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. :-)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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

Salad Season

It's that highly anticipated season of the year again.....Salad Season!

This beautiful mix is a favorite of mine, Pinetree Lettuce Mix. It was winter sown on January 10th, transplanted out in February, and kept covered with ventilated plastic on those early cold days and frosty nights. It has come through several Spring hail storms! Last week I began picking this lovely, delicious lettuce. It is so tender, that it actually tastes creamy to me. ( I know creamy is an unusual word to describe lettuce, but that is just how tender it is!) Early lettuce is always best, as heat tends to make it bitter. Summer often hits us rather quickly here, so getting an early start with the lettuce is something I always endeavor to do.... and the little bit of extra time and effort involved pays off!

This photo shows the full view of the self watering container I use to grow the lettuce in. The size of the container is about 6 ft long by 1 Ft. wide. We received two of these from a friend, who was cleaning out his back yard, and I LOVE them! The second container was just planted yesterday with two lettuces that can take more summer heat, Jericho and Anuenue. When the heat hits us, I enlist the help of dear husband to move the container to my deck, where it gets morning sun and afternoon shade.





A bowl full of freshly picked, sweet, succulent lettuce.





A close up of all the beautiful textures and colors!


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Tip: Lettuce should be planted in full sun for the spring and fall, and in partial shade for the hottest part of the summer.

Heirloom Squash Update

In my previous post, Squash Roundup I shared about growing two new heirloom squashes this year. At the time I made the post, we had yet to taste test these two varieties, and I promised to update you after we did.....so here goes!

The two varieties are Marina di Chioggia (green, on the left) and Australian Butter Squash. ( pale orange, on the right) I like how they looked here....displayed in the natural light near a window.

Marina di Chioggia, up close and personal. This is a good sized squash, and nice looking too, with it's dark green warty surface, along with a turban shaped bottom. Taste? In a word, disappointing. Lacked the sweetness we like and the texture was moist and fibrous.

Australian Butter Squash. The description of this squash in the seed catalog had my mouth watering! "Sweet, dense, deep orange flesh that is dry with a very small seed cavity. When roasted, it's custardy, silky-smooth texture is scrumptious instead of or alongside potatoes with roasted meat and fowl or in a melange of roasted root vegetables sparked with herbed olive oil, balsamic vinegar and citrus zest." Whew! It is a beauty with it's lovely pale buff-orange color and pumpkin shape. This was my largest...11 inches in diameter, and weighing in at almost 10 lbs! But in spite of it's physical virtues, the real test comes down to TASTE. Again.... a disappointment. :-( We like our squash sweet with smooth, dry flesh (which the catalog claimed) but found it not sweet enough, too moist, and not at all smooth textured.

Perhaps these two varieties will develop more flavor and dryness in storage. (one can hope?) But the bottom line is that they will not be making a repeat appearance in our garden next year. We will stick with our all time favorites: Sunshine, Butternut, Buttercup, and Sweet Meat. These have never disappointed, and are always a delicious treat!


UPDATE!! January 20, 2009 - After a couple months in storage, the flavor and texture of both of these squashes improved immensely! The texture is smoother and drier, and the the sweetness also developed, especially so in the Marina di Chioggia. So in all fairness, I must say that both turned out to be great tasting squash after all....they just needed a little more time to mature. They will probably make it back on the roster for next year! A good plan would be to eat the other varieties first, and save these for last.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~




'Defeat is not the worst of failures. Not to have tried is the true failure."


George E. Woodberry

Beautiful Bells

It has been a good year for peppers in my kitchen garden. Today I harvested these bell peppers....in a rainbow assortment of colors. They are not only sweet and tasty, but pretty as well!

I grow several varieties each year, including Big Bertha, Peto Wonder, Super Heavyweight, Orange California Wonder, and Golden California Wonder.

They are in various stages of ripeness....some still green or with green streaks.

A portion of my pepper harvest is sliced and frozen, to be used in one of our favorite dishes....Fajitas! These will not only taste great in the winter, but their cheerful colors will be a sweet reminder of the summer garden.




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gardening gives me fun and health and knowledge.
It gives me laughter and colour. It gives me pictures
of almost incredible beauty.

- John F. Kenyon

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.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“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)

My Mother's Garden

Today is the 2 year anniversary of my Mother's passing, so I thought it would be a fitting tribute to her memory to post some photos I was pleased to come across recently in one of my albums. I took these pictures with our first decent (for those days) 35 mm camera, in 1977. They show my Mom's abundant garden on our farm, located on the North Dakota prairie.




Mom, in her garden with Benji, the dog. Since it is a cool, northern zone 3 there, nothing can be planted until after Memorial Day....so this is probably around late June or early July. The Corn is up and growing , with Peas in the foreground. (Click on photo to enlarge)





The next three photos were taken in the fall of the same year. Here you can see the Corn...tall and tasseled out, with Squash plants on the right and Cabbages in the left foreground, along with the yellow flowers of Dill in the center. Her garden was not weedless, but it was very productive! I remember Mom enticing us kids with spending money for the County Fair, in exchange for weeding 'X' number of rows in the garden. :-) Some days, supper hour would come and go....the kitchen was silent, and Mom was no where to be found, until we realized she was lost in the garden. I now find myself doing this....there is much to do and time passes so quickly when you're working in the garden!




A huge Cabbage, with two of my (then) little sisters flanking either side. I was the big sister.....the oldest of 6 girls. I have both an older and a younger brother, too, bringing the total to 8 children in our family. These photos were taken on a visit home to the farm, when I was 22.





The flowers at the edge of Mom's garden were beautiful! This old scanned photo simply doesn't do them justice. ( Please click on photo to enlarge and see detail ) Many returned as volunteers from the previous years self-sown seed. There were Bachelor buttons, California Poppies, Marigolds and Zinnias. Behind the flowers is what looks to be Potatoes and a Cucumber patch. We always had dozens of jars of dill pickles on our pantry shelves!

So....there you have it. Proof that I come by my love of growing things quite naturally. Is there such a thing as a gardening gene? :-)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Mom, your memory is blessed. You were a wonderful example to me in all things, not the least of which was the love and labor you put into your garden and the countless hours spent preserving its bounty to feed and nourish your family. You are dearly missed!

Baby Belle Peppers

In the past, we have purchased bags of multi-colored mini-bell Peppers from Costco, and really liked them.....so I was delighted to see seeds for these Baby Belle Tricolor Peppers in the Nichols Garden Nursery Catalog last year.

Aren't they just the cutest things? I grew them successfully in the ground last year, but this year I decided to try 4 plants in a half whiskey barrel planter. They grew very nicely and produced many peppers per plant. Two plants turned out to be red, one orange, and one yellow. In the above photo, the largest pepper (bottom center) is beginning to turn yellow...a bit behind the others for coloring up. The flavor is mild and sweet....a garden treat!

Oh, and did I mention how cute they are? :-)

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.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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

Sunshine Squash

The squash blossoms are really coming on! This variety is new for me this year and is called 'Sunshine.' It is named so for the orange color of the fruit, but the name seems fitting for the sunny yellow blossoms, as well.

How could I resist with this catalog description?

"Vibrant orange-red color, sweet, nutty, creamy, absolutely smooth flesh. Received the prestigious All-American award for 2004. Short 6-8 ft. vines produce an abundance of 3 to 4 pound kabocha type fruits. The sweet, richly flavored flesh is impeccably refined."

Well now, I ask you.....who wouldn't want their squash to be "impeccably refined" ?!

This cute little baby squash with the dried blossom still attached isn't too refined yet. He sort of looks like he is having a "bad hair day." :-)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


I look forward to the squash harvest each fall, as it is one of my favorite garden vegetables!