Vine Ripened Tomato

Some things just taste like summer to me. Watermelon, hamburgers and corn on the cob. One of the ultimate summer treats are tomatoes grown in my garden, ripened on the vine. I've had a hard time the last few years finding varieties that vine ripen before we get frost. I didn't get a single tomato last year. This year I struck tomato gold.

_{I think these huge ones are the Goliath variety. Fried green tomatoes anyone?}

After the discouraging failures of the last few years I wasn't going to try tomatoes this year but a friend started her tomatoes from seed and ended up with more starts than she could use. I brought six of them home and skeptically planted them in my garden. They went into the earth on Mother's Day. It was a hot day and the little plants withered immediately. I watered them heavily and gave them plant fertilizer but for a couple days they looked comically feeble. One morning I went out and they had courageously revived. They grew quickly and we soon had to put out tomato cages to support their heavy vines.

_{Its a tomato jungle!}

Fast forward a couple months and the plants have grown over my head in height. Some of them are six feet tall. They are all heavy with ripening tomatoes. The one grew so heavy it bent the tomato cage towards the ground.

_{Someone is so enthusiastic about picking the ripe tomatoes, she may have even picked some orange ones.}
My daughter has been eating them like apples. They are a fruit, so might as well enjoy it like one!