Last year, I described the advantages of planting and staking tomatoes using the Florida weave. We liked the technique so much that we are doing it again. In the first picture, the tomato are planted between the stakes. (In the background are our potato plants, which have grown like Jack-and-the-beanstalk, and the much smaller rows of lettuce, arugula, spinach, and basil. We are trying to grow English peas, which are only successful for us one year out of five. Unfortunately, the puny size of these peas so far means that this year will not be the one.)

In the second photo, the first string has been woven, which will support the tomato plants. It is much easier and faster to weave the string than stake and tie up the plants. The weave gives great support as the plant grows through the two parallel strings. As the tomato grows, we will weave another string to support the plant, usually totaling five.

So we are not cooking or eating any tomatoes — yet. We are getting hungry for tomatoes, so that when they are ripe, we will eat them every day. During this cool spring, we are eating only salads, using our arugula and lettuces. (True seasonal eating means that tomato salads never have any lettuce!)

Here is a salad with another delicious red vegetable — beets. Since goat cheese can have a chalky texture, I like to blend it with heavy cream or mascarpone cheese.

Beet-Goat Cheese Salad

For the goat cheese balls: