First Blush

I wondered if my Kellog's Breakfast tomato was showing 'first blush.' It's paler than it's neighbors, but still hard and green. I've always waited for fruit to be obviously ripe when I've grown tomatoes in the past. But I'm told by the Guru that is just waiting for squirrels and whatnot to eat the tomato for you.

Today, though, I got an unambiguous example of first blush, on a fruit on my Paul Robeson vine. Well, I think it's a Paul Robeson.



The blushing fruit was orange with green stripes. I think it had more stripes this morning than it did in the evening when I picked it, but I could be mistaken. It makes me wonder if I didn't keep my plants straight when I was transplanting (i.e. maybe this is a Tigerella?) or maybe a baby got switched at the hospital and it's another bi-color.

Or maybe it's fixing to turn dark red.



Anyway, when I turned it over I got an unpleasant surprise: someone's been eating my tomato already. I don't know if when it finishes ripening, I'll cut away the ugly parts and find delicious tomato or if I'll find out whatever burrowed in kept going all the way down. It's been a few years since I grew tomatoes, and while I've seen top sides like this, I can't remember if I was able to trim away the damage and eat the rest or not.

Oh, and I have a Lilac Pepper forming nicely, too.