Why I Oughta...

Over the weekend, I couldn't resist picking up a few tomato plants.  I typically wait until the pickings are thin and the heirloom varieties are few and far between.  I usually plant at least one cherry/grape plant, but it isn't typically an heirloom.  This year, that changes with this Black Cherry beauty. The beds aren't quite cleaned up yet, but by June 1st, we'll hopefully be able to plant these in the ground.  Until then, I'll do my best to keep it happy in the peat pot.

This is just what would fit in the shot!  That means that our little cherry/grapes as well as the bigger Heirlooms are all ripening up in big numbers.  Add to that the pest that is zucchini and the cucumber vine coming of age, and we're swimming in produce.  I don't think we're going to get around to canning these guys this year, so our family and neighbors who don't have gardens might get a bag on their front porch in the next few days.

The Heirloom tomatoes are starting to come in.  That big one on the left is a Mr. Stripey and the one in the bottom picture is a Black Krim.   The Black Krim has that odd crack on it that runs around the circumference.  Can't quite figure out why?  It can't be from 'uneven watering' because I run the soaker hose on a timer every day.  

Hauled in the first *real* tomato that wasn't an early variety or grape/cherry with that very pretty Golden Jubilee .   Those medium-sized red ones are from a plant that The Babe picked out herself called "4th of July" that is breed to ripen early.  Although we didn't get them by the 4th, I blame the fact that I got them in the ground in late May to be the cause, not the plant. Also, our Zucchini plant continues to throw off enormous fruits that we can't keep up with.  I put a few of these outside on our curb with a sign that said "Free Zucchini" and they were snatched up within the hour.  And, those of you with sharp eyes will spot the two cucumbers.  With salads being made around here all the time - and my mom's adoration for cukes - those will be eaten up in short order.  

Just these two little guys that came from a volunteer plant.  Last year, I had a huge over-grown mess of a plant that carried these little yellow fruits.  I (apparently) didn't clean up too well in the fall because I have two or three plants that sprung up from seeds that are fruiting already.

9 bucks for 3 cans?  Seems cheap to me.  They are stamped D.O.P but are they really from San Marzano?

Last night, I put 2 quarts of whole peeled tomatoes into their cans and processed them for 45 minutes.  Each jar has 4 - and exactly 4 basil leafs.  Just like one of the Giants of Pizza Chris Bianco does with line of canned plum tomatoes . I used this really simple recipe from Food in Jars (but added basil).  There's a bunch of recipes on Food in Jars that gets me excited to get canning.  (btw...how cute is their logo with all the colorful canning jars?!?!) These will go into our root cellar.  Oh wait.  We don't have a root cellar.  So, I guess they'll just end up in our pantry for now.  And they'll wait for their first appearance next summer when the pizza oven is done.  *IF * the pizza oven gets done, I suppose.

While our Opalkas are the first tomato to ripen on the vine in our garden, they're NOT the only one bearing fruit.  I planted a bunch of varieties of Romas and just about all of them are going nuts.  And that's just one section of the plant.  They're producing a crazy amount of fruit at this point.  In fact, the cages that some of them were in toppled over from the weight, so I had to go buy some posts to reinforce them and keep them upright.  After seeing this photo (and not just staring at the actual plant!), I now realize that I have to start planning now for our canning operation.  The onslaught isn't too far away.

As you can see, there are a lot of little green plum tomatoes on our San Marzano plants .   They were slow starters, but have come on fast in the recent days.  Also, on the right you can see a few of the yellow flowers that will (hopefully) turn into even more fruits.  Ideally the plants come in at the same time so I can make a BIG batch of canned tomatoes and not a few different little ones.  Guess I should get out and buy a new case of jars to get the canning process lined up. 

My *mostly* plum tomato plant strategy is beginning to play out with the emergence of the first substantial tomato from the Opalka plant.  Opalkas are of Polish origins (which is nice for me!) and they're seen as the superior canning variety by some .  I only have one of these plants this year so it won't bear a ton, but hopefully enough for me to can a few jars and taste-test them side-by-side with the other varieties which have multiple plants. 

I *thought* I had my garden layout finalized.  After all, I had everything planted.  But, yesterday, we made a trip to Angelo Caputo's Market to pick up some pizza-making supplies (yes!), I wandered out into the garden center and found these beautiful San Marzano plants. I tried my hand at raising these same plants from seeds, but they got leggy and died.  I couldn't pass these up because they'll be PERFECT for my sauce/canning experiment.  Looks like I'm going to have to move some things around to make room for a few of these.  Now...only if I could find some volcanic ash to amend the soil.

After having a lot of fun with my first-year garden, I figured year two warranted more attention. Some time last fall, I decided that I was going to try my hand at growing my own crops from seeds.  But, since the little plants are pretty stinkin' cheap, growing vegetable plants from seeds doesn't generally make a lot of sense.  But...the one catch is that plants that they generally sell at most garden centers are hybrids and common varieties that grow well and aren't all that unique.  However, even if they don't make a lot of economic sense to grow,  I still want to grow unique or hard-to-find seedlings.   And that's what I'm going to do!  There isn't a better project that I can think of for mid-February, right? First up?  San Marzano Tomatoes.  You know the ones:  the perfect pizza tomato ! Anyone know where I can get some volcanic ash to add to my soil?