These photos from late August show the progress of the different tomatoes relative to one another. The plants were starting to lose their leaves to disease. The Grappoli starting ripening in early August, with the Principe slightly behind. The Aprile and Ponderosa were slower, as you can see below, which should make them excellent candidates for storing. These photos were taken a couple of days before Tropical Storm Irene, when we harvested a few of the ripest clusters from each plant. We’ve already consumed the Principe and Grappoli since they were ready to eat. We stored the Aprile and Ponderosa in our basement and, so far, they’ve held up well.

Left to right (above): Principe Borghese (pointed end) in back,
Grappoli (ribbed) in front.

Left to right: Aprile in front, Principe Borghese in back.

Two clusters of Aprile.

The Ponderosa, still relatively green.