Every Garden Needs A Tomato Plant Or Two

I’m growing a cherry tomato plant in a container right outside the kitchen this summer. Whenever I have a hankerin’ for a juicy tomato, all I do is open the door and pick a handful. And, oh, are they delicious! There is simply nothing like the taste of homegrown tomatoes.

But taste isn’t the only reason gardeners grow tomatoes. Tomatoes also have great health benefits. They’re low in fat and sodium and contain as much fiber as a slice of whole-wheat bread. A medium-sized tomato can provide more than half the recommended daily allowance of vitamin C for adults, and almost one-third the allowance of vitamin A. Tomatoes are also high in potassium and phosphorous.

Eating lots of raw tomatoes may significantly reduce the risk of certain types of cancer, according to the International Journal of Cancer. Researchers believe this is due in part to the antioxidant lycopene that gives tomatoes their red color.

While peeling through the pages of one of my favorite books on tomatoes, “Tomato Favorites” by Lois Hole, I ran across a list of interesting nutritional facts:

Orange tomatoes have the highest vitamin A content. (This makes sense since most orange vegetables such as winter squash and carrots have high vitamin A content.)

Ounce for ounce, cherry tomatoes have twice the vitamin C of larger tomatoes. Most vitamin C is found in the gel surrounding the seeds. Since heat and oxidation destroy vitamin C, uncooked tomatoes have more vitamin C than cooked tomatoes. If you like to dry tomatoes, keep in mind that the slices of tomatoes may be rich in mineral content, but they will lose the vitamin content.

When you harvest tomatoes, try to leave a bit of the stem attached to the fruit. The stem will help to preserve the tomato for a longer period. If an entire truss (branch) ripens at once, leave the fruit attached and cut the entire truss off with scissors.

Don’t try to ripen the fruit by removing leaves. Leaves help the fruit to ripen. They also provide water and sugar to the tomatoes.

Don’t refrigerate tomatoes. Believe it or not, they taste better and last longer if left on the kitchen counter out of the sun.

When the season draws to an end, we will look at protecting the plants from frost, as well as a few of my favorite recipes, such as pickled green tomatoes and green tomato minced meat. For now, though, it’s fresh tomatoes, onions and cucumbers marinated in Italian dressing. Ah, that’s livin’.

What’s crawling around

At dusk, the garden offers many treats. One in particular is the acrobatic antics of the whitelined sphinx moth.

Many know it as a hummingbird moth because it closely resembles a hummingbird. It darts from flower to flower on a 3- to 4-inch wingspan while its long, curved tongue, or proboscis, draws nectar out of the flowers.

These moths pupate in the soil in shiny dark mahogany-brown chrysalides. Their larvae is the tomato hornworm, a 2- to 3-inch caterpillar about as thick as your thumb. It’s usually green and sports a seemingly sharp pointed horn atop its backside.

The moths do nothing but feed and entertain us through the evening hours. Their larvae, though, feed on beets, turnips, plums, evening primrose and a host of other delicacies. As their name implies, however, tomatoes are their favorite meal. To control the larvae, simply pick them off the plants. You can either treat them as a pet or destroy them. The choice is yours.

Mark your calendar

The Washington International Gladiolus Show will be at the Finch Arboretum on Aug. 19 and 20 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free. This is a judged show with more than 200 entries on display. Exhibitors will be coming from British Columbia, California, Nevada, Idaho and Washington.

The fall schedule of classes offered through the Community Colleges Institute for Extended Learning has been released and there are a number of interesting horticulture-related classes and workshops.

Look in the Horticulture category for 11 garden-related classes including both craft and culinary herb workshops, easy-care perennials, mushroom identification, fall planting for spring color, growing orchids, an herb garden tour and a workshop in growing herbs, pruning techniques and sprinkler system installation.

There are also other outdoors-related workshops. If you didn’t receive a class schedule in the mail or want more information, call IEL at 533-3770.

The Friends of Manito and the WSU Master Gardeners will host a free tour of the Manito Park Duncan Gardens on Sunday at 5 p.m. For information, call the TFM office at 456-8038.