July's full moon is called either the Buck Moon, Thunder Moon, or Hay Moon. I wish we had a bit more thunder going on, but the bucks are in almost full velvet antlers. I see deer pretty much every evening when I go for a walk to the nearby park. People who live along the edge of the park put out food for them. I'm not sure if that's a good thing. Either they're attracting more deer into the neighborhood, making it more likely they'll discover my garden soon and start eating it, or they're keeping the deer over there eating their food instead of my garden. Well, at least the deer haven't discovered my garden yet, but it may only be a matter of time.
Things are not looking so good in the garden. It's been really hot, in the 90's every day, and really humid. I'm not sure if plants mind humidity, but we humans sure do. Spend any amount of time outside and you're soaked with sweat that won't evaporate. Whether that bothers the plants depends, I guess, on how much they also rely on evaporative cooling.
The pole beans are not looking good at all. I planted four varieties and haven't gotten any beans off any of them. Scarlet Runner, Blue Coco, Rattlesnake, and Kentucky Wonder are all just barely hanging on to life. What a disappointment.
I got a decent crop of Dragon Tongue Beans, but those are dying off too. They're mixed in with Yellow Pear tomatoes, which have some shriveled up fruit on them I'm not even going to bother with.
I'm not very optimistic about the corn. It's looking really dry. This is a nameless hybrid variety I got as a freebie with a seed order. If I'm going to do corn I should probably stick to native southwestern heirlooms, which would probably be a bit tougher than modern hybrids.
The back fence isn't looking good either. I got about three cucumbers, but since they're hidden under the grass that's coming up there, I never find them until they've turned yellow, and by then they are inedible. The Tromboncino squash is a big disappointment too. The one fruit I got ended up rotting, and it hasn't set any more, maybe due to squash vine borer damage. The Charantais melons are barely hanging on as well. I guess that's what I get for trying to grow a variety from France. About the only thing that's looking ok is the luffa gourd, but the plants are still pretty small.
The only squash that's doing well is the Chihuahuan Landrace Cushaw. I was worried at first because the one squash I got ended up rotting, but then we got a rainstorm and the vines put out seven more fruits. I guess they just need a long growing season. Out of seven fruits, we must get at least one good one, right?
The sweet potatoes look relatively ok too, at least from the top. I won't know until frost if I've got a good crop of roots under there, but the leaves have managed to stay mostly green and healthy.
The only tomatoes that are still hanging on are the Mortgage Lifters. I'm still getting a fruit here and there off them, though they are often small and/or damaged in some way, like from blossom end rot or from critters getting at them. Still, it's impressive that they've lasted this long while all the other tomatoes are toast. This was certainly the best variety I planted this year.
The okra is the only thing I'm still regularly picking. I'm having trouble keeping up. Okra is one of those veggies, like green beans, cucumbers, eggplants, etc., that you need to pick while young, or else they get tough and fibrous. On the other hand, the watermelons I planted in the same plot are starting to worry me. I've got 5 or 6 fruit set, but the vines are looking awful. I hope they don't die before they manage to ripen the fruit. As you can see, I just put a soaker hose there to hopefully nurse them back to health.
Ok, I take that back, the jalapenos are doing pretty well too. I'm letting them ripen to red to collect the seeds. I might as well. They were the only peppers that survived, so the seeds should be pure. Behind them you can see the corpses of the Hawkins Plum tomatoes. I'm trying to decide what I should plant in their place.
Poor Queensland Blue Squash. First attacked by squash vine borers and then frying in the heat. I doubt I'm going to get any fruit of these this year. I only got these squash because the picture looked pretty. They might not be a very good variety for my area.
July and August is the hottest time of year. The middle of summer for us is like what the middle of winter is for gardeners further north. It's a time to stay inside, plan for the fall planting season, nurse whatever few plants are still surviving out there, and just wait until things cool down. By the next full moon I should have a bunch of fall stuff getting started, new crops of garlic, onions, cabbage, lettuce, etc. The heat can't last forever!
Finally, here's a couple of pictures of some more garden inhabitants I've seen recently.
Here's a stick insect that was on the wall of the house. These things can get pretty huge, like six inches long, but are completely harmless. If you poke at them, they stiffen their legs up to make themselves look even more like a stick. They even move in swaying motions so they look like a stick blowing in the breeze. Very cool and weird critters!
And there have been a lot of toads around, which is a very welcome sight. This guy was hanging out on the back porch. I think this might be a Gulf Coast Toad, Bufo nebulifer, but I'm not 100% sure. I have trouble telling species of the genus Bufo apart. This toad has darker markings than most of the toads I've been seeing, but I'm not sure how much individual toads in one species can vary in appearance. Anyway, this is a nice, big, fat toad, so I hope that means he's having a happy life eating lots of bugs in my yard.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Friday, July 23, 2010
2010 Garlic Reviews
Finally, Garlic Class of 2010 is all cleaned, cured, and ready for review. I've never grown garlic before, at least not seriously, so I've got a lot to learn about heirloom garlics. I had no idea which ones would do well in my area, so last fall I ordered the Garlic Sampler from Seed Saver's Exchange. That seemed like a good way to try a variety of garlic. I got two bulbs each of 10 varieties, which yielded a variable number of plants since different varieties have different numbers of cloves. As you'll see, some did great right away their first year, and some not so much. However, I did read somewhere that garlic can adapt if you grow it over and over again in the same area, so I might give the poor performers another chance, depending on how much room I have in the garden for experiments. On most varieties I weight the bulbs and picked out about 3 or 4 of the biggest and prettiest ones to grow for next year. The rest went to the kitchen.
As with the tomatoes, I would have liked to have more detailed descriptions of flavor, but I haven't gotten around to tasting all of them yet, and all of them are much better than store bought, so the tastings would probably be something like, "good, really good, and really really good," which probably isn't that helpful. Therefore, these reviews will be more about the overall health and vigor of the plants rather than their individual culinary qualities.
Bogatyr
Type: Hardneck, Purple Stripe
Planting Date: 10/10/2009
Harvest Date: 6/14/2010
Bulbs Harvested: 9
SSE Description: Obtained from the Gatersleben Seed Bank (#7204), but originally from Moscow. Beautifully marbled brown or purple striped cloves. Good storage qualities. Consistently one of the largest garlics grown at Heritage Farm. Hardneck, 5-7 cloves per bulb.
One of the weird things that happened is my purple garlics didn't end up purple. Sure, the Bogatyr and other purple garlics I received from SSE were purple, but then their offspring were all white. I wonder if that's an environmental thing. Anyway, Bogatyr wasn't one of my largest garlics, more like the size garlic bulbs from the store are, but it was still one of my best performing hardnecks, which generally don't do as well in the South as softnecks. I picked out these four to replant. This was pretty much the only hardneck I grew that left me with some decent bulbs for eating. Definitely will continue growing this one.
Broadleaf Czech
Type: Softneck, Artichoke
Planting Date: 10/17/2009
Harvest Date: 5/29/2010
Bulbs Harvested: 24
SSE Description: Nice big tan cloves with a hint of red. Cooked flavor is very nice, described as mild and full flavored. When raw the flavor is hot to very hot. Obtained from the Gatersleben Seed Bank (#146). Softneck, 8-12 cloves per bulb.
All of my softnecks did better than the hardnecks (and were ready for harvest earlier), and of those, Broadleaf Czech had the second highest yield. I picked out these three for replanting and have been eating the rest, since there were plenty left over. Looks like this will be a good, dependable variety for me to plant year after year.
Chet's Italian Red
Type: Softneck, Artichoke
Planting Date: 10/10/2009
Harvest Date: 5/20/2010
Bulbs Harvested: 26
SSE Description: Highly productive and adaptable strain. Heirloom variety from Chet Stevenson of Tonasket, Washington, found growing wild in an abandoned garden along the roadside. A good garlic for eating raw, because the flavor is not too strong. Softneck, 12-16 cloves per bulb.
My earliest, highest yielding, biggest, and ugliest garlic! I'm very impressed with this variety and will certainly grow it again and again. Having such a good performing garlic as my first one to harvest was very encouraging for me. It yielded the hugest bulbs besides the Elephant garlic. The plants were nice and vigorous, and it was also the first garlic to be ready for harvest. I picked out these four bulbs to plant this fall and had plenty left over for eating. Because this variety is described as having a mild flavor, I have been using it in raw applications such as pesto sauce, and using Broadleaf Czech more for cooking, but really I'm just taking SSE's word for it and haven't done any sort of side-by-side taste comparison.
Chrysalis Purple
Type: Hardneck, Purple Stripe
Planting Date: 10/17/2009
Harvest Date: 7/11/2010
Bulbs Harvested: 12
SSE Description: Dependable variety with large heads and easy-to-peel cloves, excellent flavor. One of the hardiest varieties we offer. Holds well in the field during harvest.
From the best garlic to one of the worst, Chrysalis Purple was the last garlic I harvested. I waited and waited and waited for this one to be ready and finally lost patience and dug it all up last week. As you can see, just about all the bulbs were really puny and never divided into cloves (which is why I waited so long to dig it up, I kept checking to see if they had divided yet and they never did). I've read that I can plant the undivided bulbs whole. I might try that just to see what happens. Maybe it will adapt. On the other hand, I have a suspicion that garlics that are advertised as being "hardy" are not the sorts I should be growing.
Elephant
Planting Date: 10/10/2009
Harvest Date: 6/2/2010
Bulbs Harvested: 6
SSE Description: Not a true garlic, but actually is a type of leek. Huge cloves, and much milder flavor than regular garlic. Bulbs have potential to grow 3- 5" in diameter and up to one pound dry weight, under ideal conditions. Heads average 4-6 cloves.
Mine only had 3 cloves each. I kept three for replanting, but I also got a lot of bulbils which I also might try planting to see what happens. Those are little mini-bulbs that leeks form around the main stalk, about the size of a fingernail. I've heard they can take a long time to get big, but it may be worth trying to greatly increase my Elephant garlic, since they don't have a lot of cloves. I haven't eaten any of my Elephant garlic cloves yet, but I really enjoyed the scapes, which appeared long before the hardneck garlics got scapes. The scapes were also a lot fatter than the hardneck scapes.
Georgian Fire
Type: Hardneck, Porcelain
Planting Date: 10/31/2009
Harvest Date: 6/16/2010
Bulbs Harvested: 8
SSE Description: Obtained from the Gatersleben Seed Bank (#6822) in eastern Germany. Described by chefs as a truly “white hot” garlic. Raw taste is strong with a nice hotness that is not at all unpleasant. Great for salsa and salads. Hardneck, 4-6 cloves per bulb.
This one did OK for a hardneck, though not as well as Bogatyr. The bulbs were a little on the small size, but not too bad. Don't know about the "white hot" taste yet. This one is certainly worth giving another chance.
German Extra Hardy
Type: Hardneck, Porcelain
Planting Date: 10/31/2009
Harvest Date: 6/16/2010
Bulbs Harvested: 8
SSE Description: Vigorous grower with long roots that enable it to overwinter without heaving out of the ground. Outside skin is ivory-white, but the clove skin is dark red. Strong raw flavor, high sugar content, one of the very best for roasting.
Another garlic that brags about being cold hardy. However, this one didn't do too badly. I keep getting it mixed up with Georgian Fire. Again, haven't noticed any dark red color like I was supposed to have gotten, just white. That's really disappointing, because those colored garlics look so pretty. Still, this is another one worth giving a second chance.
Pskem River
Type: Hardneck, Purple Stripe
Planting Date: 10/31/2009
Harvest Date: 6/7/2010
Bulbs Harvested: 3
SSE Description: Originally collected by SSE member John Swenson in 1989 from the Pskem River Valley in Uzbekistan. Beautiful purple striped cloves, full flavor. Hardneck, 4–5 large cloves per bulb.
These three bulbs pictured are the only three I got, and only one was a decent size. This is mainly because one of the bulbs I received from SSE was rotten, so I was left with only 3 good cloves to plant. At least I did get one good sized bulb, so it's probably worth replanting this variety and giving it another chance.
Persian Star
Type: Hardneck, Purple Stripe
Planting Date: 10/17/2009
Harvest Date: 6/26/2010
Bulbs Harvested: 15
SSE Description: This variety was collected in Samarkand, Uzbekistan by long-time SSE member John Swenson. Pleasant flavor with a mild spicy zing. Good all-purpose variety that produces reliable yields year-after-year. Hardneck, 8-12 cloves per bulb.
This was the most beautiful garlic I received from SSE. Long, skinny cloves, arranged in one layer around the inner stem, with bold purple stripes. Not a purple blush or marbling like some garlics, but distinct stripes like someone drew them on with a crayon. I was afraid I wouldn't get such beautiful bulbs out of my own garden. All I can say is at least they didn't do as badly as Chrysalis Purple. You can see I just got a bunch of undivided round bulbs. I'll probably try again just because I really wish I could grow such a cool looking variety, but maybe purple stripe hardnecks are just not a good type of garlic for Texas.
Tochliavri
Type: Softneck, Artichoke
Planting Date: 10/17/2009
Harvest Date: 5/29/2010
Bulbs Harvested: 11
SSE Description: From the village in the Republic of Georgia where Chester Aaron’s father was born. Original stock obtained from Dr. Peter Hanelt at Gatersleben in eastern Germany. The standard by which all other garlic flavor should be judged.
This was my poorest performing softneck, but that means it still did better than any hardnecks. This was the other one where one of the bulbs was rotten, so that left me with only 11 cloves to plant. It's probably the best-looking garlic I managed to harvest. As you can see the bulbs were a nice size, smooth, and blemish free. This may possibly be the same variety as Red Toch. I don't see "Tochliavri" listed in a lot of catalogs but I do see Red Toch. I think I like calling it Tochliavri better since, again, mine aren't red. Will plant this one again, since even with only one good bulb to plant, I got a decent enough yield to leave me several bulbs to eat myself.
To Recap:
Growing Again for Sure: Bogatyr, Broadleaf Czech, Chet's Italian Red, Elephant, Georgian Fire, German Extra Hardy, and Tochliavri
Needs Improvement: Chrysalis Purple, Pskem River, Persian Star
I'm very glad that at least some of my varieties performed really well. Garlic of some kind or another will have a place in my garden from now on.
As with the tomatoes, I would have liked to have more detailed descriptions of flavor, but I haven't gotten around to tasting all of them yet, and all of them are much better than store bought, so the tastings would probably be something like, "good, really good, and really really good," which probably isn't that helpful. Therefore, these reviews will be more about the overall health and vigor of the plants rather than their individual culinary qualities.
Bogatyr
Type: Hardneck, Purple Stripe
Planting Date: 10/10/2009
Harvest Date: 6/14/2010
Bulbs Harvested: 9
SSE Description: Obtained from the Gatersleben Seed Bank (#7204), but originally from Moscow. Beautifully marbled brown or purple striped cloves. Good storage qualities. Consistently one of the largest garlics grown at Heritage Farm. Hardneck, 5-7 cloves per bulb.
One of the weird things that happened is my purple garlics didn't end up purple. Sure, the Bogatyr and other purple garlics I received from SSE were purple, but then their offspring were all white. I wonder if that's an environmental thing. Anyway, Bogatyr wasn't one of my largest garlics, more like the size garlic bulbs from the store are, but it was still one of my best performing hardnecks, which generally don't do as well in the South as softnecks. I picked out these four to replant. This was pretty much the only hardneck I grew that left me with some decent bulbs for eating. Definitely will continue growing this one.
Broadleaf Czech
Type: Softneck, Artichoke
Planting Date: 10/17/2009
Harvest Date: 5/29/2010
Bulbs Harvested: 24
SSE Description: Nice big tan cloves with a hint of red. Cooked flavor is very nice, described as mild and full flavored. When raw the flavor is hot to very hot. Obtained from the Gatersleben Seed Bank (#146). Softneck, 8-12 cloves per bulb.
All of my softnecks did better than the hardnecks (and were ready for harvest earlier), and of those, Broadleaf Czech had the second highest yield. I picked out these three for replanting and have been eating the rest, since there were plenty left over. Looks like this will be a good, dependable variety for me to plant year after year.
Chet's Italian Red
Type: Softneck, Artichoke
Planting Date: 10/10/2009
Harvest Date: 5/20/2010
Bulbs Harvested: 26
SSE Description: Highly productive and adaptable strain. Heirloom variety from Chet Stevenson of Tonasket, Washington, found growing wild in an abandoned garden along the roadside. A good garlic for eating raw, because the flavor is not too strong. Softneck, 12-16 cloves per bulb.
My earliest, highest yielding, biggest, and ugliest garlic! I'm very impressed with this variety and will certainly grow it again and again. Having such a good performing garlic as my first one to harvest was very encouraging for me. It yielded the hugest bulbs besides the Elephant garlic. The plants were nice and vigorous, and it was also the first garlic to be ready for harvest. I picked out these four bulbs to plant this fall and had plenty left over for eating. Because this variety is described as having a mild flavor, I have been using it in raw applications such as pesto sauce, and using Broadleaf Czech more for cooking, but really I'm just taking SSE's word for it and haven't done any sort of side-by-side taste comparison.
Chrysalis Purple
Type: Hardneck, Purple Stripe
Planting Date: 10/17/2009
Harvest Date: 7/11/2010
Bulbs Harvested: 12
SSE Description: Dependable variety with large heads and easy-to-peel cloves, excellent flavor. One of the hardiest varieties we offer. Holds well in the field during harvest.
From the best garlic to one of the worst, Chrysalis Purple was the last garlic I harvested. I waited and waited and waited for this one to be ready and finally lost patience and dug it all up last week. As you can see, just about all the bulbs were really puny and never divided into cloves (which is why I waited so long to dig it up, I kept checking to see if they had divided yet and they never did). I've read that I can plant the undivided bulbs whole. I might try that just to see what happens. Maybe it will adapt. On the other hand, I have a suspicion that garlics that are advertised as being "hardy" are not the sorts I should be growing.
Elephant
Planting Date: 10/10/2009
Harvest Date: 6/2/2010
Bulbs Harvested: 6
SSE Description: Not a true garlic, but actually is a type of leek. Huge cloves, and much milder flavor than regular garlic. Bulbs have potential to grow 3- 5" in diameter and up to one pound dry weight, under ideal conditions. Heads average 4-6 cloves.
Mine only had 3 cloves each. I kept three for replanting, but I also got a lot of bulbils which I also might try planting to see what happens. Those are little mini-bulbs that leeks form around the main stalk, about the size of a fingernail. I've heard they can take a long time to get big, but it may be worth trying to greatly increase my Elephant garlic, since they don't have a lot of cloves. I haven't eaten any of my Elephant garlic cloves yet, but I really enjoyed the scapes, which appeared long before the hardneck garlics got scapes. The scapes were also a lot fatter than the hardneck scapes.
Georgian Fire
Type: Hardneck, Porcelain
Planting Date: 10/31/2009
Harvest Date: 6/16/2010
Bulbs Harvested: 8
SSE Description: Obtained from the Gatersleben Seed Bank (#6822) in eastern Germany. Described by chefs as a truly “white hot” garlic. Raw taste is strong with a nice hotness that is not at all unpleasant. Great for salsa and salads. Hardneck, 4-6 cloves per bulb.
This one did OK for a hardneck, though not as well as Bogatyr. The bulbs were a little on the small size, but not too bad. Don't know about the "white hot" taste yet. This one is certainly worth giving another chance.
German Extra Hardy
Type: Hardneck, Porcelain
Planting Date: 10/31/2009
Harvest Date: 6/16/2010
Bulbs Harvested: 8
SSE Description: Vigorous grower with long roots that enable it to overwinter without heaving out of the ground. Outside skin is ivory-white, but the clove skin is dark red. Strong raw flavor, high sugar content, one of the very best for roasting.
Another garlic that brags about being cold hardy. However, this one didn't do too badly. I keep getting it mixed up with Georgian Fire. Again, haven't noticed any dark red color like I was supposed to have gotten, just white. That's really disappointing, because those colored garlics look so pretty. Still, this is another one worth giving a second chance.
Pskem River
Type: Hardneck, Purple Stripe
Planting Date: 10/31/2009
Harvest Date: 6/7/2010
Bulbs Harvested: 3
SSE Description: Originally collected by SSE member John Swenson in 1989 from the Pskem River Valley in Uzbekistan. Beautiful purple striped cloves, full flavor. Hardneck, 4–5 large cloves per bulb.
These three bulbs pictured are the only three I got, and only one was a decent size. This is mainly because one of the bulbs I received from SSE was rotten, so I was left with only 3 good cloves to plant. At least I did get one good sized bulb, so it's probably worth replanting this variety and giving it another chance.
Persian Star
Type: Hardneck, Purple Stripe
Planting Date: 10/17/2009
Harvest Date: 6/26/2010
Bulbs Harvested: 15
SSE Description: This variety was collected in Samarkand, Uzbekistan by long-time SSE member John Swenson. Pleasant flavor with a mild spicy zing. Good all-purpose variety that produces reliable yields year-after-year. Hardneck, 8-12 cloves per bulb.
This was the most beautiful garlic I received from SSE. Long, skinny cloves, arranged in one layer around the inner stem, with bold purple stripes. Not a purple blush or marbling like some garlics, but distinct stripes like someone drew them on with a crayon. I was afraid I wouldn't get such beautiful bulbs out of my own garden. All I can say is at least they didn't do as badly as Chrysalis Purple. You can see I just got a bunch of undivided round bulbs. I'll probably try again just because I really wish I could grow such a cool looking variety, but maybe purple stripe hardnecks are just not a good type of garlic for Texas.
Tochliavri
Type: Softneck, Artichoke
Planting Date: 10/17/2009
Harvest Date: 5/29/2010
Bulbs Harvested: 11
SSE Description: From the village in the Republic of Georgia where Chester Aaron’s father was born. Original stock obtained from Dr. Peter Hanelt at Gatersleben in eastern Germany. The standard by which all other garlic flavor should be judged.
This was my poorest performing softneck, but that means it still did better than any hardnecks. This was the other one where one of the bulbs was rotten, so that left me with only 11 cloves to plant. It's probably the best-looking garlic I managed to harvest. As you can see the bulbs were a nice size, smooth, and blemish free. This may possibly be the same variety as Red Toch. I don't see "Tochliavri" listed in a lot of catalogs but I do see Red Toch. I think I like calling it Tochliavri better since, again, mine aren't red. Will plant this one again, since even with only one good bulb to plant, I got a decent enough yield to leave me several bulbs to eat myself.
To Recap:
Growing Again for Sure: Bogatyr, Broadleaf Czech, Chet's Italian Red, Elephant, Georgian Fire, German Extra Hardy, and Tochliavri
Needs Improvement: Chrysalis Purple, Pskem River, Persian Star
I'm very glad that at least some of my varieties performed really well. Garlic of some kind or another will have a place in my garden from now on.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
2010 Tomato Reviews
Now that the tomatoes are starting to die off in the heat, I thought it was time to do an overview of Tomato Class of 2010. There are so many heirloom tomato varieties out there, I'd never be able to keep track of them if I didn't have good records.
I wanted to make this sort of like the tomato tastings on this blog, but I don't know if I can manage to go into that much detail on the flavor notes. After years without a garden, I'm still a bit too "YAY REAL TOMATOES!" to be very discerning. But I'll try to be as detailed as possible.
It's also a little unfair this year, because all the tomatoes I grew were from very old seeds I got in an online trade from 2005 that I was afraid wouldn't even germinate. I ended up with very uneven numbers of plants for each variety, which makes it hard to judge them on production (I don't really want to go to the trouble of keeping track of lbs. per plant). Also, since it's the first year of vegetable gardening in this location, the tomatoes have had to battle things like poor soil and Bermuda grass. Because of these things, I am hesitant to be too harsh on the little guys.
Black Cherry
This a cherry version of the "black" type of tomato (which are really a dark purple), such as Cherokee Purple, Black from Tula, Paul Robeson, etc. Black tomatoes are some of the best as far as flavor, especially in hot climates (I have heard from Yankees that they aren't so impressive in cold climates).
Looks: Mine are large cherries, purple with greenish tops. The gel on the inside around the seeds is dark green. "Green shoulders" seems to be typical of black tomatoes. I think it looks cool.
Taste: Yep, they're good! Black tomato flavor in a cherry. They're very rich and also nice and sweet.
Growth: I ended up with six plants. It looks like they're turning out to be the first to die in the summer heat, which was not expected. Usually cherry tomatoes are some of the toughest plants. However, they are also planted on the edge of the garden and may be having trouble competing with Bermuda grass. Like all cherry tomatoes, they are giving good yields (or they were until the heat got them). Plenty for snacking, salads, tossing with pasta, etc.
Grow again?: Yes. I have saved seeds and will definitely grow them again for the delicious flavor.
Hawkins Plum
This is a tomato I got from this guy posting to GardenWeb. He says it's a family heirloom grown by his father-in-law, then his dad, and then by him. I couldn't resist that story, so I requested some. Later I found out there's a totally different tomato called Mr. Hawkins, so I'm calling this one Hawkins Plum to avoid confusion.
Looks: Turned out to be a paste-type tomato, like a Roma, but bigger. Some have pointy bottoms and some don't.
Taste: Well, it's a paste tomato, which means it's drier than other tomatoes with a thicker skin and small seed cavities to make canning easier. These types of tomatoes are not meant to eat fresh, though some people do like them for salads or sandwiches because they're less wet so they don't make your bread soggy and dilute your salad dressing. They taste good, but again, are not really meant for eating fresh, so don't have much of a sweet or intense flavor and are kind of tough. Still much better than any store bought Roma, though.
Growth: I ended up with four very healthy plants. I was excited, but the yields are a disappointment. To be fair, four plants is not very many, but paste tomatoes are supposed to have heavy yields so you'll get a lot at a time to make a big batch of sauce. I would probably have more of these if half of them weren't rotten! Between blossom end rot and cracking, I've thrown away at least half of them because they were too rotten. The picture is of some I just picked that aren't even quite ripe yet, but I wanted to get them before they had a chance to rot. The original guy they're from listed his location as Florida, so I thought his tomato should be able to grow here, but maybe it's too dry for them or something.
Grow again?: Maybe I'll give them one more chance, as I did save seeds, but his variety is On Notice (as Stephan Colbert would say), and may be culled if it turns out this wasn't just a particularly bad year for them. I have seeds for another paste variety I got from Baker Creek called Big Month that I'll probably grow next year to see if they do better. To be completely fair, one of these years I may do a paste tomato trial, growing equal numbers of several varieties at one time to give them a fair comparison.
Mortgage Lifter
Ah yes, the famous Mortgage Lifter tomato. I'm not going to repeat the whimsical story of Radiator Charlie and his famous Mortgage Lifter tomatoes here, because every heirloom gardener is sick of hearing it. If you haven't heard the story, then you can Google it or just look in every single catalog that has heirloom tomatoes ever.
Looks: Nice sized pink beefsteak tomatoes. Not huge, but plenty big enough for me. Only a little bit of ribbing or none at all.
Taste: Nice and sweet. Small seed cavities throughout. Good for sandwiches.
Growth: This was my favorite tomato of 2010. I grew seven plants and got more Mortgage Lifters than any other tomato. The plants are still producing now, even when Black Cherry, Red Brandywine, and Hawkins are starting to poop out. On the other hand, these tomatoes might have gotten the best spot of all the tomatoes. They were planted in an area that I think was garden before under previous tenants, since the soil looked like it had been amended with lots of peat moss. This may have given them an unfair advantage over the other tomatoes.
Grow again?: Yes. They seem to be pretty heat tolerant and nice producers with good flavor. I can see this being a pretty reliable tomato to plant year after year.
Also, my first Mortgage Lifter tomato of the season was also my most, um, interesting looking tomato of this year...
Heh heh heh... heh heh heh heh... Um, but seriously, this is called fasciation, and probably had something to do with this being the first fruit my Mortgage Lifters set. It started out as two flowers fused together, and ended up with a conjoined twin tomato. It tasted fine, and the rest of the tomatoes were normal.
Pink Ponderosa
Looks: Another pink beefsteak tomato, this one on average seems bigger than Mortgage Lifter, with more ribbing. However, I also only got two plants, and one of them was kind of sickly, so it's hard to judge this tomato very well.
Taste: This one was good too. I should to a side-by-side comparison between it and Mortgage Lifter some time. Sorry my taste descriptions are not so detailed this year.
Growth: Well, I only got two plants, and one didn't do much, so I really only have one healthy plant, and they are both getting crowded out by my cushaw squash now. However, that one healthy plant seems to be doing well. It's still got tomatoes on it even this late in the year. If I had half a dozen healthy ones instead of that one, it might be a more obviously good tomato.
Grow again?: Yes, I'm giving this one another chance. One plant is not enough to judge. That one plant seems to be doing well, so I've saved seeds and will try it again some time.
Red Brandywine
This is a completely different variety from the famous Pink Brandywine. Like all my tomatoes this year, it's a regular leaf indeterminate (except Hawkins was determinate). It's supposed to tolerate heat better than Pink Brandywine.
Looks: Rounder than Mortgage Lifter, with deeper ribbing. And, of course, red instead of pink (the lighting on my pictures wasn't very good and doesn't show the true color).
Taste: Less seedy than Mortgage Lifter or Pink Ponderosa. I think if I ever just give up on paste tomatoes and grow regular tomatoes for sauce, Red Brandywine would be a good one for that. Seems to be a little more strongly flavored than the pink tomatoes. Also good for sandwiches.
Growth: I ended up with eight plants, but the Mortgage Lifters seem to be out-producing them. However, this could be because of location in the garden. The Red Brandywines are on the same side as the Black Cherries where they have to battle Bermuda grass. They're starting to poop out in the heat now too. Only two plants are still looking decent.
Grow again?: Yes. Even though they didn't do as well as ML, they still did pretty darn well considering the circumstances, and turned out to be a better sauce tomato than Hawkins Plum. They deserve another chance.
Yellow Pear
Yes, I also got the famous/infamous Yellow Pear in trade, even though I didn't ask for them.
Looks: Really cute pear shaped, cherry sized tomatoes. Rich yellow color. Looks good mixed with other colors of small tomatoes in a salad. Unfortunately, looks are about all they have going for them.
Taste: None to speak of. Ok, well, that's a bit harsh, but they're only a little bit better than store bought. Then again, the other small tomato I grew this year was the delicious Black Cherry, which may have made them seem even worse. Also they have really tough skins and aren't very juicy. I made a bunch into tomato jam so hopefully the other flavors will help them along a bit. Plus the jam turned out yellow which was cool. I also put them in my peach salsa since the main flavor there was peaches and not tomatoes.
Growth: Very prolific! I've got lots and lots of these little duds. I'm picking lots of them and lots of them are still falling on the ground. I also ended up with the most plants of these. Ten germinated and grew up nice and healthy. One problem is they split when it rains, probably because of the tough skin, but I have so many that I don't care.
Grow again?: Not on purpose, no. I might end up with volunteers because of the ones falling on the ground, but this is the only tomato this year I didn't save seeds from. They just don't have any flavor, and there are other cute/pretty tomatoes out there that probably taste better. Next year I'm growing Dr. Carolyn, which is a round yellow cherry.
Well, that's my 2010 tomato report! To recap, Mortgage Lifter, Black Cherry, and Red Brandywine all passed with flying colors. Pink Ponderosa might have stood out better if I had more plants. Hawkins had too much BER, so it's a "maybe", and Yellow Pear was a dud. Tomatoes I have in my seed collection but didn't grow this year are Arkansas Traveller, Big Month, Bloody Butcher, Cherokee Purple, Dr. Carolyn, Pink Brandywine, and Riesentraube, so at least some of those will probably make an appearance next year. Since those are all full packets from 2009, I should be able to grow a more even number of each variety for better comparisons. And by then my garden should be in better shape, with better soil and less Bermuda grass, so I should get even better tomatoes.
I wanted to make this sort of like the tomato tastings on this blog, but I don't know if I can manage to go into that much detail on the flavor notes. After years without a garden, I'm still a bit too "YAY REAL TOMATOES!" to be very discerning. But I'll try to be as detailed as possible.
It's also a little unfair this year, because all the tomatoes I grew were from very old seeds I got in an online trade from 2005 that I was afraid wouldn't even germinate. I ended up with very uneven numbers of plants for each variety, which makes it hard to judge them on production (I don't really want to go to the trouble of keeping track of lbs. per plant). Also, since it's the first year of vegetable gardening in this location, the tomatoes have had to battle things like poor soil and Bermuda grass. Because of these things, I am hesitant to be too harsh on the little guys.
Black Cherry
This a cherry version of the "black" type of tomato (which are really a dark purple), such as Cherokee Purple, Black from Tula, Paul Robeson, etc. Black tomatoes are some of the best as far as flavor, especially in hot climates (I have heard from Yankees that they aren't so impressive in cold climates).
Looks: Mine are large cherries, purple with greenish tops. The gel on the inside around the seeds is dark green. "Green shoulders" seems to be typical of black tomatoes. I think it looks cool.
Taste: Yep, they're good! Black tomato flavor in a cherry. They're very rich and also nice and sweet.
Growth: I ended up with six plants. It looks like they're turning out to be the first to die in the summer heat, which was not expected. Usually cherry tomatoes are some of the toughest plants. However, they are also planted on the edge of the garden and may be having trouble competing with Bermuda grass. Like all cherry tomatoes, they are giving good yields (or they were until the heat got them). Plenty for snacking, salads, tossing with pasta, etc.
Grow again?: Yes. I have saved seeds and will definitely grow them again for the delicious flavor.
Hawkins Plum
This is a tomato I got from this guy posting to GardenWeb. He says it's a family heirloom grown by his father-in-law, then his dad, and then by him. I couldn't resist that story, so I requested some. Later I found out there's a totally different tomato called Mr. Hawkins, so I'm calling this one Hawkins Plum to avoid confusion.
Looks: Turned out to be a paste-type tomato, like a Roma, but bigger. Some have pointy bottoms and some don't.
Taste: Well, it's a paste tomato, which means it's drier than other tomatoes with a thicker skin and small seed cavities to make canning easier. These types of tomatoes are not meant to eat fresh, though some people do like them for salads or sandwiches because they're less wet so they don't make your bread soggy and dilute your salad dressing. They taste good, but again, are not really meant for eating fresh, so don't have much of a sweet or intense flavor and are kind of tough. Still much better than any store bought Roma, though.
Growth: I ended up with four very healthy plants. I was excited, but the yields are a disappointment. To be fair, four plants is not very many, but paste tomatoes are supposed to have heavy yields so you'll get a lot at a time to make a big batch of sauce. I would probably have more of these if half of them weren't rotten! Between blossom end rot and cracking, I've thrown away at least half of them because they were too rotten. The picture is of some I just picked that aren't even quite ripe yet, but I wanted to get them before they had a chance to rot. The original guy they're from listed his location as Florida, so I thought his tomato should be able to grow here, but maybe it's too dry for them or something.
Grow again?: Maybe I'll give them one more chance, as I did save seeds, but his variety is On Notice (as Stephan Colbert would say), and may be culled if it turns out this wasn't just a particularly bad year for them. I have seeds for another paste variety I got from Baker Creek called Big Month that I'll probably grow next year to see if they do better. To be completely fair, one of these years I may do a paste tomato trial, growing equal numbers of several varieties at one time to give them a fair comparison.
Mortgage Lifter
Ah yes, the famous Mortgage Lifter tomato. I'm not going to repeat the whimsical story of Radiator Charlie and his famous Mortgage Lifter tomatoes here, because every heirloom gardener is sick of hearing it. If you haven't heard the story, then you can Google it or just look in every single catalog that has heirloom tomatoes ever.
Looks: Nice sized pink beefsteak tomatoes. Not huge, but plenty big enough for me. Only a little bit of ribbing or none at all.
Taste: Nice and sweet. Small seed cavities throughout. Good for sandwiches.
Growth: This was my favorite tomato of 2010. I grew seven plants and got more Mortgage Lifters than any other tomato. The plants are still producing now, even when Black Cherry, Red Brandywine, and Hawkins are starting to poop out. On the other hand, these tomatoes might have gotten the best spot of all the tomatoes. They were planted in an area that I think was garden before under previous tenants, since the soil looked like it had been amended with lots of peat moss. This may have given them an unfair advantage over the other tomatoes.
Grow again?: Yes. They seem to be pretty heat tolerant and nice producers with good flavor. I can see this being a pretty reliable tomato to plant year after year.
Also, my first Mortgage Lifter tomato of the season was also my most, um, interesting looking tomato of this year...
Heh heh heh... heh heh heh heh... Um, but seriously, this is called fasciation, and probably had something to do with this being the first fruit my Mortgage Lifters set. It started out as two flowers fused together, and ended up with a conjoined twin tomato. It tasted fine, and the rest of the tomatoes were normal.
Pink Ponderosa
Looks: Another pink beefsteak tomato, this one on average seems bigger than Mortgage Lifter, with more ribbing. However, I also only got two plants, and one of them was kind of sickly, so it's hard to judge this tomato very well.
Taste: This one was good too. I should to a side-by-side comparison between it and Mortgage Lifter some time. Sorry my taste descriptions are not so detailed this year.
Growth: Well, I only got two plants, and one didn't do much, so I really only have one healthy plant, and they are both getting crowded out by my cushaw squash now. However, that one healthy plant seems to be doing well. It's still got tomatoes on it even this late in the year. If I had half a dozen healthy ones instead of that one, it might be a more obviously good tomato.
Grow again?: Yes, I'm giving this one another chance. One plant is not enough to judge. That one plant seems to be doing well, so I've saved seeds and will try it again some time.
Red Brandywine
This is a completely different variety from the famous Pink Brandywine. Like all my tomatoes this year, it's a regular leaf indeterminate (except Hawkins was determinate). It's supposed to tolerate heat better than Pink Brandywine.
Looks: Rounder than Mortgage Lifter, with deeper ribbing. And, of course, red instead of pink (the lighting on my pictures wasn't very good and doesn't show the true color).
Taste: Less seedy than Mortgage Lifter or Pink Ponderosa. I think if I ever just give up on paste tomatoes and grow regular tomatoes for sauce, Red Brandywine would be a good one for that. Seems to be a little more strongly flavored than the pink tomatoes. Also good for sandwiches.
Growth: I ended up with eight plants, but the Mortgage Lifters seem to be out-producing them. However, this could be because of location in the garden. The Red Brandywines are on the same side as the Black Cherries where they have to battle Bermuda grass. They're starting to poop out in the heat now too. Only two plants are still looking decent.
Grow again?: Yes. Even though they didn't do as well as ML, they still did pretty darn well considering the circumstances, and turned out to be a better sauce tomato than Hawkins Plum. They deserve another chance.
Yellow Pear
Yes, I also got the famous/infamous Yellow Pear in trade, even though I didn't ask for them.
Looks: Really cute pear shaped, cherry sized tomatoes. Rich yellow color. Looks good mixed with other colors of small tomatoes in a salad. Unfortunately, looks are about all they have going for them.
Taste: None to speak of. Ok, well, that's a bit harsh, but they're only a little bit better than store bought. Then again, the other small tomato I grew this year was the delicious Black Cherry, which may have made them seem even worse. Also they have really tough skins and aren't very juicy. I made a bunch into tomato jam so hopefully the other flavors will help them along a bit. Plus the jam turned out yellow which was cool. I also put them in my peach salsa since the main flavor there was peaches and not tomatoes.
Growth: Very prolific! I've got lots and lots of these little duds. I'm picking lots of them and lots of them are still falling on the ground. I also ended up with the most plants of these. Ten germinated and grew up nice and healthy. One problem is they split when it rains, probably because of the tough skin, but I have so many that I don't care.
Grow again?: Not on purpose, no. I might end up with volunteers because of the ones falling on the ground, but this is the only tomato this year I didn't save seeds from. They just don't have any flavor, and there are other cute/pretty tomatoes out there that probably taste better. Next year I'm growing Dr. Carolyn, which is a round yellow cherry.
Well, that's my 2010 tomato report! To recap, Mortgage Lifter, Black Cherry, and Red Brandywine all passed with flying colors. Pink Ponderosa might have stood out better if I had more plants. Hawkins had too much BER, so it's a "maybe", and Yellow Pear was a dud. Tomatoes I have in my seed collection but didn't grow this year are Arkansas Traveller, Big Month, Bloody Butcher, Cherokee Purple, Dr. Carolyn, Pink Brandywine, and Riesentraube, so at least some of those will probably make an appearance next year. Since those are all full packets from 2009, I should be able to grow a more even number of each variety for better comparisons. And by then my garden should be in better shape, with better soil and less Bermuda grass, so I should get even better tomatoes.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
The Peach Harvest and Salsa Amarillo
Last week my CSA farmer invited me to pick peaches in exchange for taking some of the bruised ones home that wouldn't sell at the farmer's market. I ended up with an overflowing box of them. I'm not sure how many pounds I got, but it was a lot. I had to scramble to use them up before they rotted.
I made a couple of different jams, Peach Cardamom Jam and Peach Rum Preserves. I went ahead and left the skins on my peaches when I used them. The skin is so thin, I don't think it does any harm.
Also made a celebratory peach cobbler, and filled up the dehydrator twice over with peaches (stored the finished ones in the Mason jars shown here). It was hard to not eat all the dried peaches straight out of the dehydrator!
And finally, being a chile lover, I made a little concoction I'm going to call Salsa Amarillo, or maybe I should call it Salsa Melocotón, but I like Salsa Amarillo. I've heard of Salsa Roja (salsa made with red tomatoes) and Salsa Verde (salsa made with tomatillos), but I haven't heard of Salsa Amarillo, and a Googling only came up with a recipe that was the same as tomato salsa except it used yellow tomatoes instead of red.
My yellow salsa is special because it's made with peaches along with the yellow tomatoes. I modified this recipe, halving all the amounts just in case it didn't turn out well, using yellow pear tomatoes from my garden, yellow bell peppers from my CSA bag, and ripe orange Serrano peppers instead of green jalapenos. I thought since the peaches were pretty sweet, this salsa could stand up to some extra heat, because sweetness tends to mellow out chile heat.
I ended up with five 12 oz jars of salsa plus a little more to eat as soon as it was chilled. It was really tasty, but could have used more heat. It was only medium-hot, and I was going for a pretty hot salsa. I think next year I won't halve the recipe, and use orange Habaneros instead of Serranos to make it good and hot.
I love peach season. When I have my own place I am definitely planting peach trees.
I made a couple of different jams, Peach Cardamom Jam and Peach Rum Preserves. I went ahead and left the skins on my peaches when I used them. The skin is so thin, I don't think it does any harm.
Also made a celebratory peach cobbler, and filled up the dehydrator twice over with peaches (stored the finished ones in the Mason jars shown here). It was hard to not eat all the dried peaches straight out of the dehydrator!
And finally, being a chile lover, I made a little concoction I'm going to call Salsa Amarillo, or maybe I should call it Salsa Melocotón, but I like Salsa Amarillo. I've heard of Salsa Roja (salsa made with red tomatoes) and Salsa Verde (salsa made with tomatillos), but I haven't heard of Salsa Amarillo, and a Googling only came up with a recipe that was the same as tomato salsa except it used yellow tomatoes instead of red.
My yellow salsa is special because it's made with peaches along with the yellow tomatoes. I modified this recipe, halving all the amounts just in case it didn't turn out well, using yellow pear tomatoes from my garden, yellow bell peppers from my CSA bag, and ripe orange Serrano peppers instead of green jalapenos. I thought since the peaches were pretty sweet, this salsa could stand up to some extra heat, because sweetness tends to mellow out chile heat.
I ended up with five 12 oz jars of salsa plus a little more to eat as soon as it was chilled. It was really tasty, but could have used more heat. It was only medium-hot, and I was going for a pretty hot salsa. I think next year I won't halve the recipe, and use orange Habaneros instead of Serranos to make it good and hot.
I love peach season. When I have my own place I am definitely planting peach trees.