I grew up on the outskirts of Phoenix where my family had a small farm. I remember we had a huge garden and a menagerie of animals, most of which I would drag home. Not only did we grow most of our own vegetables but we raised our own chickens for fresh eggs, we always had fresh chicken meat (much to my HORROR because all MY chickens were pets) AND we also had several goats (which I milked EVERY ding dang morning at 5:00 am before school) this was the only milk and butter I knew. Our garden was approximately 50 x 20 and I spent countless hours pulling weeds and playing with all the cute little toads that hung out there. So I guess you could say my "love" for gardening started (no dates necessary) several years ago.
At a VERY young age I married a military man who received transfer orders just days after our wedding so we immediately set off to explore the world. Our first stop was Korea….. it's amazing how different fruit and vegetables look when you are in other countries. The watermelons were shaped like bowling balls and they sold fish right off the side walk. But the tomatoes were amazing (I don't want to think about what kind of fertilizer they used) always red, juicy and VERY tasty. After Korea our next duty station was North Carolina where for the first time I saw that nasty white stuff called SNOW and experienced my first hurricane. Though the soil was very sandy I still managed to grow several different varieties of tomatoes and learned several tricks to making them thrive.
In the late eighties we were transferred to Utah where the growing season was a LOT shorter than the growing season that I had experienced in North Carolina. So once again I experimented with different kinds of tomatoes and found what grew best in their climate and shorter season. In the 1990's we received word that we were transferred to Italy. YES! YES! YES!…… we were going to live in Italy. The tomato (and wine) lovers dream and WOW did I learn a lot about growing tomatoes there. I also learned which tomatoes make the best sauces, which tomatoes go best in salads and which tomatoes are best eaten right off the vine. I collected all kinds of wonderful recipes for tomatoes and I will be sharing those recipes with you and I'm hoping you will share your recipes with me.
My Tomato Matrix
I started my Tomato Assortment with colors. The top color is RedTomatoes, followed by Yellow, Orange, Pind and then Miscellaneous. I added Large, Medium and Small Tomatoes, the most popular being Medium. I layered in Indertimate and Determinate to appeal to every climate and Gardeners need. I blended mostly Heirloom varieties with a few Hybrids, just to spice up my Assortment.
Then, most important, I looked to make a lot of my Tomatoes Organic. I managed to do over 40% Organic. I favor them for the taste, environment consideration and nutritional value they bring to the table.
Then it was Simple...just scour the Globe to find the Best, Juciest, Tastiest Tomatoes on Planet Earth.
I hope you enjoy my website and I encourage your suggestions and feedback.
Thanks,
