Tomato Crop 2024

The tomatoes are finishing up.  We planted a number of heirloom varieties.  The only ones that are still making right now are the Chadwick Cherries.  With the heat intensifying, the fruit doesn't set and the stink bug and leaf-footed bugs are damaging the tomatoes that remain.  The birds, mockingbirds and blue jays, are pecking at the ones still on the vines.  For weeks, though, we were picking big beautiful baskets of tomatoes like this every day.

 I attribute the good crop this year to several factors.  First, we had a cooler than normal spring and it stayed cooler well into May.  That allowed the plants to stay healthy, without heat stress and bug pressure.  On top of that, though, the tomatoes were bigger and healthier than they've ever been when we transplanted them.  That gave them a big head start.

Here is a nice Pink Brandywine tomato.  It is heavy and unscarred by bugs.

It has green shoulders.

And  a nice profile!

Once we had around 18 pounds of tomatoes ready to go, we'd blanch them and core them and pull off the skins.

These are ready to go in the pot to cook.

We boil them and allow them to reduce down.  We made stewed tomatoes, tomato sauce, and salsa.  The times and recipes differed a bit depending on what we were making.

Once ready, we ladled into jars and then water-bath canned them.

When they were ready, we pulled them out and allowed them to cool on the kitchen counter.  It is a pleasing sound to hear the "POP" of the lids sealing.

 Finally, once they had cooled and sealed, we took the rings off and stored in the pantry.  We made pints, quarts and half pints.  When all was done, we counted them up.  We have 97 quart equivalents canned in the pantry.  That may hold us over until the next tomato crop!  We'll see how the inventory holds up.  We may not need to plant a fall crop.

Seed Shortage Looming on the Horizon

We just received our 2022 Seed Catalog from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds.  We always like to purchase our seeds from them as the seeds are heirloom and open pollenated (non-hybrid) which means the seeds can be saved and used year after year.  You can't really do this with hybrid seeds.  I like to sit down, do a seed inventory, and then purchase seeds for the upcoming year.

Another reason I like Baker Creek is that the catalog is like a coffee table book.  The artwork is beautiful and put together with such artistry that it makes you want to buy everything.  I guess that is kind of the point with good marketing, right?

We also received an email from them on February 10th.  I'm cutting and pasting an excerpt below:

Seed and paper shortages update

​Dear Gardening Friends, 2022 has been a year of growth and challenges for our company. Thanks to you, we have had the largest volume of January sales in our company’s history. We want to make you aware of the current challenges we are facing:

1) Unbelievable demand for seeds is causing national shortages. Our growers and our in-house production team are redoubling their efforts to produce more rare seeds, but global demand is causing many items to be temporarily unavailable. We apologize that many popular items are again selling out.

2) The volume of orders have been a challenge for our packing and fulfillment teams, who now work 24 hours a day in three shifts. We are working harder than ever to ship a record amount of orders, and we apologize for any delays you may have experienced in the last month. 

3) Global paper shortages will greatly affect catalogs this year. We expect the paper costs for our 2023 catalogs to increase by 110%; we also face the possibility of having a supply shortage. The cost of seed packets, paper mailers, etc. is also quickly rising, and supplies are very short. We are currently out of both of our seed catalogs and copies for 2023 will again be limited!

4) Due to the ongoing COVID-19 epidemic, about 20% of our staff has been on paid leave for part of the month of January, causing staff shortages and other issues. But through all the craziness, we have been blessed to have such wonderful customers, friends and staff members who have helped in so many ways! 

This is me again.  So, we learn the supply of seeds has diminished, resulting in the inability to fulfill orders, shortages of paper is increasing costs, and it is hard to staff positions to get work done.  We are living in crazy times.  I've always tried to save seeds such as tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, etc.  Last year I had great success saving spinach seeds.  Some are hard to save, some are a little easier.  I do have old vitamin containers stored away with seeds I've saved along with the dates.  One thing you have to be careful for is as the saved seeds age, some of the germination rates fall off.  This means that you need to plant a little more to make up for those that don't germinate.

Below you can see a big turnip that is going to seed.  It came up volunteer from last year.  I've had my eye on it, wanting to feed it to the cows on those cold days, but, to the cows' chagrin, I defeated the temptation.  Now it's going to seed.

I'll collect the seeds off of it once they are mature and save for next year.  All of our turnip crop was decimated by the freeze this year when I was unable to cover them up.  One neat thing you can see is that a honeybee from our bee colony has located the flower.  It is a great thing to have bees to pollenate.

If you haven't saved or ordered seeds, it might be a good idea to make an order to ensure you have some on-hand when you need them.  Won't be long now before we'll be planting.  Temperatures will be in the 80's this week!  Happy growing, everyone.  Get out there and get your hands dirty.

Quite Possibly the Prettiest Thing I've Ever Harvested

Back in April I posted Two Varieties of Corn For the Garden about the varieties of corn I would be planting.  You can read it if you click on the link above.  In that post I took a picture of the seed packet containing the Glass Gem Corn.  To be honest, it looked photo-shopped.  I thought to myself, "There's no way corn actually is that beautiful!"

Two months and three weeks later here is what the glass gem corn looks like.  It is between 10-12 feet tall and towers over everything else in the garden.  Amazingly, it stands erect and hasn't fallen over in winds and rains like other heirloom corn varieties I've tried tends to do.

Normally, you can tell when corn is ready to harvest when the silk on the outside of the ear turns dark brown.  I picked one ear of glass gem corn the other day that had dark brown silk, but when I took the husk off, all the kernels were white.  Since I had already broken it off, I went ahead and ate it raw, standing right out there in the corn patch. It was tasty.  But it was not ready.  I decided to let the corn continue to mature until the husks where no longer green, but were light yellow in color.

Here's what I found when I pulled the husk back today!

Wow!!!  Let's look a little closer...

And we'll zoom in a little more...

Well, I can see why they call it "Glass Gem" corn, can you?  There are numerous shades of beautifully colored kernels.  It is like looking at fairy tale corn.

I'm still waiting for the rest of it to mature more before harvesting.  You can see the corn in the middle was harvested before it was ready.  The kernels are pink and white and yellow.  Evidently, it hasn't matured yet.

I couldn't wait to go inside and show the family our first little harvest of Glass Gem Corn. 

I am going to try to save some seed so that I can plant more of this next year.  Glass Gem Corn.  Certainly pretty to look at, but it tasted pretty good, too!

You Say To-May-Toe, I Say To-Mah-Toe

We haven't picked the first tomato yet, but will probably do so tomorrow.  We planted the tomatoes from seed in early January like we always do.  This year's tomatoes seem bigger, healthier than in previous years.  I'll tell you why.  Lime.  I limed the soil this year.  Getting the soil pH right enabled the plants to use all the nutrients in the soil that were previously locked up. 

We grow indeterminate heirloom tomatoes and this year, the plants are over 6 feet tall and still growing!  Absolutely covered in blooms.  Can you see them?

Here is a tomato that will be ready to pick pretty soon.  It is always nice to get early tomatoes.  As it warms up, all the pests like stink bugs show up and scar up the fruit.

Indeterminate tomatoes vine, whereas determinate tomatoes make a bush.  We have 62 tomato plants planted on a number of 15 foot long rows.

Here's the crazy thing.  It has been very dry this spring.  We haven't had much rain at all.  I have not watered the tomatoes since I put them in the ground.  How can that be?  Mulch!  I laid a thick layer of hay in the walkways and around the tomatoes and it has served as a barrier to keep moisture in the soil.  It also keeps weed pressure down.

Check these tomatoes out.  The seeds for these were given to me by a lady from church who saved them from some tomatoes she bought at Wal Mart.  Perhaps you've seen these?  They sell them on the vine, sort of like a cluster of grapes.

Here is the key to keeping indeterminate tomatoes tamed.  If you don't control them, they vine all over the place and your garden becomes unkempt and unruly.  The taming mechanism?  The Florida Weave trellising system.  All it requires are some t-posts and some baling twine.  As the tomatoes grow, every five inches we tie a new piece of twine and zig zag back and forth all the way down the row in and around the vines.  Then wrap tightly on the other t-post and come back on the opposite side of the vines and tie securely on the t-post you started on.

You can see a better illustration below of how the twine criss-crossed supports the vine.

I pull the twine very tight.  Sometimes too tight, and it scars up the vines.  But that's okay as long as the plant keeps thriving and putting on blooms and fruit.

Won't be much longer now...

Hopefully we'll be able to translate all these green tomatoes into red ripe ones we can enjoy.

We'll eat them raw, make pico de gallo, dry some, and can some. 

Two Varieties of Corn for the Garden This Year

Our sweet corn is popping up in the plot that I have worked up in the side lot.  I added some lime to the soil this year to hopefully allow the nutrients locked in the soil to be used by the plants.  This variety is called "Gotta Have It" sweet corn.  It is hybrid, but is non-GMO.  It has high reviews and I can't wait to see how it produces.  I was enjoying my evening after work as the breeze blew and the afternoon sun reflected off the new corn leaves.

I'm excited about trying this new variety.  I planted the corn a little early this year and look forward to pulling a fresh ear off the stalk and eating the sweet corn raw while standing right there in the garden.  There's nothing like it.

But I'm even more excited about another variety of corn I'm trying for the first time.  I've stated before that I don't really grow many flowers as I enjoy growing things that I can eat.  But what if I told you that there are beautiful, colorful things to grow that are ALSO good to eat?  I found one of those items within the pages of the Rareseeds catalog that Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds puts out.

Glass Gem Corn!  Check out the photo on the seed packet below.  I couldn't pass that up.  The caption says both decorative and edible.

So in another place in the garden far from the sweet corn, I worked up a row where I'll plant the Glass Gem Corn and poured the contents of the seed packet into my hand.  Wow!  Isn't that beautiful?

A rainbow of colors all on one ear of corn.  As this variety grows and produces, I'll show you actual photos.  I'm a sucker for novelty things like this.  I'm very curious to see if the actual corn that I harvest looks like the one on the seed packet or if that photo was photo-shopped!

Like a Kid in a Candy Store

I like candy.  I'm not gonna lie.  I am like a kid when it comes to shopping for it.  I like sour candies, especially, but also like dark chocolate and licorice.  I like finding old fashioned candy at places like Cracker Barrel.  I'm trying to slow down on the candy, though.  There's only one thing I like shopping for better than candy - SEEDS!

Ever since I've been a little kid, I've always loved to grow things.  In a story I've probably told more than once (sorry), I can remember being just a little boy and running outside and planting my fruit cocktail.  It didn't grow.  Imagine that!  I can remember sticking toothpicks in the side of an avacado seed and placing it in a jar to watch it grow.  I can remember school projects where we sprouted green beans in paper cups.  Growing things has always interested me - always has and always will.

There's nothing better than to get out the latest Seed Catalogs from heirloom seed companies and stretch out in front of a fireplace on a cold winter day and order seeds.  The varieties of different seeds are interesting.  The photos within the pages of the catalogs make you want to fill your shopping cart with one of each!

I pulled out my seed inventory in which I maintain our records of both purchased seed and saved seed and then determine which seeds I need to order and/or replace. After reading through each page, I made my order online.  Saturday when I went out to check the mail, yep, you guessed it!  I had a package waiting!  It was sealed up tightly in a bubble-wrap envelope to keep the contents safe.

I ripped open the package feverishly and pulled out the contents one by on and laid them out on the table.  This year I replaced some of our old favorites, but I also found a few new things to plant.  I want to try my hand at growing black beans.  I also want to grow some red kidney beans.  I've never grown them before, but I'm going to give it a try.  In looking at our disaster plan, I realized that if TEOTWAWKI happens, some of my preparations are lacking, namely, how do you cook red beans and rice if you don't have red beans?  I hope to remedy that this year!!

Here's the other thing that I like about ordering seeds.  One of the companies I order from, Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, sends several packets of free seeds in with your order.  We call that lagniappe or "a little something extra or free."  I laid all the seeds on the island in the kitchen and admired them.

Looking over the seeds - the variety and beauty and promise of new, interesting vegetables, I got excited to get out and start working the soil.  Still too early for that,but I am reminded that Thomas Cooper said, "A garden is never as good as it will be next spring!"  I'm already planning! It is going to be my best garden yet...

Got a "Sweet" Package in the Mail

Sweet potatoes come up on their own in late spring each year in our garden.  That's been happening for a number of years now and it is a blessing.  We think that they came up probably from a sweet potato that we composted perhaps 8 or so years ago.  It's the gift that keeps on giving and we've harvested several hundred pounds of sweet potatoes over the years and never had to plant them.

The sweet potatoes that are sold in the store are good.  I always enjoy eating sweet potatoes.  The cows love to eat the sweet potato vines after we harvest them each fall.  Here's the thing about the sweet potatoes that you buy at the store - they are mass produced and the varieties, although good, are developed for their look, their yield and their hardiness - not necessarily their taste.

My son recently had the opportunity to go to an agricultural convention in Kentucky.  While there he had an opportunity to visit a farmer from Tennessee who had brought some heirloom sweet potatoes that he grows back on his farm.  Russ said they were small to medium in size, but the taste.  Oh, the taste!  Russ said that they tasted like someone had sprinkled cinnamon, brown sugar, and honey on them.  He said they were unbelievable.  His first thought was that we've been conditioned to think we know what sweet potatoes taste like, but eating this heirloom sweet potatoes made Russ realize that this was a "real" sweet potato.

Well, this package came in the mail the other day...

A sweet package!

Yep, you guessed it.  The farmer sent Russ three (3) of his heirloom sweet potatoes for us to try and grow.  We'll have to find out what the name of this variety is, but I'm so curious to grow them and taste them as Russ really bragged about them.

Three heirloom sweet potatoes

So we decided to plant them each in a pot cover them with soil and keep the soil moist.  Our goal is to get them growing.  My son works with sweet potatoes and knows how to harvest slips.  Slips are simply sweet potato 'shoots' from sweet potato vines that can be planted.  One thing he taught me that I never knew was that sweet potatoes, if allowed to trellis, will produce seeds.  Those seeds can then be planted.

Planting heirloom sweet potatoes

I covered the sweet potatoes with moist soil and will watch them very closely.  If we can get these growing, we'll now have heirloom sweet potatoes in the garden.  While we enjoy eating the ones that grow every year in the garden, it will be nice to have a new variety, especially if they are as good as Russ says they are.  I'll post on the progress, if we can get them to grow.

Grow, Sweet Potatoes, Grow!

While I really enjoy saving seeds from open pollinated plants, growing sweet potatoes and saving their seed will be a new experience for me.  I'm interested in learning all about it.  Oh, I'm also interested in eating sweet potatoes that naturally taste like they have cinnamon, brown sugar and honey added.