Homegrown Tomatoes

Oh, my! It's been a fun week in the garden. Between rain storms, I headed to the garden

...and this is what I found.

This beautiful, BeefSteak tomato made incredible tasting BLTs.

The rest became frozen tomato sauce. I used an EASY method my Dad taught me.

Wash the tomatoes, remove the core, cut into quarters and drop into a big pot. We keep the skins for the fiber and nutrients...and because it's much easier! If you prefer you may blanch the tomatoes and remove the skins first. You may also remove the seeds, too. Not this girl, too much fuss.

Now bring the pile of tomatoes in the pot slowly to a boil, stirring often. Lower the heat to allow the now nearly-liquified mixture to simmer. Simmer to evaborate off extra water and stir occasionally to check the thickness. This may take several hours depending on the quanitity and water content. When desired thickness is reached, remove from heat and let cool. Ladle into blender and puree. Ladle into freezer bags, mark the date and throw in the freezer.

It's wonderful sauce for pizzas, spaghetti and soups. It will last about 6 months, so if you have more than 6 months worth, you will need to take the canning plunge. I haven't tried canning yet, but hear it's not hard. My pile made 4 pint bags of sauce, which will last us less than a month in the fall, so I haven't yet felt compelled to can. I am, however, toying with the idea because I could then have diced tomatoes.

If you have any experience canning, I would love to hear about it.

Ensalada Caprese

We picked the first tomato yesterday, an Early Girl. She received the royal treatment, a pairing with fresh basil (also from the garden) and mozzarella with a drizzling of extra virgin olive oil.










My youngest son took a look and said "fancy food." My husband and I grinned and explained that he would NOT like it. He eyeballed the cheese for a second and took off. Whew, that was a close one.

I would have loved to have fresh mozzarella, but it's a bit of a drive to get it, so we made due with just regular... It didn't seem to matter...

Cultivating Weeds?

There's a bit of a weed problem along the garden paths. Pulling all those weeds has been on the to-do list but just somehow has never made it to the top.

When I toured Sharen's garden she mentioned using Round Up on weeds in her garden...in her garden!!! She said just be careful to only spray the weed and you will be fine. My Dad worked for Monsanto Co., the maker of Round Up, for many years, so I was more than willing to give this a try.

This is only 24 hours later!!! All the vegetables seem to be just fine. Round Up, where have you been all my summer?

While I was out there, I spied this teeny, tiny watermelon. The little sign is 1" x 2" as a comparison. I am hoping it will grow, but some things in my garden are just teeny, tiny this year... more on that later.




The Roma tomatoes are not teeny, tiny, however. Aren't they lookin' good? We're eating cherry tomatoes now and will have some other varieties soon. Can't wait!

Honey, I Shrunk the Carrots

These teeny-weeny carrots were planted more than a month ago. Maybe, just maybe, this is normal growth, but I suspect our clay soil is stunting them a bit! Those are potato plants towering over them. We replaced the unbelieveably compacted clay soil in this location with "garden grade"...whatever that is. Our neighbors called us "cheaters" although their corn only grew to 2 feet last year!

I'm not heartbroken over the carrots as they have these itsy, bitsy leeks and some peewee green onions to keep them company. Does anyone have a magnifying glass?

I've been reading up on improving clay soil. One recommendation is to mix in 4 inches of organic matter each year and another recommends adding sand with frequent cultivation. Follow these measures and they say you will see improvement in 3 to 4 years. What??? Gasp, choke, spit...I'm NOT that patient! I'm gonna need to stick to cheating...clearly I'll still need to augment the soil as even the cheating soil contains some clay, but I'm ok with that.

The tomatoes seem to be doing fine. I've wrestled them into some cages and am hoping to keep 'em tame.

The corn looks swell and will certainly be "knee high by the 4th of July".

These green bean plants also look great! We're still eating lettuce and spinach...yummo! Next may be some tomatoes!

Someone May Need to Call 911

This beauty is one of the leftover plants after I placed her siblings in the garden. Approximately fifteen plants remain inside in pots that I have continued to care for. Do you suppose I had a premonition?

This poor guy has been out in the garden for about a week. A cold, not frosty, but very cold night or two and some powerful winds have rendered this guy, well, in need of some life-support. I've heard that tomatoes experience the most shock at transplanting of any plants...no one mentioned buying a portable defibrilator!

What to do? Two people have suggested milk jugs with the bottoms removed. Sounds very smart. I will start saving and putting them over the sickest plants, however, I won't have enough any time soon. Any other ideas? Immediate ideas?

Fortunately, some of the plants still look pretty good. The ones closer to the wind wall, including the Beefmasters tomatoes! Maybe I need to start making all of my husband's favorite dinner recipes and giving loads of oozing "great idea", "go for it, honey" when he mentions wanting to play golf. He will "want" to extend the wind wall! Yes, yes, this is a good plan. It may just work!

I fertilized and watered today, and I think I'll wait a few days to see what happens. Thankfully, as you saw, I have a few lovely replacements for the plants that kick the bucket. I recently read an essay by a woman who cursed the Kansas wind on a daily basis (sounds familiar) until she bought a windmill and used the wind power to operate a water pump from her pond that she used to water her garden. Hmmm? She then developed an appreciation for the wind. Hmmm?

Remember, Jenny, it's a learning process. Trial and lots of errors is most of the fun!!!

Digging in the Dirt

The counter in my pantry has become Garden Central. I needed a place to organize seed packs, references and other supplies. Even the garden trowel - a little dirt among the cans of soup and boxes of rice never hurt anyone...

Last week was big for planting. One Monday, tomatoes, bell peppers, cantelope and watermelon plants went into the garden. Thursday saw the planting of zucchini, cucumbers and green beans. Also, a few petunias out front...gotta have some flowers!

By far the most important variety planted this week was the wind fence. Bart picked up the wood at the lumber yard and had the fence up in no time. He was right that my idea of a charming, weathered, picket fence probably wouldn't stop any wind. On Wednesday evening the fence was tested! We had gusty winds with the threat of severe weather. I went to bed worried about the new tomato plants and put off looking for half the next day. They were just fine!

The plants are taking off in the garden. Lettuce and spinach are close to the first harvest. The potato plants look great. Kohl robi and corn are peaking through.

I haven't had any no shows yet. I am, however, out of space! Darn I thought that garden bed was big...not with the likes of watermelon and cantelope. Hmmm...expansion in the future??? Shhhh! Don't tell Bart...not yet anyway.

All for Tomato Love

Many, many rules of thumb exist for gardening. In this area, one is "plant your tomatoes on Mother's Day". May 11 this year. For the last several years, I have been on a quest to find Beefmaster tomatoes. My father grew this variety for years from seed. It's a large, lucscious tomato, perfect for BLTs or just slicing. Since I don't grow my own seedlings, I need to rely on the local nurseries.


The first year, none.

The second year, began looking too late.

Last year, I just missed them. The helpful garden lady, similar to my friend Rechelle, explained that they were sold out of Beefmaster tomatoes. "What??? But I'm here at just the right time!" She calmly explained that, yes, I was there at the right time, but sadly everyone had purchased and planted the Beefmaster tomatoes too early and were returning to buy new ones to replace the ones killed by the last late frost. She was having to give the heart-breaking news that none remain each and every day!

So this year I have outwitted them all! I found Beefmaster at the wonderful, hidden treasure of a garden store less than a mile from my house - 5H greenhouse.








Here they wait. Can we make it? I try to water just the right amount (I don't know how I'm doing on that count...I see the slight yellowing). I walk them outside during the day and inside during the night. I talk to them soothingly and keep them out of the way of my boys.



We're going out of town this weekend...the horror! Rechelle doesn't know it yet, but I plan to beg, plead and throw myself at her feet so that I may bring these babies over for her to water while I'm gone. All because of a predicted in the 30s temp for Sat. evening.



The forecast for next week looks excellent - overnights in the 50s! Maybe, just maybe, I can sneak them in a few days early...