First Tangerine Colored Heirloom Tomatoes are Ripe

I picked my first tangerine colored heirloom tomato. It is a Hillbilly tomato. My husband had left it growing in the garden as he saw the orange color and thought it was a tomato not yet ripe enough to pick. We sliced it and enjoyed each beautiful slice. The tomato had a soft skin compared to the cherry tomatoes in my garden that have a much tougher one. Our first Hillbilly tomato was mild yet full of flavor, as if a touch of lemon had been added to perfect tangerine orange flesh. The seeds within were small and the tomato fit in the palm of my hand.

We have another Hillbilly almost ready for the table and lots of red cherry tomatoes. A rabbit ate a hole in my plastic fence and I am trying to deter him by closing up the plastic chicken wire fence and spread a bit of Vicks on the fence as read it deters rabbits. If it does, I will include in a later item in this blog.

I saw our rabbit that ate all of my squash plant and broke off some of the branches of my heirloom tomato plants. I have never lost all of my summer and winter squash, including leaves and all to a rabbit and have planted squash for many, many years.

Luckily, when I first noticed that my squash plants were being nibbled down to the root, I planted one in my rose garden and this plant is doing superbly well, does not have any fungus growing on it as many of my squash plants might have in a rainy summer and this lonely squash plant has one small zucchini on it to date. The plant is the healthiest squash plant I have seen in my garden in years.

I hope the garden rabbit does not find my last squash plant. I saw him standing six feet from the garden after I closed up the hole he chewed in my plastic fence.