Last of the summer tomatoes

All those juicy heirloom tomatoes planted in late spring are just about done.  But we can still find some ripening on the vines, like these picked from a few days ago.

To my taste buds, there's nothing like an heirloom tomato. That earthy, slightly salty, juicy taste can't be duplicated by most modern hybrids. The yellow ones in the photo, appropriately called Yellow Pear, are a perfect example. Yellow Pear is a small heirloom cherry tomato that bursts in your mouth with a sweet, low-acid flavor. The same's true for the large red ones, called Omar's Lebanese. Omar's Lebanese runs with juice when you slice it, and, best of all from a grower's perspective, it's disease resistant.

(If only they could make tomatoes that are deer and duck resistant. That's a story for another day!)

We still have seeds left for both of these varieties and some other heirloom favorites we grew this year; I'll probably start seedlings around March. But it's a long time until next summer. So for now, we savoring each bite and slice of the last tomatoes of summer.