Tomato the second (and third, and fourth)

I picked three more ripe tomatoes today, this time from an Early Girl plant which now has over a dozen green tomatoes. Early Girl is one of the more reliable tomato producers here. In general the "early" varieties with a shorter time to maturity work better here, because they will set fruit before it gets too hot. Tomato pollen isn't active above 90 degrees, and often during our summers even the nighttime temperatures don't drop low enough for tomato production. As you can see, it's a smallish tomato, and those are less likely to develop blossom end rot. There's nothing like the taste of a vine ripened tomato. I think the ones in stores taste like cardboard and I usually avoid buying them. When I don't have fresh tomatoes from my own backyard, I prefer putting citrus fruit or strawberries in salads.

If you're interested in growing tomatoes in the low desert, here's a Master Gardener publication giving the details.