To Plant or not to Plant a Fall Vegetable Garden

Fall is the perfect time in Southern California for planting perennials and non-deciduous trees. However, there is a debate in my mind if fall is the best time to plant a vegetable garden. I attempted a fall vegetable garden in the past, with mixed to poor results, despite all the advice my gardening books give to the contrary. Fall can be a great time to garden, as long as temperatures are cooler and more comfortable. But beware the Santa Ana winds; those devil winds bring miserable dry heat that makes yard work misery rather than a labor of love!

The logistics of a fall vegetable garden are very tricky. If you wish to start plants from seed for fall harvest, the seeds need to be started by mid-August and theoretically planted by mid-September.  But this means starting cool weather crops (root and leaf vegetables) during what is usually the hottest and driest times of the year. I often find that the hottest temps of the year occur in September or October, much to the consternation of our tourists. October starts exceptionally dry with Santa Ana winds blowing off the deserts, desiccating delicate plants, and aiding and abetting wildfires in the dry back country. This period can extend through November or end in early October depending on when the first wet season rains descend upon the region. This variability makes for frustrated attempts at cool season vegetables. I found that an early wet season tends to favor growth of cool season vegetables and extended heat and dryness stunts them or worse, kills them.

Pomegranates to be harvested

By early fall, I am usually spent, tried of all the responsibility of a vegetable garden, and am ready for the welcome respite of winter. I wind down the warm season crops: completing the final harvests of tomatoes, removing dying marigolds and other annual flowers, pruning perennial shrubs, and the general clean up that comes with preparing for winter. I also preserve the harvest: drying herbs, juicing and freezing pomegranate juice, making and freezing tomato sauce, and making and freezing fig jam. I still need to plant my cover crops (native wildflowers and crimson clover) after removing warm season vegetables from the beds. That is a lot to do and nurse tender cool weather seedlings through unforgiving weather!

Swiss chard

This year I successfully grew Swiss chard from seed for fall harvest. My poor kale plants are being eaten mercilessly by black beetles and white flies; they are going to end up a total loss. I started tomatoes later this year and have a later harvest because of the late timing. The wind down is taking longer this year, taking away focus from the broccoli, cauliflower, collards, and arugula that shriveled up and died as seedlings. My best advice for the fall is to focus on winding down the warm season, cleaning up the garden, and preserving the harvest. The cool weather crops can wait to be planted in late winter or early spring. Ultimately they prefer this timing, and weather conditions are more apt to allow them to grow and thrive.

Winding down the tomatoes - the 2 above photos are a Romanian heirloom we call "Corey's Grandpa." The one in my hand weighed almost 2 lbs! While the plants do not produce quantity, they produce huge quality fruits. This is one of my favorite tomatoes: gorgeous coloring, hug size, light, sweet yet flavorful taste - overall impressive on all accounts!

Panzanella or Italian Bread Salad

One of my favorite recipes for end of summer tomatoes is Panzanella. It is so simple yet so good; the key is using only the highest quality ingredients. This is a dish that is both rustic and elegant, healthy yet a solid comfort food.

Ingredients:

4-5 large heirloom tomatoes (cubed) or 1-2 pounds of cherry tomatoes (halved)

One cucumber, seeds removed and sliced thin

One red or sweet onion, sliced thin

Fresh basil, cut in thin strips

Loaf of thick, rustic, crusty bread, slightly stale (cubed into crouton sized bites)

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil – I reduce to 1/8 of cup to reduce calories

1/4 cup red wine vinegar – I reduce to 1/8 of cup to reduce calories

1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar

Salt and pepper to taste

Chop all vegetables using the above directions and place in large bowl (preferably one that can be sealed). Liberally salt and pepper the contents to taste. Remember – the salt brings out the flavor of the tomatoes! Add the oil and vinegars and lightly toss to mix. (I fill a quarter cup halfway with olive oil and the rest of the way with red wine vinegar. Do add the whole tablespoon of balsamic vinegar.)

I normally wait until a couple minutes prior to serving to add the rustic bread. It is supposed to be soggy with oil and vinegar, the key is to not let it get too soggy. Use slightly stale, thick rustic bread made from hardier wheat flour. This will hold up better than a soft, white flour baguette.  For a slightly crunchier texture, bread can be toasted in a toaster or under the broiler in the oven. Chop the bread in larger-sized croutons and toss salad again, making sure the oil and vinegars are evenly deposited on the bread. Salad will keep for up to three days – if it lasts that long!

Panzanella sans the bread

Transitioning through the Season

This spring/summer growing season has been a mixed bag of victories and defeats. On one hand, I was able to successfully set up and grow a potager garden. (Many thanks to Hubby’s help!) This style of bed allowed me to diversify my crop yield. I was able to get a decent yield of long Japanese eggplant, cucumbers, green beans, beets, sunflowers, five different varieties of peppers, and some very prolific San Marzano sauce tomatoes. My basil suffered however, with a strange brown fungus appearing on the underside of the leaves. I believe I accidently bought diseased plants from the nursery and subsequently spread the disease by placing the plants too close together in the garden beds. Once I realized the problem, I completed a mercy killing of the plants and started fresh with a new set of seedlings from a different nursery.

The potager in transition

Spacing was a big issue this season for the tomatoes. Since I planted them closer together this year, they were more susceptible to each other’s ailments. My squashes spread powdery mildew to the closest set of tomatoes and then the wind and close proximity carried it to the rest. I have to seriously rethink my squash placement next year, or simply not plant it any more. I am too close to the coast for the weather to be hot enough to eliminate mildew on squash.  I have also been experiencing diminished soil fertility. While my San Marzanos were prolific in one part of the potager, my other tomatoes failed to thrive. Blossom drop has been a huge problem. Heavy amending of the soil is in order with focus on introducing lots of natural calcium. I may need to let some beds take a break from tomatoes next year in order to build up the soil, planting nutrient rich cover crops instead.

I am transitioning the garden over to cooler weather crops. If my seedlings are any indication, I just might be successful with a fall garden this year. The kale and Swiss chard have already been planted and the broccoli, cauliflower, lettuces, cabbage, and collards have been started from seed. So far, so good.

Swiss chard 

Kale seedlings in foreground, mature kale in background

My saving grace for the tomato season has been my unruly wild patch of cherry tomatoes. It spring up every year next to my tangerine tree. We used to have our compost heap here, so the soil is very fertile and all the seeds tossed out with the compost the year before have now blossomed into the hardy cherry tomatoes. They do not have the complexity and deep flavor of my heirlooms, but they are sweet and bright and beloved by my co-workers and their children. (I am not a stranger with candy; I’m a stranger with vegetables!) They make wonderful salsa and are the perfect fruit for my favorite salad, panzanella (recipe forthcoming). I need to stop being such a tomato snob. Sometimes the garden gives you awesome heirlooms, sometimes it gives you sweet cherries. Appreciate the fact you got something worth eating from the fruits of your labors. Even with hard work and diligence, the home gardener can end up with zilch. It makes every bounty, expected or not expected, big or small, a blessing from the earth.

The prolific yet neglected cherry tomato patch

The second string heirlooms have been besieged by gophers and plagued by blossom drop.

Tomatoes Are Good For You

Did you know that tomatoes will make your teeth sparkling white, your breath minty fresh, your hair shine with new luster and cut your risk for stroke.  Well one out of four is not all that bad.  According to a study based out of Finland, published in the medical journal of Neurology, tomatoes (and especially cooked tomatoes) can reduce your risk for stroke.  The secret ingredient is lycopene.  You can obtain lycopene in other fruits such as grapefruit and papaya, but come on, what would you rather have, spaghetti or grapefruit?

The study followed 1,031 men between the ages of 42 and 61.  The study followed these men for 12 years and was intended to determine if other dietary items affected stroke risk.  I am inherently skeptical of longitudinal studies.   I mean really, are you going to remember what you ate last week and in what quantity?  I have trouble remembering what I ate for dinner yesterday unless it was spaghetti.  Hey, maybe they are on to something. If you want to read more about the study, the link is below.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444897304578044680394134430.html?mod=ITP_personaljournal_0

I always look for news items that affirm my narrow view of the world.  And if scientists say that tomatoes are good for you, then it must be true (especially if I can read it on the internet).  I was devastated when the nutritional police came out years ago to say that coffee was bad for you.  Then they changed their minds and it was good for you, then it was bad for you. Now, I only read stuff that tells me that whatever I am eating or drinking is good for me.  I sleep much better at night this way.  Sweet Tomato says I take the reputed health benefits of red wine way too seriously.  As if I needed any excuse to drink red wine.  As my dear Great Grand Father used to say, “Water is over rated, it just rusts your pipes”.  He lived to be 96, ate lots of tomatoes and drank large quantities of red wine.

Summer Culinary Delights

During the hot days of August and September, the tomato harvest becomes a daunting task as Sweet Tomato and I try to use tomatoes into nearly every meal we enjoy.  Here are two easy and really good recipes.  And of course, they use tomatoes.

Tomato Frittata

I make frittatas all of the time.  I generally cook them as a way to use up left overs.  If you get creative, there isn’t much in the left over category that can’t be used in a frittata.  Here is a recipe that relies on the San Marzano Redorta.  The San Marzano Redorta is a wonderful plum heirloom tomato from Italy.  It is large and meaty with little or no internal liquid.  It is great for pizzas and frittatas because as it heats up in the oven, the tomato does not cook out much liquid. This means you can use these tomatoes fresh off the vine without roasting or drying them first.

Mix 6 to 10 eggs in a bowl.  The amount of eggs depends upon how much frittata you want.  If you have some cream, add a tablespoon or two.  If not, don’t worry it is not required.  Add salt and pepper to the eggs and wisk the eggs until combined.  You will need an oven safe skillet.  I use a 12 inch skillet that has a normal metal body. Many recipes tell you to use a non-stick skillet, but I have never felt comfortable putting non-stick skillets in the oven.  I have more cleanup afterward, but other than that, a regular metal skillet works just fine.

Heat olive oil in the skillet.  Add some course chopped garlic and some thin sliced onions.  I use a lot of garlic, probably more than you or most normal people would, so use an amount of garlic you are comfortable with.  The key thing here is not to let it burn.  If you let your garlic burn, throw it out and start over.  Burnt garlic is nasty.  Add the onions.  I use sweet or red onions (whatever I have at the time – I am not picky) and sometimes use green onions if that is all I have.  After the onions have begun to caramelize, add the eggs to the skillet.  This next part gets a little tricky and takes practice.  Stir the eggs over medium heat as if you were making scrambled eggs.  I have this really nifty non-stick spatula that lets me move the eggs around in the skillet so they cook evenly.  If you let the eggs just set there, they will burn on the bottom and be runny on top.  Once you get to a consistency that is just short of true scramble eggs, remove the skillet from the heat.  The eggs should be runny, but just starting to get some solid egg chunks.

Now cover the frittata with sliced San Marzano Redorta tomatoes.  The tomato slices should be about a quarter of an inch thick.  Tomato slices with skin should be put on the frittata skin side down.  I forgot to tell you to heat your oven to 350 degrees, so go do that now.  When the oven is at 350 degrees, put the frittata in for 8 to 10 minutes.  The eggs should be cooked through, but the tomatoes are just beginning to cook.  You can remove the frittata at this point, let it cool and eat it out of the skillet or move it to a platter. 

However, if you want to “kick it up a notch”, set the oven rack just under the broiler and turn your oven to broil.  Sprinkle parmesan over the frittata.  If I am really enterprising, I will roast some panko bread crumbs in a little bit of butter and then sprinkle them on the frittata along with the parmesan.  Place the frittata under the broiler. 

DO NOT WALK AWAY!! 

Broiling the frittata can take 30 seconds to a minute or so.  Leave the oven open and watch the frittata. The parmesan (and bread crumbs) should be browned, but not blackened.  You may have to move/turn the skillet while it is under the broiler to brown the top evenly.  Here is what the end product looks like.

A few other tips.  Salt and pepper the finished frittata to taste.  If you have any left over marinara, ladling some over the frittata is a great addition.  And for those of you who think you have asbestos fingers, use oven mitts when handling the skillet.  It is tough to eat frittata with burnt fingers.

Tomatoes with Grapes, Figs, Asiago Cheese, Sausage and Lettuce

This one is really easy.  Spread some lettuce onto a platter. We use garden lettuce or the store bought packages.  Both seem to work equally as well.  Layer with sliced fresh garden tomatoes.  If you don’t have quality heirloom, fresh, garden tomatoes, this will not be nearly as good. Spread some grapes and figs around the platter.  Add some thinly sliced cooked sausage.  We use sweet Italian sausage generally of the left over variety.  Use a cheese peeler to create some thin slices of Asiago.  Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil.  We generally have a few slices of crusty bread as well, and of course some wine.

The tomatoes and figs were picked from our garden that day.  I defy anyone to be able to order a salad like this at any restaurant!

Seafood Pasta with Heirloom Tomatoes Fra Diavolo Sauce

I have been reviewing my extensive collection of cookbooks for recipes that can be used with my burgeoning tomato harvest.  I am almost as obsessed with cookbooks as I am with tomatoes, much to Sweet Tomato’s (my wife of many years) consternation about cookbooks piled all over the house and garage.   I share Rosie Tomato’s desire to finally use some of those recipes rather than day dream about what they might have tasted like (if only I had prepared them).  This recipe comes from “The Heirloom Tomato Cookbook”.  This cookbook was originally published in 2006 to promote the Kendall-Jackson Wine Center in Napa Valley.  Despite being a promotion vehicle for Kendall-Jackson, it is a great cookbook with lots of information about heirloom tomatoes – from history, to selection, techniques and of course tomato recipes.  It is one of my favorites.

This recipe (Seafood Pasta with Heirloom Tomatoes Fra Diavolo Sauce) comes from page 84.  “Fra Diavolo” translates in Italian as “Brother Devil” (brother as in monk).  It gets its name from the red pepper flakes included in the ingredients.  There is a story behind my love of hot (really hot) peppers and condiments that I may get to someday.  Suffice it to say that Sweet Tomato does not have the same degree of tolerance for hot peppers as I do.  When I read one teaspoon of red pepper flakes in a recipe, my eyes fool me and I see two or three (well maybe four or five) teaspoons. As a consequence, whenever I use fresh chilies or red pepper flakes in a recipe, I must check with Sweet Tomato first. She is the boss after all and it is a rule she created so she wouldn’t be forced to fix her own dinner because mine was too hot to eat (for her, not for me).

 The dish consists of the following:

4 tablespoons of olive oil, 6 garlic cloves (crushed), 1.5 pounds of heirloom tomatoes (they recommend plum, but any good tasting red heirloom tomato will do), salt, 4 or 5 teaspoons of red pepper flakes (ok, it only calls for 1 teaspoon if you are a wimp), linguine pasta, 8 ounces small shrimp (I used medium shrimp and a lot more than 8 ounces), 8 ounces of bay scallops and 2 tablespoons of flat-leaf parsley. 

If you can’t figure out how the ingredients go together, then you aren’t much of a cook or you don’t have any imagination.  If you really do want the directions, buy the book, or comment on the blog and I will include the cooking directions.  Below are pictures of the dish.  There were actually two versions, one with one teaspoon of red pepper flakes and one with more than that.  It turned out really good and was great with Zinfandel.

This was the hot one.  If you look closely you can just see the fork beginning to melt.



This Is Why I Grow Tomatoes

My wife, Sweet Tomato, made a tomato salad with dinner last night.  The tomatoes, Cory’s Grandpa (orange & yellow), Michael Pollan (green) and Abraham Lincoln (red) were picked from my garden about an hour before dinner.  Sweet Tomato laid down a bed of lettuce and arugula, sliced the tomatoes and arranged them on the plate.  She added green scallions and a drizzle of olive oil.  The result was a simple but incomparable dish that rivals or exceeds anything you can obtain at an expensive restaurant. But wait, it gets better; open a bottle of red wine, cut some crusty bread, and dine in the company of the loveliest girl in the world. 

It doesn’t get much better than this.

Yes, We Have Few Tomatoes

The season always starts with such promise: new varieties of tomatoes selected, new vegetables to try, the entire off-season spent researching and planning. But ultimately, such hopes and knowledge can't prepare for an off year. I have been tending garden since 2007 and this is my first, true, off year. Two weeks ago, I pulled out my Momotaro and one Mariana's Peace tomato plants. Today I pulled out two Russian heirlooms and the Matina tomatoes. The were suffering from a variety of ailments, some of which I can speculate rather than diagnose with certainty. A nutrient deficiency is one theory explains failure to thrive. Insufficient watering explains the leaf curl. Now combine weakened plants with pernicious powdery mildew and an unknown blight and half my crop had to be destroyed before the plants could produce any significant quantity or quality of tomatoes.

Papi Tomato suspects verticillium wilt. My Matina is down for the count.

Leaf curl, premature discoloration, and mildew

My San Marzano Redorta is doing okay, but not thriving

Russian heirloom with wilting blight - they're in the trash heap now.

Powdery mildew

My poor sad tomato bed

And to add insult to injury - blossom end rot!

 It is an odd contradiction that the garden as a whole has never looked better. The weeds are under control. The roses are blooming beautifully and prolifically. My side yard fruit trees are burgeoning with pomegranates and fragrant with the earthy smell of almost ripe figs. My patio is a colorful and hospitable place for birds, butterflies, and feline and human guests. But the tomatoes keep failing and any fruit I have is small, hard, and sometimes downright unpalatable.

This fall into winter will be the time to regroup and refocus on the foundation of a healthy garden: making deep improvements to the soil. I plan to add massive amounts of compost to the soil along with some natural and organic fertilizers. My main beds will be covered through the winter season with the exception of two beds held over for wildflowers. I will grow a minimal cool season vegetable garden to help keep me fresh and in the game. But truth be told, after this disappointing season I need a break to nurse my hurt pride.

Papi’s 2012 Lineup: Third Flight

Dagma’s Perfection

This is new to the lineup this year.  It is a bi-colored heirloom tomato and is described as very picturesque. Tomatoes are 10 to 12 ounces with hints of tropical fruit.  I doubt the tropical fruit part, but the pictures of this beauty could fool you into thinking you were eating a papaya or a pineapple.  My main reason for trying this tomato is to compare it to my perennial favorite, Cory’s Grandpa (see my blog Papi’s 2012 Lineup: Second Flight for the story behind Cory’s Grandpa).

Abraham Lincoln

This tomato is new to the lineup this year.  Old Abe has been around for a long time.  The tomato that is. 

“Abraham Lincoln’ was introduced in 1923 by the W. H. Buckbee seed company of Rockford, Ill., which named the tomato in honor of the state’s favorite son. It was released without much fanfare, but over the years it has proved itself to be one of the great tomato classics that happily survived the big shift to hybrids during the 1940s. After the demise of the Buckbee firm, the tomato was continued by R. H. Shumway of Randolph, Wis.”

Advertised as an abundant provider with 6 to 10 ounce tomatoes. Good texture with higher amount of acid, but also tempered with sweetness.

Zapotec

Zapotec has been in the lineup before.  This is a great tasting tomato with thick flesh great for making sauces and canning.  Zapotec is an heirloom from Mexico and is reputed to be the progenitor of the Italian heirloom tomato Costoluto Genovese.  According to myth, legend or history, the Spanish Conquistadors brought this tomato back from their conquest of Mexico and introduced it to Europe.  The Costoluto Genovese is renowned for its great sauces and taste.  Zapotec is every bit as good and in my opinion is better looking than the Costoluto Genovese.

Copia

Copia has been in the lineup before.  It is also a bi-colored tomato.  It is advertised as a stabilized cross between a Green Zebra and Marvel Stripe.  The tomatoes are 10 to 12 ounces and the tomato was named for the Copia American Center for Food and Wine in Napa California.  I had the good fortune to visit the Copia Center several years ago with my wife (Sweet Tomato) before it closed in bankruptcy in 2008.  The Copia is every bit as tasty as it is beautiful. 

Papi's 2012 Line-up: Second Flight

Tomande

I have planted this tomato for several years.  It is a very good producer and has good to excellent flavor. I generally pick tomatoes I have not grown before for their names or if they look good in the catalogs.  I am soooo a sucker for tomato catalogs, but that is a blog I have to write in the winter.  If a tomato is going to stay in the line-up it has to first and foremost taste good.  Second, it should be a good producer. It has to have more than six or seven tomatoes on it.  Lastly, if it is disease resistant, especially for powdery mildew, that is a good thing.  Tomande meets all three of these requirements.  It has the flavor and looks of an heirloom, but with the yield and disease resistance of a modern hybrid.

Matina

This tomato is new to the line-up this year.  According to the seed catalogs’ propaganda, early bearing, intense flavor, potato-leaved with large clusters of abundant tomatoes.  It is an heirloom from Germany.  I picked it because it looked pretty, I liked the name and it was an early producer.  Then I went and planted it in the second flight, go figure. 

San Marzano Redorta

I planted this tomato for the first time in 2011.  I had planted the smaller San Marzano tomatoes before with mixed success.  For those of you not that familiar with the San Marzano, it is the premier tomato grown in Italy for making marinara or paste.  Take a trip to an Italian specialty grocery or deli and you will pay a fortune for canned San Marzano tomatoes from Italy.  Now don’t get me wrong, the San Marzano tomatoes from Italy really do taste great.  I just feel they are not worth their lofty price tag.  The San Marzano Redorta is an heirloom from Tuscany, Italy.  It is named for a mountain in Bergamo, Italy.  This tomato is a San Marzano on steroids.  It is big, 7 to 8 inches in length, meaty with almost no juice and all meat.  You cook a couple of these babies down for marinara sauce and you don’t have to worry about your sauce being thin.  We canned a bunch of these last year.  I make a very bright marinara with the San Marzano Redorta we canned in 2011 when I make pizza.  I make a very good pizza and these tomatoes make a great marinara.

This is one of my fantastic, pizzas with San Marzano Redorta tomates made into a marinara for the pizza.

Cory’s Grandpa

This tomato has a lot going for it. It has been in the line-up for years, and will always be there.  It is a good producer of large beef steak tomatoes that are multicolored with beautiful coloring of yellow, green and red (think rainbow, but only prettier).  It tastes absolutely fabulous with lots of juice and flavor.  You put some mozzarella on one of these tomatoes, some basil and a sprinkle of olive oil you have a meal that will not leave you hungry.  But the best thing about this tomato is that it has a great story. 

In years past, one of my daughters dated a young man by the name of Cory.  My daughter and Cory have long since parted ways, but when they were going together, this young man knew of my passion for tomatoes and brought me seeds from his Grandpa’s prized tomato.  When Cory gave me the seeds, he recounted this beautiful, multicolored tomato that his Grandpa had grown for years.  It was prized within the family and treasured for its beauty and taste.  I operate on the premise that talk is cheap, show me what you got.  The first year I planted this tomato, I planted 2 or 3 of them. It was a good thing, because only one made it (I wasn’t as talented as I am now and my tomato growing was hit or miss).  This tomato was so beautiful and so tasty, it was a hit and favorite.  Cory’s Grandpa has passed on, but his tomato will live in my garden for as long as I am growing tomatoes.

Vorlon Update

This is a very good tasting tomato.  With a name like Vorlon and the story behind it, this could stay in the line up.

June Maintenance Mode

June is an anticipatory middle month. The early spring blooms have burnt away to allow the mid season blooms a place in the sun: large sprays of roses, colorful salvia, yarrow, lavender, and other assorted butterfly-loving flowers. The early wildflowers have recently been removed to may way for the squash and pumpkin. The tomatoes are flowering and bringing forth hard, green fruit. There are no tomatoes to eat just yet and I hope today's sunshine is evidence of more warmth to come.

This odd lull in the garden has left me with only the simplest of tasks, mainly deadheading. Many would ask: Why cut the blooms off a flowering plant? Truth be told, a gardener who removes the almost spent blossom encourages the plant to produce a bevy more of them. I have deadheading my roses down to a scheduled science. On days I water (usually Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday) I remove spent and on the cusp of spent blooms and remove leaves infested with orange rust. I think I will be forever doomed to fight orange rust, but I find that if I attack in short battles over the course of time, I have more success (and more beautiful roses) than if I try to wage an epic battle once a month. As with all work in a garden, it is a war of attrition, the pests and blight never truly defeated but rather staved off for another day. Deadheading isn't just for roses; I use the tactics on annual flowers, lavender, salvia, and yarrow. The tactic does not seem to work on jasmines; they bloom profusely, then like a switch, shut down for the season, leaving me to miss their lovely scent.

The Yellow Pear (left) is taller than me!

Other simple June task include (as always) weeding, watering, and checking for powdery mildew and treating it, THE EARLIER THE BETTER. And yes, I am shouting that last provision. I didn't treat my yellow crook necked squash early enough and now I am afraid they cannot be salvaged (into the dumpster they go)! The tomatoes, zucchini, and pumpkins will take their medicine on a regular basis. There are many options to choose from at your local nursery and many of them are organic. Weeding is still necessary but begins to lull after the end of the spring rains. I am fighting spotted spurge and spider grasses rather than thicker stemmed varieties such as dandelions. Weeding is another war of attrition, the more weed-free the garden, the less likelihood of weed seeds spread far and wide. But vigilance always, for the next infestation is on the wind.

Butterfly Garden

Watering responsibility requires keen observation in June. The overcast marine layer of “June Gloom” blots out the sun in the mornings (and sometimes all day). I still usually water 3 days a week, but I skip a day as needed if the ground still looks damp. Over watering can kill just as much as under watering, and it brings a higher risk of powdery mildew.

My happy place

After puttering in the garden in the cool weekend mornings, completing these smaller tasks, I can afford to relax in the afternoon, sipping an iced coffee underneath my new patio canopy. I enjoy whiling a way an hour or two reading my gardening magazines or watching the birds, waiting in anticipation for the tomato crop to turn to the magic colors of ripeness: red, orange, yellow, and purple.

Papi Tomato's 2012 Line Up - First Wave

The first tomato in the 2012 line up is the Michael Pollan

This is a returning tomato to the line up first planted in 2011. It is named after the famous author, Michael Pollan, known for his books on food, gardening and environmentalism. The plant was very prolific with beautiful green tomatoes of smaller size and great flavor. During the harvest of 2011, we had used up all of our canning jars and we had so many of the Michael Pollan tomatoes that needed to be used, that we made a big batch of green pasta sauce.  The sauce ended up tasting great, but looked kind of funny.

Here is a picture of the Michael Pollan tomatoes from last year.

The second tomato in the 2012 line up is the Vorlon.

For those of you that are not sci fi aficionados, the Vorlons were a race of alien people populating the universe in the Babylon 5 science fiction series.  I loved that show, but then I love nearly all science fiction shows.  I saw this tomato at Tomatomania in the spring and had to try it.  I hope it does well as I would love to add it to my tomato line up in future years.

The third tomato in the line up is the Black Seaman. 

This is another tomato from Tomatomania. The name of this tomato is so NOTpolitically correct that I had to try it.  Political correctness is not my strong suit.

The fourth tomato in the the first wave was supposed to be a Brandywine.  It was a gift from my daughter.  As it began to grow, it was obvious, it was not a Brandywind.  It turns out to be a container tomato that is small and compact in size.  I am not a fan of container tomatoes, but more on that in a future post.  It is just now starting to show some red tomatoes.  They better taste good, or it will get replaced in the line up.

I expect to have approximately 20 different tomato plants for the 2012 tomato growing season.  Watch for future blog posts on the rest of the 2012 tomato line up.

Papi Tomato

May, the Quick-Grow Month

I love May in the garden. The plants are vibrantly alive with flowers and the beginnings of fruit. Lovely scents permeate the air and loud colors demand appreciation. May also brings a slight turn of season for I have removed the majority of my early spring flowers: the pansies, violas, nasturtiums, and early wildflowers. The sweet peas have been removed to prevent the spread of mold to the vegetables. Their scent is replaced by white jasmine, that unmistakable May fragrance. We have been fortunate to have more sunny days than "May Gray" days and I hope that means "June Gloom" will not send too many overcast days our way. The garden is off to a great start and we will whether the clouds (if needed) with mildew spray and field trips to the Eastern (and sunnier) part of the county.

Butterfly Garden with Yarrow and Sage

Large tomatoes were planted 4/1, the smaller ones on 5/6. Staggering ensures fruit through the season.

Testing my green thumb with Japanese eggplant

Peppers in supports, lettuce, and cucumbers

Wildflower bed making way for future pepper patch

Patio flower bed with jasmine, lemon verbena, kangaroo paw, lavender, and purple hibiscus

Alternate view of patio

Pomegranate blooms

Artichokes are coming in!

Artichoke patch under the pomegranate tree

Sugar pie pumpkins grown from seed

The site of the future pumpkin patch

My first Hot Coco Rose