cardboard?

$5 a pound for some of the most tasteless, mushiest tomatoes I have ever eaten.
Sure they had some for $3 a pound but I didn't need more to go into my compost pile.
I know it is off season and they are shipping them in from the other side of the world.
But.....I have never before paid this much for anything that tasted this bad.

That does it.......
I am going to set up a greenhouse and grow heirloom tomatoes off season.
Actually I am getting the garden all ready for when it is warm enough to plant.
So far I have planted seeds for lettuce and sugar peas. Planted a bunch of garlic last fall that is doing well so far.
I am in the beginnings of getting my poly-tunnel ready to start my tomatoes and other veggies early.
A couple local turkeys came by yesterday to see what I was up to.

 

Birds look pretty good. So's you set up Mark.

 

It's pretty messy right now but I will have it all together in a couple weeks.
The ducks are healthy and happy. They get to wander the property but they go to their night pen where they feel safer when the turkeys visit.
The 2 turkeys were babies last year. The momma and four little ones used to visit every couple days. Not sure but these two might be all that is left.
They like to wander around the place making turkey noises seeing if they can find anything that turkeys like.

 

hate store lettuces so much we are really thinking hard about hydroponic salad greens over the winter. we jsut got a few more inchs of snow so we are holdingn off on seeds and all for awhile yet we are however getting the bug to get started

 

Over the past few years, I've been growing a good number of heirloom tomatoes. since then, I've pretty much given up on store-bought tomatoes. they just don't do it for me. Maybe in the areas where they can grow in the winter they would be fine, but here in the frozen north, not so much.

 

Last year the Green Zebra, Black Krim and German Lunchbox were my favorites.
This year I plan to try Pineapple, Great White and a few others.
I agree with Butch about the salad greens as well.
Last year one type I grew was red romaine. It was a sweet leafy variety that was amazing.
I have already planted seeds for that and a couple different buttercrunch varieties.

I really need to get a freezer. The sauce I froze last year was all eaten up within a few weeks.

 

we canned a pile of mator sauce and if you dont add meat to it no need to pressure can it so its a bit easer. we picked maters ever dau score the skin 4 ways and then bag and freeze once we get 12lb in the freezer we get the canning stuff out make sauce and can it then start everything all overr again last year we werre over 120lb off 3 roma plants

 

Have you tried campari tomatoes? They're a little smaller--salad tomato size--and pricey, but they're the only tomato that are even close to edible for me this time of year.

 

I will seek them out

 

I will look for them as well.
But....wouldn't it be nice to just grab a couple green zebras and black krim in the middle of winter to make a tomato sandwich?
I am going to try to grow some great white this year. If they work out I will send you a box.

 

Just mount some gutters on the sunny side of your house like this. Not my photo but I will try something similar so I don't have to bend over to pick greens.

 

we still mhave snow on the ground so my salad greens would have to be an indoor venture (was 6f the other night )

 

I rely on tomato confit, pickles (beets and persimmon) and ketchup to get me through my tomato cravings. That, and I try to give a lot of love to winter veggies. Tomatoes just don't taste good out of season, like a peach or anything that really can't travel/hold much by design.

 

Right. And the redesign to make them travel well and the extreme early picking so they can approach ripeness enroute just seems to make them tomato washed out and lacking.

 

It is still cool here. Nights upper 30s, days mid 50s.
I chanced it and planted my peas and some lettuce seeds. This morning I saw that some of the lettuce seeds are coming up.
I hope they make it because it sure will be nice to have fresh salad greens again.

We had some strong winds the other night and my start at a poly-tunnel didn't make it. I am going to have to start over with a sturdier structure this time.

 

I need to get some tomato seeds started. I have some "Cherry Brandywine" seeds--they were pretty good tomatoes. Mostly I hope that my tomato man is back at the farmers' market this year.

 

Now that I have have a decent outdoor space in the condo I am starting tomato seeds inside soon! Lettuce is planned as well.