Photographs of this planting through the 2026 season, oldest first.
The photographs
Week of 1 JuneA Ukrainian Purple tomato in first flower on 7 June, two blooms nodding on hairy stalks with narrow yellow petals swept sharply back off a green calyx and three or four buds still shut beside them, its lower leaves drooping pale and dry-edged.Week of 29 JuneA Ukrainian Purple tomato on 29 June, oblong and matte pale green with faint vertical striping and squared ribbed shoulders under a spidery crown of six swept-back lobes, a strip of deep blue sky showing through the leaves above it.Week of 6 JulyTwo Ukrainian Purple tomatoes on 9 July, both still pale green paste-shapes creased faintly across the shoulder and warming to creamy yellow where the low sun reaches them, one with a small dark scar at the blossom tip, hung from a stem thick with bristles.Week of 6 JulyTwo Ukrainian Purple tomatoes on 12 July, the near one taller than it is wide with a broad flat shoulder and darker blue-green bands running lengthwise down the hard glossy skin — its sepals curling back and up in a hairy star, dappled midday light on it.Week of 20 JulyA Ukrainian Purple tomato on 20 July, a green plum shape clearly longer than it is wide with four or five creases gathered near the shoulder and rain still beaded on its downy skin, seen from underneath against blue sky and drifting cloud.Week of 27 JulyA Ukrainian Purple tomato on 31 July, dusky brick-red over most of its body but still olive and dull gold across the shoulders, a purple-brown bloom low on one side and a corky beige star at the blossom end, on speckled stone under warm light.Week of 24 AugustA Ukrainian Purple tomato on 26 August, still pale green and drawn out long from a smooth shoulder to a blunt point, beaded all over with dew on a hairy stem, with a rounder one sitting behind it out of focus.Week of 31 AugustThree Ukrainian Purple tomatoes on 3 September, oblong and plum-shaped and hanging in one cluster, still pale green and running with rain, their hairy calyxes spread wide open at the top of each.
