Tomato Tumor Two Thousand-Ten

It happens every year and this year's no exception. I give you the annual, "Yeesh. What The Heck Is That Growing Off That Tomato?"I'm debating which Muppet it resembles: Gonzo or Dr. Bunsen Honeydew? Actually, now that I think about it, this probably would be the result of the crazy scientist and blue daredevil having a romantic night of red wine and Kenny G tones next to a roaring fire.

Topsy Turvy® Can Kiss My Asparagus

"Ready to discover the easiest way to garden?" Do tell, oh great Bill Felknor, you agricultural genius and creator of inverted 'mater makin'. What's that you say? Growing tomato plants upside down is the next best thing since sliced bread and the Flowbee? Oh my goodness, this is amazing. Wait, peppers and strawberries, too? Herbs and cucumbers? This is revolutionary. We're living in a world where everything is flipped on its head. Does this mean pineapple upside down cake is now just pineapple cake?

Alright, enough with the sarcasm.

Don't be fooled by this next "As Seen On TV" sensation. If the best way to grow produce was upside down, Mother Nature would have figured that out long before Billy was even a sprout. Fact of the matter is, growing tomatoes right-side up is more productive and cheaper. All I have to do is look in the backyard for proof.

The Bottom Two Tomatoes Are Slightly Bigger Than A Baseball

If you look at the reviews for the TT on the internet, you get a range of comments....a lot of them on the not-so-good end. People complain of small fruits, constant maintenance, difficult assembly, heavy weight, slow growth, etc. One person even said the plants started growing upwards.

It's supposed to protect from fungus, animals, and other pests. Really? My biggest nuisance is birds. So you're telling me a plant in the air is less likely to get attacked by my feathery foes because it's CLOSER to them? Riiiiiiight.

Here's what I know from my experience this year alone. I have four tomato plants. Two of them I grew from seeds. And the tomatoes on those plants are much bigger than anything that gimmicky plant could grow.

The Way Tomato Plants Should Look

Second, at $10 per tomato set-up (not including shipping and handling), plus a water wand to reach the higher root system, plus the special turvy tomato food, plus all the gear to hang the dumb thing up, plus all the same expenses I'd pay for plants, soil, and animal protection.... well, it's not hard to do the math. NOTE: I paid $4/pot and $5/metal stake two years ago. Those will last me for several growing seasons. The TT bag would be lucky to make it a couple summers.

In the end, you'd be paying a lot more for tomatoes that aren't as good as ones grown the old-fashioned way. That's more money you could spend on a Sham-Wow to wipe up your tears of disappointment over crappy tomatoes.

Do yourself a favor: keep the dirt in the dirt and the tomato vines reaching for the sky.

Good Gardener, Baaaaad Blogger

L-A-Z-Y....I ain't got no alibi, I'm lazy.

It has been almost a year since I dusted the potting mix off my hands (figuratively speaking) and posted on the TGLT blog. Many have asked why I didn't restart the blog this growing season; some asked if I even have a garden this year.

Fear not, the Harlan Farmshare does exist in 2010. No, not as some stupid Facebook game to annoy all my friends. Jeremy found a cuddly rabbit in his carrots. Help Jeremy skin, gut, cut, and braise this rabbit for Sunday stew. Unlike.

The Cherry Tomatoes Look Real Strong This Season

But it's not exactly the extravagant, wide-ranging backyard of crops as before. This year I wanted to return a little more to basics. I planted veggies and herbs I knew were pretty successful in the past. Yes, I did try a couple new things. Some have been a good showing. Some have been an epic fail. Cough...spinach. But all in all, we have our standard tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, zucchini, basil, rosemary, oregano, etc.

Today does mark a big day because we have our first large tomato ready to be picked. It's a lemon variety. Traditionally yellow in color, I let this first ripen a little longer. So now it's more orange than yellow. Kind of like that traffic light you ran through last week while late for work. It wasn't quite red...but a pretty good ways from yellow.

I promise I'll pick up steam in posting. As long as this insufferable triple-degree heat doesn't stick around all summer, I should have plenty of stuff in the garden to blab about.

Cracks in the Armor

They may not be Jon and Kate or Reggie and Kim, but a good sized bunch of tomatoes are breaking up. Ironically, our problem is occurring just about everywhere except on our celebrity tomato plant.

As you can see, many of the tomatoes (mostly on the heirloom plant) have large tears or cracks in their skins. What causes this problem? There are a few possibilities.

1)Alteration in the growth rate- The fruits may not grow at a steady rate. They can go from a slow rate to a rapid rate. In doing so, the cells in the tomato may not be able to stretch quickly enough for the skin to grow in accordance with the rest of the fruit (kind of like stretch marks on a pregnant woman).

2) Fast growth- With the high temperatures and humidity here to stay, some fruits grow very fast, and again, the skin of the tomato can't stay with the rapid growth.

3)Fluctuation in temperature- In the hot sun the fruit heats up and cools off during the night. If it's a substantial change in temps, it causes a lot of expansion and contraction. This will cause the skin to crack during those cycles.

4)Uneven nutrient levels- Plants with high levels of nitrogen and low potassium are more likely to crack.

5)Change in watering cycles- If there's a dramatic change in the cycle the plant receives water, cracking will occur.I have a feeling that a couple of these could be my problem, but I think the main issue is #5. When I went on vacation, the watering cycle changed from every other day to whenever my neighbors could water. Don't get me wrong...for two weeks of no rain, my garden stayed healthy thanks to their efforts.

But the transition from a very wet spring to a dry summer has altered the water cycle of my plants. It was just a matter of time. If the rains had been even throughout the seasons, we may not have had the problem.

The good news about cracking is it doesn't make the tomatoes any less edible. Good thing because I need a good snack while surfing the celebrity gossip websites for all the new Hollywood break-ups and drama.

The July Monthly Update

The Garden: July 23, 2009

It's a few days late, but I finally have a chance to sit down for the monthly update. This farmer spent the past week back in the homeland of Colorado. It has been a very wet (unusual) year in the Centennial Sate. But temps stayed cool longer and gardens got a late start. All the rain was doing wonders, but a severe storm packed with hail and high winds this week did extensive damage to gardens and crops across the Denver Metro area.

Back here in Virginia, Mother Nature turned off the spicket several weeks ago. The temperatures and humidity have gone up and so has the need for water in the garden. It figures this would happen the same time I leave town. Thankfully, the Mrs. did a great job of watering followed by our neighbors. Was the garden as healthy when I returned? No. But it could have been considerably worse.The Harvest After Our Colorado Trip: Tomaotes, Cucumbers, Jalapenos, Romaian Peppers and NM Chiles

• Acorn Squash-Probably suffered the most in the heat and decrease in water. Many leaves died off and the squash have not grown in size the past few weeks. I'm hoping that the plant recovers and produces great squash in its prime fall harvest season.
  
• Albatross Bell Peppers- See Romanian Sweet Peppers....because it doesn't appear we ever had Albatross Bell Peppers.
  
• Jalapeno Peppers- Wowser. This is clearly El Hefe of the garden so far. The poppers (see previous blog post) have been the hit if the season.
  
• Romanian Sweet Peppers- I thought we had one Romanian plant and one Albatross pepper plant. Well, it looks like someone mislabeled some plants because the "albatross" looked identical to the Romanian. Either way, we've already had some ripe and delicious looking peppers. I cut three off just this morning
  
• New Mexico Espanola Chiles- The chiles are growing nicely and we picked our first batch this morning.
  
• New Mexico Heritage Chiles- Along with their Espanola cousins, the Heritage are putting out a lot of peppers. Being away for a week allowed some peppers to turn red instead of a green-color harvest.
  
• Bush Whopper Cucumbers- No surprise the cucumber plant is doing fantastic. The cucumbers are big and tasty and the plant has maintained a compact growth pattern.
  
• Celebrity Tomatoes- The birds had a field day with the celebrities. With the mesh and Oswald in place, we're getting a chance to eat a lot of big, juicy tomatoes
  
• Mr. Stripey Tomatoes- By the looks of it, the Mr. Stripey's might have been mislabelled as well. The tomatoes are a solid yellow color and appear fully ripe. No stripes in sight.
  
• Patio Tomatoes- Birds had some patio 'maters, too. But the plant keeps putting out some tasty tomatoes.
  
• Supersweet 100 Tomatoes- The name fits the bill. These little red beauties are sweet and delish.
  
• Finger Carrots- I thinned out the carrot box and I think we might have some edible carrots.
  
• Lisbon Onions- Ready to use. The onions are a cool season crop, so they won't last long in the heat.
  
• Dwarf Gray Sugar Peas- After a plentiful harvest (two frozen bags worth), the heat killed the vines quickly. I pulled all the vines off the trellises.
  
• Rutabagas- Thinned them out and looking better. Still pretty small.
  
• Salad Mix- The salads we had were great. But again, the heat does this plant no favors. See you in the fall, Salad Mix.

The herbs are blowing up except for the dill and cilantro. Those are finito. Oh well, they made a good run.

The fruit plants are...well....there. Although the blueberry vines are spreading fast. Could be a great sign for next year.

It's The MOTHERF#@&ING Birds!!!

Although he is an accessory to the crimes (seen yesterday eating pieces of tomatoes), it is apparent the main culprit of the tomato killings is not Mr. Squirrel. The bandits are from above. And here is how I know:

Assuming that Mr. Squirrel was causing the problems, I erected 3 ft. high fencing around the plants. This prevented the furry rodent from climbing into the pots and grabbing the tomatoes. But this afternoon I walked out to the garden to see two birds fly out of the patio tomato plant. Sure enough the red tomatoes, untouched this morning, were damaged and clearly done so by a bird beak.After screaming in anger, frustration, and sadness, I rushed back to Home Depot to finish the protective fortress I started yesterday.

Upon my return, I wrapped the tops of the plants with a plastic mesh designed to keep birds away. With plastic ties, I secured the mesh to the plastic fencing and (hopefully) created a barrier between bird and tomato.My security plans do not end there. A good fortress needs a good guard.

Meet Oswald. His wicked stare could give anyone the heebeejeebees. Let's just hope the birds buy into the fact he guards those tomatoes with his life and is willing to take theirs' to do so.

His permanent replacement is almost ready to stand guard....but you'll meet him later.

One more thing: Don't think this crime went unpunished. I returned the favor by destroying the bird nest in our front gutter. Don't mess with the gardener or you'll get the hose.

No More Mr. Nice Gardener

Dear Mr. Squirrel,

To say we don't have the greatest relationship is putting it mildly. Despite the fact there are hundreds of yards in the neighborhood for you to dig your holes and bury your peanuts (from the old lady down the way), you have chosen to do all your excavating in my garden pots this spring. I will be honest, this greatly bothered me when the plants were still young and developing. You've ruined a few carrots, damaged the raspberry plant's roots, and disrupted the basil plant.

As the days grew longer and the plants grew taller, I let my frustrations go. Hey, we all can forgive and forget.

But today, all my goodwill was destroyed. Gone for only three days, I returned to find cold-hard evidence that your holiday weekend feast was several patio tomatoes. We're not even talking nibbles. You devoured most of the tomatoes. And to rub it in my face, you hopped over to the Mr. Stripey tomato pot and dug a hole big enough to bury Jimmy Hoffa..... again.

So consider the truce over, my furry friend. You just purchased a one-way ticket to Youregonnadieville.

Sincerely,

Your Worst Nightmare: A Pissed-Off Produce Grower

So Sorry, Safeway

Do you know the absurd amount of tomatoes I buy at the grocery store during the non-growing season? I know the produce code for vine-ripened tomatoes by heart. #4774.
Well guess what, Safeway shoppers? My fingers won't be tapping that number for the next several months.

Today I harvested the year's first tomatoes...and they are beautiful. In fact, I can't recall tomatoes from years past being so big and healthy. I picked two beasts from the Celebrity plant, two from the Patio plant, and three from the Supersweet (the name is fitting, too).
Nothing better than starting a Tuesday off with fresh garden tomaters.

Ghosts of Gardens Past

Nature always finds a way. 

I've spent countless hours and dollars cultivating the ideal environment to grow the veggies and herbs. But sometimes I ask myself if these plants REALLY need the royal treatment.

I bring this up because over the past few weeks, I've noticed a few unexpected additions to the garden. Maybe a better term for them would be "old friends".  They've popped up in the rocks and crevices between my pots. They being tomato and dill plants. My only guess about their emergence can be they grew from seeds of tomatoes dropped by last year's plants. The location of the little plants would suggest so. The dill may have come from the wind blowing seeds off the flowers of last year's dill plant.

Think about it, this is how nature did its thing well before there were any gardens. Tomatoes are simply seed carriers and provide a vehicle to drop those seeds for plants to grow in the future. The dill plant is no different than any dandelion or other weed that uses the wind to spread its offspring.

As cool as this is, I still plucked them with the weeds. Sorry, there's no pension plan or social security in this backyard. I have enough on my plate providing for this year's plants. 

Munchkin Munchies

This morning I finally saw the beginnings of sugar pea pods on the vines. We had seen countless purple blossoms open in the past couple days. One blossom on Wednesday turned to three on Thursday, seven on Friday, and almost two dozen by this morning. I only assumed the pods were soon to follow. Sure enough, two pods have begun to form next to each other. If I had to guess, there are probably other pods tucked away in the vines that I have yet to discover.

The fingernail-sized pods join a handful of celebrity tomatoes to make their debut in the garden this week. I had been pinching blossoms for the past week or two on the tomatoes and peppers in order to prevent fruit from forming so early. I know that seems a tad counter-intuitive to be stopping the plant from growing fruit. But early on in the season it's a good idea to do so and allow the plant to focus on growing bigger. I guess the celebrity tomato got a couple past me. But the good news is the celebrity plant is the largest and healthiest in the garden, so I think it can handle fruit development.

In the case of peppers, the plant adapts to pinching the first generation of blossoms and the next round will produce peppers with stronger walls and more flavor.

After Pinching the White Blossom on The Romanian Pepper Plant

For all those gardeners out there, I stress the importance of looking over the plants and keeping them well groomed right now as they grow. That means pinching suckers off the tomato plants, cutting small branches less than an inch or two from ground level, and pinching blossoms on very young plants.

Happy Memorial Day!!!

Are You There Blog? It's Me Jeremy.

The Acorn Squash Has Come A Long Way

Don't think because the blog has been quiet, so has the garden. Due to other chores and a last second assignment to Mexico City, I haven't been able to sit down and write up a little somethin'-somethin' for Two Thumbs. But fear not, there is plenty to talk about.

First, as they'd say in the racing world, the field is set. I've just about used up all free space I have for planting. So what I planted this weekend will in all likelihood be the last veggies. I've updated the veggie vitals to the right. As you can see, I finally chose my heirloom breed. Kudos once again to Merrifield Garden Center for an abundance of choices. I think I had three different varieties in my hand before going with Mr. Stripey tomatoes. But, I was very tempted to go with Pineapple tomatoes.

Aside from the stripers, I planted Romanian sweet peppers, thyme (the seedlings just weren't progressing very well), and Bush Whopper Cucumbers. The story behind the Bush Whoppers is pretty simple. Unlike its cousins, this cucumber breed grows more as a bush rather than a vine-spreading, space-swallower. Because space is already limited and I planted it next to the acorn squash, I needed a plant that wouldn't spread wild through the garden.

As for those acorn squash, you can see for yourself (above) how much they have progressed since starting as little seeds less than two months ago. 

The other seedlings are doing pretty well. One of the fastest sprouters has, without question, been the cilantro. It looked pretty rough when I first transplanted it to a large pot outside. But the steady rainfall and a little bit of sunshine have done wonders. Once we get the jalapenos and tomatoes spitting out fruits, we'll have the beginnings of a damn good guacamole. 

Our next entry we'll look at the fastest "climbers" in the garden this year. Here's a hint: Think Popeye's adopted kid.

A Neglected Garden (and Blog)

What kills a garden quickly? No farmer around to take care of it. The combination of McCain campaign embed, two weeks in St. Paul, MN for the RNC, Hurricane Ike, and a couple half week trips to Cleveland, Albuquerque, and Maine have left the poor garden neglected and fading. My boss also mentioned that the neglect has also fallen on my blog.
This weekend, it was time to catch back up and give the garden a little pep before it goes dormant in a couple months. Today, I picked all the ripe tomatoes, a bell pepper, and two cucumbers. I also cut off damaged tomatoes and some bell peppers attacked and eaten by ants.


I figure the more I can trim and pick off, the less the plants have to worry about supporting.
It had been a good month since I fed the plants, so I took 30 minutes to do that as well. Hopefully with a fresh supply of food and cooler, dry temperatures, the garden can come back alive and give us some more goodies before Thanksgiving.

The Basil Was In A Bad Need Of A "Haircut"

Ooohh-lala, Saucey!!!

Since I'm in St. Paul, MN for the next two weeks, I thought this would be a good time to fire off some recipes. What good is a vegetable garden if you don't have anything to use the harvest for?

Before I start, I will apologize for the lack of specific amounts for the ingredients. I just judge it all by eye. A smidge here, a handful there, hmmmm...might as well use all those.

The main ingredient is of course the tomatoes. You can use a couple cans of crushed tomatoes; I'm using about 25 small fresh Roma tomaters.

Ingredients:

Roma Tomatoes, blanched
Half Onion, diced
Six Garlic Cloves, minced
Handful of Basil Leaves, chopped
Couple Sprigs of Rosemary, minced
Handful of Thyme, minced
Handful of Oregano, minced
Cup of Red Wine (and use some crappy stuff..save the good wine for drinking)
1/4 Cup of Olive Oil
Kosher Salt
Black Pepper

Steps:
Heat up the olive oil in a pot. Bring a pot of water to a boil as well. Add onion to olive oil and cook for about 4 minutes. When the onion begins to turn clear, add garlic and continue for another couple of minutes. Add wine to the onions and garlic and let simmer. Meanwhile, take the tomatoes and cut an "X" in the bottom of each fruit. When water comes to a boil, add tomatoes and let them sit in boiling water for only 2-3 minutes.
Pull tomatoes out and rinse with cold water. Then grab the top of the tomato and squeeze the flesh out thus separating from the skin.
Discard skins and add tomato fleshes to onions, garlic, and wine. Add minced herbs along with salt and pepper to taste. Continue to let simmer for 15-20 minutes. ***Note: You can add Italian sausage to the sauce as well.***
Serve over desired pasta and enjoy.

There you have it. It may not be the perfect sauce recipe that your grandmama made when you were a little tot. But it's quick and fairly easy.

The ABCs of the T-O-M-A-T-O

This Patio Tomato Is The Biggest We've Had This Season

It's probably a safe bet to say that tomatoes are the cornerstone of most home gardens. And when us novice gardeners go in search of tomato plants or seeds in the spring, there are hundreds of varieties to choose from at the garden center. This year, I tried four varieties: Patio, Big Boy, Marglobe, and Roma. The Romas have produced the most, but the Patio has done best in both quantity and quality. The past week, I've spent a lot of time picking ripe tomatoes off the four plants.

Last night on The Food Network HD, Alton Brown's Good Eats show focussed on this vegetable...errrr....fruit. That's right, tomatoes are actually fruit. And to that, homegrown tomatoes are infinitely better tasting than store-bought tomatoes. Why? Couple reasons. Mainly, the tomatoes you buy in a grocery store are not fully ripened to their full taste-potential. Sure, they look ripe, but they're not. Commercial tomatoes are picked while still green on the vine. If commercial farms waited to pick ripened tomatoes, the fruit would never last the long journey from field to grocery store. So they pick them unripe. And they pretty much stay that way until they get to our grocery cart. Why are they red? According to Brown, the tomatoes are put in an air-tight room and exposed to ethylene gas. The gas is suppose to restart the ripening process, but the best it can do is just turn the tomatoes red.

So we know homegrown tomatoes are much better than store-bought. Now, what can you do to get the most out of your garden 'maters? We've listed a couple things in previous blogs, i.e. pruning, watering, feeding. Another good idea is to grow basil next to your plants. A lot of different types of plants grow well next to each other because of their symbiotic relationships. In this case, the scent coming off a basil plant will ward off pests on your tomato plants.

Also, when you pick your tomaotes, DO NOT put them in the fridge. Storing tomatoes below 50 degrees will begin to destroy the flavor and texture of the tomatoes. Store them in a cool place away from direct sunlight. Me? I prefer storing them in my stomach.

"It's not a toooomah"

HOLY ROMOKRA!!!

There's a lot of pasta sauce and gumbo to be made!!!

I finally made it home after a couple more weeks on the McCain campaign trail. Mrs. Harlan did a fantastic job keeping the garden held together. But she said it needed some TLC from the farmer. So once I got my suitcase and camera out of the van, I went to work. First I picked all that I could find ripened on the branches and vines. And I found a lot. Today alone, I picked nine Cajun Delight okra, four Clemson Spineless okra, SIXTEEN Roma tomatoes (varying in size), 3 Marglobe tomatoes, and a Big Boy tomato.

And then I pulled out the Wusthof shears and went to work:
1) Trimmed all the dead leaves and branches from the Roma and Marglobe plants
2) Trimmed the dying leaves off both cucumber plants and the two okra plants
3)Snipped the numerous buds and small leaves from the basil plant branches
4)Cut a branch of rosemary for some red potato wedges at dinner
5)Cut a couple sage leaves off for dinner also.
6) Tied down the wire cone on the Patio tomato bush to a couple stones. The bush is so full of big, ripening tomatoes that the cone could no longer support the plant's weight and I had to get the cone upright again.
7)Pulled weeds between the pots.
8)Rotated the cantaloupe so the wet soil doesn't rot one side of the fruit.
9)Watered all the plants to cool them down in this oppressive heat. The leaves are wilting in the hot afternoons.

Getting rid of the dead leaves and branches should help reduce the amount of water the plants need each day.

I still have a lot to do tomorrow morning. Odds are there will be a couple more okra and tomatoes to be plucked. But the most important thing will be to feed the plants. It will be two weeks tomorrow since their last feeding. And with the plants getting so big, I'll need to decrease the time between feedings. It's getting really hot and humid now that August is just around the corner. Lots of water and maintenance will be key to keeping the garden from falling apart.

One more thing....the bell pepper plant is loaded with large peppers. Hopefully in the next week or so we'll start seeing the green peppers ripen to a rich red. Man, those will be sweet.

The Garden: July 20, 2008

The Vegetable Bin Is Filling Up...

It doesn't appear we'll have to worry about a salmonella outbreak anytime soon at Casa de Harlan. Today alone, Emily picked eight Roma tomatoes and two Patio tomatoes to go with three more okra and a couple wee strawberries.

No, they aren't the biggest or shapeliest looking tomatoes, but hopefully they'll taste better. Meanwhile, I'm gonna have to make another big plate of fried okra or an inaugural pot of gumbo. The Cajun Delight plant is out of control.

It also appears our little squirrel buddy decided not to wait for one tomato to ripen. But that's okay, we're happy to donate one to his cause. But we'll have to start putting out more peanuts to distract him.

They Grow Up So Fast

The heat and humidity of summer is helping everything grow faster and ripen. The small Roma tomatoes are changing colors more everyday. Just this morning, the Mrs. picked two Romas and yet another cucumber. Those cucumbers are becoming a daily harvest.

But the intriguing sight in the garden is the Ambrosia cantaloupe. When it first started to grow, it looked like a small watermelon. But as you can see, the skin is looking a lot like what we're use to seeing. I would say the fruit is about two-thirds the size of a typical cantaloupe you'd find at a grocery store. But who knows what commercial farms use to create the genetically perfect fruits and vegetables we find at the grocery store.

Got A Little Greedy...

I mentioned in my previous post about the importance of trimming back plants and not letting them overgrow. I've done a good job with the basil plant, but I seriously dropped the ball on my roma, marglobe, and big boy tomato plants. And because I didn't trim them back, too many branches grew bearing too many fruit. This means I have to water and feed the plant a lot more. And, we end with 50 small tomatoes rather than 20 good sized fruit. This week, I decided to cut a lot of the low hanging branches and pull off the small green tomaters. I'm really hoping they ripen off the vine.

So how do you properly trim the plant? Well, there are many differing theories. But here are a couple standard tips. Always cut off the budding parts called suckers. They grow in the middle of the "V" shape of branches.

Clip All The Suckers On The Plants

Also, it's been suggested to trim the first few branches just above the soil level. That helps prevent those lower branches from fungus from a wet ground and other pests looking to crawl onto the plant and cause harm.

As for our 'maters, I finally trimmed them up, but I'm worried I closed the barn door as the horse runs out in the field. Oh well, I think we will still get some great tomatoes with our not-so-great ones.