It’s that time of year where I clear out my tomato plants from the greenhouse. Normally I bring back bucket loads of toms that are either ripe or need ripening on the window sill at home. However, this year has been really poor. Throughout the summer, I’ve been picking a few toms here and there, but nothing compared to previous years. Most of the ones I have picked, split almost instantly so I ended up giving them to the chickens.

Tomatoes split when they are allowed to dry out and when watered, the fruit swell too quickly for the skin. Despite my best efforts to keep them watered throughout the summer, it seems the heat was a little too much for them.