Epic Tomatoes

Over the winter, I read Craig LeHoullier's new book, Epic Tomatoes (2015, Storey Publishing). I was dubious that I could read an entire book about nothing but tomatoes, but Craig's book is compelling and inspiring; it influenced me to grow a much wider variety of tomatoes than ever before. His focus is on "heirloom" or open-pollinated varieties rather than hybrids. I've learned that if I'm willing to compromise on appearance and shipping/storage qualities, I'm likely to gain in fantastic and unique flavors.

Here is a photo of a variety called Purple Cherokee. The flesh is sweet, juicy and it is indeed purple-ish in color. Notice that this tomato is huge---one pound and four ounces. There are so many varieties of tomatoes to grow. It's ridiculously limiting to buy the few varieties that your garden center provides. We urge you to plan ahead for next year and try something new.

Now I'm back to the canning, freezing and processing that consumes my day. Happy gardening!

Harvest Totals

I haven't posted about our successful harvests because I was afraid it would sound like bragging---and Heaven knows that bragging is one of the seven deadly sins. Nevertheless, I want to tell you about it as inspiration for your own gardens. Remember that Red Bucket Farm is just my backyard in an average 1970s neighborhood with less than a quarter acre property including the house. You can do this, too.

Harvesting began in June with a lovely supply of currants and strawberries. I made the currants into jam and sauce. Some of the strawberries became jam and others were frozen. In July we harvested cherries from three cherry trees. We made a few pies and have several bags of cherries in the freezer.

The summer raspberries produced nicely, too, some of which became jam, some frozen, and plenty of them enjoyed fresh. The blueberry bushes are coming along, and we were able to freeze a few for winter use. Our peach tree did very well---90 pounds of peaches! My freezer and canning shelves are full---jam, peach rum sauce, spiced honey peaches, peaches in light honey syrup, and plain frozen peach slices (for pie later on).

In July we harvested honey from our one surviving hive. We made mead and strawberry melomel (a fruity mead variation). Honey is shelf stable and will last the winter.

Vegetables in raised beds have also done well. I harvested 50 pounds of potatoes and 50 pounds of onions in early August, and immediately replanted those beds with spinach, arugula, Swiss chard and beets. We'll hoop those beds to stretch the growing season through November. The butternut squash have exceeded 60 pounds, and there are still more growing on the vines.

This year the tomatoes have outdone themselves. I grow only six Amish paste tomato plants and I have enough tomato products to keep us until next year----plain tomato sauce, pizza sauce, tomato paste, and two kinds of salsa. I'm not kidding---only six tomato plants and they're still producing. Green beans continue to produce into the fall. We have dilled beans and frozen beans to last the winter.

What have I forgotten? Lots of basil/pesto, herbs, carrots, beets, scallions, and garlic. Fall bearing raspberries are awesome!

You can do it, too. If there is a secret to successful gardening, it's not a very well-kept secret: sunshine and compost. Start planning for next year's garden!

Harvest Time

It's the time of year when fruits and veggies mature as fast (or faster) than we can bring them in and process them. It's a good problem to have, because it means the urban farm is increasingly productive and we'll have plenty of organic food to eat all winter. 

Pole beans are growing like crazy. We pick a bucket of beans every day, blanch and flash freeze.

The tomatoes continue to arrive at an impressive rate. This is a fruit with plenty of options. I've roasted, pureed and frozen some of it, and canned simple tomato sauce. Soon I'll make pizza sauce, barbecue sauce and salsa, canning it for stable shelf storage because my freezer is getting quite full.

Our little peach tree has hit its stride. We've harvested more than sixty pounds of fruit from one tree, virtually without blemish. I've frozen peach slices for future pies; canned peaches in spiced honey syrup; canned more peaches in rum sauce; and canned even more peaches in a simple honey syrup. When I'm too exhausted to care, I just cut them into a freezer container, sprinkle it with a teaspoon of sugar, and put it in the freezer. We're approaching the end of the peach crop. Whew!

So if I seem like I haven't written, called or blogged lately, now you know why!

Enormous Tomatoes

The Amish Paste tomatoes are outdoing themselves this year. In the photo above, the tennis ball is shown for size comparison. These tomatoes are the size of softballs and weigh between 8 and 14 ounces. If I knew the secret to growing huge tomatoes I would share it, but I have no idea what's gotten into these plants.

We have only ten tomato plants---six Amish Paste, two Sungold Hybrid cherry tomatoes, and two Jaune Flamme (a medium-sized heirloom). We find that ten plants gives us the pleasure to eat warm fruit from the vine and still have plenty to preserve for winter use. I haven't purchased commercial tomato products in the last year or two.

This year all the tomato plants are producing very well, but the Amish paste plants are falling over from the weight of the fruit in spite of rigorous staking. I pick the fruit slightly green and give them a day or two on the drying table to fully ripen in the sunshine. Meanwhile, I'd better get ready to roast, can and freeze. This enthusiastic harvest is a good problem!

Greenhouse Transition

Our little greenhouse is a hard-working element at Red Bucket Farm. In March we began raising seedlings inside the greenhouse. We started with hardy herbs (rosemary, chives, lavender) and cool season veggies like peas, carrots, beets, and Brussels sprouts. In mid-April we added warm-weather veggies including tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and basil. The shelving units were loaded with containers and flats of seedling pots. We used a water thermal inside to moderate cold night temperatures as well as a fan to keep the air circulating.

This week we transitioned the greenhouse from spring nursery to summer growth. I removed the water thermal and three of the four shelving units. We hung shade cloth over the southern exposure to limit the sunshine, which gets overpowering in the summer. One shelving unit remains for ongoing seedling projects.

I potted the eggplant and peppers into their summer containers and gave them each a tomato cage for support. Although the space appears relatively empty now, it will soon be crowded with foliage and veggies. A tall tower-style fan remains in one corner of the greenhouse all year.

Tomatoes and Basil

I planted tomatoes and basil today. Spring is really here! Yay!

I started three varieties of tomato plants by seed in early March, first under growing lights in the basement, and more recently in the greenhouse. These plants had been growing in 4" pots. They were nearly root bound and had grown to an enthusiastic 24" tall. They were beginning to bloom---it was high time to move outdoors.

I removed the straw mulch from the beds, which I had laid in November before it snowed. I set the mulch aside on a tarp while I loosened the soil by hand with my Japanese gardening tool. Then I added a layer of sifted compost and got some help to pound in tall support stakes. Installing the stakes before planting helps avoid damaging roots later in the summer. The stakes seem huge now, but will support many pounds of fruit in due course.

It's a good idea to plant tomatoes deeply in the soil, even a little deeper than they were in their small containers. I alternated tomatoes and basil in the beds (they are companion plants) and gave them plenty of breathing room which will help avoid blight. Remember to rotate crops---tomatoes should not be planted in the same beds as last year.

Finally, I mulched again with a thick layer of straw and gave it a quick drink of water (we've had plenty of rain). Mulching helps keep the soil warm on chilly nights, holds in moisture on hot days, and keeps down the weeds. Of course, I was finished when I realized that I might have also planted some dill or parsley in these beds. Tomorrow.....

Companion Planting

Last year I planted ten tomato plants in one raised bed. That way, when one of them got early blight and then late blight, they could all share the same disease more efficiently. Terrific, right?

Wrong. This year, I'm experimenting with companion planting. The idea with companion planting is that by planting different crops in close proximity, they assist each other with pest control, nutrient uptake and pollination. For example, it might be beneficial to plant onions near carrots, because onions are a deterrent to carrot fly larvae. I've read that garlic is beneficial to roses, because the garlic will ward off aphids and black spot, and increase the perfume of roses. There are numerous articles and books on the topic, and since I'm not an expert, I'd encourage you to do your own research.

This spring at Red Bucket Farm, I've inter-planted several vegetables with herbs. Tomatoes, basil, parsley, carrots, scallions and dill are all planted in shared beds. It's not as neat and tidy as last year's layout, and it may complicate crop rotation for next year, but I'm giving it a try.

Green Tomatoes

In the last week or so, I have harvested about fifteen pounds of large, green tomatoes. Autumn has arrived and night temperatures have fallen to 30 degrees. I was reluctant to allow so many tomatoes to potentially freeze over night, so I picked them and brought them indoors.

There are various techniques that might allow green tomatoes to ripen indoors. Some people wrap each tomato individually in newspaper and store in a dark place. Other folks store them in an airtight container with an apple. My mother-in-law used to advise storing them in a paper bag until ripe.

Given various complications these days, I've opted for the easy choice: my green tomatoes sit on open trays in the pie safe to keep the cats from turning them into hockey pucks. After a few days they turn red and orange, and we pop them into whatever we're making for dinner. It's low tech, but effective. The fruit may not be quite as tasty as when sun-ripened, but it's better than losing the end of the crop to frost.

What are you doing with your end-of-season green tomatoes?

Tomato Harvest

My tomato plants have been high maintenance this year. Although my Amish Paste tomatoes started out healthy and eager, by July they suffered from early blight. We treated with copper fungicide, which was useful and held disaster at arm's length. Just when I thought they might recover, the plants showed symptoms of late blight. More copper fungicide. These twelve plants have looked sick, spotted and wilted all summer, but in spite of it all, they have produced an impressive amount of fruit.

My favorite way of preserving the crop is simple. I oven roast a pan of tomatoes with some onion and garlic for about 20-30 minutes at 350 degrees. After allowing it to cool, I puree it in the food processor and freeze in plastic freezer containers. It's easy to do and doesn't require peeling tomatoes or sweating over a hot canning process. I roast a pan of tomatoes twice a week. So far, I've frozen 50 cups of tomato sauce and there are still another 100 tomatoes on the vines.

So for all my whining about the tomatoes, I'm happy to report that this crop has been successful!

Tomato Early Blight

Last summer, I lost all eight of my Roma tomato plants to early blight. Around mid-summer, the plants wilted dramatically. It was a common problem in our area, and a friend told me that early blight was best solved by destroying the plants before it spread to any others. I removed all the Roma tomato plants; only two cherry tomato plants survived.

I thought that blight was spread through the soil, so when I planted this year's tomato plants, they went into a brand new raised bed with new soil. But there are no gardening guarantees, and a few weeks ago I noticed that a few of my Amish Paste tomato plants were drooping. In the photo above, you'll see that the plants on the right are healthy, but a few of the middle plants are rather weak looking. By the way, the cherry tomatoes appear unaffected, although it may be coincidence.

I did a little internet research, later corroborated at my local garden center, which recommended the use of copper fungicide for early blight. This fungicide is not harmful to my bees or chickens, so I mixed some in my pump sprayer and applied one dose before vacation. Eric applied a second dose while I was gone, and yesterday I gave them a third dose.

This is certainly not a miracle cure, but the plants have not died nor has the blight spread to other nearby plants. Tomatoes continue to grow and ripen on the affected vines. It doesn't look great, but it's not disaster either.