I know it has been said a trillion, million times, but gardening really is a wonderful tonic. I was feeling a little down today, and so finally I took myself outside and started to water part of the garden. This led to watering the vegetable patch, which led to cleaning out some bok choy that had raced away to seed.
In its place I planted at tomato plant that had volunteered in one of my pots. I am not sure what species it is at this early stage, but I suspect that it may be a cherry tomato. It was growing very strongly, so it would have been cruel not to give it more soil and a chance to grow.
To make room for the seedling, I also cut some lettuce. As I pulled one head from the garden a wriggly worm fell back into the soil and raced back into the moist dirt and out of sight. It was a thrill to see that our new garden already has a nice healthy population of worms. Go worms, go!
Before going inside I harvested a couple of the black Russian tomatoes as well. Well, at least I have the salad for dinner - tomatoes and lettuce!
Black tomatoes are known for their strong, earthy tomato flavor, which often has a slight saltiness. Black tomatoes have a very dark skin that starts as dark red or dark green, but becomes almost black as the tomato matures and ripens.
Nearly 50 varieties of black tomato are now found in Russia. The best-known black Russian tomatoes are the black Krim, a sweet and salty dark greenish tomato named for the Crimea; and the black Russian, a large purple tomato with greenish-black flesh.
