Admittedly, the garden area has been somewhat neglected of late, with our attention being diverted toward other projects. Today though, I actually took a little time to stop and look at the garden a little more closely to see how things are doing.
'Argentina', a beef-steak tomato, is blooming profusely
The plants we’re always the most excited about here, are our tomatoes, and our heirlooms are coming along nicely. All of our plants were started from seed this winter, every variety has set fruit, and they’re all blooming as if their lives depend on it. Last year’s tomato harvest was remarkably good, in less than ideal conditions. As the gardens weren’t fenced, last year we grew them in pots. This year, now they’re settled in the garden, we’re crossing our fingers for a significantly more robust crop.
Cherokee Purple is setting lots of fruit
One of last year’s star performers was ‘Black Pear’, and we had to plant it again this year. When mature this variety has Roma-sized fruit with a rich mahogany color, and a sweet, slightly smoky tomato flavor.
Black Pear is a Roma-sized, dark, smoke-flavored fruit when mature
For the past two weeks it’s been a race with the other tomatoes to see who cracked the top of the tomato cages first. Black Pear has won, again, and is now significantly taller than me. Certainly a variety that does very well here.
Black Pear is now taller than the tomato cages!
We’re particularly excited to see our Russian Persimmon tomato plants set fruit, as these were from seed we’d saved over two years ago!
This Russian Persimmon plant was produced from seed we saved ourselves. We'll save seed from our other tomatoes as well this year.
Apparently everything is bigger in Texas, including the flowers of ‘Texas Star’…let’s hope the fruits become whoppers too!
The blooms on Texas Star are huge
Texas Star is a yellow and red bi-color variety with 1-2 lb fruits at maturity
There’s more to life to tomatoes? I suppose. We’ll leave the rest for a later post.
There’s also zucchini, and soon it seems we’ll be swimming in it, both green…
Zucchini 'Raven'
and yellow…
Yellow Zucchini
I love zucchini blossoms…and they’re edible too!
Zucchini blossoms are excellent stuffed with ricotta cheese
Just ask 'Katy', she likes squash blossoms too
Our late spring crop of Yukon Gold and Rose Finn Apple potatoes should be ready soon.
The Rose Finn Apple fingerling potatoes are about to bloom
Soon to be followed by a variety called “All Blue”, with purple skin and flesh, and whose stems even have a lovely dark contrasting purple tint.
All Blue potato plants are distinguished by their dark purple stems
Despite our recent hot weather, another crop of our bolt-resistant lettuce is ready to harvest.
Loose leaf lettuce, like this green oak leaf, thrive despite the occasional hot weather day
Red oak leaf is bolt-resistant too, albeit slightly slower to mature
For a little zing and color in our salads, nasturtium ‘Copper Sunset’ is blooming, and it’s a fabulous rich color.
A new favorite, nasturtium 'Copper Sunset' is rich in color, upright in growth, and well behaved in small spaces
Some Swiss Chard isn’t quite there yet, but it won’t be long now.
Swiss chard will be ready soon
Another splash of red in the garden, planted primarily to entice pollinators, our scarlet runner beans have almost made it to the top of their tee-pees, and are starting to bloom.
Scarlet runner beans are edible, but the blooms are irresistible to pollinators
What self-respecting hummingbird could resist?
The hummingbirds and bees both love the blossoms on the scarlet runner bean
At their feet, our pumpkins promise to bloom soon. While there’s construction going on in the garden, we didn’t plant corn this year, so we only have two instead of the classic ‘three sisters’.
The buds on this pumpkin promise to bloom soon
This weekend we started to sample some of our beets, and the Golden Beets were fabulously sweet and tender…
Golden beets have a beautiful color, and a sweet, mildly earthy flavor
Unlike red beets, they don’t ‘bleed’ all over their neighbors when combined with other foods. They went especially well when added to a roasted root vegetable medley on the grill, accompanied by citrus-glazed humanely raised pork sirloin chops, and grilled stone fruits.
We added some golden beets to this grilled root vegetable medley...
...paired with citrus-glazed pork sirloin, and grilled nectarines and pluots from the Farmer's Market
July 4th weekend we’ll be constructing another set of boxes for the garden for our bell pepper transplants, winter squash, and perennial herbs.
In the meantime, I think our garden hens have the best view in the house, don’t you?
Our garden hens have a fabulous view of the tomatoes
…maybe that’s why our retired girls are so happy?
This morning's gift from our garden hens
Since moving out to the gardens, the old girls have begun laying eggs more regularly again!
How fun to put to use, the lessons you learned last year. I am trying to keep track of what I am learning this year in the garden through my successes and failures. I am already looking forward to next year’s vegetable crop 🙂
I LOVE to see what’s going on in other people’s gardens. This week we are being overrun by cucumbers. I gotta start pickling soon!
Stuffed zuchini leaves, deep fried…yum. The pork looks good, too. Damn it, now I’m hungry.
I’m definitely coming to your place for dinner … I’ve just invited myself, hope you don’t mind. That grilled root vegetable medley looks delicious … wouldn’t mind of little bit of the pork as well.
Your crops all look terrific … such a lot of variety. I really love that Copper Sunset nasturtium … fabulous colour.
Clare, I am so jealous. The only tomatoes we have are a few from a Stupice that I have nurtured in a pot since the end of February. All my other tomatoes look great, blossoms, but no signs of any fruit as yet, and I started all of them in March.
My potato experiment of growing them in pots has been a relative bust. The vines of most have died and although there are potatoes, they are much smaller and less than expected. Those in the ground that have not been planted for 3 years, seem to be doing great again. 🙂
We do have 2 zucchini and 1 yellow squash so far, peppers forming… but over a month of rain has taken a toll.
P.S. That egg is beautiful!
We have our potatoes in large pots this year. Where we’d like to plant them is in the way of our garden shed construction project. I’m hoping we’ll get an ok harvest, but it is a bit of an experiment. Just going to have to cross our fingers for a couple more weeks, although I’m very tempted to sneak a peek!
Your garden looks scrumptious, Clare. I’ve got Cherokee Purple, San Marzano, Yellow Pear, and Brandywine tomatoes that are just starting to fruit right now. I look with envy on your zucchini though, which seems to be thriving – unlike mine, which was unceremoniously devoured/destructed by either bunnies or squirrels. Your grilled root veges would also match nicely with some spice-rubbed ribeye steaks. Yum!
Everything looks so beautiful and full of life… and delicious. So so delicious. I’ve just come back from dinner yet I’d love to dive into those root veggies and pork. Save some for me next time 😉
Pretty tomato plants! Your veggies are quite bountiful! Love that katydid photo too. And the pretty egg. How wonderful to get so much bounty from your own garden.
Your garden looks beautiful and delicious. I’m sure your tomatoes will do better this year now that they are in actual soil. Tomatoes are what I’ll miss most this summer without my garden. I think I ate my weight in tomatoes last year.
Hey, not related to this post, but to your comment on my blog. According to my source, which I’ll post about more in a week or so, your Ribes californicum berries if ripe should be sweet, and you can eat them by peeling off the skin by pulling on the spines and eating the fruit inside.
Thanks Brad. I’m tempted to try them, although I’ll need gloves to pick them…assuming the deer haven’t eaten them all yet 😛
Clare Katy is cute! though I’m not sure what damage she would do to your plants as I’ve never seen a little insect like that before.
Your vegetables look fab – especially on those 2 plates. You are going to have an incredible crop of tomatoes now that they have their roots in the ground. That variety “Black Pear” sounds delicious……. with a slight smoky taste……delicious.
Those Black Pear tomatoes sound interesting. They are now on my ‘must try’ list for 2011.
I wonder how the Russian Persimmon compares to the regular Persimmon variety, which I have grown before. So many tomatoes, so little garden space to try them all!
Tomatoes are usually the #1 topic among gardeners here. “Are you getting any tomatoes yet” is a frequent conversation starter. Although later in the season it might be “need any squash?”
Thanks for the peek into your fine-looking garden.
We grew Black Pear for the first time last year, and just loved it. It’s fabulous with wild salmon!
We’re curious about Persimmon vs. Russian Persimmon too, so we have both varieties planted this year to compare them. So far it seems the fruit shapes are different, so I’ll be curious to do direct side-by-side taste tests with them later this summer. I promise to post the results!
Your garden looks splendid. Our chard and beets are suffering from some leaf mining problem. And the tomato plants are chugging along.
I’m going through a weird period of being demoralized by my garden…
Leaf miners are such pesky critters. I think the only reason we’ve succeeded in avoiding them this year is because we’re growing our greens (lettuce, chard, Asian greens etc) under lightweight floating row covers. As a physical barrier, it’s been very effective, and has also helped shade the greens a little on the really hot days.
That all looks delicious, and I’m so happy the deer fence seems to work (mostly). Soon I’ll be envious of your tomatoes, I’m sure…
Those food pictures are yummy. I have never eaten golden beets but I would love to try them.
I love beets, but this is the first year we’ve grown the golden ones. We were inspired by some we had in our CSA the previous two years. These were actually very sweet, even raw, I think they’d be fine thinly shaved over a salad. I really like that they can be incorporated with other foods and not turn everything pink! They also matured faster than our ‘Red Ace’ beets, not much faster, but a little.
Interesting that your retired girls have sort of “come out of retirement”. Your potatoes are growing so well! Last year mine didn’t do so great. They got some sort of blight, I believe. Scarlet runner beans really are pretty. I grow them, too.
I like the sound of that Black Pear. I am going to try all heirlooms next year. If you grow several heirlooms together, do the plants still come true? I would be surprised if they did considering all the cross pollination.
They do come true, although, there can always be an exception to the rule. The important thing with saving seed from heirlooms is to select seeds from fruits that have the qualities you want in the next generation. If you want large, dark, sweet Cherokee Purples next year, save seed from your largest, darkest, sweetest fruits this year. The same is not true though for heirloom crops like squash though that can cross readily with their neighbors.
We eliminated all but one hybrid tomato this year. We buckled, and did plant a single Sungold cherry tomato. However, we replaced our yellow pear cherry tomatoes this year with the heirloom Beam’s yellow pear, and our red sweet-100 hybrid cherries this year have been replaced by Salisaw Cafe. We’ll see how the new heirloom replacements of our old standby hybrids compare…hopefully soon!
I’m extremely impressed with your garden that is making me very hungry, Clare. Your tomatoes are amazing! Love golden beets and grilled root veggies … pure heaven!
Wow, you have so many goodies to eat from your garden! It all looks wonderful! I have 2 tomato plants and have 1 tomato so far…it’s just a very small one from a ‘patio mix’ but it’s better than none;-) And, I’ve got 2 zucchini plants doing quite well…along with loads of cucumber plants. (Lots of blooms on both, but still waiting on the yummy parts).
Oh carp, I’m so hungry now I have to stop working a while and go cook up a feast! As ever, your images are gorgeously tantalizing.
I always love to see what’s growing in your gardens! The shapes/colors of your tomatoes reminds me it’s not just about the flowers. So much to learn….. -Shyrlene
What a bountiful and beautiful garden update, Clare! My favorite shot was ‘Katy’ hanging out on the squash blossom. So cute. I’m glad the old girls like their new digs. And I have to get ahold of some of those Nasturtiums, such a lovely bloom color. 🙂
Your garden is looking great. I know you soon will be enjoying a bountiful harvest of delicious tomatoes, as well as your other veggies. Our tomatoes are doing well. I picked a couple of the first ones today and can’t wait to put them in a salad tonight. There is nothing like a fresh tomato, still warm from the garden!
So much eye candy I’m going to have a stomach… eye… ache. I’m jealous of your potatoes, I didn’t get my garden in early enough for those this year. Glad about your ‘Persimmon’ tomatoes, that is a favorite around my house as well!
I really love the golden beets! Your garden looks organized and the plants are so healthy. Fresh vegetables are delicious to eat. Can’t wait to have my veggies grow!
Ok, Ms. Fancy Gourmet getting everyone hungry!… You absolutely must try this scarlet runner recipe I came up with a few years ago: shell young pods of the beans, parboil just enough to remove the starchy flavor, mash with a smattering of fresh peas, olive oil, fresh thyme, lots of cracked pepper and salt and a squigen of lemon juice. enjoy on walnut toast or pita.
I’m so excited about your harvest! Those pear tomatoes sound pretty enticing…
Yes, I think it does look like the same bug – they are pretty aren’t they – Thank you so much!!
I thought ‘Katy’ looked similar to your bug. You can try trawling through bugguide.net to see if you can identify the species of yours. I got overwhelmed with so many species of Katydids that I gave up 😛