garden

[geckzilla]

What kind of tomatoes did you plant, orin? I've thought about planting some seeds but I always wonder what's in those little pouches at the store. I worry about getting farmer-friendly tomatoes that are designed to last on a shelf longer rather than focusing on flavor and texture.

[orin stepanek]

What kind of tomatoes did you plant, orin? I've thought about planting some seeds but I always wonder what's in those little pouches at the store. I worry about getting farmer-friendly tomatoes that are designed to last on a shelf longer rather than focusing on flavor and texture.

I have 6 plants of Big Boy; 6 of Beef Stake; 1 Roma for my son; and 1 Cherry so I can pop one in my mouth whenever the urge comes! The Big Boy and Beef Stake have pretty good acid and pretty good taste; where as the Roma is fairly bland but makes good paste! The Cherry also has good taste! Some years I plant Early Girl which is also pretty good! I like the large varieties as they are less work when preparing them to freeze! I get started plants at the local garden centers! I have started them from seeds before; but that is time consuming and a lot of work!
A lot of our friends make homemade salsa from their garden tomatoes; but I just freeze mine. If I have a good crop i will have home grown tomatoes til Spring!

[orin stepanek]

Ahh! I went in the garden checking my tomatoes and saw there were tomatoes starting to set on! When I checked the cherry tomato i found 3 ripe tomatoes on the vine. Needless to say; they didn't last long; down the hatch they went! Awesome treat this afternoon!!!

[owlice]

Yay, Orin!!

[rstevenson]

For those who need to 'scape, here's a couple pounds of them I just cut this morning.

scapes.jpg

I grow our own garlic each year, but I've never bothered to use the scapes (the flowers and their stalks) -- which have to be cut off about this time of the year to ensure the plant puts all its effort into growing good sized bulbs. I'm told they can be used in a vegetable stock, or just diced up and thrown into soups and stews, or even blanched a bit to tenderize them and then used in salads. Lots of recipes on the web, of course.

Rob

[orin stepanek]

For those who need to 'scape, here's a couple pounds of them I just cut this morning.
I grow our own garlic each year, but I've never bothered to use the scapes (the flowers and their stalks) -- which have to be cut off about this time of the year to ensure the plant puts all its effort into growing good sized bulbs. I'm told they can be used in a vegetable stock, or just diced up and thrown into soups and stews, or even blanched a bit to tenderize them and then used in salads. Lots of recipes on the web, of course.

Rob

Cool! I've never had any luck with growing garlic!

[orin stepanek]

My garden is doing quite well but the tomatoes have a ways to go before ripening; 'cept for the cherry tomatoes!We have been eating cucumbers for a while now and they are producing faster that we can eat them! We sent some over to my daughter's already!

garden 003.jpg

[orin stepanek]

Update: my tomatoes are starting to turn! I should be able to pick one tomorrow or the next day! It looks like I will be harvesting a good crop for freezing this fall!

[Beyond]

FREEZING I'd rather not hear that word, for as long as possible BRRRR!

[orin stepanek]

FREEZING I'd rather not hear that word, for as long as possible BRRRR!

Yup! To store them I prepare them for freezing in the freezer! It's like having garden fresh tomatoes for cooking all winter long!

[orin stepanek]

My wife picked a cucumber today that was simply hugh! It was hiding in the foliage next to the fence! It was nice and dark green so I guess it will be still good! Probably have to cut the seeds out!

[Beyond]

My wife picked a cucumber today that was simply hugh! It was hiding in the foliage next to the fence! It was nice and dark green so I guess it will be still good! Probably have to cut the seeds out!

I think of a dark green as actually being a color, not just a hugh, but... to each their own.

[orin stepanek]

Tomatoes were piling up; so today I got them ready for freezing! Yield was 14 cups which i put into 7 ziploc bags! In 2 to 3 weeks I should have another batch ready for freezing!

tomatoes 004.jpg

[orin stepanek]

I did a second batch of tomatoes already and it looks like I will get at least two more! My wife found a recipe for freezing cucumbers with vinegar & onions and a little salt and sugar! Our bell peppers are doing well so she is looking for a recipe on those! My cucumbers are slowing down so I will be cleaning them up soon! We had a lot of them and did give a lot of them away!

[owlice]

Or you could just send the cucumbers to Beyond for freezing, since he has the weather for it!

(Cucumbers with vinegar and onions -- yum!!)

[Beyond]

Almost But not quite... yet. It's more like refrigerator weather at the moment, but then comes Indian Summer.

[orin stepanek]

Wow! May finally got here and my garden space is all dug up; all I have to do is put the plants in!

[orin stepanek]

cherry tomato.jpg

My second tomato this year! I ate the first one! In about a minute; I'll eat this one also!

[orin stepanek]

We've been harvesting some cucumbers lately! I gonna have some sliced in cream! Yum!

[orin stepanek]

Well; we are freezing tomatoes again; a job I will be doing quite a bit of this year as I planted more than usual! I also have about 6 different varieties this year; counting the cherry tomatoes! I'm cooking them up altogether as it is too much work to separate them! I guess I'll call them Orin 5 as i don't have 57 varieties! The cherry tomatoes won't go into the freezer as I am eating them up all too fast!

tomatoes.jpg

[Beyond]

Hmm... tomato succotash. Let us know how it tastes when you cook some up this winter.

[geckzilla]

I had a tomato hornworm in a small container. Found it on one of my plants. I was messing with it to see if it would eat anything other than tomatoes or tomato plants. I gave it one type of leaf to no avail. Then I gave it a small bit of tomato because I didn't want it to starve. Moving on to the next test, I cleaned out the container and put a piece of romaine lettuce in. A few hours later I discovered a grisly scene. The caterpillar had died and laid in a small puddle of its own body fluid. It was a small puddle, yes, but relative to the caterpillar I was surprised at the volume of liquid which flowed so quickly out of it after its death. Weird. Maybe the piece of tomato I gave it had some kind of pesticide on it? Or maybe the quickly growing beast simply needed much more nutrition than I gave it.

[Beyond]

I've only seen a few of those caterpillars and they've always been eating the greenery. Never seen them touch the fruit.

[orin stepanek]

I've only seen a few of those caterpillars and they've always been eating the greenery. Never seen them touch the fruit.

I think they'll eat most anything!

Click to view full size image

[Beyond]

The "fruit" that that caterpillar touches, i wouldn't want to be anywhere near!!