BIG zucchinis, First Medium-Sized Tomatoes, Recipes

We have one variety of zucchini (Sweet Zuke) on which the fruits seem to to successfully hide among the stems and leaves of the plants until they get VERY BIG.  You can see a younger one at the top of the photo.  The big ones have lost their gloss, but the skin still seems tender.  You also need a knife to pick this one, as it often breaks at the neck if you're not careful. 

Anybody have a good stuffed zucchini recipe?  Microwave recipes welcome for hot weather.  Otherwise, the big ones are good for zucchini bread and zucchini pancakes, either fancy gluten- and dairy-free ones or make them more like traditional (grated) potato pancakes.    David's Mom uses a little Bisquick with the zucchini.  There are also recipes which add cheese, corn and other ingredients.  A slice of tomato on top might be nice.  Aunt Virginia used to serve sliced tomatoes with (unsweetened) French Toast. Wonderful. 

We've been picking cherry tomatoes, Yellow Perfection and Garden Peach (from purchased plants) for a while now.  Garden Peach is a small, non-shiny pale yellow tomato with a faint "fuzz" that wipes off.  Nice sweet flavor with a little acid, but not too much "tomato" flavor.   Slightly fruity in flavor.

Our first medium-sized tomato, slightly bigger than Yellow Perfection, ripened about May 28.   Fourth of July is the variety.  Makes sense, as it is a very early one.  Tough skin, but easy to peel and nice tomato flavor and red color.  Others followed right away - Big Beef, Aunt Ginny's Purple (actually rosy pink - the name makes me think of Aunt Virginia)  and not-so-giant Belgium Giant.  David says the last one tastes like the tomatoes his grandpa used to grow.  Picked a couple of dark Nyagous with green shoulders, too.  Both had a crack at the shoulder.  Uncharacteristic of this variety.  I was surprised to get them right after Fourth of July, as this is supposed to be a later tomato.  Had some smokey flavor, but Fourth of July had more "tomato" flavor.  

We also got a Little Lucky (yellow and blush bicolor).  Sweet, not too flavorful, but the first tomatoes are often not representative.   I picked an Indian Striped tomato yesterday.  It still had green shoulders, though it can reportedly be picked when it looks ripe, unlike many other dark tomatoes.  It has a crack in the shoulder.  I'll let it sit for a couple of days before we eat it. 

We've had several days at or above 100 degrees already.  There have been some spider mite-related foliage problems already.  Next year, I'll try to start seeds in mid-January and plant them out soon after March 15. 

Early Harvest, 2013

Above, an all-yellow early harvest: Two Yellow Perfection tomatoes (a variety from England - smaller than a ping pong ball), three Sungold tomatoes (even smaller) and one baby Meteor yellow zucchini. They're nestled among the prettiest weed of the season, Mexican Evening Primrose.   Yellow Perfection is a pleasant tomato with some sweetness, on the mild side but not bland.  The great Sungold has not come into its own yet this season.  Both varieties had tough skin on these first tomatoes (on the plant before transplant).  

We've only had a few Sungold tomatoes and one other Yellow Perfection (given away) so far this season. Should have started a couple of weeks earlier. Next year. . . .

Update: the day after I harvested the first squash of the year above, I got a Magda, a Zephyr and a Sweet Zuke (examples pictured in a previous post here. )  Princess Kitty Darla has  more kitty friends now than she did in the picture at the link and may now qualify as Queen.   I also got a Butter Scallop the second day (looks like its name) and a Supersett (yellow crookneck).  Same old seeds I had in 2011, pretty much.   By May 11, two days after the first zucchini was harvested, we had a total of 19 squashes.  Once these plants start . . . I also planted Peter Pan, a scallop, from quite old seed.  It is behind the others in development.  

 The lettuce above is now too bitter to eat, but it was nice while it lasted.  Doesn't take much potting mix to grow cut-and-come-again leaf lettuce in winter here.  These are growing in trays from supermarket barbecued chicken.  My favorite cool-season crops this year were Tatsoi and its later blossoms, broccoli and Red Russian kale.  UPDATE for Gilly:   Tatsoi is one of the cutest edible plants ever, and would look nice with pansies or other low-growing plants.  I planted Red Russian Kale in a pot with some mauve and pink chrysanthemums.

Melons as Cucumbers? Plus: Apricots! and a Garden Update

MELONS AS CUCUMBERS
For me, part of the fun of gardening is doing a little experimentation.  Last year, I tried hybridizing a new melon variety:  Bidwell Casaba x Small Persian, to see if I would come up with anything close to a Crenshaw melon (the Crenshaw is reported to be derived from a Casaba and a Persian melon).  Maybe we'll see this summer.  Plants are in the ground along with some of our favorite melon varieties and a couple of new ones.

This year, I lost some of my cucumber seedlings to damping off fungus.  So on the cucumber trellis, I'm trying some melons which I plan to try harvesting as cucumbers. "Armenian Cucumbers" and related varieties like "Painted Serpent Cucumbers" are actually melons, after all. True cucumbers have a hard time producing palatable, non-bitter fruit here because of the heat and because it is hard to maintain an even water level in the soil. The variety Summer Dance is the best I've found so far here, and it must be grown vertically or in part shade in this climate. This year, I'm also giving a few other varieties a spot in the garden, in addition to the "melon as cuke" experiment. I'm not including Armenian, because of the folk tradition that growing it near regular melons will change their taste. Not sure it's true.  But why let this idea interfere with my experiment?

 One year, our late, great dog Sparky was trying to harvest a melon (Piel de Sapo type) and accidentally pulled up the whole plant.  He loved Summer Dance cucumbers, so I figured he mistook the melon for a cucumber.  We used some of the immature melons he pulled up with the plant like cucumbers (peeled and seeded).  They were sweeter than cucumbers, but quite similar. Our neighbor at the time told me that in the old days, his family ate immature honeydews as cucumbers. Yesterday, I planted out six varieties of melons on the cucumber trellis, along with a late planting of  "Summer Dance" cucumber and  "Poona Kheera (a brown-skinned cucumber from India). The melons are:

Honeydew Gold Rind: A honeydew melon which turns golden when ripe. Not too sweet, according to the description. From Willhite, 2005 seed. Pick on full slip if using as a melon.

Sprite: A crispy little white Asian melon. Tiny seeds from 1998 AND 2001. We'll see if they germinate.

Bartlett Hybrid honeydew from Burpee. 2007 seed. They've discontinued this one, which is why I got it on their bargain page in 2007. Supposed to taste like a Bartlett pear.

Lambkin: an early Piel de Sapo type hybrid with yellower skin. Kind of defeats the purpose of having a winter storage melon here if it matures early, so why not use as a cucumber?

Golden Crispy hybrid: another discontinued hybrid, not too different from this one. Crisp little melons are popular in Asia.

Gold Bar hybrid: Park bills this as the first cucumber/melon cross: a cross of Cucumis sativas (a cucumber) and Cucumis hystrix (a melon). But information I see on C. hystrix calls it the closest cousin to the cucumber. It's not a regular melon. It's hard to cross a cucumber with the melons we are familiar with. Even this cross-species "melon" has been hard for me to grown. Last chance for this batch of seeds.

Update: June 8, Lambkin and Summer Dance sprouted in their little seed protectors, which have now been removed Pictures of those later.

APRICOTS: We got our first apricot on June 2, a Royalty (not Royal). Second one yesterday.  Quality is much better than usual, probably due to the cooler weather this year. Not as mushy this year.  Maybe it's gotten less water during ripening than usual, too.  This is a really big apricot, and the fruits stayed on the tree in our recent windstorms (it's billed as a wind-resistant variety). I'm thinking that this is a good variety for the Salinas Valley.  It's a semi-freestone and there are other varieties out there which taste better.  But it's still an apricot.

Update:  On June 7, I picked our first Blenheim apricots which matured in reasonable weather.  No comparison with Royalty.  Blenheim's depth of flavor was remarkable, and its texture is far superior.  No wonder people go on orchard tours in the Santa Rosa Valley to taste it.  The variety Golden Sweet is said by Andy Mariani to be very similar, but more resistant to pitburn and brown rot.  I just have to convince a nursery to pick some up from the commercial vendor.  There should be some super-sweet varieties coming onto the nursery market soon, too.

I also picked a Harcot on June 8.  It was bigger than Blenheim, but not as big as Royalty.  Quality is much better than Royalty, not as good as Blenheim.  It's better suited to our climate, though.  Flavor Delight Aprium also has some ripe fruits.  Usually they ripen before or with Royalty.  They rank just under Harcot for flavor.  They're quite reliable here.

FRUIT TREES:  I finally got around to whitewashing the trunks of the new Pluot trees yesterday:  a Flavor King to replace the one Sparky's bathtub killed, a Flavor Grenade to replace the one Little Buddy chewed up when he was a puppy, and a Splash.  You're supposed to use a cheap white latex interior paint, diluted with an equal part of water.  I found a little jar of paint used for testing mixed paint colors which was perfect for this use.  I also renewed the whitewash on the cherry trees.

ONIONS AND LETTUCE: F. planted a bunch of seed for a short-day purple onion this spring, and they're bolting, so I advised him to dig them up. It's hard for him to understand that you plant some kinds of onions in spring and other kinds in fall. But he buries all onions so deep that they won't bulb up, anyway. These are woody, but he harvested and bunched them like scallions, anyway. Tied them with an onion stem.  He hates to waste food. We give him some space in the garden to grow the things he likes. He does better with tomatoes and winter squash than with onions. He also transplanted some lettuce a couple of weeks ago which was already too bitter to eat after a warm spell. He really hates waste, and I think he intended to grow it out for seed.  More seed than we could ever use. It's a pretty, but inferior, variety - a volunteer with tough, frilly leaves. I pulled them and put them in the compost bin so he wouldn't have to. There are still some in the front yard. He had started to transplant those to his garden plot, too. But I stopped him. Think I'll try to keep them from going to seed after they bloom. We have lots of lettuce seeds.

TOMATOES: I saw my first sphinx moth of the year last night. It's a shame that these fascinating moths lay eggs which turn into such destructive caterpillars. It will be time to break out the Bt spray (one of the most effective, specific biological insect controls around) soon, as the moths begin to lay eggs on the tomatoes. You can see the difference between a tobacco hornworm and a tomato hornworm if you scroll down here. I think the tobacco hornworm is more common in our garden. I only saw one of them on the tomatoes last year. Only sprayed Bt once. We also get the white-lined sphinx moth here. It's a beauty. According to Wikipedia, the caterpillars feed on tomatoes as well as a wide range of other plants. I'm not sure I've ever seen one on a tomato plant, though. Other sources don't seem to list tomato as a host. This is the green color variation of the caterpillar. Uncle Kent told us years ago about having to drive over a migration of green caterpillars in the Arizona desert. Guess it might have been these.

Our first tomato will be ripe soon. It's turning red. It's on an Early Girl plant we bought at a promotion at Home Depot in a gallon pot for about a dollar. The Ace we bought at the same time has good-sized fruit on it, too. I shaded the exposed ones yesterday with aluminum foil. Many of the other tomatoes bought as smaller plants also have fruit.

It's the fourth of June, and this is a late year for tomatoes here, but the fourth of June seems pretty early for a ripe tomato to people in most of the country.  The name of the Fourth of July tomato doesn't mean as much in areas like this as it does in the North, and it's not offered in nurseries here. I didn't grow it this year because I didn't start plants from seed. Tough skin, but does well in the heat here, becoming very sweet. But I may be planting Moravsky Div (Wonder of Moravia) as my really early tomato next year. Recommended by heirloom tomato expert Carolyn Male. Along with Bulgarian Triumph as a later, small, sweet tomato.

The lanky potato-leafed plant I bought as an Early Girl has largely recovered from its early sickly appearance and has some small fruits on it. Though the plant is not what you would call "lush" at this point. It's probably the maternal parent of Early Girl, which is reported to be a potato-leafed cultivar. There were lots of potato-leafed plants among the Early Girls at nurseries and box stores this year. Somebody left some self-pollenized tomatoes on the plant during production of the hybrid seeds, apparently. I'm surprised that this doesn't happen more often.

Tomato Choices

This time last year, I already had tomato plants in the ground. I started plants indoors in January. Last year I also had problems with tobacco mosaic virus (or a very similar virus) in my tomatoes.  I didn't start any plants indoors this year.  The plan this year is to plant a TMV-resistant variety between varieties that are not resistant, since the virus can spread plant-to-plant and by handling (dip hands in milk to prevent the spread).

LOCAL TOBACCO MOSAIC VIRUS RESISTANT VARIETIES

I now have 12 Big Beef VF12NTSt (6 from RiteAid, 6 from OSH). May not need all 12. This variety is not quite as large as some of the giant beefsteaks, but it is recommended for our hot valley and is earlier than most big beefsteaks. Stores well. Peels more easily than Better Boy when raw.

2 Champion from Walmart (from the racks outdoors).  This is the indeterminate cousin of Celebrity, slightly larger tomatoes and reportedly with better flavor. The original Champion has VFNT resistance. Champion II: VFFNTA plus yellow leaf curl. Don't know which this is (or even if it's labeled correctly, for that matter).

1 Jetsetter VFFNTA - an early disease-resistant variety recommended for our hot summer climate, from OSH.

I may also pick up from OSH:

Carmelita VFNT Hybrid version of famous French heirloom Carmello. Red/pink with green shoulders. Midseason. 8 oz.

Sunsugar FT Even sweeter than Sungold, less cracking, less fruity flavor. Other TMV resistant varieties which may be available commercially include Sweet Million, Orange Paruche and Sweet Baby Girl (compact). Also Sweet Hearts grape tomato and Golden Rave FT mini-Roma. You can plant cherry tomatoes in places where they can just sprawl, if you like.

OTHER LOCALLY AVAILABLE VARIETIES

I picked up cheap gallon containers of Early Girl and Ace. I had an Ace die on me (probably due to a soil disease) once, but it is very popular locally. Early Girl is early. Roma and Beefmaster were also available in gallons, 2 for 3 dollars.

I also got from Hofman's 6 each of Black Krim and Cherokee Purple. Won't need 6 each. Black Krim did very well here last year. There are reportedly 2 strains running around: one "smoky" and one "salty". I got the "smoky" one last year. Cherokee Purple is not real productive, but has exceptional flavor. Pick black/purple varieties while the shoulders are still green (as a rule). Not applicable to Indian Stripe, a slightly smaller, more productive version of Cherokee Purple. It's available from Victory Seeds, which also sells rechargeable desiccant packets for storing seeds.

Hofman's has some pretty nice plants this year, including several heirloom and OP types. I picked up a "mystery plant" labeled as Early Girl from a flat of Early Girls. It's a rangy potato-leaf plant - certainly not Early Girl.  My thrills come cheap.  I also saw at Walmart an Early Girl plant with one stem which had sported to potato leaf. Didn't buy it.

I will probably get a Better Boy, which I think has a little better flavor than Big Beef, but is harder to peel when raw. It is not TMV resistant

I may also pick up the following from OSH:

Jubilation F1 6 oz, orange, firm flavorful, unspecified multiple disease resistance, indt.

Sunny Boy Determinate (?), very sweet, firm, few seeds

Arkansas Traveler Medium-sized, pretty, pink, late.  Others with similar breeding are Traveler 76 (less cracking), Burgundy Traveler (better flavor) and Bradley F (bigger, soft, delicious, used for canning and fresh eating in the South. As with other determinate types, you can restrict water as the fruit ripens to increase flavor). There is a Bradley County Pink Tomato Festival in Arkansas. I also planted a Porter's Dark Cherry (Bonnie Plants). I suspect that it may actually be Porter.

From Home Depot or Lowe's

Sungold - the world's favorite cherry tomato. Be sure you get the hybrid. Golden orange color, prone to cracking, distinctive fruity flavor

Also, I think I have a German Johnson this year (one of the more heat-tolerant pink heirloom beefsteak types), a Lemon Boy VFN hybrid for mild yellow salsa, and a Mama Mia paste type. I don't know if the last one is a hybrid or not. It's a big, gangly indeterminate and the only reference to a tomato of that name I find is a standard determinate type.

OTHER RECOMMENDED VARIETIES

The heirloom tomatoes which are most commonly used as standards for flavor and texture are Brandywine Pink (particularly Sudduth's Strain or another named strain) and Cherokee Purple. Brandywine Pink is notorious for poor production, even though it tastes wonderful. It's worthwhile looking around for some similar varieties with better production (especially in hot-summer climates). Marianna's Peace and Mexico, along with Boondocks, are recommended for our hot valley. There are also some red Brandywine types recommended for warmer weather, such as Brandywine OTV.

If you're in Utah, you might check out Diane's. In addition to their own Purple Passion, they sell other great pinks.   Caspian Pink, Rose and Chianti Rose would be good bets for cooler climates. Gregory's Altai is early for a big pink. Little Rosalita is very pretty and lasted late into the fall last year here. If you want to try an Ivory-colored tomato, Super Snow White might be a good choice. Nyagous is a beautiful "black" tomato that did well here. Amazon Chocolate sounds nice.

Gardeners in more humid areas need to be aware of local blights, and new virus prevalent in the East. Resistant varieties should be available locally, like Mountain Magic, (early and late blight, FFF, V).  This new variety is highly regarded for flavor by "tomato people", and is said to improve in flavor if left on the counter for a few days after picking.  Choose a resistant type as insurance even if you plant non-resistant types.  In the Pacific Northwest, Territorial and Nichols are two catalogs with good information on varieties which get enough heat units to ripen there, as well as blight resistance.

In the East,  Bella Rosa, Amelia, and other tomato spotted wilt virus-resistant varieties would be good insurance of a tomato crop even if you plant other varieties.  Early standard tomatoes are also described here.  Fourth of July hybrid is small, has tough skin, is very early and gets sweet in hot weather.

If you typically set out plants in May, you may still be able to start some seeds indoors. Otherwise, you might consider picking up some seeds for next year. Pinetree is a good source of reasonably-priced seeds. Check out their International section. (I also have tomato seeds if you just need a few). On its Hybrid Tomato page, Pinetree now sells the famous old Moreton Hybrid and the slightly newer Jet Star, (both having some characteristics of older, flavorful standard tomatoes) as well as other hybrids, notably Grandeur VFFNST (a Japanese short internode variety, said to be heat tolerant), Polbig VFT (very early, tolerates cool weather), and Sungold.

Their standard tomatoes include interesting varieties such as Prudens Purple, Tip Top, Oregon Spring (parthenocarpic, tolerates cool weather), Mortgage Lifter, Peach Blow Sutton, Black Krim, Black Cherry, Gold Nugget (parthenocarpic, takes cool weather, may be grown in container), Nebraska Wedding and Stupice. The last is reportedly tolerant of cool weather, hot weather and difficult growing conditions. People love the flavor or they don't when served fresh. It's supposed to be wonderful cooked. Moskvich (same size range, semi-determinate)) did well here last year and has nice flavor. Ditto Cosmonaut Volkov.

Tomato Grower's Supply ships promptly. They sell the beloved pink cherry tomato Rose Quartz VFNT, as well as a wide variety of good open-pollinated and hybrid varieties.  Husky Cherry Red is a good front-yard variety.  Husky Gold is the other recommended "Husky" variety (short internode indeterminate).  Green Grape if you're worried about pilferage and don't mind a less-neat plant.

If you like Roma-type tomatoes, you might as well pick a variety with some flavor or disease resistance. Most Roma types are determinate. If you want fruit all season, you might go for an indeterminate type (if you're canning, determinate might be better). If you want to use them fresh, pick a variety described as good fresh (orange and black plum types are listed by color). Or maybe even a meaty, flavorful oxheart. Expect wispy foliage on oxhearts. You might even think the plant is sick.

For next year, I'm thinking about Sweet Treats F1 Large pink cherry tomato. F12,TMV, grey leaf spot Resists leaf mold, tolerates gray leaf post, crown rot and root rot. And Bulgarian Triumph.

Wild Boar Farms has your wild-looking tomatoes. AAA Sweet Solano was my favorite orange/yellow variety last year. Has faint stripes. Pink Berkeley Tie-Dye had TMV here, but is recommended for cool-summer climates. Early. Mine took a long time to germinate last year.


Have fun. Don't get carried away, though.

UPDATE: The new favorite very early tomato of Carolyn Male (heirloom tomato expert) is Moravsky Div or Wonder of Moravia in one of the Slavic languages - very close in Slovak. (apparently not ultra-early in Oregon) - potato leaf, determinate.

Grandma's Chili Sauce

History and Memories

This is one of the best recipes Mom got from her mother-in-law. It became almost mandatory with roast beef, pot roast, hash or meat loaf. It is also good on scrambled eggs (particularly with fried potatoes) and even in slightly messy sandwiches.

As I recall the story, Grandma got this recipe from a woman's magazine back when women's magazines were newly popular. It calls for "50 tomatoes", which is a little less specific than most recipes for processed foods today. Mom decided that this meant "medium tomatoes". I did a rough measurement with 5 tomatoes, and I figure that this amounts to about 5 or 6 quarts of diced tomatoes. Your results may vary.

I have memories of making this chili sauce as a rather big production: scalding and peeling tomatoes, grinding green peppers and onions (best done outside with a sprinkler running to limit tears) in a food mill (meat grinder). I still think the finished product tastes best when the onions and peppers are ground, but it was a messy business, with a little of the juice running down the back of the food mill onto the floor. Today, you can use a food processor if you like. Aim for onions and peppers diced to a size of about 1/4 inch - less than 1/2 inch in any case.

After following Grandma's recipe for several years, Mom decided to substitute whole spices for the ground spices in the original recipe to produce a redder sauce. She ties the whole spices in a cheesecloth or muslin bag so they can be removed after the sauce is cooked down. The longer the whole spices simmer in the sauce, the stronger the flavor they impart.  You can add more whole spices if you prefer a spicier sauce.

I compromise, leaving the celery seed swimming in the sauce and bagging the other spices.   (I am partial to celery seed).  I have used one of the little nylon tulle circles used to tie up bundles of Jordan almonds for wedding receptions.  But you run a very slight risk of melting it if you allow the sauce to scorch during cooking.

The biggest change Mom made in this recipe was adding tomato paste at the end of simmering, which drastically cuts down on the time that you need to cook the sauce down until it is thick.  Adding tomato paste also means that there is proportionately more tomato and less of the other ingredients in the final sauce. If you wish to increase the amount of the other ingredients for a zingier sauce, feel free.

According to my calculations from a "home cooking" website, a 12-ounce can of tomato paste is roughly equivalent to 6.6 cups of fresh tomatoes, packed (minus a lot of water).  This means that 4 cans of tomato paste is about equivalent to the amount of fresh tomato in the recipe.   This little comparison also gives you an idea how long Grandma's version has to be cooked down to produce a thick sauce.  Mom's new version is thicker than Grandma's version, however (at least as we prepared it).  We didn't use any paste tomatoes, either.  So the "sauce" between bits of vegetable tended to be somewhat watery.  It was still very good.

 Jason also got Mom to add jalapeño peppers for an unusual Chili Sauce Picante (or "Salsa") variation.

Ingredients

50 medium tomatoes (about 6 quarts) peeled, cored and diced to ~ 1/4 inch pieces
5 cups vinegar (we use apple cider vinegar - 5% acidity)
6 Tablespoons sugar (less sweet than most commercial chili sauces)
6 Tablespoons salt (preferably non-iodized: check labels of pickling or kosher salt for equivalent amounts)

1/2 Tablespoon cloves (ground in the original, whole in Mom's version)
1 1/2 Tablespoons allspice (ground in Grandma's version, whole in Mom's version)
2 Tablespoons ground cinnamon or 4 sticks cinnamon, broken
2 Tablespoons celery seed

4 green peppers, cores and seeds removed, ground or diced to ~ 1/4 inch
4 onions, ground or diced

For Mom's updated version: 4 twelve-ounce cans tomato paste

For Chili Sauce Picante

Add ten Jalapeño peppers, cores and seeds removed, minced - or other hot peppers to taste.   You may wish to add 2 to 4  Tablespoons of coriander seeds, toasted or not, to your spice bag and omit the celery seed, which doesn't seem very "Mexican".  Mom uses celery seed.

Directions

Tie whole spices in a cheesecloth or other food-grade cloth bundle, if using whole spices.  Combine all ingredients in a heavy-bottomed kettle and simmer briskly, uncovered until thickened. Stir frequently, particularly as sauce thickens. For Mom's version, cook down for about an hour, add the tomato paste and cook for a few more minutes. Stir frequently as above.  Remove the spice bundle.

Pack in cup, 12 ounce or pint canning jars, using normal home canning techniques. Leave 1/2 inch head space. Process in a boiling water bath (covered with boiling water) for 12 minutes if sauce is already hot when processed, about 15 - 18 minutes if sauce has cooled significantly before processing, or for larger jars.

Quarter Recipe

It's much less of a project to make a quarter batch, especially if you use a tomato variety that's easy to peel while raw.   Blanching even the easy-to-peel ones may be worthwhile if you make the larger batch above.

You can easily process jars in a large kettle, slightly elevated in a steamer insert, if you have a smooth-topped stove which doesn't work with a typical cold-pack canner. Separate canning jars in the steamer insert with clean, wet washcloths to prevent bumping during processing.

I increased some of the ingredients a little to compensate for the addition of tomato paste, for a result a little closer to Grandma's original, but redder and fresher in flavor like Mom's.

12 to 14 medium-sized tomatoes (about 6 cups peeled, cored and diced)
1 1/2 cups real apple cider vinegar
2 Tablespoons sugar, scant
2 Tablespoons salt, scant

1/2 teaspoon whole cloves
1 heaping teaspoon whole allspice
1 stick cinnamon, broken (I used 1/2 stick each of the assertively-flavored flaky Mexican cinnamon sticks and the harder "standard" cinnamon sticks - they're from different species of tree)
2 teaspoons celery seed, scant

1 large green pepper, diced
1 very large onion, diced

1 twelve-ounce can tomato paste

Ripe Green Tomatoes

This weekend, I picked the first fruits from our three varieties of tomatoes which are green (well, yellow-green) when ripe:  They're pictured with some orange and yellow tomatoes for comparison.  At the top is Absinthe, our largest green tomato, with a smaller specimen below and to the left.  On the right side of the plate are three AAA Sweet Solano, orange with yellow stripes.  You may not be able to see the stripes.  Next are Green Grape cherry tomatoes in various sizes, and some mystery yellow pears for color comparison.  Next going clockwise is Green Zebra - green with yellow stripes.  Then some orange cherries, most likely Sun Sugar (they were labeled Sun Sugar Red).  Then comes the yellow tomato which was supposed to have been Boondocks.

And there were more red and pink tomatoes.  At the rights is the unusually pretty pink tomato which was labeled "Black Krim".  It was sold along "German Johnson" and "Arkansas Traveler", so it may be one of those varieties.  At the bottom is a huge Anna Maria's Heart.  Next on the left is a Giant Belgium - not all that giant.  Next going clockwise in another big Anna Maria's Heart and a respectably-sized bicolor Orange Russian 117, which has characteristics of both oxheart and regular-leaf tomatoes.

Really BIG tomatoes

Temperatures went down a little after our 107-degree day, but the forecast for tomorrow is 105 degrees.  On Saturday, the family who brought their kids over for a planting experience this spring came again to pick tomatoes, peppers, squash and nectarines.  The garden is producing well.

We have gotten our biggest tomatoes of the season so far.  Some varieties which have, up until now, produced smaller tomatoes have delivered some whoppers.  Below are the biggest, with some others for contrast.

In the center is the very biggest specimen - deep as well as wide - a German Head tomato.  I think it's the biggest tomato I've ever grown.   It has on it some cherry tomotoes (they were supposed to be Sun Sugar Red, but they're probably Sun Sugar) and a penny for size comparison.  At the top are three pretty hefty Anna Maria's Heart tomatoes.  Then clockwise to what was supposed to have been a big pink beefsteak variety (Boondocks) but which is actually a fairly small yellow variety.  Then come two big (for this variety, so far) Black Krim tomatoes with a small, striped Black and Red Boar perched between them and a couple of cherries.  To the right side of the platter, three Goose Creek tomatoes - one of the size we have been getting until today, the other two quite a bit larger.  Pretty tomatoes.

Next to the Black Krim, at the bottom of the photo is a Marianna's Peace - not large for this variety.  Then comes a huge red Jet Setter hybrid fruit.  There was another just like it.  I was really expecting this to be a medium-sized tomato, along the lines of Celebrity.   Perched above these are some AAA Sweet Solano fruits.  The yellow on orange striping is quite evident today, even if it doesn't show too well in the photo.   Next going clockwise are two Brandy Boys (one to the side of the platter) with a small Ponderosa Pink perched between them.  The other tomatoes to the left of the platter are a little Barbara fruit (we're getting lots of these, some much bigger than this one) and a dark, very ribbed JD's Special C-Tex.  The shape of this one is quite variable.  Above it is a small, beautiful, smooth pink fruit with green shoulders which was supposed to be Black Krim.  I bought the plant rather than starting it from seed like the plant that produced the Black Krims on the right.   Maybe it's a chance cross or mutation.  Maybe it's mislabeled.

Variety Comparisons

Black and Red Boar vs. Nyagous:   Both of these little tomatoes are smooth and beautiful.  (Black and Red Boar is pictured above and here, in the first photo.  Nyagous is pictured in the second photo at the link)  Black and Red Boar is heavily striped.  Nyagous has a dusky blend of colors.  The overall color family of both is similar on the outside.  On the inside, Black and Red Boar is dusky pink, without the green coloration typical of the "black" tomatoes.  It is soft, slightly sweet and quite flavorful.  Nyagous shows light vein-like markings on dusky flesh when peeled - quite distinctive and beautiful.  Both tomatoes are quite easy to peel, except for the shoulders on Nyagous.  Nyagous is also soft, but is juicer, a little sweeter and has a smoky flavor typical of a black tomato.  This was a very ripe specimen.

Black and Red Boar gets the nod for its extraordinary appearance, Nyagous for flavor.

More Interesting Tomatoes

The photo below includes examples of some of the interesting tomatoes developed by Brad Gates at Wild Boar Farms, plus some others.  The dusky, striped little tomatoes at the top are Pink Berkeley Tie Dye.  Next, going clockwise, comes Beam's Yellow Pear.  Then come three Purple Passion,  some smaller Evans Purple Pear and then Yellow Submarine.  At the bottom are some striped Black and Red Boar specimens.  Then comes our mystery yellow pear (extra seedling with a purchased Brandy Boy plant), Haley's Purple Comet - a large oval cherry tomato, then Golden Egg, Grightmire's Pride (an oxheart  tomato - my choice today for fresh salsa) and AAA Sweet Solano - a small, oranged tomato striped yellow, with some green markings.  In the center are three Orange Russian 117 tomatoes - a bicolor oxheart cross.  

The contrast in color between "Purple Passion" and "Evan's Purple Pear is an example of the two varieties of "PURPLE" in the tomato world.  The first type, like "Purple Passion" is along the lines of a rosy pink, and comes mostly from the absence of yellow pigment in the skin of ripe tomatoes.  Famous older varieties in this category are "Pruden's Purple" and "Aunt Ginny's Purple".  The second category of purple tomatoes is a dusky type, often with some green coloration, similar to the "black" tomatoes.  It is typified by "Cherokee Purple", which I grew last year.  The coloration of "Gary O' Sena" in the photo below is similar to that of Cherokee Purple, one of its parents.  The "JD's Special C-Tex" below characterizes the "green shoulder" stage at which this type of tomato is often picked.

The second tomato photo for today includes, at the top, Brandywine OTV (my choice today for a fresh slicer);  four little Goose Creek tomatoes; a big, dusky, irregular Gary O' Sena;  smaller dusky Nyagous (note the yellower skin tone), two Marianna's Peace specimens; Three nearly-perfect Momotaro tomatoes and several Black Krim specimens of different sizes.  In the center, next to the Black Krim are two Anna Russian tomatoes, more typical oxheart shapes than the double one pictured last time.  Below them is a JD's Special C-Tex - looking more like a typical small beefsteak than the big boat-shaped specimen last time.

Oxhearts and Others - More Tomatoes

We're starting to get substantial numbers of tomatoes now.  Lots of Fourth of July, Early Challenge and First Lady fruits.  We've had several Cosmonaut Volkov fruits and some tomatoes which are labeled "Aunt Ginny's Purple", from a second plant which may have been a victim of the "toddler label mix-up" event. They're a tender, meaty heirloom type, but not "purple" or pink.   Lots of perfect-looking, egg-shaped Barbara fruits, too.   We hit the jackpot with several Pink Oxheart fruits today.  One is pictured below with several other varieties:

At 12 o'clock is our first little Royal Hillbilly.  The fruit of this variety is usually larger, according to the description.  Next to it going clockwise is a small Momotaro, a pink market tomato from Japan.  Then a Marianna's Peace, looking more like an oxheart than it should.  Then our first Goose Creek, a little bit over-ripe, with cracks at the stem end.  You can't see the little white speckles which are sometimes noted on this variety in the photo, but they're there.  Next to Goose Creek are three dusky Nyagous, slightly darker in hue than the big, boat-shaped JD's Special-C Tex   in the center of the platter. The green on the shoulders is characteristic of many of the "purple" or  "black" tomatoes when ripe.  Two of the Nyagous fruits are likely over-ripe.

At six o'clock are two Moskvich fruits, then one of the Oxheart Pink fruits.  The ones I picked today were variable is size and shape.  Not all of them looked this much like a heart.  The comes a Ponderosa Pink with some green on the shoulder and a little cracking, and finally a big double heart - Anna Russian.  There was also a HUGE double Anna Maria's heart that got stuck in the fencing where two layers overlapped.  The second time for this variety.  We'll have to find a better one to photograph.

We're still getting a lot of squash, too.  And a lot of squash bugs.  I had to pull up two plants of Saffron Prolific crookneck this week due to disease.  Zucchini plants generally last longer than crooknecks and straightnecks in our yard.  And some of F's volunteers.   Our 107 degree day was hard on the beans.  Haven't had any edible ones since.  Still getting a few Summer Dance cucumbers.

First Cucumbers, More Tomatoes

We are starting to get temperatures in the mid-nineties now with 102 forecast for Sunday. Usually this time of year, we ahve had several triple-digit days. The wonderful Blenheim apricots which are now ripening don't have pit-burn this year. We were lucky with this variety this year.

Pictured below, our second cucumbers from the garden (we ate the Cool Breeze before taking a picture).  The ridged one in front is Suhyo TK.  The one in back is our standby, Summer Dance.  Also pictured are some new tomato varieties. Along the edge of the plate above the Summer Dance cucumber is Rosalita. To their left, a heavily-ridged, squat Aunt Ginny's Purple with blossom end rot on the bottom where you can't see it. Beneath are two Early Challenge fruits and between the cucumbers is a plum-shaped Barbara fruit which probably could have stayed on the vine another day. IDs continue below the photo.

Beneath the blossom end of the Suhyo TK cucumber is a little Fourth of July fruit and our largest fruit so far, other than Cosmonaut Volkov, First Lady II. Lined up against the cucumber are three Berkeley Tie-Dye fruits. You may not be able to see the stripes, but there is some faint striping. The smaller fruits in front are Yellow Submarine, Black Cherry and Pop-Ins.

The plate is next to one of F's squash plants. He seems to have planted them where they will overtake many of the plants we planted. He believes that any seed which naturally sprouts in the garden will produce better than a "foreign" seed. At one time, when people planted single varieties, this may have been true. But we get some strange squashes from the F2 generation, offspring of hybrids from the year before.

First Cucumbers

Cool Breeze: Short, stubby gherkin, probably a little larger than you would pick for sweet pickles. Light color. Very crispy, sweet. The plants are not happy where they are planted. Don't think I will get many more fruits. Produces before many other varieties, but is not a heroically heat-tolerant variety like Summer Dance.  It needs to be grown on a trellis here.

Suhyo TK: Deeply ridged. Did not peel. Trace of bitterness at stem end, astringent (not in a particularly  unpleasant way, tender). Would be a good variety for making cucumber facials.  Would probably have some bitterness in hotter weather.  This is a tough climate for cucumbers.

Summer Dance: As usual, sweet and tender even with the skin on. No bitterness. A great cucumber for our climate.

More Tomato varieties, following up on our first harvest

On June 18 I picked:

Cosmonaut Volkov: A good-sized tomato, tasty and mildly sweet with light red flesh. Peeled easily without blanching (so did a fully-ripe Fourth of July). Assuming that a certain toddler didn't switch the labels when we planted this section.

First impression of tomatoes picked June 22 and 23:

Pop-ins: Variable red pear or teardrop type, bigger than typical yellow pears. Juicy, pleasant.
Rosalita: Rosy grape tomato with tiny white dots. Sweet, nice fruit.
Yellow Submarine: Bigger than the typical yellow pear. Flavorful.
Black Cherry: Very flavorful. Gel around seeds is green, as expected. I liked the fruits with a touch of green on the shoulder best. Lots of "black" tomatoes are ripe when they still show some green. There was no cracking. This variety is known to crack in some conditions.

First Lady II: Hard to peel when raw, OK for an early tomato, kind of bland.
Early Challenge: Smaller than First Lady II, easier to peel, slightly tastier
Berkeley Tie-Dye: Not as much striping as I expected. Gel around seeds is tart, as expected. Soft flesh. Not as flavorful as I expected. Maybe too ripe?
Aunt Ginny's Purple: Not ripe - picked early because of blossom end rot.
Fourth of July: Fruit ripened in warmer weather is sweeter than the first fruit we got.  In my past experience, the flavor of this variety has stood out when the weather got hot.  Fruits are relatively hard to peel raw unless very ripe.  This is a shame, because the skins are tough.

Update, June 26

Stone Fruits: Yesterday, Marcela came by for some spricots. The little fruits from my volunteer tree are flavorful, sweet-tart and firm, sometimes a little tough or crunchy. Seems more and more like the offspring of a commercial variety. Golden Amber is big, very soft and flavorful. Softer and bigger than Blenheim. I'm not so sure that it's immune to pit burn, as described in catalogs, but it's a good late apricot.  We didn't get much of an extended harvest this year due to rain during the bloom season.

Today, I picked a peck or so of Blenheim apricots - luxurious this year with more moderate temperatures. Temperatures are warm enough - mid-nineties - to sweeten up the Arctic Star nectarines. The soft ones are really sugary now.

The Santa Rosa plums at the side of the house are ripening, before the few Flavor Supreme Pluots, which normally start ripening first.   Santa Rosas are a jolt of tangy flavor, -- too flavorful for some modern tastes.

Cucumbers and squash: I picked a bunch more Summer Dance cucumbers today - smaller than you would see them in the store. More luxury. Not much going on with the other varieties. Lots of squash on now. Magda is prolific. Diplomat and Kojac are both nice, standard green zucchinis. I pulled up a couple of F.'s volunteer plants which had turned yellow.

Tomatoes: More varieties ripe for the first time this year:

Boondocks Mystery: The mis-labeled Boondocks plant turns out to be a mid-sized clear yellow tomato. Somewhat tart. Plant is diaseased, may come out soon.

Brandy Boy Mystery: The second plant with a purchased plant of Brandy Boy turned out to be a big, mealy yellow pear-type tomato.

Beam's Yellow Pear: Tasty, but not as tasty as Yellow Submarine. Both are thicker at the neck than the common little bland, cute-as-a-bug yellow pear tomato.

Napa Grape:  Juicy for a grape tomato.  Nice flavor.

Jet Setter: Mid-sized, tasty, quite easy to peel without blanching. One was craced at the stem end, the other wasn't

Better Boy: Tasty as usual. A little softer that Jet Setter. I preferred its flavor today.

Moskvich: Picked an under-ripe one with blossom end rot. Ditto Cosmonaut Volkov, from my first plant. The one picked from the fence resembles it in appearance, so it was probably identified correctly.

First Tomatoes and Beans, Last Summer Turnips 2010

Well, our first tomato was a little currant tomato, variety "Sweet Pea". Not bad. There were also a couple from a mis-identified "Fourth of July" plant that turned out to be a tiny, crunchy grape tomato - Not outstanding. We had a Stupice tomato ripening, but lost it, along with a few others of the 61-plus plants we planted. Interestingly, all of the plants lost were either purchased rather than started by us, were over-wintered or were planted where a diseased plant came out.

Our second harvest includes a few tiny Sweet Pea and "Fourth of July Mystery" tomatoes, plus one larger (still not very big) real "Fourth of July" tomato.  They're pictured above with the last of the "Summer Turnips", variety - Oasis.  Still good.  Only a hint of the off-flavors which develop in turnips during hot weather.  We've had variable weather this spring, but it's been cooler than normal lately, in the 70s and 80s during the day.

Also pictured, pole beans "Fortex", perhaps the best pole bean in the world, and a heat-tolerant variety, "Champagne".  A bean specialist gave me some seeds to try.  I only planted a few plants, as pole beans are usually marginal on our spring weather.  I typically like them small, but a few got away from me, going to the "beany" stage that David's Mom likes.  There's also a sprig from the "Grenada" pomegranate, with a baby fruit and blossoms.  Not enough tomatoes to provide color.  They needed some help.  We should have a bunch soon.

Honors for Biggest Green Tomato go to "Anna Maria's Heart".  This is a surprise, as it is listed as a late variety.  Healthiest-looking Plant award goes to "Nyagous", a smallish "black" tomato.

Update June 15:    Anna Maria's Heart produced a ripe tomato.  It had been squished against the fence support, and had some bad spots.  This is the first time I've grown oxheart tomatoes.  I think I'm going to like this one.  Sweet and meaty so far.  It's pictured below with what is probably "Sweet Million" plus some more currant and grape tomatoes in the little bowl and "Sweet Quartz" (a Japanese cherry tomato named for the color of Rose Quartz) on top of the beans.

'Champagne' pole bean is out-producing 'Fortex'. Champagne is a flatter bean and has strings - just like old-time string beans with less-elegant names like 'Turkey Craw' or 'Blue Greasy Grit'. I hope to try Fortex again in the fall.

The difference in hue between the "pink" Anna Maria's Heart and Sweet Quartz and the "red" tomatoes in the bowl is not particularly evident in the picture, but the "pink" tomatoes have less yellow pigment in the skin when fully ripe.  The "Sweet Millions" pictured here were sweet and a little on the mealy side.  Hard to judge quality on these first tomatoes.  "Sweet Quartz" was juicier with more complex flavor.  It's large for a cherry tomato.

Below is a row of our tomato plants with the June 15 vegetable harvest.  "Nyagous" is in front, with dark foliage to go with its dark-colored tomatoes.  There are four of these rows, plus extra plants along the dog-run fences.

I was successful at emasculating some blossoms for hybridization, but not at drying and transfering pollen.  I'll probably skip further  hybridization experiments until next year because of the tobacco mosaic virus in the yard.  We will likely lose the "Brandywine OTV and "Haley's Purple Comet" to disease.  I think I can get some fruits from the latter variety first.

More melons, second-string tomato plants

We have lost three tomato plants: The Red October which lived over the winter in a little cup did not make it in the garden. I replaced it with Stupice a while ago. The Winter Red which similarly lived over the winter was apparently eaten by a gopher. It was replaced today with an extra plant of "Barbara", which had developed a few lesions on the lower leaves while waiting to be planted, like some of our other remaining plants in pots. "Mortgage Lifter" (from Target, I think), was sickly yellow and had lesions which looked like the pictures of Alternaria. It was replaced today with either Sweet Million or Sweet Olive, depending on which tag you believe. I guess the plant habit will have to provide clues as to which one it is.

Also prepared mounds for and planted more melons: Oka, Sweet Honda, Extra Summer Sweet, Lilly, Early Sugarshaw. Had some help from a little boy for whom gophers were a great mystery. Kind of slowed me down, but that's what little kids are for.

Plants in the Ground

The high temperature was in the 80's today. We had a day like that about a week ago, too. with rain and cooler weather (in the 50s during the day) in between. More spring rain than normal this year.

We had a motley crew out planting today: me, a pregnant Mom, three kids, their Dad and two young men. David had a flat tire today, and went to buy new ones. We'll see how we did in placing the plants where they can get water from the drip lines.

Peppers: Ancho, Anaheim and Jalapeno. I gave Francisco some Chile de Arbol plants to put in his garden space.
Cucumbers - on the fence by Sparky's old house. The ones we planted today are bigger than the ones I planted out by the field fencing earlier. Maybe the warmer soil environment made a difference.
Grafted tomatoes on the field fencing (Black Krim and Gary O Sena) along with a purchased Giant Belgium.
Cherry and grape tomatoes: Napa Grape and SunSugar Red.
Beans: Fortex and Champagne. The Champagne plants are in a little better shape.

We also harvested Golden Sweet pea pods (from India) and used them in chicken curry (James made it). We'll have regular peas in a couple of days.

The early bush beans I planted have some curly beans on them: they are persnickety about the weather. I don't think I'll try planting them so early again.

Bro. Martin came by on Saturday for tomato plants and seeds for his family - cucumbers, melons, watermelons and edible gourds, plus winter squash and Zephyr. I gave Paula a Cherokee Purple plant in honor of her Cherokee heritage. Alma got a Sun Sugar and a Napa Grape. I don't have too many extra tomato plants anymore. That's a good thing, I think. Maybe I can keep myself from buying more plants, too.

More Planting - Melons

This is good melon country, and we probably won't have as much room as we have now forever, so I'm planting several varieties of melons.

On Saturday, the 17th, I paired 4 heirloom tomatoes with a Big Beef in pots, so I could try grafting in a disease-resistant rootstock again. The "Gary O Sena" I did not do a wonderful job on. The plant is already getting woody. I Improved a little with "Black Krim". The smaller plants were a little easier: Cherokee Purple and Brandywine (just purchased). I've decided that rubber bands to hold the grafts together, plus tape (just as for tree grafts) are the way to go. We'll have to see if any of the grafts "take". At least the plants are still alive.

Tomato Wisdom

Intelligence is knowing a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is knowing not to put one in a fruit salad.

First Day of Spring

Planted out 36 varieties of tomatoes, four rows with 9 plants each. Links to descriptions of most of them are here. I found some frost damage on three or four of the many plants we started, particularly on smaller plants of "Marianna's Peace". "Boondocks" turned out to be regular-leaf plants, so it seems to be mislabeled. "Grightmire's Pride" included both plants with typical Oxheart foliage and small potato-leaved plants, which can't be right. Haven't planted the PL type yet, and haven't given any away, either. But "Boondocks Mystery" was popular with the Cub Scouts.

We still have 16 or 17 varieties to go, mostly cherry tomatoes and other small varieties. We should know more about tomatoes at the end of the season. Or at least, I hope we do.

From the Southwest:
Row 1: Early Challenge Hybrid, Boondocks (RL mystery plant), Red Rose, Ponderosa Pink, Absinthe, Anna Russian (oxheart), Aunt Ginny's Purple (PL), Super Beefsteak Hybrid, Fourth of July Hybrid

Row 2: Pink Berkeley Tie-Dye, Purple Passion (PL), Orange Russian 117 (sturdier foliage than the typical oxheart), Brandy Boy Hybrid (PL), Gary O Sena (PL), Black and Red Boar, German Head, Reif's Red Heart (oxheart), Moskvich

Row 3: First Lady II Hybrid, Royal Hillbilly, Brandywine OTV (PL), Barbara, Tidwell German, Better Boy (purchased, gallon plant), Heidi, Jetsetter (purchased), Nyagous

Row 4: Cosmonaut Volkov, JD's Special C-Tex, Black Krim, Anna Maria's Heart (oxheart), Momotaro, Goose Creek, Oxheart Pink, Marianna's Peace (PL), AAA Sweet Solano

I also planted in RootTrainers indoors:

Cucumbers: Cool Breeze (HPS), Suhyo TK (Pinetree), Natsuhikari (Evergreen) and Summer Dance (Pinetree). Weather has been warm during the day. Summer Dance started coming up on March 25, a day when the weather was getting cooler and rain was predicted.

Squash: Cougar(Harris), Sweet Zuke (Burpee), Kojac (T&M), Butterstick (Burpee), Magda (Willhite).

Melons: Savor (VBS), Extra Summer Sweet (Evergreen), Early Sugar Shaw (HPS), Summer Dream (Nichols), Lilly (Twilley).

Pole beans: Fortex (VBS) and Champagne (from Zeedman at Gardenweb). They started coming up on March 25.

Update, March 29: We had another family, and James, over to plant tomatoes tonight. They'll be sharing the garden. Planted cherry tomatoes and others, including a few repeat varieties. East fence, from the North: Porter's Dark Cherry, Rosalita, Sweet Chelsea, Black Cherry, Sweet Quartz, Haley's Purple Comet, Evans Purple Pear, Berkeley Tie-Dye, Green Zebra, Golden Egg, Yellow Submarine, Beam's Yellow Pear, Grightmire's PL (unknown), 2 plants

South Fence, from the East: Pop-ins, Green Grape, Grightmire's Pride (oxheart), Dr. Lyle (?), Big Beef, Mortgage Lifter, Momotaro, Aunt Ginnys?, Brandy Boy, Moskvich?, Cosmonaut Volkov.

Had some "help" from a toddler labeling some of the last tomatoes planted..

61 tomato plants. Crazy.

Tomato Seeds Planted

Well, I planted more than enough varieties of tomatoes on Thursday the 28th and Friday the 29th. Thursday's went into Jiffy Mix in Root Trainers. Friday's went into Miracle Gro Seed Starting Mix. The latter is higher in peat, is easy to wet. I think it holds more water when hydrated. We'll see how things go. They have bottom heat, on and off, from a seedling heat mat.

Some of the seeds I ordered haven't come yet. Don't know if I'll plant them all this year. I will try a few heat-setting and/or fall storage tomatoes using the Wintersown method if all goes well. Along with some ground cherries and flowers. Maybe I'm crazy.

Extra-early slicing tomatoes
Jan. 28: Fourth of July Hybrid (got seeds at Walmart last year) for my early tomato this year. It's indeterminate. Won a taste test at UC Davis in late summer 2004. Great flavor in hot weather. Has tough skin, but I don't mind. Reportedly resistant to nematodes. Burpee likes to keep details about disease resistance secret.
Jan 28: Park's Early Challenge Hybrid VF12NTmv - 63 days, 4 oz., indeterminate.
Jan. 28: Moskvich - 60 days, indeterminate, 4 to 6 oz., does well in cool weather, and reported to taste great in the hot Sacramento Valley.
Early Wonder - 55 days, determinate. Dark pink slicer, 6 oz. Freebie from Tomato Growers Supply.
Jan. 29: First Lady II VFNTASt - 66 days. midsized, crack-resistant, better flavor than Early Girl. 2003 seed. Indeterminate.

Plum and other small to mid-sized tomatoes - Indeterminate:
Jan. 28: Barbara Hybrid VFFN Have to grow this one, because Barbara is David's mom's name. It's a plum tomato bred for the French fresh market according to marketing hype. Seed is from 2003. Won a taste test, hands down, of plum tomatoes at UC Davis in 2004 and was apparently taken off the market in about 2005. I planted some after the normal season last year, and one lived over the winter on the porch in a Root Trainer, along with a Sweet Cluster, a Red October (has a blossom) and a Winter Red.
Jan. 29: Heidi - Heat-tolerant plum tomato from Africa - good flavor.
Jan. 29: Evan's Purple Pear - 70 to 80 days. Sweet. Name a play on the famous "Eva's Purple Ball", but derived from the equally famous Pruden's Purple.
Jan. 28: Cosmonaut Volkov - 65 - 75 days. "Best flavor" per Fedco seeds in New England. Wonder how it does in hot weather?
Jan. 29: Momotaro Hybrid VF1NSt (Tough Boy) - 70 days. Beautiful sweet pink tomatoes from Japan, heat-tolerant, 6 to 7 oz., fruits grow in clusters.
Jan. 29: AAA Sweet Solano - Firm, small, sweet orange tomato with gold stripes.
Jan. 29: Golden Egg - 70 to 75 days. Egg-shaped, pale yellow. Flavorful fresh or dried.
Jan 28: Goose Creek All the rage right now. Said to be a heat-tolerant tomato from a (South Carolina?) Atlantic black Island culture.
Jan. 28: Nyagous - A smallish, black-red, pretty tomato, said to be more crack-resistant than Black Prince.
Jan. 28: Berkeley Tie-Dye, - Striped tomato from Napa Valley.
Jan. 28: Black and Red Boar - smallish striped tomato from Napa Valley.
Jan. 29: Green Zebra - a tennis ball-sized green tomato, blushed yellow to pink when ripe with green stripes. Full, acidic flavor, midseason, does well in heat. Recommended for salsa. I think it's a parent of Berkeley Tie-Dye and probably Black and Red Boar above.

Cherry and Grape tomatoes - Indeterminate unless noted
Jan. 29: Rosalita - 65 days. An early pink grape tomato with white speckles.
Jan. 29: Sweet Quartz Hybrid VFNT - 65 days. Pink Japanese cherry tomato. Gets raves on the GardenWeb tomato forum.
Jan. 29: Sweet Chelsea VFFNT 67 days. Low-acid sweet large cherry tomato.
Jan. 29: Yellow Submarine - Yellow pear type, better flavor.
Jan. 29: Beam's Yellow Pear - Best-tasting yellow pear from Seed Savers.
Jan 29: Haley's Purple Comet - Large cherry tomato, originating from Cherokee Purple. Well-regarded. Compare with Black Cherry.
Jan. 29: Black Cherry - 80 days. Lots of people love this one. Cracks in rain.
Jan. 29: Green Grape - Determinate plant. Spicy flavor. Good front-yard tomato. Not as early as one might expect.
Jan. 29: Pop-Ins - 60 - 65 days. Small red teardrop-shaped tomato

Oxhearts - Indeterminate Meaty medium to large tomatoes, wispy foliage.
Jan. 29: Orange Russian 117 - 85 days. Sweet fruit, pretty.
Jan. 29: Anna Maria's Heart - in honor of our niece
Jan. 28: Anna Russian - 65 days. Early pink oxheart. Also in honor of niece.
Jan. 28: Oxheart Pink - 80 to 95 days. Big. Reputed to be somewhat heat-tolerant.
Jan. 28: Grightmires Pride (medium-sized, fairly early oxheart)
Jan. 28: Reif Red Heart medium-sized heart, good flavor.

Large Tomatoes (including beefsteaks) - Indeterminate
PINK/ROSE
Jan. 28: Purple Passion - An early pink Utah heirloom beefsteak.
Jan. 28: Pink Berkeley Tie-Dye - 65 to 70 days. Striped pink beefsteak from Napa. Better than Cherokee Purple? Compact indeterminate plants.
Jan. 29: Red Rose - 6 to 10 oz.,
Jan. 29: Aunt Ginny's - 75 to 85 days. Famous heirloom, 12 to 16 ounces.
Jan. 28: Dr. Lyle - 80 days. A meaty, fairly smooth large (1 to 2 pound) pink beefsteak without many seeds.
Jan. 29: Boondocks - 80 days. Big, fat beefsteak, over a pound. Does well in warmer climates. Mislabeled in my little pots. Should be potato-leaved.
Jan. 28: Marianna's Peace - 85 days. A popular pink beefsteak said to be more productive than Brandywine. 1 - 2 pounds.
Jan. 29: German Head - smooth, pink beefsteak.
Jan. 29: Tidwell German - big, pink beefsteak from Tennessee.
Jan. 29: Royal Hillbilly - 85 days. Fairly smooth, little cracking, good yields. One pound average.
Jan. 29: Ponderosa Pink Big, mild, rough-shouldered tomato, susceptible to sunscald. Seed from 2003.
Jan. 29: Watermelon Beefsteak - Up to 2 pounds, smooth blossom end. (Didn't come up - old seed).
Jan 28: Brandy Boy Hybrid Brandywine type from Burpee.
Jan. 29: Mortgage Lifter 75 to 85 days. Big beefsteak-type.

PURPLE/BLACK/BROWN
Jan. 28: Black Krim (black, early, heat tolerant)
Jan. 28: JD's Special C-Tex
Jan. 29: Gary O Sena - 70 to 75 days. Stabilized cross of Brandywine x Cherokee Purple. Loved by tomato lovers.

RED
Jan. 29: Brandywine OTV - 85 days. Red, more productive than regular Brandywine, especially in warmer climates.
Jan. 28: Big Beef Hybrid VFFNTASt - 73 days. Reliable, disease-resistant, heat-tolerant, good flavor. I have enough seeds for emergencies now. May try as grafted second rootstock for some heirlooms.
Jan 28: Super BeefsteaK VFN - not sure if this one is an F1 hybrid. Smooth shape, small blossom scar. 2003, Gurneys'


GREEN
Jan 28: Absinthe

Update, February 11: The plants started on the 29th in the Miracle Grow Seed Starter Mix are growing healthier-looking, sturdier plants. I've started giving the ones started the dåy before some plant food. Jiffy Mix plant starter may be most suitable under a layer of the Miracle Grow - for aeration.

Some varieties have not come up: I did not get good results with pre-soaked "Barbara" seeds (only one of 8 survived) - 12 hours in dilute "bloom" plant food plus a couple of drops of hydrogen peroxide in water. The ones planted on the 29th, untreated, did better. Pink Berkeley Tie-Dye did not come up. It was late for Bro. Cox. "Pop-ins" just came up today. Long after most varieties emerged. No response from old "Watermelon Beefsteak" and "Mortgage Lifter" seeds, either. Berkeley Tie-Dye and Absinthe did not come up, but the seed came from a non-profit organization, so who knows their storage history?

The old Atlas beans I planted rotted. Red Swan looks vigorous. Contender - plants are smaller and leaves more yellow. Seeds were older. For the main crop, I got new seed this year.

Update Feb. 18: Saw the first sprout of Pink Berkeley Tie Dye today. Some other seeds are also sprouting just now. There's another "Barbara" start from soaked seed, and another seedling which hasn't shed the seedcoat yet. Wonder why some tomator seeds are so much slower than others? Other than age of the seeds, which is one explanation. Maybe storage conditions, too. And after the first leaves sprouted, I took the Root Trainers off the heating mat, so later-sprouting seeds had to finish at lower temperatures. And tomato seeds seem to sprout fastest at around 80 degrees. Temps. above 86 may be harmful.

Spring almost here: Tomato Seeds Ordered

We've had three days now when the sun came out - Southern California Rose Bowl weather - after some much-needed rain. More rain is forecasted. We've had kind of a gray winter so far, as usual.

I started to get "spring" seed catalogs in November, and I just got one from Park yesterday. So much fun to dream about a bounteous garden. Buying seeds is my way of "gambling", I think, or perhaps indulging in fantasy. Probably cheaper than going to Las Vegas. If anybody needs some seeds, check with me first. I always have too many.

This year I concentrated on new tomato varieties. And it's not as if I didn't already have seeds. We'll see how many I actually grow. The large number of big pink tomato varieties is due to an effort to discover one like David's Mom remembers from childhood:

Extra-early slicing tomatoes
I'm going with little Fourth of July Hybrid (got seeds at Walmart last year) for my early tomato this year. It's indeterminate. Won a taste test at UC Davis in late summer 2004. Great flavor in hot weather. Has tough skin, but I don't mind. Reportedly resistant to nematodes. Burpee likes to keep details about disease resistance secret.
Park's Early Challenge Hybrid VF12NTmv - 63 days, 4 oz., indeterminate.
Moskvich - 60 days, indeterminate, 4 to 6 oz., does well in cool weather.
Polfast hybrid - 54 days. Determinate. Larger fruits than Fourth of July. Sent the seeds to Betty's parents in Utah.
Early Wonder - 55 days, determinate. Dark pink slicer, 6 oz. Freebie from Tomato Growers Supply.

Plum and other small to mid-sized tomatoes - Indeterminate:
Heidi - Heat-tolerant plum tomato from Africa - good flavor.
Evan's Purple Pear - 70 to 80 days. Sweet. Name a play on the famous "Eva's Purple Ball", but derived from the equally famous Pruden's Purple.
Momotaro Hybrid VF1NSt (Tough Boy) - 70 days. Beautiful sweet pink tomatoes from Japan, heat-tolerant, 6 to 7 oz., fruits grow in clusters. Compare to Tolstoi (have seeds) from India. Larger clusters, smaller tomatoes: 3 to 4 oz. Sold on the vine.
AAA Sweet Solano - Firm, small, sweet orange tomato with gold stripes.
Golden Egg - 70 to 75 days. Egg-shaped, pale yellow. Flavorful fresh or dried.
Little Lucky - 90 days. Yellow with red blush. Complex flavor.
Angora Orange - Medium-sized tasty fruit on a silvery, furry plant. Freebie from Glecker's
Porter - 78 days. Small plum-shaped pink fruits. Heat-tolerant. Old Southwest favorite.
Porter Improved - Very different from Porter. Round, pink, medium to small.

Cherry and Grape tomatoes - Indeterminate unless noted
Rosalita - 65 days. An early pink grape tomato with white speckles.
Sweet Quartz Hybrid VFNT - 65 days. Pink Japanese cherry tomato. Gets raves on the GardenWeb tomato forum.
Yellow Submarine - Yellow pear type, better flavor.
Haley's Purple Comet - Large cherry tomato, originating from Cherokee Purple. Well-regarded. For comparison with Black Cherry.
Black Cherry - 80 days. Lots of people love this one. Cracks in rain.
Green Grape - Determinate plant. Spicy flavor. Good front-yard tomato. Not as early as one might expect.
Pop-Ins - 60 - 65 days. Small red teardrop-shaped tomato
Cherry Roma - 75 to 80 days. Looks like a grape tomato. Holds well. Freebie from Diane's.
Jenny Hybrid 65 days, sweet, small, orange cherry tomato. In honor of Fred's new bride. Looks like it might be discontinued soon.
Ladybug Hybrid - red, clustered. I want to see if all of the tomatoes in a cluster ripe at the same time. Crack-resistant, heat-tolerant.

Large Tomatoes (including beefsteaks) - Indeterminate
PINK/ROSE
Purple Passion - An early pink Utah heirloom beefsteak. Compare to Pink Berkeley Tie-Dye, Pruden's Purple.
Pink Berkeley Tie-Dye - 65 to 70 days. Striped pink beefsteak from Napa. Better than Cherokee Purple? Compact indeterminate plants.
Pruden's Purple - Early pink heirloom - sent seeds to Betty's parents.
Red Rose - 6 to 10 oz., cross between Brandywine and Rutgers. Compare to Cosmonaut Volkov (red) and Goose Creek.
Aunt Ginny's Purple - 75 to 85 days. Famous heirloom, 12 to 16 ounces.
Dr. Lyle - 80 days. A meaty, fairly smooth large (1 to 2 pound) pink beefsteak without many seeds.
Mexico - 80 days. Heat-tolerant pink beefsteak, averaging over a pound.
Boondocks - 80 days. Big, fat beefsteak, over a pound. Does well in warmer climates.
Marianna's Peace - 85 days. A popular pink beefsteak said to be more productive than Brandywine. 1 - 2 pounds.
German Head - smooth, pink beefsteak.
Tidwell German - big, pink beefsteak from Tennessee.
Giant Belgium Pink - Huge beefsteak, smooth blossom ends. Sweet and mild.
German Johnson Regular Leaf - 85 days. Mild, reddish-pink, fairly smooth. Average 1 pound.
Royal Hillbilly - 85 days. Fairly smooth, little cracking, good yields. One pound average.

PURPLE/BLACK/BROWN
Cherokee Purple - I grew this one last year. Maintains flavor in cool fall weather. Best picked when shoulders are still green.
Gary O Sena - 70 to 75 days. Stabilized cross of Brandywine x Cherokee Purple. Loved by tomato lovers.
Indian Stripe - Similar to Cherokee Purple, smaller plant and slightly smaller fruits, a little earlier. Pick ripe. The favorite of many.

RED
Marmande - Small pack from Artistic Gardens, 35 cents, for someone in a cool-summer climate.
Cosmonaut Volkov - 65 - 75 days. "Best flavor" per Fedco seeds in New England. Wonder how it does in hot weather?
Brandywine OTV - 85 days. Red, more productive than regular Brandywine, especially in warmer climates.
Big Beef Hybrid VFFNTASt - 73 days. 100 seeds. Reliable, disease-resistant, heat-tolerant, good flavor. I have enough seeds for emergencies now. May try as grafted second rootstock for some heirlooms.

Oxhearts - Indeterminate
Orange Russian 117 - 85 days. Sweet fruit, pretty.
Anna Maria's Heart - in honor of our niece
Anna Russian - 65 days. Early pink oxheart. Also in honor of niece.
Oxheart Pink - 80 to 95 days. Big. Reputed to be somewhat heat-tolerant.

May also get from Wintersown (sent them 5 bucks, will try their plant-starting method) Berkeley Tie-Dye, Black and Red(?) Boar, Black Krim(black, relatively early to late, heat tolerant) Nyagous (black, pretty), Grightmires Pride (medium-sized oxheart), Reif Red Heart (Oxheart), Goose Creek, JD's Special C-Tex, Absinthe, Olive Hill.

Like I said, I can't use all these seeds myself.

First Frost

We had a welcome and prayed-for rainstorm last week. Our first light frost was this morning. A full month after the official "you might get frost on this date" consensus - about October 15. It was not cold enough to hurt plants, except for the most tender ones. Most of the tomato plants in the "tomato hedge" are dead or dying, but not from the frost. One plant (I think it's Big Boy) has a lot of little end-of-season tomatoes still hanging on the plant. It's like the plant rushed to ripen them before they reached normal size. They're sweeter than the bigger ones on the same plant - perhaps due to water restriction during ripening - and have less damage on the tops from water condensation. Their skins are pretty tough.

They taste better than the volunteer cherry tomatoes. These volunteer plants are still covered with fruits, but they taste like they grew in cold weather. I'm starting to think that there's something to the idea that plants grown in uncultivated soil are hardier and more drought-resistant. The cherry tomatoes planted in our cultivated "hedge" are dead. Maybe it's time to try the idea of layering amendments on top of the soil, rather than turning them into the soil.

The heirloom varieties of tomatoes which we planted late, on the south side of the house, are still green and lush. Not many tomatores on the plants. A couple of days ago I picked a Cherokee Purple tomato. The top was cracked and damaged from water condensation, but the bottom half was very tasty - on the juicy side, but it didn't have the off-flavors typical of tomatoes which ripen when the nights are cold. I should search through the interior of the big plant for more.