Essay by Steve Martin, West Hollywood, California (Monday, May 5, 2008) - I have to admit that I’ve become a bit obsessive. For the last several months I’ve been wrestling with my addiction, just counting the days since my last hit.
It was last November, just a few days after Halloween.
On a bedraggled and exhausted tomato plant I plucked the last of my 2007 crop.
And just like the first tomato of the season, this one didn’t make it to the house; I ate it right off the vine. It was like a bite of liquid sunshine on a dull autumn day.
I’ve been growing tomatoes in my back yard for years. I guess it’s part of my peasant heritage.
Whether my ancestors where planting potatoes in Ireland or wading in the rice paddies of the Philippines, it’s in my blood to get my hands dirty.
Once I started eating my own West Hollywood grown tomatoes, I won’t eat them anywhere but home.
West Hollywood has great tomato growing weather.
The little town of Sherman was famous for its vegetables and with almost no effort anyone in West Hollywood with a yard or even a sunny patio can have a bumper crop of flavorful tomatoes.
From a few plants that I stuck in the ground over a decade ago, I my tomato garden has taken over a large part of my life.
After the last plant gives up the ghost, I’m busy composting and turning the soil in anticipation of my next crop.
Once the seedlings are in the ground I seem to spend a lot of time watching for weeds and arranging the rising branches on their trellis.
The first green balls of fruit are subject of emails to disinterested friends and relatives.
Then suddenly, just as summer hits, there is an explosion of fruit in a rainbow of bright colors that come just in time for Gay Pride weekend.
For the next four months I’m harvesting a couple of pounds of tomatoes a day.
It’s tomato planting time and I’ve just come back from “Tomatomania” in Encino, billed as the largest tomato seedling inventory in the nation.
This annual event put on annually by Scott Daigre, and is like a circus that moves up and down the State each Spring.
Tomatomania brings together over two hundred varieties of incredible and exotic tomatoes at prices that are as incredible as the selection.
Figuring we would get a jump on the crowd, we got up early and drove over Coldwater Canyon and had breakfast at Hugo’s on Riverside Drive. We figured if we got there before 10:00 a.m., we would miss the masses.
No such luck.
Steve Martin is a former City Council member and former President of Stonewall Democratic Club and West Hollywood Democratic Club. |
By nine thirty there was no parking and two of my best producers from last year—Mortgage Lifter and Green Zebra—were already sold out. Elbowing my way through the throngs, it was like being at Beverly Center the day after Christmas.
While I was disappointed that a couple of my favorites were sold out, the inventory is so over whelming, that I had picked out more seedlings that I could reasonably plant within a few minutes.
Getting home I spend most of the day turning the soil one last time. Bright red worms and fat grubs had turned the compost into a rich and nutritious environment for my babies.
I got a great selection. The colors are red, black, yellow, pink, orange and purple. They touted as being shaped like pears, plums or ox heart.
Not only do these varieties taste like tomatoes, they have flavors like lemon, permission, pineapple and even peach.
These are heritage tomatoes from all over the world from the Czech Republic to Oaxaca.
They have poetic names like Purple Cherokee and Pink Brandywine.
The encore tomato from last year is the black plum.
It’s not really black, it’s sort of like a red to olive green roma with dark red and black flesh.It is an incredibly flavorful fruit.
It is kind of smokey yet robust without being too acidic.
This is how tomato addicts talk; it’s kind of pretentious, using the same lingo as if we were taking about fine vintages.
Another returning favorite is the pineapple, with it’s yellow and red stripes.
The yellow lemons really taste lemony, whether they are plums, pears or the traditional spheres.
My new additions include a pink striped and a “Black Prince” cherry tomato.
I get nice big, meaty yellow and red heirlooms that are almost the size of a slice of bread.
They are great with buffalo mozzarella, or in sandwiches or salads.
Adding a red, orange or yellow tomato to guacamole really adds zing and color.
I like to make brightly colored salsa that is almost too festive to eat.
It is so politically correct to be raising you own tomatoes.
No pesticides, not fuel costs, just great taste with no guilt, and it’s right out of your own yard.
Isn’t this why we live in California in the first place?
This is not rocket science.
All you need is sun and dirt and make sure you don’t over water.
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