But Darlin, we can’t eat flowers

My wife, Sweet Tomato, and also sometimes known as Darlin Girl thought it would be nice to grow flowers in one of the raised beds I have traditionally used to grow tomatoes.  Now the garden and growing tomatoes has been my passion and responsibility for many, many years.  I am the one that pours over seed catalogs in the winter, digs three foot deep trenches with a pick axe to remove clay that is the naturally occurring soil in San Diego and spends hours caring for my tomato plants through the summer.  Sweet Tomato maintains an herb garden conveniently located at the edge of the raised beds in our garden.  She helps me can tomatoes during the harvest and generally is supportive of my obsession. 

So when Sweet Tomato brought up the subject of growing flowers instead of tomatoes, I was understandably aghast at the thought of flowers replacing tomatoes in my garden.  In the early years of our marriage, I thought I was the boss.  When our children were born, I realized I was not the boss, and never had been.  I saw the boss’ job, and truth be told, I didn’t want it.  So, after my obligatory wailing and gnashing of teeth, I asked Sweet Tomato what kind of flowers she wanted to plant and where she wanted to plant them.  That is when Sweet Tomato added insult to injury and whipped out one of my own seed catalogs, turned to the back page and showed me several flower garden offerings for butterflies, bumblebees, hummingbirds and songbirds.  I was mortified.  One of my own seed catalogs used against me, the indignity of it.

Sweet Tomato decided that she would like the butterfly habitat which we ordered from John Scheepers Kitchen Garden Seeds catalog.  To quote from the catalog’s evil propaganda: “…colorful mixture of happy summer butterfly camps full of yummy nectar and friendly host plants.”  ‘Yummy nectar’, what is ‘yummy nectar’, as if I was going to eat the dang flowers. The catalog goes on with a whole list of flowers, none of which I had ever heard of before.   So we ordered the butterfly flower mix and planted it this spring.  I had some sunflower seeds lying around, so I planted those as well.

Here is the flower mix we planted.

Here is the flower bed in June, before the sunflowers sprouted.

Here is the flower bed in July with sunflowers beginning to tower over the original flowers.

As much as I hate to admit it, the flowers do add beauty to the garden.  Sweet Tomato and I especially enjoy watching the small birds and finches in the evening that flock to the flower habitat.

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