Tom the Tomato

Remember tomato plant that Lundulph rescued from the drain outside our house? It's now taller than me and I'm about 160 cm. The plant is very leggy, which was to be expected in the circumstances. But the plant did set fruit and the first one was promptly named Tom.

Well, Tom went red the other week and a couple of days ago, he fell off his perch, so Lundulph and I ate him in a ceremonial way. He was the size of a regular cherry tomato, but smelt very nice and had a bright warm red colour.



Flavour was very good, but the texture was on the mushy side. Also the skin was very thick and reminded me of my childhood, when I refused to eat tomatoes until my Mum had peeled them for me.



I suspect that whatever tomato seed sprouted, it was some sort of hybrid that didn't come true to form and instead exhibited these undesirable qualities.

However, there is a second fruit ripening as we speak, Tom's brother Dom and there was one new flower yesterday and several other buds coming along, so we may well have more pickings this Spring.

It's good as a proof of concept, but once we have a greenhouse, we'll select a known variety.