Heirloom Tomatoes

Few weeksago I ate my very first heirloom tomato and I was hooked immediately on thetaste of this light yellow tomato. It was given to us by our neighbor who isretired farmer. Apparently, his friends found it among hundreds of plants theygrow for making tomato juice and since it didn’t look red they threw it out.Knowing that we will try anything new food-wise he brought them to us. I do notunderstand why I waited so long to taste these tomatoes since I do shop at localAmish farms and at our local farmers market and they were always available inseason. Looks like my plans for next year veggie garden are changing alreadysince I will definitely grow some heirloom tomatoes.

LastThanksgiving Sunday we went for a ride in the country and we came across a roadsidestand that was selling heirloom tomatoes of all sizes, colors and shapes. Sinceall of them are open pollinated varieties I will collect the seeds fromtomatoes that both of us really like.

Thismorning we did a little tasting and they are really good! They were nowhere assweet as some regular red hybrids, but instead there was nice balance betweensweet and tart. They will be great in salads and relishes, I think. So far Ipicked 3 (and counting) that I will try to grow. Over the winter I will try toidentify the varieties that I have collected seeds from; not an easy task.Maybe I will email pictures to some seed houses and ask if they can help. It isnot all that important to know the name but if somebody will taste my tomatoes,likes them and asks for the name it would be nice to know the answer.

Of course,if you know any of these tomatoes, please, leave a comment.

Here islink to interesting description of “Heirloom Tomato”.

Veggie Garden Update July 26, 2011

Cucumbers

This is my first year growing my own cucumbers and to say that I am surprised how fast they grow from flower to mature fruit is understatement. Because of space restrictions in our garden I have decided to grow them (3 plants) in large container on a trellis.  I also grow peppers (2 kinds), eggplants and tomatoes in containers and all are doing very well. Cukes, however, are huge surprise. I knew that my tomatoes will be super-productive but I didn’t expect cucumbers to be the same. City slicker’s ignorance, I guess J.

Here are pictures taken of same cuke taken over span of 4 days. It doubled in volume every day. Another plant that will be grown next year.

And, of course, with so many cucumbers harvested daily I had to start pickling them. After wading through dozens of recipes on Internet I have decided to use Ferdzy’s recipe for “Dill Pickles by the Jar”  published on her blog Seasonal Ontario Food. Now I have to wait 6 weeks to taste the results. What was interesting how fast the cucumber skin turned khaki green from bright green once I poured hot pickling brine in the jars.

Eggplants

The eggplant seeds I bought were for eggplant Gretel (there is also Hansel J) that is white and elongated. Even though I did pick few I haven’t cooked them yet. I did taste them raw and there are no seeds to speak of and not a trace of bitterness, exactly what I am looking for in eggplants.

I did have one nasty surprise, though: Green part at top of fruit has thorns like cactus but almost invisible and when I touched it, it was almost like an electric shock. Next time I harvest with leather gloves. I’ll cook some with garlic and olive oil and use it as one of the toppings for grilled pizza I will make tonight.

Nasty thorns.

Chinese Yard Long Beans

Yup, they are almost a yard long now and growing like crazy. What a great bean this is! The beans are about the size of pencil and no string, no tough parts, just a nice sweet bean that I eat raw when I pick them.  They are best when briefly stir fried with ginger, garlic and chilies. Also, they are very productive and I will harvest right to the first frost. I did last year

Tomatoes

Margherita, which is a paste San Marzano type tomato is finely getting mature and red and I will pick first batch tomorrow. When I bought the seeds I didn’t realize that this hybrid is determinate, meaning that all tomatoes mature at same time. However, as you can see on picture some are ready to harvest and others are completely green. What gives? Is there something between determinate and indeterminate tomatoes? I must have missed something. Oh, well, I’ll be freezing them, I guess and make sauce later as needed.

Mountain Magic tomatoes are doing just fine.

.Peppers

I have three kinds of peppers this year: Green to Red, Sweet Pimento and Red Cubana type peppers whose seeds I collected from Mexican peppers sold in big box store. The flesh was so red and thick that I just had to have the seeds. I grew them last year and they were very good. Not as sweet as original but still very good. Conditions for growing peppers in Mexico and Ontario, Canada are a wee bit different, I think J.

The Green-to-Red were first peppers I harvested about  3 weeks ago and yes, they were red already! Amazing!

Sweet Pimento is just few days from first harvest so no idea about the taste and how thick the flesh is.

Mexican Peppers

Turban Squash

I almost forgot about Turban squash because it is not one of my food crops but Marjo’s pet project that I take care of. It stopped dropping flowers and undeveloped fruits and now I can see decent size squash and a tiny brother/sister. I have noticed that lots of ants were inside some fully opened flowers and that later same flower got sort of choked at stem and then dropped of cleanly like somebody tied a rope around it. Since this was a tobacco field, ants are everywhere in garden! This will be one interesting experiment that Marjo started back in March. We will see when fall comes.

Besides radishes, Daikon and herbs that’s about all I grow this year. Garlic report will be posted next.

Growing from Seeds Update, April 1st, 2011

I think that it is appropriate to post and update on my seedlings on April Fools Day. Some of the flowers were started way too early and in few days our sunroom will look like a garden center in May. Next week many of the plants will be transplanted to their final container or basket and other will be transplanted to bigger container where they wait till transferred into a flower bed. I don’t think that I have too many choices. I have to find out which seedlings I can nip and which I can’t touch.  I’ve already nipped Black Eyed Susan Vine trailers and some Snapdragon Lampion (Trailing) but I am not sure about Snapdragon Rocket which is a traditional straight plant. The packet says that it is grown as a cut flower so I am not sure.

On veggie front the tomatoes, peppers and eggplants are nice and robust and grown under lights. They are right on target as far as time line is concerned.

Here are pictures of what starts to look like a jungle.

I almost forgot to mention that Zinnia and Snapdragon are blooming. Oh boy, am I ever in a trouble L

 Tomatoes and peppers, Petunia on left.

 Painted Tongue

 Petunia

 Tomatoes and peppers

 Lobelias, Cosmos (bottom left)

 Snapdragon Lampion. Notice the bloom at left.

 French Taragon (from last year)

 Red Millet (bottom) and Zinnia

Snapdragon in bloom.

Incredible Campari

This tomato was hiding for ten weeks and when found it was in perfect condition!

This morning I had a biggest surprise of my gardening life. OK, so I am gardening only since I retired five years ago, but still.

I was moving a storage cabinet in my basement work shop and out rolled a perfect Campari tomato. Two years ago I collected, fermented and then dried seeds from supermarket tomato because I loved their flavor and size and this was my second season that I have successfully grown them. They are huge producers. (I know that they have registered trademark but I am not selling them.)  

At the end of last September we have collected all tomatoes, including green ones, and stored them in basement. This one must have fallen on the floor and stayed there, on a cold floor, in relative darkness, for ten weeks. TEN weeks! Wow! Next season I’ll try to store them under same conditions: directly on the floor and covered. We’ll see what happens.

By the way, I took concrete floor temperature reading with my infrared thermometer gun and it reads 16°C. The location is close to wall that is insulated only at top four feet. Five feet away the reading was 20°C. It will be interesting to see what happens one year from now and you can be sure that I will harvest seeds from this survivor!

Marjo in my tomato jungle.