Maskotka - First in the Field

With so much happening in the garden at this time of the season, it is difficult to know where to start.

My three Maskotka plants have blight after fighting valiantly in the rain - I would give the title of "blight tolerant" to this variety any day considering how often they've been rained-on!

The large varieties (usually later than smaller size toms) are beginning to ripen so I'm taking a few that are turning colour off of the heavy laden trusses. Sometimes a truss can be so heavy that it pulls off the main stem.

On the subject of tomato taste, I think it would be reasonable to say that strong flavoured toms with an acid prominence would go well with strong or spicy tasting food, and toms with a more balanced or sweeter taste would go well with more subtle tasting food.

My wife and I love salmon - we don't eat it very often because of the expense - but I can tell you that an assortment of the right flavoured tomatoes, that suite the subtle taste of salmon, is heaven on a plate. I can't think of a meal I would rather have!

I'm still waiting for First in the Field - it's last in the garden (almost), but like many of the medium and larger varieties they're struggling to ripen because of the poor summer we've had.

A few days of warm sunshine in the UK and we'll be in tomato heaven. If you live in a different part of the world I hope you've had less rain!