THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, June 2, 1996 TAG: 9605310243
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Coastal Journal
SOURCE: Mary Reid Barrow
LENGTH: 69 lines
Pluck a warm, sun-ripened tomato straight from the vine.
Slice it, smell that fresh tomato aroma and watch the rosy red juices seep out. Spread a couple of slabs of bread with mayo, put those tomato slices in between and dig in.
For most of us that's a July tale, but for Duane Harding, the story begins in May. In fact Harding has been making garden-grown tomato sandwiches since May 18. In years past he has picked tomatoes as early as May 15.
``It started out as a little competition between me and a couple of fellows in the Organic Gardening Club,'' Harding said.
Now he grows early tomatoes every year just because it's so nice to have home-grown tomatoes as soon as possible.
An Early Girl tomato is the variety that's producing ripe red fruit in Harding's Brigadoon yard this spring. Early Girls are known as the first tomatoes of the season, but Harding has pushed the window way back.
``They're not as good as beefsteaks,'' he said, ``but they beat the heck out of anything at the store.''
Not only have Harding and his family been feasting on the rosy orbs, but even the muskrats and box turtles have discovered this special pre-season treat.
Nearby in another bed, Harding is growing several tomato plants that look more like mine, although healthier and bigger because he has a wonderful, natural green thumb but still not bearing fruit. Like most of us, he purchased those from a nursery and put them out in the yard when the weather warmed up.
``I don't baby the whole crop. By the time these come in, that one will give out,'' he said pointing to the Early Girl.
But that Early Girl did indeed get babied. A pampered girl, you might call it. It was on another schedule altogether. Harding planted the seed for this premature wonder on New Year's Day.
Its first days were lived under a fluorescent light in the kitchen. When the seedling got a little larger, he would take it out to his cold frame on sunny, warm days and bring it in at night.
``The cold frame gets up to 70-75 degrees on a 40-degree day,'' Harding said.
He transferred the seedling, as it grew, to bigger and bigger pots, never letting it get root bound. Eventually it ended up in a 3-gallon container.
Meanwhile he warmed the soil in the raised bed where the tomato was to be planted. He not only put black plastic on the ground but he also covered the area with a small plastic greenhouse. The waist-high plastic greenhouse Harding constructed is big enough to cover about one tomato as it grows.
The tomato lived outside under the greenhouse, beginning sometime in March. Harding brought it back inside only on a couple of cold nights. This year, he did not transplant it into the ground until late April because the winter had been so cold and he wanted to make sure the soil had warmed up sufficiently.
``That's a big mistake that people make,'' he said, ``getting them out in the ground too fast. Tomatoes are tropical plants.''
Only Harding's Early Girl doesn't know it.
P.S. Protection of endangered species and other preservation issues surrounding the Back Bay and North Landing River areas, are the topics of a Back Bay Restoration Foundation meeting at 7:30 p.m. at the Princess Anne Recreation Center. Linda Lundquist, director of protection for the Nature Conservancy, will speak. To find out more, call 412-4240. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by MARY REID BARROW
An Early Girl tomato is the variety that's producing ripe red fruit
in Duane Harding's Brigadoon yard this spring. Early Girls are known
as the first tomatoes of the season, but Harding has pushed the
window way back. ``They're not as good as beefsteaks,'' he said,
``but they beat the heck out of anything at the store.'' by CNB