Tomatoes from Nandstadt in all colors and sizes - and with prominent names
Created: 08/14/2022, 12:00 p.m
Tomatoes in many colors and sizes: Charlotte, Flora and Luise are happy about the many different tomatoes from Grandma Marianne Penger.
© Lorenz
Hobby gardener Marianne Penger has grown 32 different varieties of tomatoes in her garden.
Among them is even a real "beauty queen".
Nandlstadt
– In Marianne Penger's huge garden in Nandlstadt there is actually everything your heart desires: strawberries, beans, raspberries, carrots and much more.
What Penger is known for throughout town, however, are tomatoes - tomatoes as far as the eye can see.
A total of 32 varieties grow in her garden, from very small to very large.
The answer to why she loves growing tomatoes is simple: "We just love to eat them!"
Marianne Penger and her family "simply like to eat tomatoes." © Lorenz
So that Marianne Penger can keep track of the 2022 season, she has again neatly entered this year's varieties on a list.
"Banana yellow", "Beauty Queen", "Big Rainbow" or "Black Krim" are exotic names for some of the nightshade plants that feel right at home on their property.
For around 30 years she has had a passion for tomatoes of all sizes and colors simply because the family likes to eat the fruit.
"We have tomatoes every day," said Marianna Penger, who also revealed her personal favorite recipe: "Preferably fresh, with a little onion and garlic and a piece of bread and butter - done!"
The amount of harvest
However, since the amount harvested during the ripening period is enormous - around 15 kilos per week - not everything can be eaten away.
"I like to make ketchup out of it, or tomato sauce or tomato soup," says the 70-year-old with the green thumb.
Very high quality
What she would also like to try this year: "Dry tomatoes so that you can eat them in winter." Because one thing is unthinkable for her: buying tomatoes in the supermarket in winter.
"They don't taste like anything, I don't need that." In general, her motto when it comes to food is relatively simple: Better less, just better quality.
The sequence
In mid-February, the Penger family starts with the tomatoes, because then tomatoes are planted, of course in the house, and tended to and cared for.
Although she currently has "only" one plant of each variety in the garden or greenhouse, she certainly plants significantly more, namely around 120 tomato plants.
"I give a lot away, some just don't turn out well," explains Marianne Penger.
In mid-May we'll go outdoors - and there's work to be done there, too.
In the greenhouse behind the house, Marianne Penger also refines some varieties every year.
"I buy the seeds together, I also do a lot of research on the Internet," says the hobby gardener, for whom her large tomato cultivation "is quite a lot of work", but it is always a lot of fun.
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The secret
But why do Marianne Penger's tomatoes actually grow so well?
The native of Nandlstadt reveals a secret: “I always fertilize my tomatoes with chicken manure!” 15 chickens and Ferdinand the rooster, who can watch the tomatoes grow from the open-air enclosure, ensure that she gets it fresh.
What surprises Marianne Penger herself: "I'm actually a bad caster, sometimes too much, sometimes not enough - and yet everything grows here."
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Everything also grows on another plot of land in Haslach, where the "rougher" things tend to thrive, such as potatoes and pumpkins.
"We could even provide for ourselves with that, but that's not why we do it at all - it's just because it makes us happy," says Marianne Penger about her great passion.
Enthusiastic grandchildren
Of course, her grandchildren Luise (6 years old), Charlotte (9), Flora (3) and Ferdinand (6), who help with the daily tomato harvest, are also enthusiastic about such a grandmother.
Richard Lorenz
You can find more current news from the district of Freising at Merkur.de/Freising.
