Tag Archives: garden

“Early” Season Tomatoes

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In our neck of the woods (Inland Northwest – Spokane and surrounding areas) summer seems to come later and later. Lately, June seems to be more rainy than usual. Last year, I started telling everyone that tomatoes were a fall crop!

I entered several in the fair and by the time it rolled around in the beginning of September, I still didn’t have any large tomatoes to share. I had plenty of cherry tomatoes and some smaller varieties but no prize winners… until two weeks after the fair. Sigh. After that, I had billions of tomatoes to eat and share and can (I put up 75 quarts).

One of the ways we cope with our shorter climate (and I have absolute sympathy for Deer Park gardeners) is to plant “early” tomatoes. One thing I have found is that they aren’t substantially earlier than mid-season tomatoes. As for late season, I always get beautiful crops of those also, probably due to our actual frost date being sometime in later October. Here is some info on early tomatoes.

Early season tomatoes ripen fruit in 55 to 70 days after being transplanted to the garden as 6-8 week old plants.

Because great tomato flavor comes with just the right combination of sugars and acids that are the product of sunlight and photosynthesis, early season tomatoes are often dismissed as less tasty than mid- and late-season tomatoes (which require 80 to more than 100 days to ripen) because they spend fewer days in the sun.

Many “early” tomatoes—which are often smaller and less leafy than later season tomatoes–can flower and set fruit in cool, early-season conditions. Given optimal conditions, early-season tomatoes can produce fruit equally flavorful to the best late-season varieties. I like the pink “Early Wonder”, “Stupice”, “Anna Russian”, and “Subarctic Plenty”. Those are very tasty.

Cherry tomatoes are also earlier than the larger varieties but that is another post.

Anna Russian (open-pollinated). Slicing tomato. Pink-red, heart-shaped, 10 oz. fruits; juicy, excellent sweet flavor. 70 days. Indeterminate.

Early Wonder (open-pollinated). Slicing tomato. Dark-pink skinned to 6 oz.; full flavored. 55 days. Determinate.

Stupice (open-pollinated). Slicing tomato. Red-skinned, small to medium-sized to 4 oz.; sweet, juicy. 50 days. Dwarf determinate, compact. For short-season regions. From Czechoslovakia.

Sub Arctic Plenty (open-pollinated). Slicing tomato. Small, round to 2 oz.; good flavor. 50 days. Determinate. Compact. Sets fruit in cold weather. Those were the last to succumb to the weather and I loved the taste.

In order: Anna Russian, Early Wonder, Subarctic, and Stupice.

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Peppers Are Finally Coming Up

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Boy, it’s taken a very long time for them to start germinating.Yesterday, the serranos started poking there heads above” ground”.  One of the new varieties that I am growing is called “Fruit Basket” It is supposed to be for hanging pots. They are 68 days. Its low, spreading form reaches just 10 to 12 inches tall but spreads up to 2 feet. According to the literature, it is supposed to be a sweet bell with a peppery bite and sometimes will grow as large as 5″ long. I can’t wait to try it!

When Gardening Becomes A Chore

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Does this ever happen to anyone? Gardening becomes more work than pleasure? For me, it’s usually when I have too much on my plate. My goal this year is to enjoy it more often and ignore the weeds and all the things I need to do. All the visions I have of the garden rooms, immaculately weeded beds, lush plantings, rose covered wisteria, sitting areas, fire pit, etc. Last year, I did manage to go out and sit in a chair, in my garden and just feel the sun on  my face and listen to the birds singing. It was hard to ignore the grass growing in the flower beds and the tomatoes that needed picking, and the flowers that needed deadheading and wait, that patch of lawn needs watering, oh where did I put my watering wand? I think you all know what I mean!Image

Big Rainbow on a Scale

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Big Rainbow on a Scale

Almost 3 pounds and I can prove it!

Gardening Will Always Be Important To Me

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When I was a kid, I don’t remember a special affinity for gardening. All I remember was weeding and more weeding. My mom says that I remember incorrectly and that I did have an interest. Fascinating what we remember and what we don’t. 

Today it is a different story. I love the feel of sun on my face when I’m in the garden whether working or just sitting and enjoying the view. The bright colors, sweetly scented flowers and delicious food that I get from my garden all contribute to my love of gardening. The smell of geraniums and tomato plants. The taste of Sungold cherry tomatoes, warm from the vine. The smell of the earth in spring. Digging home grown carrots in colors of purple, white, yellow and orange in early spring. What’s not to love! I even like weeding. My husband and I used that as our “quiet” time when all the kids were still at home. We still go out and weed together in the evenings. It’s cheaper than therapy!Image

 

Orange Russian Tomato

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Orange Russian Tomato

Exceptionally beautiful tomato, one of my favorites. It truly is as striking as this photo. some of them get very big, others are more moderated. The one in front is heart shaped and the one in back is a little more round. Their golden flesh is marbled inside with streaks of red. They are delicious and sweet, somewhat fruity in flavor, and are meaty with very few seeds. Indeterminate. 85 days

Signs of Life

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Signs of Life

Early last week I planted some seeds that need longer grow times than others. They are geraniums, lobelia, alyssum, snaps, hollyhocks, petunias, foxglove, stock and impatiens. I also planted 42 “Sungold” tomato seeds in a small cell type of flat as an experiment. (The only drawback is that it needs constant water. These are under lights in the house. My onions (5 kinds) are out in the small greenhouse since they don’t need as much warmth to germinate. Anyways…there are finally signs of life! It’s always exciting to see green coming up in the little flats, The hollyhocks were the first to show themselves, followed by the “Paint Box” geraniums. Yeah! We look at them every morning and night to see what’s new. I divided my seed packets into early, mid and later timeframes to start them. My tomatoes won’t be started until March, the peppers a little earlier. The funny things is, by the end of the season (fall) I am ready to lay down asphalt in the garden. I get so tired of weeding and dragging hose. I swear I’m done with gardening. In january the seed catalogs start coming and I think it’s like having a baby, you forget how much it hurt and can’t wait to do it again. Thats how it is with gardening…OR… maybe it’s just being tired of gray skies and brown lawn.

Catalog Fever: Botanical Interests

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I’ve started going through my seed catalogs. If I recycled them by the pound I’d have about 20 dollars worth. Some of these catalogs are miniature works of art. Beautiful pictures and fascinating information make it a pleasure to read through them. So far, I’ve gotten through 3 catalogs. One I’d like to recommend is “Botanical Interests”. Their website is http://www.botanicalinterests.com I was intrigued with their hand drawn illustrations which brought out the beauty in the flowers and the vegetables. Of course I’ve always thought that veggies are decorative in themselves. This year I will order the “Calypso Beans”, Lettuce; “Butterhead Speckles,” and a couple of melons; “Minnesota Midget” and “Canary Tweety”. I know, I know, I’ve never had good luck with melons but these look interesting and have shorter maturation dates. All gardeners keep trying, don’t we? For flowers, I will order a dianthus called” Rainbow Loveliness” one of the sweetest smelling and most delicate flowers I’ve ever had the pleasure to grow. I’m a big fan of impatiens and they have “Swirl Monet Blend”, a picotee blossom that looks like it’s in shades of pink. With all of the catalogs out there, most of whom are offering the same varieties, it can be hard to choose who to order from. It’s nice when a catalog goes above and beyond just trying to sell you seeds and treats you to a satisfying, visual experience, That alone sets them apart from the crowd and makes me want to purchase from them. Check out their catalog!