Attack of the Killer Tomatoes

Well, the tomatoes didn't attack me, exactly--the mosquitoes did. I will say, however, that some of these tomatoes probably weigh close to 3 or 4 pounds each, and the basketful was heavy! They might have killed me under just their weight alone!

OK, enough melodrama. I brought in a pretty good harvest of 'maters today: 159 sun sugar tomatoes, 20 Sungold Select, 1 Cosmonaut Volkov, 1 Orange Strawberry, 2 Orange Banana, 11 Best Boy, 1 Peach Tom, 8 Beefsteaks, 2 Costolutos, 5 Brandywine, and 2 mystery tomatoes that I can't track to the originating plant. Check the harvest count at the bottom of this post for a current tally--I'm amazed at how many I've harvested so far.

Oh, and the cucumbers haven't quite given up yet (but are very, very close): I harvested 3 more today. I think I'll use those to make some Italian pasta salad this weekend, and it looks like I'll be dicing up tomatoes and making some more tomato sauce for the freezer.

Also, I'm delighted that one of my students brought me a sizable bag of green beans today, along with a few kohlrabi! Woot! I'll cook up some of the green beans, but will probably blanch and freeze the rest. I'll keep you posted.

Meanwhile, this cooler weather looks like it hasn't been very friendly to the tomato plants. Many of them are getting yellowed leaves. I hope some warmth kicks back in, because it would be nice to get a couple more really big harvests in so I can continue to stock my freezer. I don't want to have to buy tomatoes or tomato sauce at the store. Blech.

I did see one huge zucchini out there...but I couldn't bear the thought of picking one more zucchini. Enough is enough. Seriously.

TOTAL PRODUCE COUNT TO DATE:
Zucchini: 105
Cucumbers: 178
White Onions: 1
Yellow Onions: 2
Sun Sugar Tomatoes: 960
Beefsteak Tomatoes: 54
Best Boy Tomatoes: 52
Cosmonaut Volkov Tomatoes: 2
Sungold Select Tomatoes: 27
Peach Tom: 3
Brandywine Tomatoes: 8
Orange Banana Tomatoes: 3
Costoluto Genovese Tomatoes: 4
Mystery Tomatoes: 3
Herbs: cilantro, mint, dill

April Showers Bring May Planting

"So, Michelle, how many bean plants do you think I should plant to sustain me through the year?" (My colleague/friend/compatriot-in-garden-crime planted green beans and peas for her family last year, so I thought she might advise me.)

"Oh, three or four plants ought to be enough."

"Oh." I was quiet for a moment. "So about 19 ought to be plenty, I guess."

She laughed. But she also knows my OCD ways, so I can't imagine it was any surprise to her. "How many pea plants did you put in?"

"Uh, about 20."

"You'll be spending a lot of time shelling peas!" She laughed again. I suspect her laughing is because this year, my gardening habits are very different from last year's. Last year, I think it was mid- to late-June before my garden got planted. I threw everything in at the same time--cool season foods and warm season foods. The only thing I really had were tomatoes, and they were tiny. (But I've already told you about my toy Beefsteak tomatoes.) This year, I'm taking my time. Every day we don't have rain (which admittedly hasn't been very many days yet), I'm out in the garden planting.

Yesterday I planted soup beans. Of course, I didn't plant just one variety--oh, no, that makes too much sense. I planted SIX varieties (Old Mother Stallard, Lina Cisco's Bird Egg, October, Hutterite, Jacob's Cattle Gasless, and Ireland Creek Annie), and about 5-6 plants of each. So I'll be shelling a lot of beans in addition to those peas!

Today, I planted three different kinds of beets (Choggia, Detroit Dark Red, and Bull's Blood); 2 types of radishes (Plum Purple and Early Scarlet Globe), 8 types of lettuce (Amish Deer Tongue, Bronze Arrowhead, Forellenschuss, Red Velvet, Susan's Red Bibb, Yugoslavian Red Butterhead, Lettuce Mix, and Apollo Arugula), 2 types of spinach (American and Strawberry), and White Vienna Kohlrabi.

I still have a lot of seeds and garden space in which to plant, but now it looks like it will rain very soon, so I've given up for today. The nightshade family plants (tomatoes, eggplant, and pepper plants) are still growing under the warming lamp, so I suspect it will be time to plant them soon.

I'm afraid to tell you how many different tomato varieties I will be planting.