The saga of the lone tomato plant by the back door has come to its chilly, end-of-summer, lack of warmth, buggy, wormy end. My husband has dutifully plucked all the non-wormy green tomatoes (small, medium, and large ???), ripped the still blooming plant from its earthy nest, and released the nearly blocked back door (it was a very large plant) from its restrictive leafy arms. (note: The height decreased as the plan flopped over.)
We now have a large bowl of green tomatoes and husband is clamoring for "fried green tomatoes." Yes, we are Southern; and yes, folks DO eat GREEN TOMATOES.
Years ago at the conclusion of an almost futile attempt at gardening to feed our fairly large family, I harvested the green tomatoes. We had fried green tomatoes that year. Of course, we had no idea that our cholesterol was then or would ever be off the charts. We also had loads of green tomato mince meat which made delicious pies. I canned the mince meat, and we ate it for a couple of years. I also made green tomato relish which consists of green tomatoes, onion, green peppers, sugar, spice, and vinegar. And NO!!!! I do not plan to go that route again. We ate it, gave it away, and did not waste a bit. But that excursion into green tomato mince meat and green tomato relish was enough.
So this year I will fry-up a couple of pans of fried green tomatoes for husband and hope some of the others will ripen into rosy orbs of red tomatoes good on sandwiches and good in salads.
The plant that is now beginning to decompose was somewhat of a surprise to all of us. It grew to be about 5 1/2 feet tall and had a span of about 6 feet. I planted the one and only plant which I purchased at Lowe's for about $2.50. And NO, I do not have a green thumb. I simply had a green, miracle tomato plant that we enjoyed lots of sandwiches from.
