Miguel Braganza
It was a pleasure to see tomatoes ripening in so many gardens that we visited to judge the annual ‘Home Garden Competition’ of the Botanical Society of Goa last Sunday. It is a welcome change from the 1990s when everyone and his uncle told us that we could not grow tomatoes in Goa. They had never tried; they only presumed that since they had not seen them grown in Goa that they could not be. I had the same impression about rambutan till Laban D’Souza from Kirbhat, Nuvem brought bunches of rambutan to the Konkan Fruit Fest when it was held for the first time in 2013. Till then, I knew neither Laban nor that rambutans grew in Goa. Today, I have both rambutan and tomatoes in my home garden!
Did you know that the French people call the tomato as the ‘love apple’ or the pomme d’amour? Anyone who has studied ‘pomology’ knows that the term for the study of fruits is derived from the word ‘pomme’ which means ‘apple’, the fruit that is eaten fresh or cooked or even baked. When potato was introduced in Europe from America, it was dubbed as the ‘pomme de terre’ because it was a substitute for the apple in the European cuisine and came from the ground. Whether it is inspired by the ripening of tomatoes around Valentine’s Day or just its blood red colour, the tomato is the pomme d’amour, the fruit of love. In this confusion, the forbidden fruit became an apple. The original fruit that led to the original sin might not have grown on a tree at all. It might have been an herb or a bush.
Last weekend, Liza Pinheiro explained the various stages for harvesting the ‘love apple’. If you want to store the tomatoes then, harvest the tomatoes as they change colour. They will ripen in storage. If you need to transport them over a long distance, it is good to harvest them green with just a little blush of red. However, if you want to use them the same day, harvest the tomatoes when fully red. Use a sharp knife or blade to harvest. Yanking the fruits can damage the delicate tomato stem. It is the same as the rose you offer to a loved one on Valentine’s Day: why present a bud or a half-opened rose when your love is in full bloom? No one presents yellow or pink roses, either. The rose is red or no rose is presented at all. Pinheiro has made garden enthusiasts familiar with Beauveria bassiana or the ’Baba’ used to control the ‘black sheep’ or insects affecting different crops.
However, Trichoderma viride is applied with compost to the soil to prevent soil-borne fungal diseases like Fusarium and Verticillium wilt. Pseudomonas fluorescens is used to control fungal infections like anthracnose to ensure that the tomatoes are as unblemished as your love. The good news is that all these are now available in Goa and people have begun using them in Goa.
