Tomato Update

We had some wicked thunderstorms work though our area last Wednesday evening. Tornadoes even touched down in several locations in southern Maine. The National Weather Service has confirmed three E1 tornadoes so far.  Surprisingly no one was hurt but there was some damage. One story in particular touched my heart. A barn collapsed in Gorham, ME. As soon as it happened, the community rushed to the site to help rescue the animals trapped in the fallen debris: Portland Press Herald “Farmers find friends indeed.”

No tornadoes here at the garden spot, but we did have some strong winds that knocked over most of the Early Girl Tomatoes in the garden:

The tomato cages bent right over. We propped them up, pounded in additional stakes, and secured them as well as we could. It’s not pretty, but it will serve for now:

So far, there were only minor casualties. Only a few stems were damaged and trimmed off and about a dozen green tomatoes were lost. The tomatoes in the Square Foot Gardens (SFG) and in the Self Watering Containers (SWC) are fine.

San-Marzano Tomatoes in the SFG:

 Roma Tomatoes in SWC:

 Bush Boy Tomatoes in SWC:

If I decide to grow tomatoes again next year, I will have to plan on a more secure support structure for those grown in the ground.

Wait, did I say “if?”

::sigh::

Well, it seems that Late Blight is creeping its way through the area once again. Earlier this week, MOFGA reported that Late Blight was confirmed in Waldoboro, Maine. Since then, a fellow home gardener and blogger in my town has also discovered late blight on some of her tomatoes. Late Blight spores can travel on wind, I fear it may be only a matter of time. So now I wait and watch and try to hope for the best, but prepare myself for the worse.

Unlike last year, at least we will enjoy a few ripe tomatoes this year:

Info on Late Blight:

MOFGA's 2010 Pest Reports - Compiled by Eric Sideman, PhD 

Cornell University “Late blight on tomato” 

Cornell University “Late blight on potato”

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Harvest Monday: July 26, 2010

Each Monday, Daphne’s Dandelions hosts “Harvest Monday” where everyone can share links to their harvest for the week. It’s fun to see what everyone is harvesting from his or her gardens in different areas.

Here in the Garden Spot, the Early Girl Tomatoes are living up to their reputation by ripening the first in the garden. The ones pictured below were allowed to ripen on the vine before harvesting:

Since the danger of Late Blight is near, all other tomatoes will be picked at first blush and placed on a windowsill inside to finish ripening. I know from my devastating Late Blight experience last year that this disease hits fast. Once you detect the tell tail signs, it will be too late to save any tomatoes. I would rather have a few ripen on a windowsill than lose them completely. I will consider them a harvest and include them in Harvest Monday photos once they are red.

Cucumbers pictured above were combined with those left over from last week’s harvest and made into Granny’s Bread & Butter Pickles.

It is a great year for blueberries. We are picking a bowlful every day and eating them by the handful, in our cereal, and as dessert topping:

Almost 5 pounds of Dark Red Norland Potatoes were harvested this week:

Again with Late Blight near, I didn’t hesitate to harvest whatever we could consume in a week. We enjoyed garlic-mashed potatoes, hash brown potatoes and onions, oven fries, and potatoes baked on the grill.

Not pictured are onions, celery, and herbs that are harvested as needed. It is so nice to run out to the garden and pick what is needed to use right away. Some cucumbers also missed their photo opportunity as I gathered them quickly to give away. I definitely overdid it with cucumber plants this year.

We are between lettuce crops now that we have cucumbers and tomatoes for salads. The last of the lettuce harvested several weeks ago and stored in the fridge was composted this week. There wasn’t much left. I am amazed at how long the lettuce stayed fresh in the refrigerator. It will be a while before the new lettuce is large enough for salads.

The melons are growing, the pole beans are flowering, and the peppers are finally forming. I am trying to keep a positive attitude, but the fact that Late Blight is in the vicinity is weighing heavily on my mind. There are 34 tomato plants and 32 feet of potatoes in the garden. All can be lost in a matter of days if Late Blight hits the garden spot.

Be sure to visit Daphne’s Dandelions to see what others are harvesting this week.

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Harvest Monday: August 9, 2010

Each Monday, Daphne’s Dandelions hosts “Harvest Monday” where everyone can share links to their harvest for the week. It’s fun to see what everyone is harvesting from his or her gardens in different areas.

The most exciting harvest this week are the tomatoes. After losing all my tomato plants to late blight last year, I may have overcompensated a bit this year in the amount of plants in the garden. Personally, I don’t like tomatoes and usually plant mostly paste varieties for making sauce and salsa. Roma and San-Marzano paste tomatoes are the varieties I am growing this year:

K loves fresh tomatoes and I wanted to plant a couple eating tomatoes for him. I had both Early Girl and Bush Boy seeds on hand. More seeds germinated than I planned and I found room in the garden for all the healthy seedlings. Seriously, is it possible to have too many tomatoes?

I made a batch of salsa with Cilantro, Onions, Peppers, and Tomatoes from the garden. I had to purchase a few Jalapeno and Bell Peppers as mine are just beginning to fruit. The picture below shows some tomatoes and the first Cayenne, Anaheim and Bell Pepper harvest of the year:

The windowsill is in constant rotation. The ripe tomatoes are washed and frozen as the new harvest is added to the windowsill:

Two gallon sized freezer bags have been filled and frozen for later processing into sauce:

Other harvest this week included more Fastbreak Melons:

Dark Red Norland Potatoes (3.375 pounds) and another Fastbreak Melon:

Some small carrots and some onions:

Three bunches of celery were harvested, sliced, and frozen for later use in soups and stuffings:

There are still a lot of cucumbers coming off the vines. I have made a couple batches of pickles and will use some for a batch of sweet relish. The rest will be given away:

This is the best year we have ever had for Blueberries. Every day we pick a bowl full and have frozen some for use future baked goods:

 This weekend, the cured garlic was also trimmed and cleaned up:

The bulbs on the left are Romanian Red which will make a return appearance in the Garden Spot. On the right are Purple Glazer. The bulbs are small and fragile. I want to try another variety.

Just a reminder, if you are planning on growing garlic, now is the time to get your order in. I purchased my garlic seed bulbs from wegrowgarlic.com last year. I noticed this year they are already sold out of many varieties.

Be sure to visit Daphne’s Dandelions to see what others are harvesting this week.

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Harvest Monday: August 23, 2010

Each Monday, Daphne’s Dandelions hosts “Harvest Monday” where everyone can share links to their harvest for the week. It’s fun to see what everyone is harvesting from his or her gardens in different areas.

An abundant harvest again this week from the garden spot. The amount of tomatoes harvested each day is astounding. Most are laid out on the kitchen counter and windowsill until completely ripe, then washed and frozen in gallon sized freezer bags.

Pole beans are producing a colander full every day now. I’ve been blanching and freezing them but will begin canning some soon.

Onions were pulled and laid out on a garden bench to begin drying. They are now hanging in the shed to finish curing.

A few cayane peppers were harvested. These will be dried for red pepper flakes.

This weekend I made my first large batch of tomato sauce from this years garden tomatoes using my food strainer for the first time. I received the food strainer as a Christmas gift from my parents last year and it cuts down a ton of time by removing the tomato peeling and seeds from raw tomatoes. The sauce simmered all day yesterday and will be divided up and stored in freezer containers tonight. I am looking forward to doing it all again next weekend. There are 6 one-gallon freezer bags full of tomatoes in the chest freezer and more tomatoes coming in each day. This year’s tomato harvest is making up for last years disappointing loss to late blight.

Be sure to visit Daphne’s Dandelions to see what others are harvesting this week.

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