My husband and my mother (the green thumbs at our house) decided to try something different in the veggie garden this year. Mother read in one of her gardening books that the tops of tomato plants can be planted to make a late crop...instructions: lop off the top foot or so of healthy plants (ours had reached about five feet in height), remove the bottom leaves, plant them, and water them liberally.
Hubby and Mother feel they waited too long...late July...before trying this experiment. Mid-July would have been better, because August was blistering hot and dry in our state. Hubby watered the plants diligently, but they nearly perished anyway. Once the rain came, the plants perked up, but the fruit was small.
Because a killing frost is forecast for this week, Mother decided she should go ahead and pick the tomatoes green and fry them for lunch today. Fried green tomatoes are a delicacy here in the south, but we don't serve them very often at our house, since they don't conform to our diet plan. They sure were good, though, and here's Mother's recipe for them:
FRIED GREEN TOMATOES
Quarter small tomatoes, or slice large ones. Sprinkle salt on the tomatoes and let set for 30 minutes. Coat tomatoes with a mixture of 1/3 cup flour, 1/3 cup cornmeal, 1 teaspoon seasoning salt, 1/2 teaspoon oregano, 1/2 teaspoon basil, and 1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese. Fry in about 1/4 cup Canola oil. Drain tomatoes on paper towels to remove some of the oil.
3 comments:
I had wondered how those late tomatoes were doing. In a normal year, planting the tops when she did would have probably been OK. Who could know it would be such a drought, though? I'm glad you got the fried green tomatoes out of the deal!
You've used this method for growing a late crop of tomatoes, haven't you...and got good results? We'll be trying again here next year, I'm sure. And the fried green tomatoes were yummy, of course.
Yes, several years ago I did this and it worked very well. A month's drought with record high temps doesn't help, of course! Maybe next year the weather will be more favorable.
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