It’s Tomato Season! + Bonus Recipe

I love the summertime! It’s not just the warm weather and the long days that make this my second favourite season - I love summer because it’s also tomato season! As I type this, the season just changed to Autumn (my favourite season), meaning the end of tomato season is imminent. But for now, the weather is still favourable and my plants are thriving in the backyard. We planted too many starters this year, so we gave many away. Still, the ones we kept have pushed the limits of our little garden patch; it’s basically exploding with tomatoes.

I started home-schooling my 9-year old and 7-year old at the start of Term 1 this year, so I have integrated watering and harvesting our tomato garden into their science learning. They love it! When my 3-year old is home from kindy, she also helps me harvest the tomatoes. She’s developed a keen eye for which tomatoes are ready for picking, and which ones need to be thrown to compost.

When harvesting, we pluck tomatoes as soon as they start turning yellow because some critters have been snagging them right as they turn ripe. They ripen perfectly on the bench inside, and usually it’s a quick turnaround (they can ripen as early as the next day).

Check out our most recent harvest!

Tomato Harvest

Cullum Backyard Garden, 22nd March.

So, what do we do with all these tomatoes? Aside from making pasta sauce, I love a good caprese salad. Check out my favourite go-to recipe at the end of this post! And feel free to make it your own. There are so many ways this salad can be enjoyed. Check out the caprese salad I made with my previous tomato harvest, below.

Pretty soon tomato season will come to a conclusion, so I am going to have fun cooking with these tomatoes while it lasts. And before I know it, I’ll be planting starters all over again next season. Happy eating!

Until Next Time,

Jackie