I hadn’t planned on harvesting cherry tomatoes today, but when I glanced over at them, I saw masses of little golden fruits ripe for the picking. So I grabbed a container and began working my way down one side of the row. And the container filled up before I’d even reached the end, so I ran inside for another. When that one, too, began to overflow, I started laughing – who expects abundance in a drought? Yet here I was, with more than double my usual harvest of cherry tomatoes.
Just before this, I’d walked the row of slicing tomatoes . . . and picked not a single one. Sure, I picked some earlier this week, but not many, and finding none ripe is unusual.
Even more disappointing are the cucamelons. The vines seem to be thriving this year, full and lush, and they put on masses of tiny fruits, but they’re just not ripening. Many of those under-ripe babies fall off at the slightest provocation, such as when I harvest the few that are plump enough, and those that remain on the vine grow so slowly.
I’m blaming this on the drought, though the full-size cucumbers in the same bed have inexplicably been producing fairly well. Of course, I could carefully water the cucamelons every day to combat the heat and lack of rain, but thirsty bite-sized cucumbers feel like a luxury in the face of a drought. Irrigation this summer involves a delicate balance between water conservation and nourishing the plants so we can continue eating. So, I’ll take the abundance I’m given, and dance when the rain finally falls.
This Saturday morning, you can find me at the Broadway Community Market with the following, in varying abundance:
- cherry tomatoes
- bell peppers
- jalapenos
- garlic
- cucumbers
- beans
- garlic salt
- crocheted items
See you at the market!