August 12, 2020

it’s tomato season at last!!!

I have buckets full of beautiful red tomatoes now! It’s amazing we get through the whole rest of the year without these glorious garden fresh tomatoes. My tomatoes ripened quite a bit later this year than previous years, but it looks like I’ll make up for that by having LOTS!! This year I have 17 different varieties. I was planning to only plant a couple varieties – just my favorites, but it was really hard to narrow it down, and the there are always new ones to try. So I…

November 17, 2019

choosing tomato varieties

All America Selections (AAS) is a great place to start when looking for new tomato varieties to try. It’s is a national, non-profit plant trialing organization that tests new, never-before-sold varieties and selects winners with superior performance. I toured a dozen seed breeders in CA with AAS last summer and they are a fantastic organization. My wish list has a bunch of AAS Winners that I’d like to try out next year. First, Mountain Rouge, a brand new 2019 AAS Winner. I visited its breeder, Bejo USA, last summer and…

May 23, 2018

my tomatoes are finally in

Finally!! I planted my peppers, eggplants, cukes, squashes, and tomatoes in my garden on Monday. It’s been a slow, cool spring here. I can’t eemember ever waiting til May 20(!) to pjant yomatoes. I planted the warm weather crops in my mom’s garden today. It was 60 with a light drizzle all day. The good news is that night time temperatures are staying warm – above 50. we‘re just waiting for a nice run of 70 and 80 Degree days. Most gardeners I talk to are waiting for June 1…

October 23, 2017

my best tomatoes this year

I’m almost out of garden tomatoes. Two weeks ago I picked the last of the green ones on my tomato vines. They’ve been gradually ripening indoors. Yesterday I made a batch of sauce, probably my last one after a summer of making nearly a batch a week. I only have a couple tomatoes left 🙁 I’ve been thinking about which were my favorite varities this year. For slicing tomatoes, it was an heirloom variety called True Black Brandywine (seeds from Baker Creek). It’s not related to Brandywine and doesn’t have…

May 27, 2017

tomato seedlings are in

My tomato seedlings are all transplanted out into my garden now. Yeah!! Finally. It’s turning point for me. For many things, gardens included, preparation is most of the effort. By the time my tomato seedlings go in, my soil has been amended, the seedlings raised and hardened off, and my tomato supports are up. But more than that, tomatoes are my big summer crop, and once they go in, all my spring beds have been prepared and planted, and my garden design changes have been done. This year I laid…

November 11, 2016

the last of my garden tomatoes

All my green tomatoes have now ripened in their baskets in my kitchen. They are sadly 🙁 the last garden tomatoes and green peppers for our salads. Tomato season has come to an end. I have to say, however, that it’s been a really super tomato year. I made sauce, sun-dried tomatoes, salsa, etc. I froze and canned about 100 pounds of tomatoes, producing 50 pounds now in my pantry and freezer. And, who knows how many tomatoes we ate fresh … sliced on salad with mozzarella and basil ……

October 27, 2016

true black brandywine tomato

My favorite slicing tomato this year is definitely the True Black Brandywine. It’s a beautiful fruit. More productive than my regular Brandywines. And it tastes incredibly good. Either just plain, or with mozzarella, basil, and olive oil. Or layered on top of an eggplant with cheese, basil and olive oil then broiled to tenderness. This tomato is sold by Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. I don’t think it’s really black – it has dark green shoulders. Dark green shoulders are the result of a gene that prevents the breakdown of chlorophyll,…

October 11, 2016

how I make and use pole and string tomato supports

The season is fading and I can see my garden structures again. My husband designed these tomato supports for me and I’ve used then probably 10 years now. I used to make tepees out of 10-ft 1×1 inch poles. That worked OK, but poles and string are less work, support the vines better, and give better air flow. Here’s what I do to set up and use pole and string tomato supports. Side support materials: Two 5-ft metal fence poles Two 8-ft wood posts, 2×3 in, with a hole in…

October 11, 2016

frost predicted

Right on schedule – Oct 10 – a frost is predicted tonight. I thought it would be late this year, but no, right on time. In the dusk, my husband and I picked all my green tomatoes and peppers, plus a few squash, watermelons, zucchinis, and one eggplant. We covered the beans and lettuce with row covers. It doesn’t seem cold enough for a frost to me, but it’s predicted so we’ll see. My counters are covered with baskets! Peppers are in a trug on the floor. We’ll roast and…

September 1, 2016

comparing paste tomatoes

I’m growing four varieties of paste tomatoes this year. Top: Amish Paste, middle: San Marzano, bottom: Jersey Devil. (My Heinz 2653 plant doesn’t have any ripe fruit right now.) My favorite is Jersey Devil, big, meaty, and very productive. I’ll definitely grow this one again next year. Last year I grew eight paste varieties (Cordova, San Marzano, San Marzano Gigante 3, Stump of the World, Opalka, Nova, Polish Linguisa, and Heinz 2653). My favorites were Polish Linguisa and Opalka. I wanted to grow these again this year, as well as…

weeks and counting until my last spring frost