Pictures do last longer...

Especially when you are eating the subjects of said photos. No, I haven't turned cannibal on you, I'm into the tomatoes. As the days go by, more and more payoff from the garden makes all that work worth it. I'm turning from the Grasshopper to the Ant for you fable fans out there.
Here are some long overdue photos of my garden. They were taken this morning around 6.

There are about 60 little cherries on this plant.

This is a glimpse of why tomatoes need cages and cucumbers need Agent Orange. I swear three of the four seeds germinated and the vines grow like Swampthing when the sun hits him. Still, it's a good feeling when things grow. There are lots and lots of the little cucumbers, and I set up a nice trellis for them. However, plants aren't receptive to what you want them to do, you have to make/train them. One of the vines' main shoots is crawing up perfectly along the trellis. The other two main vines are growing into the heart of pepper country on one side and down to tomato town on the other... I'm just glad I only planted the one hill. I can't eat them raw and I plan to pickle them. I hope I actually go through with the process.




Last post was about pink tomatoes, well this is the cradle of life that they are growing out of. Currently I am enjoying a full tummy after slicing one of these bad boys up and putting it on a beef n cheddar. The applications of these fruits are endless. AS you can see there are three or four nearly ripe fruits. I have a couple on the counter as well.

Heirloom update: Black princes are suffering from something. I need to get my act together and find out what. Regardless, they are producing nicely, but they've yet to ripen. Here we are:

Asian Herbs

Menegi

Thai Holy


Siam Queen.

I see a green fruit and I want to paint it.... pink!

Well when I began this endeavor I was all pumped about growing all the strange and wonderful heirloom tomatoes. I've got nearly twenty of these plants growing like weeds, fruiting, and really just doing exactly what I had expected. I figure by the 4th of July I will have 10 pounds of ripe, organic homegrown heirloom tomatoes sitting on my counter just begging to be devoured. Orange ones, purple ones, red ones, yellow ones, big ones, smalls ones, long ones, round ones... ahem, you get the point.

That hasn't changed.


However, the store bought varieties are not to be thrown out. I have read lots of blogs and posts on forums about 'tasteless hybrids' that people got at the store. The two plants I have may not be hybrids, but generally the ones that are available at the big stores are or at least are considered that by true heirloom-start-from-seed-growers. The plants I bought at the mega store are a Golden Jubilee and a German Queen. They were larger than the seedlings I put out and I put them in the ground about a week and a half earlier than the seedlings.

They began producing fruit in abundance, and still are putting more out today. They are now ripening as well. I have harvested ten or so all told from the two plants. The G.J. produces smaller fruits for the most part, smaller than a baseball, with a couple nice exceptions. They are good eating, but nothing that special, aside from their pretty color. I will likely grow them again in the future.

The German Queen was planted over other store favorites like Better Boy and Big Beef this or that, because it is a Pink variety. My dad, a 50+ year veteran of tomato gardening said to try the pink ones. He said they always tasted the best. Well so far, I commend that advice for being absolutely spot on. I cut one with some cottage cheese and toast and was amazed. It was juicy of course, full colored, and had great flavor and texture, with more about a 80-20 flesh to seed ratio. Tonight we are having them with bacon. Maybe I'll get a photo up.

The Heirlooms have large shoes to fill...

Garden Update

It's hot and dry here. Spring lasted about two weeks, and Summer has its claws firmly latched around the region. 90s and no rain, and repeat.

Not good for gardening, unless you are raising Jalapeños.

Harvested so far: Beets, Potatoes and Onions.

The beets were, well beety. I wasn't that impressed with their fresh flavor, and will likely grow them for greens from now on. I would rather put in a couple more rows of onions.

Speaking of them, the onions turned out great. They are small, much smaller than store bought, but I had them under black plastic and it's been hot here. That shortened their season. Not to worry. I will put some more in this fall and they should do nicely.

Next is the potatoes. The plants grew wonderfully until about two weeks ago. Then they began to wilt and loose color. I wasn't to concerned since I didn't plan on a banner crop anyway. Still the small single hill I planted produced at least two meals worth of taters for the wife and I. Good eatin up ahead.

The tomatoes are beginning to shake off the BER. None are really turning yet. Man I wish I had cages for them.

Lost all my Aunt Ruby German Greens to a Virus.

Green Sausage is really going to have to turn around to be a worth while plant next year. 10 fruit have been plucked of the one plant due to BER.

Black Prince's are loaded, Black Krims are still having growing pains, but along with the Russian Romas and Amana Oranges, they are coming around.

My Golden Jubilees are loaded but so sprawled out the fruit is getting burned. I might have to rig something to help them get a bit of shade.

German Queen looks great.

Eggplant is blooming.

Peppers are slow but steady.

The damn cucumber is trying its hardest to destroy my garden. It has trailers growing up pepper, tomato and eggplant plants. I really didn't plant but one hill, but those vines are monsters. Good thing is, there are about 50 2 inch picklers on it. yippee!

Just need those tomatoes to start turning...

Visual aid of some Heirlooms

I can't keep talking about these tomatoes and not sharing with you just what all my fuss is about. Forgive the formatting of the photos. I haven't grasped adding these pictures yet 100%.

These are the Green Sausages. I think I have some BER, likely from Calcium deficiencies since this is in a container. Still plenty of manure. I will see if the problem is isolated to one fruit and research quick take calcium options in the meantime. Aren't they all weirdo lookin'?

These are the Black Princes. Nice globes, quiet different. So far the best heirloom producer in the garden. I know it's early.


Here is a Black Krim. He snuck up on me. He was hiding deep in the bush. "I finded him, I finded him!"

A couple of the Big Russian Romas. These lads are popping up in 3-4 clusters, with one per plant. So I guess I should expect about twelve at a time... Almost enough for some sauce.

I will put up a photo of the mess that the rest of my garden is asap. 90s today, gross, I hope I have no blossom drop.

Frankenvine's monster.

I know, I know, it's been nearly a month since I last posted. Well work, and whatnot have kept me busy, and throw in a week at the OBX and you have just that, a month away from the blog. Also, the garden was just perking along, and aside from a couple of very small tomatoes popping up around Mother's Day, there wasn't much to talk about. Plant growth, and more plant growth.


I now see my folly in my naive underestimation of the ability of tomato plants to grow. One day, there are two dozen nice healthy looking plants. I go on a week vacation, hire a couple of cousins to water while I am gone, and come back to Vietnam. I get home and the three or four mini tomatoes I left are now the size of my fist. That's not the surprising part. What is most shocking is the growth of the plants. The two store bought ones are over four feet tall, and the rest, that were hovering on the one foot mark are now nearly 3, even the little guys that were under a foot are now impressive. Some of them are so large, sprawling and ridiculous, I can hardly tell where one plant ends and the next begins. I swear I feel like I am now dealing with Audrey II when I go out to my garden. That or the Predator is going to make that funny noise and then leap out of the tomatoes and get me...

There were two more revelations that the garden provided. One, the banana pepper plant that had three or four 4-inch peppers was purchased as a jalapeño pepper plant. No worries though, I have one of those still and was wanting some banana peppers as well. To bad they are mild.

The second was the amount of tomatoes those three or four mini ones turned to have following them. On the German Queen and the Golden Jubilee there are over 50. That's TWO plants, over 50 tomatoes!!!! Seriously, think biblical plagues here.

On the heirlooms I counted another twenty or so, mostly in the form of Black Princes. They are small and round, about the size of the store bought varieties were when I left.

Tonight I have a few hours of watering and tying up ahead of me. I must be doing something right. Many thanks to the watering duo I trusted to keep the green monsters hydrated.

Keep in mind that I thought I might get 20 tomatoes over a season on each plant. And before June I had 50 on two.

I'd better invest in some canning material before too long.