Decisions, Decisions ....

It's one of my favorite times of the year ... the seed catalogs have arrived and I am exploring possibilities.  First and most important! ...

Why is the choice of the tomatoes for the year so hard to make?  Because we have one chance at it and if you pick the wrong ones we're stuck with it until next year (duh!)?  I'm rolling the dice and going with almost all new ones this year.  My goal is to come up with an early and a later season canning tomato (San Marzano fills one of the late slots), early and late slicers (Cherokee Purple is one of these) and early and late general salad tomatoes. (Here is this years' cast of characters and what the seed catalog says about them ...

Siletz

OP : Early Season, 52 days. Determinate.

Developed by Dr. James Baggett of Oregon State University. Plants do very well in cooler climates producing deep-red, excellently flavored round, slicing tomatoes 8-10 oz. Very good flavor considering how early a tomato it is.

Bloody Butcher

OP : Early Season, 55 days.  Indeterminate

A sensational and very popular, early producing tomato variety. A good choice for a tomato as you wait for later varieties to harvest. Our organic tomato seeds produce indeterminate, vigorous, potato-leaf plants that yield copious amounts of 2", 4 oz, fruits that are deep-red color, inside and out. Five to nine fruits per cluster with a rich heirloom tomato flavor. Plant produces well until frost. A good tomato variety for cooler growing regions since fruits ripen quickly. A good canning tomato. 

Beaver Lodge Slicer

OP : Early Season, 55 days.  Determinate

Bred at the Beaverlodge Research Center in Alberta Canada. One of the earliest maturing tomato varieties (55 days). Our TomatoFest organic seeds produce short, compact, determinate, plants that are loaded with 2", smooth, red, round tomatoes that contain rich and well balanced flavors. A surprisingly big flavor for such an early tomato. This is a perfect tomato variety for growing in a hanging basket or in a patio container. A good choice for cooler and foggy growing regions like Northern California.

Moskovich

Heirloom : Early Season,  60 days.  Semideterminate.

An wonderful, extra-early tomato. This heirloom yields an abundance of deep red, 4-6 oz., smooth, cold-tolerant, round and slightly flattened fruits with a luscious, rich taste.

Marmande

Heirloom : Early Season, 67 days. Indeterminate

French heirloom. Produces dependable heavy, clusters of 6-ounce deep red, slightly flattened, oblate fruits that are meaty, lightly lobed and contain an excellent, complex, slightly tart taste. I have found that this variety also does well in the cooler summer conditions of California's bay areas. An all-'round great tomato for slicing.

Black Krim

Heirloom : Mid Season, 75 days.  Indeterminate.

(aka Black Crimson and Black Crim) Originally from the Isle of Krim on the Black Sea in the former Soviet Union. This rare, and outstanding tomato yields 3-4" slightly flattened dark-red (mahogany-colored) slightly maroon, beefsteak tomatoes with deep green shoulders. Green gel around seeds. Fantastic, intense, slightly salty taste (which is great for those not wanting to add salt to their tomatoes).

Sam Marzano

Heirloom : Mid Season, 78 days.  Semi determinate

From Italy. Compact and prolicic producer of bright-red, slim, 2-3 inch, plum-type, fruit over a long season. A paste tomato with pointy end, heavy walls and little juice, so it's great for tomato sauce. Crack resistant. Better tasting than Roma.

  

Cherokee Purple

Heirloom : Late Season,  80 days.  Indeterminate

Heirloom from Tennessee cultivated by Native American Cherokee tribe.  Very productive plants producing loads of dusky rose to purple colored, 12 oz.-1 lb., beefsteak tomatoes with deep red colors to the interior flesh and dark shoulders. A very popular market variety because of it's rich, complex and sweet flavors. One of the best tasting heirloom tomatoes

I ordered all of my seed from TomatoFest this year ... mostly because the were the only place that had both San Marzano and Bloody Butcher and since they have a minimum order amount I just continued with them .... 

We'll see ... hope I'm not posting the "Attack" poster again later this season ....

Enjoy!

Harvest Monday ... They're Ba...ack!!

I really did have the best intentions of keeping my blog up to date ... but we had an unusually long, warm summer here in the Pacific Northwest which resulted in ...

I have been spending my days the last couple of weeks harvesting and preserving tomatoes without much time for anything else ...

This is what I picked just this morning ...

Today I'm going to do the harvest side of the tomato report and join with the other gardeners on Daphne's Dandelions and then for Thursday's Kitchen Cupboard with Robin I'll share photos and recipes for all the goodies I have been putting up.

First, the Keepers.

The star performer this year was San Marzano.  The plant, a semi-determinate heirloom, was a gift from my gardening friend Dorothy and will be on my "must grow" list from now on.

I have harvested close to a hundred of these pear shaped paste tomatoes and there are still at least that many still ripening on the plant!

Another winner was Amish Paste.  Another heirloom, this was my first year growing this variety and it's a definite keeper.

These are really big paste tomatoes.  It is a late season variety and I need to remember to get it started early so all of the fruit can ripen before the first frost.

An oldie but goodie, my Cherokee Purple outperformed itself this year ...

Another heirloom, these are huge beefsteak tomatoes ... great tasting and great for slicing onto a hamburger or BLT.

Another gift from Dorothy, Indigo Rose was a bit of a surprise.

The fruits are much smaller than I expected them to be, but their unusual color and taste made them a perfect addition to a salad.

And finally another all time favorite, Sweet 100.  There have been many "upgrades" to this variety but the original is still my choice for a cherry tomato.

And the list of "don't bother with these again" ...

Oregon Spring: grows and produces well but the fruits are tasteless and a bit meally.

Sungold: I just don't like the way these taste.

Saucy Paste: not as prolific as Amish Paste or San Marzano and much smaller fruits.

Brandywine: I can never get this one to grow well.


The "give them one more chance" list ...

Siletz: plants were mislabeled and accidentally discarded.

Stupice:               ditto

Micro Tom: I over planted the basket.


And finally the list of "new to me" that I will try next year ...

Bloody Butcher, Moskovich and Marmande.

That's it for the tomato harvest report of 2012 ...

Enjoy!

Harvest Monday ... and "The Farm" in June

This is today's harvest ...

A crisp head lettuce, a cabbage, some radishes and the first of the garlic scapes.

The lettuce and radishes will be in a salad tonight and I'll make a stir fry with the cabbage later in the week. 

The garlic scapes went straight into some white wine vinegar with some basil.  They will sit in a dark place for about a month and then I'll have a lovely flavored vinegar for salad dressing and flavored cheeses.  Don't you just love my pretty new Weck Jars?

I'm joining other bloggers over at Daphne's Dandelions as we share our weekly harvests...it's fun to see what others are harvesting and what they are cooking up with it...check it out!

"The Farm" is looking great!

Here's a shot taken across four of the raised beds.

I have harvested the Asian Greens that were in the back of this bed, so all that is left is some celery, lettuces and radishes.  I need to replant with the next crop of carrots this week.

The first crops of carrots and beets are sizing up!

Broccoli, peas and cabbages looking good.

I'm still covering the tomato bed at night ... the indeterminates have outgrown the hoops so I had to add an extra riser.  Temperature are supposed to be warming up so I hope to stop having to cover them before they outgrow the riser!  Of course, no sign of tomatoes yet ... :(  Do you see the open vent and fan in the greenhouse in the background?  The vent automatically opens and the fan comes on if the temperature in the greenhouse goes above 80 degrees.  Have I mentioned lately that I love my greenhouse?  Thanks, FitzGyver :)

Tomatoes, eggplants, peppers and tomatillos in the greenhouse ...

There are three Micro Tom tomato plants in this basket.  Look how many blossoms there are on these tiny tomato plants!  I have high hopes for this variety to be a winter producer in the greenhouse under lights!

Wine barrel potatoes looking good!

More potatoes and horseradish sizing up.

The garlic is almost ready for harvest ... I think 2 or 3 more weeks.

And the latest addition to "The Farm" ... a temporary pole and runner bean trellis.  No sign of germination yet but I expect to see them any day if the weather continues warm.

Overall I'm pretty happy with the progress with "The Farm" so far.

Next week I'll give you an update on "The Garden" ...

Enjoy!

So Many Tomatoes, So Little Room ...

Just a quick little post today.  Cindy of SB Canning (if you do any canning you NEED to check out this web site!) has come up with an incredible guide to the bazillion different varieties of tomatoes out there and gave me an OK to share it with you here on my blog ...

I have highlighted the ones that I am growing this year.  I'd be interested in hearing what varieties you plant and why you like them ...



Isn't this great??!!

If you know of a variety not listed Cindy would love to hear about it so she can add it to the list.

And if you are on Facebook check out the SB Canning Page ... tons of great information there!

Enjoy!

Oven Roasted Tomato Sauce

It's been a while since I posted; sorry about that but it's been busy in the kitchen here the last couple of weeks.  First I bought 60 pounds of tomatoes from a local produce shop since it didn't look like mine were going to cooperate ... then it got warm and everything ripened at once ... I picked another 60 pounds of my own tomatoes over a period of four days!  So there's sauce, salsa, catsup and more all in various stages of completion.  I'm really pleased with the way the sauce turned out.

Ingredients:
20 pounds tomatoes (I used Romas), halved
3 sweet onions, coarsely chopped
12 cloves garlic, peeled and coarsely chopped
6 Tbsp olive oil
3 "Mixed Herb Blobs"  or a few sprigs each of your favorite herbs
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 cup good red wine
2 bay leaves (preferbly fresh)
citric acid (you can use bottled lemon juice but I don't care for the taste it gives the sauce)

A word about my ingredients list.  There is one thing you DON'T see listed here; salt.  I seldom use salt in my cooking; leaving it up to the diner to add it or not at the table.  I think this ought to be a law....

Place the tomatoes face-up in casserole dishes (after the first batch I used my big, rimmed cookie sheets; it went much faster as I could roast more tomatoes at the same time).  Toss the onions and garlic on top of the tomatoes and drizzle with olive oil.

 Roast at 325 degrees oven for 2 hours (I rotated the pans after the first hour to get even roasting since my stove is very old ... 1956!  I am going to have to clean the ovens again after the main portion of the fall cooking frenzy is over; this was built before self cleaning.  I'm never going to replace it since I love the second, smaller oven on the side : )

Once the vegetables have cooled there are a couple of ways you can prepare it for the sauce. I used my Victorio Strainer (you could use a food mill, food processor or an immersion blender.)

Place the strained sauce in a heavy stock pot, add the herbs, wine and bay leaves

and simmer on medium heat for an hour.

While the sauce is simmering prepare jars, lids and bands for canning ... remove hot jars from canner, add citric acid to each jar (1/2 tsp for quart jars, 1/4 tsp. for pint jars or 2 tbsp. lemon juice for quart jars, 1 tbsp for pint jars)  Ladle sauce into jars leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Wipe rim and center lid on jar.  Screw band on to fingertip tight.  Process in water bath for 40 minutes for quart jars; 35 minutes for pint jars.  Makes about 5 quarts.

Enjoy!

PS: 2/25/12  Note to self : Next fall can at least 24 quarts and 12 pints of this ...

It's Not Easy ....

Daphne has these ...

And Robin has these ...

And Laura (who lives just down the road from me) has these ....

And all I have are these ...

But I'm OK with it ... really!  I found this...

With a green tomato recipe round up ....

And, after all ...

Enjoy!

Midsummer At Paradise Cove ...

August 1st is Lughnasadh, the Celtic festival of the midsummer harvests.   To celebrate I'm participating in Northwest Edible Life's nosy neighbor homestead tour today.  Check it out!

Let's take a look at what's happening now that we have actually had a couple of weeks with some sunshine here in soggy Shelton, Washington!  We'll start in "The Garden", the "Edible Landscaping" on the lake side of the property ...

The "Three Sisters" wine barrel plantings (Anasazi and Cherokee Trail of Tears Beans with Golden Bantam corn and assorted squashes) are doing great!  I did have to add some trellising as the beans were outgrowing the corn in the cool weather we were having.

 The Delicata squash in the wooden crate ...

...has even started to form some fruit ...

The cedar log bed down by the lake is looking good ...

... more squash and Tiger Eye beans (the red gadget in the background is one of FitzGyver's toys ... a gasoline powered pump that takes water from the lake and sends it to a fire hose).

The "Dock Box" with buckets full of Rose Gold potato plants that are are starting to blossom now ...

Bingo Beans in one half wine barrel ...

Squash and Anasazi Beans in another ...

The Terrace Garden has a new resident ...

This was totally not my fault.  I HAD to buy him after reading this post on "The Bloggess".  When I saw him at the local nursery I was doomed ... so now Bunny has a friend ...

The two bay laurels in the Bell Garden have doubled in size and the herbs under the bell are ready to be cut and dried ...

I think that's about all that is new in "The Garden"; so let's take a look at " The Farm" on the back side of the house ...

The tomatoes and cucumbers are still coming along ...

I've harvested the potato bed and boxes and am getting ready to replant them ... and the logs in the garbage can are soaking in water.  Do you remember my mushroom experiment?  Well, it's time to see if it has worked; soaking the logs is the first step (I'll keep you posted).

Several of the beds have already been harvested and replanted for fall ...

These are root crops (carrots, beets and parsnips) ...

... and some green beans, beets and onions in the fore ground, snow peas and lettuce to the rear ...

More potatoes ...

...and more potatoes (I use a lot of potatoes in the winter time).

The wine barrel herb planting has come along nicely and I am very impressed with the Pesto Perpetuo Basil; that one is a keeper!

And last, but not least ...

The Cherokee Purple tomatoes outgrew their cages and needed additional support.  They are full of green tomatoes and I have my fingers crossed that the weather will continue to cooperate.

Enjoy!