First tomatoes

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coach

Hunter
Joined
Aug 28, 2007
Messages
3,767
Location
Jacksonville, Maryland

Our first harvest of the season. A candy land red currant tomato. Really tiny, about the size of a small marble and sweet. I got them in fairly early, but the cool, wet spring slowed things down a bit.
 

BearBio

Buckeye
Joined
Oct 22, 2009
Messages
1,826
Location
Eastern Washington
Tomatoes just starting to ripen but bushes are heavy. Same with tomatillos. Been harvesting peppers and cukes for about a month. Blackberries are going crazy. The big bush is still red/green mostly. Little bush has given us at least 4 gallons. Made blackberry ice cream, canned 12 jars of jam, pickled 12 jars of pickles (4 ginger, 8 dill), drying oregano and basil, Beans and corn are coming in.
 

coach

Hunter
Joined
Aug 28, 2007
Messages
3,767
Location
Jacksonville, Maryland
Most people brag about their big beefsteaks, so I thought I'd go in the opposite direction. :)
My garden isn't that big but at least the deer didn't destroy it now that I put a fence in. The smallest pepper plant has the largest pepper so far but not ready for harvest yet.
 

reuben_j_cogburn

Blackhawk
Joined
Mar 5, 2006
Messages
849
Location
alaska
Growing tomatoes can be a real challenge up here.... even with a greenhouse. But I bet those would be very doable..
 

coach

Hunter
Joined
Aug 28, 2007
Messages
3,767
Location
Jacksonville, Maryland
I have a nice garden center not too far away and I tend to try a few different varieties along with the standards. While sweet, these tomatoes don't quite have that satisfying pop of regular cherry tomatoes when you toss one in your mouth and bite down.
 

coach

Hunter
Joined
Aug 28, 2007
Messages
3,767
Location
Jacksonville, Maryland
I've just about hit a couple deer in the last few days. A doe and her two fawns and another on the shoulder at a curve waiting to dart into traffic. Amazingly they leave the ornamentals alone but have a taste for the vegetables. A mesh fence around the small veggie garden keeps them out.
 

coach

Hunter
Joined
Aug 28, 2007
Messages
3,767
Location
Jacksonville, Maryland
The crop finally started coming in. BLTs and stuffed peppers are on the menu. My wife especially enjoys the cherry tomatoes. She fills a bag for snacking at work.
 

BearBio

Buckeye
Joined
Oct 22, 2009
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1,826
Location
Eastern Washington
Crops doing better now:

Canned 20 jars spaghetti sauce
18 jars pizza sauce
8 jars hot sauce
8 jars salsa verde
24 jars blackberry jam.
12 jars of pickles ('cukes, peppers, green beans, asparagus)
baked 4 blackberry pies (2 frozen, ate 2)

Making 6-8 more jars of salsa verde when tomatillos finish ripening (just started)
making 6-8 jars of hot sauce (this weekend)

gave away 3 gallons of blackberries
froze 7 gallons of blackberries
gave away 2 gallons of tomatillos

Have 1 gallon habaneros from last year, 1 gallon serranos from last year, 1 gallon of jalapenos from last year. 2 lbs grated horseradish from this spring, 2 or 3 gallon bags of rhubarb, 1 quart bag of garlic scapes, 1 pint jar home-grown dried basil (plants still producing) Quart bag of greenbeans for tomorrow dinner. Also 25-30 pounds of halibut from last year's trip to Alaska.

Potatoes coming in October. Corn and mushrooms failed!

Believe it or not, we were worried everything was going to fail about 6 weeks ago!
 

pete44ru

Hunter
Joined
Dec 6, 2004
Messages
2,176
Location
Rhode Island
.

We planted our garden at the end of the 1st week in May, watering every AM/PM unless it rained that day.

By July, our perennial strawberry patch slowed/stopped producing strawberries, which we had been harvesting since early/mid June. :mrgreen:

Likewise, our perennial Asparagus patch started pushing up spears in very early June, finally stopping & going to seed in late July.

About the same time, our Cherry Tomatoes (2 plants) had ripened (more still are today); but our larger Beefsteak Tomatoes (4 plants) are for some reason taking a lot longer to ripen, one at a time.

Our Bell Pepper & Eggplant plants (1 plant each) have been slowly growing their respective veggies, with only 1 or 2 small units per plant, so far. :(

OTOH, our Cucumbers (2 plants) started getting pickable/large cukes in mid-July - which I've been pickling (some "Ice Box" pickles & more Dill Pickles) as we get enough cuke's to pickle (my Green Eyed Monster reserves 1 or 2 for table/sandwich use).

We don't preserve anything from our small garden (except for pickles), just eating fresh produce as it ripens, enjoying the freshness.


.
 

BearBio

Buckeye
Joined
Oct 22, 2009
Messages
1,826
Location
Eastern Washington
Our 'cukes came early. Our Big Boys are running late, also.

We do a fair amount of trading with office-mates. Had an internal "farmer's market" a couple of weeks back. Traded some jam and pickled veggies for a bear roast last Christmas. Traded some halibut for venison.

Had a young girl help us put up a wood gazebo. Paid her partly in canned veggies and blackberries (her parents helped with raising the roof!).
 

pete44ru

Hunter
Joined
Dec 6, 2004
Messages
2,176
Location
Rhode Island
.

WORK ? ? ? What's that ? . ;)

(been retired 15 years, wifey-poo 20 years - she's younger then me, but got a Golden Parachute when the local branch of GE Capital closed during a consolidation, because she was 55 at the time)

OH - wait ! I did "work" once after I retired - a full day as a (voting) poll worker (I won't do THAT again, anytime soon.)



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Joined
Nov 17, 2009
Messages
11,835
Location
Webster, MD.
coach said:

Our first harvest of the season. A candy land red currant tomato. Really tiny, about the size of a small marble and sweet. I got them in fairly early, but the cool, wet spring slowed things down a bit.
We have ONE plant and it has produced and continues to produce those 'marbles'. Can't eat them fast enough.
 
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