Planting Late...As Usual

Between Mother Nature's harassing rains and waxing humidity and my energy roller coaster, I am FINALLY getting around to planting. Perhaps a bit late, but I'll have to do the best I can. Hopefully the heat and humidity (where the hell did spring go, by the way?) will force things to grow quickly. I'll save my early spring goodies for fall harvesting.

So, in my usual OCD overkill way, here's what I have in starter pots:

Peppers

Sweet chocolate pepper

Napolean sweet pepper

Sweet Pimento Apple pepper

Purira Chile

Sweet pepper

Herbs

Cilantro/Coriander

Cinnamon basil

Dukat dill

Genovese sweet basil

Grandma Einck's dill

Giant Italian parsley

English thyme

Italian oregano

Italian flat-leaf parsley

Tomatoes

Moneymaker tomato

St. Pierre tomato

Santiam tomato

Tall Vine Eva Purple Ball tomato

Black Cherry tomato

Querida F-1 tomato

Eggplant

Black eggplant

All the seeds are either heirloom and/or organic. I have no idea what kind of tomatoes I'm going to get from these--sweet or tart, meaty or juicy, thin- or thick-skinned, so it will be an interesting season.

Tomorrow morning, I'm going to get out to the garden proper before the heat and humidity become unbearable and plant the direct-sow seeds.

Slice 'Em and Dice 'Em...But Then What?

Yesterday I hit the farmer's market. I had planned to purchase more pork and chicken from my favorite meat vendors, but Twin Oak Meats and TJ's Free-Range Poultry weren't there. (The other meat vendors who were, unfortunately, finish their cows on corn. No. No. No.) They're excused, though, because it was a crappy day--rain off and on, chilly, and overcast. Not many customers were there, either. I was feeling better (had a fever all day Friday from some unknown bug) and decided to brave the weather anyway.

So I bought some lovely peppers from Blue Schoolhouse Farm and some tomatoes to supplement my recent meager harvest. I bought the tomatoes from O'Rourke Family Farms, and they have some lovely Valencia tomatoes--the big orange ones in the picture. They are almost Beefsteak-like in their meatiness and juiciness, but a bit sweeter and maybe even less acidic. At least it seems so to my lay palate.

One of the things I love about the farmer's market is the friendliness and generosity of the farmers. Often you can get a deal without even asking for it! Buy enough, and they'll often throw in some slightly damaged or overripe goods that are still perfectly fine. In this case, Mr. O'Rourke (I'm making assumptions here) threw in some tomatoes that had spilled on the ground, keeping him from selling those to a customer. I wash my tomatoes anyway before processing, so it was no biggie to me. Thank you, O'Rourke Family Farms!

Now here's the problem: what do I make with all these tomatoes? I skinned and diced them this evening and put them in the refrigerator until tomorrow. I've ruled out salsa--I already have more than I can probably eat over the winter. The plum tomatoes I'm saving to add to others I harvest from my garden (no frost yet) or buy at farmer's market; I'll turn those into tomato paste. I don't use tomato paste very often at all, so I don't think I'll need a lot. The rest of the tomatoes will either become chili sauce (although again, I think I have more than I can eat), tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, or perhaps both. I do know I won't have many more tomatoes from the garden for a batch of anything, and there are few tomatoes at farmer's market since tomato season is essentially over.

But maybe I should turn the diced tomatoes into something else. Any suggestions? I'm new at this food preservation thing, so I'm open to advice from you more experienced gardeners.

Oh, and by the way, the 9-grain bread turned out really well. I love breadmakers!

Recipe: Fresh Garden Salsa

I was talking to my friend Teresa yesterday about the salsa I made and she asked for the recipe. Since I was going to be making another batch, I figured I'd take a photo and then offer up the recipe.

The basic recipe comes from a small book in the Learn How Now! series titled Super Salsas. I was looking for a good, basic recipe, and of all the recipes I looked at in my various recipe books, none seemed quite what I was looking for. They always seemed to have at least one ingredient that just didn't seem to belong. Their recipe is called "One Basic Recipe = Infinite Variations." I'll give you the recipe below, but true to form, I adapted it, so I'll offer my adapted recipe below theirs.

ONE BASIC RECIPE = INFINITE VARIATIONS

4 medium tomatoes
1 tsp. garlic
1/2 c. red or white onion
2 roasted jalapenos
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
3 Tbsp. fresh cilantro, chopped
1/4 tsp. salt

1. Dice tomatoes, mince garlic, and chop onions.
2. Wearing gloves, seed and chop roasted jalapenos.
3. In a large glass bowl, mix all ingredients.
4. Refrigerate for 30 minutes before serving.

Here's my adapted version:

FRESH GARDEN SALSA

4 medium tomatoes
1 heaping teaspoon minced garlic (I get mine at the dollar store; it's the minced garlic in its own juice, not the dried minced garlic)
1/2 c. chopped green onion
Old El Paso or other brand chopped jalapenos to taste
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
3 Tbsp. fresh cilantro, chopped
1/4 tsp. sea salt

(This makes enough salsa for 2-4 people who are healthy salsa eaters. I triple the batch so I can freeze some for later use. I'm not sure how the frozen salsa will turn out--it's an experiment.)

1. Core, blanch, and peel tomatoes. (I used several varieties of tomatoes for the triple batch I made: Brandywine, Plum, Yellow, Valencia, and Best Boy. Any tomatoes will do if they are fresh; if you are trying to make this salsa in the winter when the only tomatoes available are from the grocery store, I recommend experimenting with canned diced tomatoes.)
2. Dice tomatoes and dump into a glass bowl.
3. Add minced garlic, chopped green onion, jalapenos, lime juice (by the way, for the triple batch I only increased the lime juice to about 2/3 of a cup), cilantro, and sea salt.
4. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before serving.

If you can't eat jalapenos (I love jalapenos, but they do not seem terribly fond of me), try using chopped green chiles instead.

WARNING: If you are going to touch jalapenos, whether you will be roasting them or using the pickled ones, WEAR GLOVES. Jalapeno oils tend to stay on the skin even after repeated washings, and I can tell you from experience that jalapeno juice in the eye is NOT a good feeling. I have found, though, that if I get some jalapeno juice on my hands, the Veggie Wash that I use works very well at removing the oils!

Experiment with the recipe and have fun! The salsa is very fresh tasting--better than anything you'll find in a restaurant.

Tomatoes Fizzling Out

The unseasonably early cool weather--including some nights in the low 40s--and too much rain has definitely caused my tomatoes growth to come nearly to a complete halt. On Monday, I was only able to nab 3 Best Boys and 2 Beefsteak tomatoes. The zucchini, of course, will never die, and I managed to get two more of those picked. I also decided that before the next series of rainstorms moved in, it might be wise to dig up the onions. I can't believe how tiny they are! I've got 5 white onions (which might add up to one whole onion) and 38 yellow onions, some of which don't look much bigger than the sets I planted. I'm not sure what went wrong, other than perhaps I planted them too late in the season (very likely). I will definitely be reading up on onion planting over the winter so I can have a better crop next year.

Today I went out to harvest again, and true to form, found 3 more zucchini. Can I take a contract out on these plants legally? Sheesh! I also hauled in 163 sun sugars, 13 Sungold Select, 2 Costolutos, 1 Peach Tom, 1 Mystery tomato, 9 Best Boy, and 12 Brandywine. I'm having to pick the tomatoes a little earlier than I'd like because the bugs and other critters seem to be gnoshing on them as they begin to ripen. I placed several on the windowsill and, in a day or two, they'll be just fine for slicing. I think that unless we get a warm, humid spell, my Beefsteaks are about done producing. Sad--those are my favorite! I think I'd like to get one more round of BLTs eaten before summer fades away.

TOTAL PRODUCE COUNT TO DATE:
Zucchini: 110
Cucumbers: 178
White Onions: 6
Yellow Onions: 40
Sun Sugar Tomatoes: 1,123 (broke 1,000: woot!)
Beefsteak Tomatoes: 56
Best Boy Tomatoes: 64
Cosmonaut Volkov Tomatoes: 2
Sungold Select Tomatoes: 40
Peach Tom: 4
Brandywine Tomatoes: 20
Orange Banana Tomatoes: 3
Costoluto Genovese Tomatoes: 6
Mystery Tomatoes: 4
Herbs: cilantro, mint, dill

Heirloom Tomatoes Join the Harvest

I finally have a few heirloom tomatoes ripe that I was able to add to yesterday's harvest: 1 Cosmonaut Volkov, 1 Peach Tom, and 3 Sungold Select. The problem is that the heirloom tomato plants are laden with tomatoes, but something is eating them--seriously eating them. I would suspect hornworms, but I don't see any evidence of them. These are the first heirlooms I could actually harvest that weren't eaten up (even though the bottom of the Cosmonaut shows a little eating damage).

In addition to the heirloom pickings, I also raked in a regular harvest of 153 sun sugar, 3 Beefsteak, and 8 Best Boy tomatoes, 8 zucchini, and 8 cucumbers. The zucchini and cucumbers are essentially done; the vines are withering. I'll be yanking the zucchini plants out this weekend (they are covered in leaf mold) and will probably dig up my onion bulbs. I doubt I'll have much size to them, but they should be edible anyway.

The okra plants continue to grow skyward, but I have yet to see any okra. I know it will come, but I'm anxious to fry up that first batch!

TOTAL PRODUCE COUNT TO DATE:
Zucchini: 103
Cucumbers: 169
White Onions: 1
Yellow Onions: 2
Sun Sugar Tomatoes: 686
Beefsteak Tomatoes: 39
Best Boy Tomatoes: 35
Cosmonaut Volkov Tomatoes: 1
Sungold Select Tomatoes: 3
Peach Tom: 1
Herbs: cilantro, mint, dill

The Monster [Tomato] that Ate Manhattan

Well, it didn't really eat Manhattan. But it does look like one tomato started consuming a whole bunch of others, particularly if you look at the bottom side of the tomato. This mutated marvel is a Beefsteak tomato that has gotten totally out of control. I'm pretty certain it will end up as tomato sauce rather than sandwich slices, because I can't quite fathom where to begin slicing on this one. Notice that it has two stems at the top that merge into the vine! Somehow, it began as two tomatoes and then mutated into one. It's a pretty good size, too--I've provided a sun sugar cherry-size tomato to help give you a sense of scale.

All in all yesterday, I collected 5 Beefsteak tomatoes, 8 Best Boys, and 170 sun sugar tomatoes. Add to that the 8 cucumbers I picked today, and I'd say that was a decent harvest. Since the sun sugar tomatoes just keep on producing, I took the freshly harvested ones to church this morning to spread the golden wealth around.

TOTAL PRODUCE COUNT TO DATE:
Zucchini: 95
Cucumbers: 161
White Onions: 1
Yellow Onions: 2
Sun Sugar Tomatoes: 533
Beefsteak Tomatoes: 36
Best Boy Tomatoes: 27
Herbs: cilantro, mint, dill

Crazy as a Cucumber

I was looking at my cuke vines yesterday and decided they were looking puny. I figured the couple of heavy storms we've had recently had pretty well decided the cucumbers' fate.

And then, I went out to harvest today. I expected a few cucumbers here and there based on the poor shape the vines were in, only to find 65 cucumbers! Everywhere I looked, I found two or three huge cucumbers! Apparently I will be in the pickle-making business for some time to come.

Additionally, I managed to harvest 6 more zucchini, 1 very small yellow onion, 11 Beefsteak tomatoes, and 1 Best Boy. It's time to turn my tomatoes into freezer tomato sauce. I found a recipe that sounds pretty tasty that I'm going to try. Provided that it turns out well, I'll be posting it for you.

TOTAL PRODUCE COUNT TO DATE:
Zucchini: 95
Cucumbers: 153
White Onions: 1
Yellow Onions: 2
Sun Sugar Tomatoes: 363
Beefsteak Tomatoes: 31
Best Boy Tomatoes: 19
Herbs: cilantro, mint, dill

"All Zukes Dark and Beautiful / All Produce Great and Small"

The tomatoes keep coming, even as the zucchini and the cucumbers start slowing down. I harvested this evening and found 51 sun sugar tomatoes, 6 Beefsteak tomatoes, and 14 Best Boy tomatoes...oh, and 2 zukes.

What was most fun for me was to see how big some of the Beefsteak tomatoes are getting. To give you a sense of the scale, I've taken a picture of today's largest Beefsteak (and the largest I've harvested so far) alongside one of my sun sugar tomatoes, which is the average size of a cherry tomato. It's times like this when I wish I had a food scale so I could weigh the tomato. I'll have to look for an inexpensive scale.

TOTAL PRODUCE COUNT TO DATE:
Zucchini: 89
Cucumbers: 88
White Onions: 1
Yellow Onions: 1
Sun Sugar Tomatoes: 363
Beefsteak Tomatoes: 20
Best Boy Tomatoes: 18
Herbs: cilantro, mint, dill

The Zucchini Just Won't Give Up

Every time I think the zucchini is nearly done, it surprises me with more. Today's harvest brought in 5 more zucchini, with more lurking in the plants for future harvest. Part of me wants to just mow down the plants and forget about them, but the more practical side of me thinks, "what a waste of perfectly good food." So no mowing; I'll just keep harvesting until they give up. I still haven't dealt with the leaf mold, but I've been working so hard on making pickles before the cucumbers I've harvested rot and dehydrating fresh herbs that I haven't had time to do the research.

I harvested 4 more Beefsteaks today, and these are getting much healthier looking than the first batch. I also brought in 84 more sun sugar tomatoes. Those plants are definitely prolific! It won't be long now before the heirloom plants start turning, and I'm looking forward to taste-testing the different varieties.

I didn't check the cucumbers today--I have no room for them in the refrigerator right now. Today I've got some giganticus zucchini to chop and freeze, and until I get that done, I can't get into my chest freezer. How do people keep up with their harvests?

TOTAL PRODUCE COUNT TO DATE:
Zucchini: 87
Cucumbers: 88
White Onions: 1
Yellow Onions: 1
Sun Sugar Tomatoes: 312
Beefsteak Tomatoes: 14
Best Boy Tomatoes: 4
Herbs: cilantro, mint, dill

An Abundance of Tomatoes

The zucchini are definitely slowing down, and the plants look like they have a leaf mold growing on them--not surprising, given the mad rains we've had recently. I'll have to read more about the situation before I decide what to do with the zucchini plants. When I harvested today (3 zucchini), I only spied a couple of blossoms here and there, so it looks like zucchini season may be over. Wow, what a run it was!

The cucumbers are still producing heartily, and this evening I harvested 11 more. I'll definitely be making another batch of bread-and-butter pickles tonight. I gave away all but a couple of 1/2 pints that I had previously made, so I'll need to make a couple of batches this time...and I'm going to try a small batch of freezer dill pickles.

The tomatoes are coming on now. I pulled in 8 Beefsteak tomatoes, 4 Best Boys, and 57 sun sugar tomatoes. The first few Beefsteaks I harvested have been eaten in parts, but as they tomatoes begin turning more quickly now, it looks like I'll have plenty of blemish-free tomatoes soon. I had a couple in this batch already.

The okra plants are tall and should be getting okra on them soon, and the pepper plants continue to grow slowly. My fear with the okra plants is that the Japanese Beetles seem to have found them. I have to go out and knock them into a bucket of water. It seems like these bugs will never die! Every time we think we have them eliminated or reduced to a manageable amount, they come back in greater numbers than before. We'll definitely be treating with milky spore this year.

TOTAL PRODUCE COUNT TO DATE:
Zucchini: 82
Cucumbers: 88
White Onions: 1
Yellow Onions: 1
Sun Sugar Tomatoes: 228
Beefsteak Tomatoes: 10
Best Boy Tomatoes: 4
Herbs: cilantro, mint, dill

Gardening Is a Full-Time Job

I can't keep up.

The zucchini were bad enough, and they still keep coming. But OMG, the cucumbers have kicked in now! Here's today's count: 7 zucchini, 11 sun sugar tomatoes, and 20 cucumbers. (I promise I will get you a running total of produce harvested in the next week.)

I'll be out of town for the next couple of days, so I'm hoping that by the time I return, I'll have some of the bigger tomatoes ready. I'm looking forward to a light, summery cucumber-tomato vinaigrette salad! Of course, that means we need a few hot, humid days, and Mother Nature hasn't been truly cooperative in the weather department this summer.

I spent time this evening washing freezer canning jars so I can move my first batch of bread-and-butter pickles into the jars for freezing. Tomorrow, I'll set a few cucumbers aside and turn the rest into a second batch of bread-and-butter pickles. I also diced and froze 10 beautiful peppers I bought at the local farmer's market--6 green peppers, 4 chocolate beauties (although they were picked before they became "chocolate"), and a lilac pepper. I just mixed them all and then separated them into snack-size Ziplocs, 1/2 cup of chopped pepper mix per baggie, and then bagged all those in a gallon-size Ziploc that I labeled and dated.

The okra and sunflowers continue to grow. The cilantro is growing but hidden beneath cucumber vines, as is one of the dill plants; the other has shot up above the cucumber plants. When I return from my trip, I'm going to harvest some of the mint we have growing wild in our yard and play with my dehydrator. I'm not sure what I'll do with a bunch of dehydrated mint, but I'm sure I'll think of something.

The dishwasher has stopped, which means I have clean, sterilized canning jars calling me.

The One That Got Away (from Me)

Another day, another harvest. Only six zucchini yesterday (although the one in the middle is probably worth three regular-sized zucchini). I had one small sun sugar tomato (which I promptly ate after taking this photograph). The largest zucchini in this harvest is really bigger than I should let them get (it got away from me), but it will actually be perfect for my stuffed zucchini recipe! I'm also going to try a recipe I found for zucchini-pineapple bread. It sounds yummy.

With the cooler weather we had, the growing had slowed, but once the weather snapped back to hot and humid, the tomatoes grew like wildfire. I have tons of sun sugars pulling down the branches of tomato plants that are nearly as tall as I am (5' 6"), and clusters of Beefsteak tomatoes loading down another couple of plants (see picture). The heirloom tomatoes haven't blossomed yet, but they've grown so much, they look like they will bust out into blossoms any time now.

The okra is up and continues to grow, but I won't see okra for probably close to a month. The plants are still very small. The sunflower plants are growing, as are the cilantro and dill, but there's a problem--the cucumbers are taking over the far end of the garden. I put in a couple of edging fences to hold back the cucumbers, but in just a few days, they have grown over the fence and are once again smothering the dill and encroaching upon the few cilantro plants that have come up!

What I am very excited about is that the cucumbers are now blossoming! It shouldn't be long before I will be overrun with cukes and trying to keep ahead of them. I can almost taste those freezer bread-and-butter pickles now!

Head for Cover: The Zukes Have Arrived!

I am happy to report that thanks to yesterday's steady rain, which jump-started the crops again after a few coolish, dry days, about a half dozen zucchini are within just a day or two of picking. This friendly zuke is just shy of pickable size--tomorrow, I suspect, he will become part of the summer harvest.

My okra and sunflowers are just breaking through the soil and "spider mulch" (more on that in the next post). I can almost taste the fried okra (mine beats Cracker Barrell's, hands down!) and the salted, roasted sunflower seeds (assuming the birds will let me have any to roast). Of course, I'm getting a bit ahead of myself, because they are only tiny seedlings right now. Sigh.

I repotted my pepper and Beefsteak tomato seedlings in bigger plants and placed them back under the grow light and on the warming tray, respectively. That was the right move; the seedlings are already sprouting additional leaves in just two days, whereas in their little pots, they had stayed at only two leaves for a week or more. I can't wait for them to get big enough to transfer to the garden, and the last area of the garden will finally be filled.

Still no sign of the cilantro/coriander or the green onions. I only have a couple of "Mammoth Dill" plants also, and they are by no means mammoth. In fact, they could be called "Wee Dill," or perhaps even "Puny Dill" right now. But no worries--they will grow.

I now have baby green beans, people! You can't tell from the photo, but these green beans are only about an inch long. They are very cute! [Ignore the onion that is trying to hog the picture--I tried to beat him back, but he was very determined to be in the photo. I finally gave in.]

And finally, a shout out to my Dad, who is racing me in the tomato department. He has one of those Topsy Turvy tomato plants--you know, the ones that grow upside down--and we're counting to see who gets the most tomatoes. Well, Dad, my Beefsteak tomato plant is about to enter the race--and I know I have some catching up to do. Here's a picture so you can see what you are up against. I have six teeny tomatoes on their way in just one segment of the plant. I didn't check out the rest of the plant yet. What's your count so far?