Tomatomania IV: Attack of the Nasty Shorts

(August 15, 2021) Here we go again. Grab your computer and your tomato questions because the boys are back in town. I’m talking about gardener, educator and author Craig LeHoullier and tomato breeder and grower Keith Mueller. Craig, who calls himself NCtomatoman, wrote the book Epic Tomatoes. Keith uses the KC Tomato moniker because he lives in Kansas City. Both of them are with us today for Tomatomania IV: Attack of the Nasty Shorts. We’ll explain the nasty shorts part momentarily.

Meanwhile,Meanwhile, why are they here? Obviously, to talk tomatoes. But they visited us just two months ago. What gives? Well, we usually talk tomatoes in the early part of the season. But here comes the heat, humidity and sometimes drought of the late summer. Oh, yes, and sometimes excessive rain. And gardeners get tired. Getting tomatoes started is easy. I want to know how to keep them going at crunch time.

Harvest…or bust?

Except some people managed to skip crunch time. Take a look at the photo at the top of the page. LeHoullier says he harvested that in one day. He also reports that his North Carolina weather has been perfect this year. Well, la-dee-frickin’-da! Unfortunately, things have been a little rougher for KC Tomato. He writes that the Missouri heat is taking its toll.

I’d like to mention how much weather here has affected the tomato crop. Several growers have cancelled annual height of season events. This has a bit to do with COVID but more that they just haven’t produced much crop this year. I spot to the extension agents and they said they are seeing the same.

But wait, there’s more. Mueller says the smoke from wildfires has contributed to the difficulties. I wonder if there’s a market for smoke-flavored tomatoes. Of course, up here the weather has been all over the map. We suffered through a chilly, dry May. Then, we received some deluges. Then, some oppressive heat and humidity. Go figure.

I’ve learned something important while preparing for Tomatomania IV. You don’t need to wait for your tomatoes to ripen on the vine. Really. KC Tomato calls it the “myth of must ripen on the vine.” He says it has to do with an “abscission layer that forms on fruit.” On the show, he will tell us why picking early doesn’t affect fruit flavor. However, he notes that the ripening process is dependent on enzymes and enzymes degrade in heat.

So, we’ll talk about heat and watering. We’ll also discuss preserving your hard-earned fruit. Tune in or catch the video reply on YouTube or the podcast. When these two guys are on the show, we all learn a lot.

About those nasty shorts…

I almost forgot! This is the most important part of Tomatomania IV! Craig LeHoullier sent me a photo of him picking tomatoes with his daughter. Check it out.

Those shorts are NASTY! See the unhappy plant on the left? It got that way after seeing Craign in his shorts. And that gave me the idea for the title of today’s show. Then I saw a photo of Keith Mueller in what he calls his “DadShorts.” They’re not nasty at all.

So, I guess…Craig wins? We need to come up with a prize.