Enough Tomatoes already...

No, I'm not serious. Can one ever have too many?

Just another sample of the heirlooms. The lighting is a little deceiving. The sun was blasting through our thin green curtains. Still, the variety is great. From left to right on the image:

The small dark ones are Black Princes.
The large dark ones are Black Krims.
The medium red ones are Big Russian Romas, I think the larger on on the left is a cross with the German Queen it was growing with.
The large orange ones are Amana Oranges.


Profiles to follow after the season. It's a shame that I am having to pull some of these before they are 100% vine ripened, due mainly to foliage disease and insect damage. The color and flavor is still wonderful despite this.

Round 2

From the top. Black Prince, Sweet Orange Cherry, Golden Jubilee, and Russian Big Romas. Just a few we enjoyed last night. We will be having the first Amana Oranges of the season in the next day or two. They are really starting to ripen. Once the season is over, I plan on giving a full report on each variety, with pros and cons. That's months away though, no need to look that far ahead. I'm becoming addicted to fresh tomatoes. I don't know what I will eat this winter. Dehydrated ones I suppose.

Have you see this.... woman?

A many fungus among us..

Number 1

Number 2


Number 3

A sad day for the garden. While this did not happen over night, it certianly spread in less than a week to various other plants. Here are three different afflictions.

From the top: Number 1 is from my black prince plants. They started out the strongest seedlings, with the highest number of fruits among the non-cherry heirloom plants. I found mites on them, and this withering disease. So far my interent research has come up with little explanation as to what this is.

Number 2 is an example of my German Queen. The plant is nearly 80% in this condotion. There are new areas of new growth that is green and lush. However, these areas are now succumbing to whatever is killing the main plant leaves.

Number 3 is the only one I am fairly certian of. It's Early Blight, and with a few applications of a fungicide, it should clear up.
I hate to use it, but otherwise, the plant dies.

Drama in the garden.

Well the usual pests are in my garden. There are insects, like the worm in the picture on the right. I can be as tyrannical with these pests as I wish. Although mustard gas, fire bombing and machine gunning the VZ (Vegetable Zone) all come to mind as ways to destroy the infesting freeloaders, I generally just pick them off with chop sticks and throw them to the birds.

Other pests of course include cats. Cats are a nuisance on a number of levels, but mainly the ones I am concerned with are on the unsanitary side of things. The lady that lived here before likely had a numerous pride, and fed the local cats as well. Which of course turns the flower and garden beds into toilets and mating grounds. I'm sure you can imagine my joy in having to deal with numerous specimens of a species I am already on the fence about. You know what they say; all cats suck, but your own. Especially when the cats dig up your freshly mulched beds to make a little kitty deposit, or back up to you potatoes to let the other toms who's turf it is. Of course, I am a softy, sort of, so my methods of control rely heavily on scare tactics and non-lethal barrages of whatever I am holding at the time I spot the feline felons. Well even my hatred of the second most popular pet in America cannot stop me from enjoying the innocence of their young. Playing in the sun, napping, and even running off when I try to take pictures of them. Enter, the long lens.

However, the most disturbing pest was the 80+ year old non-English speaking woman my wife found picking tomatoes out of our garden Friday afternoon. It was an unnerving phone call, and I of course told her to take the tomatoes away from the elderly thief, but she refused. So, after referring to the manual, I did what would any iron-fisted tyrant should do, called the police! No, I didn't want them to take the tomatoes away from her after they used pepper spray, but before they cuffed and booked her, I just wanted to make sure they told whoever she lived with the scene, and to look out for her a little better. I don't want to have strangers in my backyard, especially when I can't use a hammer or a mortar round to get them out. I need to polish up on my Spanish. Es la bandita!

Luckily these were not taken. I would gladly share with the old bird, but I'm not having her traipse around in the garden. What if she falls?!? I even gave the nice police lady a couple Golden Jubilees I had on the counter. She was nice enough to bring me a couple of nice Japanese Eggplants from her garden. Stir fry tonight. Soon my own eggplants will be in full production. I have already picked one, and more should be coming in the next two weeks.