Garden Harvest

I thought I should share this photo to prove that, indeed, I do have a garden this year and it is producing....in spite of my infrequent posts to this blog! ;-)




I gathered this bounty from the garden last week, in my trusty stainless steel bowl: Cucumbers, Green Beans, Bell peppers and Mini Peppers, Summer Squash, Dill and several varieties of Tomatoes. In the background are two varieties of Rudbeckias I started early from seed this year....Cherry Brandy on the left (which I love for it's deep red color and darker centers) and Denver Daisy on the right. (Park Seed Co.)

Because of our long cool Spring, the garden is quite a bit later than usual, and now we have been experiencing an early fall. I'm not ready to say good-bye to summer.... but alas, it is drawing to a close. I am already making plans for next year's garden. That is the beauty of the garden....it is an ever changing palette for the creative ideas of the gardener. :-)

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The first gatherings of the garden in May of salads, radishes and herbs made me feel like a mother about her baby - how could anything so beautiful be mine? And this emotion of wonder filled me for each vegetable as it was gathered every year. There is nothing that is comparable to it, as satisfactory or as thrilling, as gathering the vegetables one has grown.

~ Alice B. Toklas

Roasted Tomatoes

This year I'm using a new method to preserve those extra tomatoes from the garden, which are plentiful this time of year. Since I no longer do canning, I had been just cutting up the tomatoes and freezing them in quart size bags. But since trying my first batch of roasted tomatoes, I am hooked on the intense flavors and the compact size of the finished product!

Here are the simple instructions.....

Put some Extra Virgin olive oil on the bottom of the pan, add sliced tomatoes in a single layer. Sprinkle with seasonings of your choice and more olive oil. I use oregano, basil, minced garlic and a little salt. (Dried herbs work well here, because they help absorb the juice from the tomatoes.) The recipe said to cook at 400 degrees, but since I used a glass pan I did them at 375 degrees. Cook for somewhere between 1 hr to 1 1/2 hrs. You will have to watch them towards the end, because when the juice cooks off they can burn easily, but you want them to caramelize and brown a bit.

This is one of my favorite black heirloom tomato, Nyagous, ready for roasting. They have a darkish red color with green shoulders....and the colors inside the tomato are even prettier! Since these are a fairly small tomato, I just quartered them. With larger tomatoes, I cut in chunks, and cherry tomatoes get halved. I'm always trying new tomato varieties, so this is a good way to use up those that don't quite live up to my taste standards, because even a mediocre tomato tastes great after it's been roasted.

Same tomatoes as above, after roasting. Can't you just smell that wonderful aroma? I did plenty of sampling as they came out of the oven. The intense, concentrated tomato flavor is comparable to those expensive sun dried tomatoes you can buy.

Two 11 x 16 pyrex pans yielded one quart of tasty product for the freezer. The roasted tomatoes can be used on pasta or meat, as a bread spread, salad dressing ingredient... or simply as a spoonful of fresh garden tomato taste in the dead of winter.

bon appétit!

First Tomato of the Season

Last week brought our first ripe tomato in the garden. I am so behind on this blog, it is already old news, since I have picked several more since then!

The first ripe tomato this year was the heirloom Nyagous. It is in the 'Black' tomato category, as you can see by the darker shoulders, which have a greenish tint to them. It really is a beautiful tomato, hails from Russia, and the taste is wonderful! It must be picked while the shoulders are still green for proper firmness.

Here it is on a salad plate. You can better see the richness of the colors in this photo. It is a perfect salad size tomato and grows in clusters on the plant. Since picking this, I have also picked several full sized ripe Goliaths.

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In an earlier post entitled Tomato Trials I stated that I was sticking with the 'tried and true' this year. Well, that was my true intention....until I checked out a book from my local library called The Heirloom Tomato by Amy Goldman. If you haven't seen this book, it is a great read! Even if you only gaze at the beautiful photos of all sorts of heirloom tomatoes, it is well worth your time. After reading Amy's description of each tomato included in the book, I ended up adding several new heirloom varieties to my tomato line up again this year. Hey, a girl can change her mind... right? :-)

Currently growing in my garden are: Paul Robison, Juane Flamme, Green Zebra, Aunt Ruby's German Green, Purple Russian, Speckled Roman and Black Brandywine. (I only chose ones rated as having excellent flavor). I'm also trying a few heirloom cherry tomatoes......Black Cherry, Aunt Ruby's German Green Cherry, and Matt's Wild Cherry. So, stay tuned for a report later on in the year!

Tomato Trials 2008

I'm always game for trying new vegetable varieties, especially when it comes to our garden favorite, the Tomato. In 2008 I trialed several heirlooms varieties. The real test, for me, is the comparison to Brandywine, which I have grown for many years. So far, nothing has come close to Brandywine's great taste!




This is Cherokee Purple in the not-quite-ripe-yet stage. You can see the darker shoulders, which have yet to turn color. I also grew Cherokee Chocolate and Black Krim, but found all of these varieties to be rather bland tasting, and also pretty soft texture wise. I prefer a firmer tomato. In years past, I have also tried Pruden's Purple, which didn't pass the test either.

*** Update: 3-24-09 ***I just read that Black Krim should be harvested before fully ripe, with shoulders still green and before it gets soft, for the best flavor..... so I might have to give it another chance. :-)





Another heirloom variety I tried was Arkansas Traveler, shown here with tiny yellow Signet marigolds. It would probably be in the pink category, as it doesn't get to be a true red. Nothing to get excited over here, taste-wise. One pink variety that I grew for several years that I did like is Caspian Pink, which has a very good taste, but doesn't produce many tomatoes.

Zapotec Pleated looks cool, but when you slice it open there are lots of empty spaces inside the folds, and I'm sorry to report....the taste leaves you pretty empty, too. I had tons of green ones left after frost, which ended up in the compost pile.

I received seed for this heirloom, Nyagous, as an extra in a seed trade. The tomatoes are a smaller size, firm, with black shoulders, and grow in clusters. And the taste is......wonderful! It is both sweet and tangy, with lots of rich flavor. It hails from Russia. I grew it in a 3 gallon container, because I ran out of space. I can't wait to see how it produces with a spot of honor in the garden this year.

I also grew an heirloom Cherry tomato called Ana Asa, looking for something to possibly replace my old standby, hybrid Super Sweet 100 Cherry , but there was no comparison, taste-wise. I seriously don't think there is a sweeter or better tasting cherry than Super Sweet 100, but I am open for suggestions. :-)

Brandy Boy is a new hybrid I tried for the first time last year. It is a cross between Better Boy and Brandywine and is supposed to produce more tomatoes on the plant, but still have that great Brandywine taste. I found it lived up to both of these criteria.


So...what are my Tomato selections for 2009?
Maybe next year I will do more trials, but this summer I intend to keep it simple and grow only the tried and true:

1. Hybrid Goliath, as my main crop tomato. I love everything about this tomato! The taste, the large number of tomatoes it produces and the firm, perfect, blemish free fruit. I have been growing this one for nearly 20 years now. I am not a purist when it comes to Hybrids vs. Heirlooms....nothing can beat some of the Hybrids for production and reliability. As long as the seeds are available, I will grow them. (I am still using seeds from a packet I bought in 1999!)

2. Brandywine - several plants, for the unbeatable taste!

3. Brandy Boy Hybrid - this time side by side with Brandywine to really compare fruit production.

3. Heirloom Pineapple - one plant, for dear husband who really likes this one. The tomatoes grow HUGE, the color a mottled red and yellow combination.

4. Super Sweet 100 Cherry - We eat these like candy....usually standing right there in the garden. These are a big hit with my now 3 year old granddaughter!

5. Nyagous - for the taste and nice salad size.

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“Home grown tomatoes, home grown tomatoes
What would life be like without homegrown tomatoes?
Only two things that money can't buy
That's true love and home grown tomatoes.”

John Denver, 'Home Grown Tomatoes'
(from a song written by Guy Clark)

Tomatoes, Tools, and Trellos

The 2008 growing season is finally here! Winter sown containers are sporting sprouts, and the greenhouse is cleaned out and ready for seed starting very soon. Here are a few of my favorite new gardening items.... These just make me smile and want to get out in the garden!

Garden clogs! I've tried on many of these in the stores, but have never found just the right fit or color. These are called Trellos, and are available from Land's End. The fit and the color (Olive Drab) are just perfect for me. They will be so handy to slip on for my many trips to the garden or greenhouse, both located just steps outside my front door.

The vintage box holding the above items is an old wooden Coca Cola box, a flea market find for a mere $3.00. (If you look closely you can see the words Coca Cola written in red on the inside of the box.) It is very sturdy and has handles cut into the sides of the box, so will be handy for hauling things around in the garden.

'Brandy Boy' tomato seeds! I saw these in a local produce market, where we had stopped to pick up some huckleberries. I love the taste of Brandywine tomatoes, but typical of most heirlooms, they don't produce much fruit. I am really excited to try this hybrid of Brandywine and Better Boy, which claims to have "incredible heirloom flavor and very high yields."

And saving the best for last....

A Felco Pruner! I've wanted one of these for years, but the scenario seemed to go something like this.... On the first spring-like day in March, I would decide I must spend the afternoon outdoors, and pruning my hedge of Simplicity roses is, naturally, one of the first spring rituals. But since my cheap hardware store pruner from the previous year was either dull or bent, I had to go back to the store for a new one. No more! With all the model options Felco now offers, it was hard to choose one, but I finally settled on the # 8, and it seems to fit my hand well. I am now ready to tackle those roses on the very next sunny warm day that comes our way. Let the pruning begin.

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Every spring is the only spring - a perpetual astonishment.

~Ellis Peters

Garden Surprises

A few surprises show up in the garden from time to time....as evidenced in the photos below.

A tomato with a big "shnoze"! :-) I noticed this one back when it was green and made a mental note to get a picture of it, but kept forgetting. It got riper and riper and is now actually over-ripe, as you can see by the age spots. But it does give him a bit more more character, no?

This is half' a sunnie! I have noticed that the flower heads on my multi-branching sunflowers get smaller and smaller after the larger heads at the top start to dry up and they sometimes get a little misshapen, with their centers off-center, petals uneven, etc. But this is the first time I have seen one like this. I think it is kind of cute. This was on my 'Velvet Queen' plant.

Here is what I call a 'Siamese Cucumber'. This variety is called Long White, an heirloom type. It wasn't very good eating as the fruits were rather bitter.

This is a sunflower from my garden last summer. It looks pretty normal here, doesn't it? But if you look very closely on the left side you can see a second set of petals in the back, curving out and away from the front flower petals.

This is the back of the same sunflower. These two flower heads were growing directly out of the back of the larger sunflower head in the previous photo.

A side view of the 'conjoined' Sunflower. I also had one of these show up in this year's garden, from volunteer seed, so wonder if it could be a genetic trait that was passed on to another generation of seed. Some food for thought!

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"Everything that is new or uncommon raises a pleasure in the imagination, because it fills the soul with an agreeable surprise, gratifies its curiosity, and gives it an idea of which it was not before possessed." ~Joseph Addison

Greek Picnic Salad

The photo below shows some of my garden harvest that will soon become one of our favorite summer salads. . .

. . . Greek Picnic Salad!

GREEK PICNIC SALAD

Combine:

6 Ripe TOMATOES, chopped
2 GREEN BELL PEPPERS, seeded and diced
1 RED ONION, diced
2-3 CUCUMBERS. seeded and diced
1/2 cup chopped FRESH PARSLEY
1 can RIPE OLIVES, sliced in half lengthwise
1/4 pound FETA CHEESE, crumbled

Place in the work-bowl of a food processor or in a blender:

1/2 cup EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL
2 Tablespoons LEMON JUICE
2 Tablespoons WINE VINEGAR
1 1/2 Teaspoons DIJON MUSTARD
1/8 teaspoon BLACK PEPPER
2 cloves GARLIC, minced

Process until well blended and toss with salad ingredients. Marinate for at least 30 minutes.

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Nothing tastes more like summer than tomatoes, cukes and peppers from the garden, and this salad showcases them all to perfection!

Pineapple Tomato

Another of the heirloom tomatoes is ripe! This one is called 'Pineapple'.

It is quite a large tomato, with an irregular shape. This one is about 4 1/2 inches across. The color is kind of a streaked yellow and red....a very pretty tomato!

Here is a photo of the inside flesh. The taste is wonderful! Reminds me a little of Brandywine, but sweeter, yet just tangy enough for a delicious tomato taste. As with most heirloom tomatoes it is subject to splitting and is a bit on the soft side. I grow this one for Dear Husband, as it is one of his favorites. We like to slice and eat it with just a sprinkling of salt.... yummm!

Tomato Time!

I have been watching this tomato all week, as it has gone from a blushed pink into what I think can now be called a ripe red!

This Goliath is the first of my full sized tomatoes to ripen. I snapped the photo just as the sun was coming up over the mountain this morning. I will let it ripen to perfection until evening, when it will be sliced and sprinkled with a little olive oil, garlic and basil and shared with Dear Husband.

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No time is more eagerly anticipated in the garden than Tomato Season!