I previously wrote about our amazing results growing peppers in a sub-irrigated raised bed. This year we decided to dedicate our second sub-irrigated raised bed to sauce tomatoes and our results were better than I could have ever expected. We planted a combination of San Marzano, Amish Paste, Speckled Roman and Romas. The plants grew like mad and by mid summer we had a tomato jungle:
Our tomato jungle wasn’t just a bunch of green vegetation either! We had hundreds upon hundreds of tomatoes nestled on those vines:
We had to pick tomatoes each weekend and the harvests were swell:
Don’t those look amazing? We made some of the best sauce on earth and numerous recipes that called for fresh tomatoes. After all of that, we still had enough to can 60 jars of tomatoes… which means that we get to enjoy that fresh tomato flavor all winter. I never knew how much of a huge difference it makes to use canned garden tomatoes in a sauce rather than store bought, you really can’t beat it! I’m planning to nix the Romas this year and focus on San Marzano, Amish Paste and Speckled Romas. All three tasted great fresh and really contributed to an amazing tomato sauce. Yumbo!