Picky Picker Pickin' Pretty Produce

Monday, paste tomatoes start ripening in quantity.

Yes, that would be me, the picky one. That's what certain family members call me, and I admit it, I am picky. It's not a bad thing, I think. My hubby says that's a good thing that I'm picky because I picked him. I agree. Being picky also drives me seek out the best and also do my best. It's a good thing.

Once you start growing your own veggies, you get even pickier. Yes, it's true, sorry to say it. Subpar just won't do. How can you go back once you taste the crispiest of cucumbers, a truly vine ripened tomato, or crunchy snap beans fresh from your own garden?

It's August, time for picking. Lots of picking. Time to start doing something with all these tomatoes. Last year, I made sauce, lots of sauce, my own homemade roasted tomato sauce. I then canned and processed it. Canned sounds like I put it in tin cans or something. Canning is just the term for preserving food. The sauce was sealed in glass jars and then processed in a steam canner to ensure that it would not spoil. It's really not as hard as it may sound. Is it time consuming? Sure, but then in the winter when we want a quick dinner, I can just pop open a jar and there we have a homemade meal. My my, I sound so domestic. Make no mistake, I see myself as a career girl... who also likes to grow things... and eat them.

This time around, I plan to make sauce again, but also a few other things. Maybe can a few tomatoes straight up, and try my hand at Salsa. I'll let you know what I decide. I'll have to start processing tomatoes this weekend. I've been picking about 15 pounds of tomatoes a day.

Tuesday, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, artichokes and cucumbers.

Wednesday, I decided I was in the mood for some fresh fingerling potatoes. I dug up some Rose Apple Finn potatoes. As the vines were starting to dry up and die back, I knew they wouldn't produce anymore. Potatoes can be harvested at anytime, but for maximum output, wait for the vines to dry up. I dug these myself, but prefer to do it with hubby. He's more thorough about finding them all. I'll have to wait for him on the next ones. Since fingerlings don't store very well, I've become less shy about harvesting some as the mood strikes. Saturday, we ate a healthy amount roasted on the grill, for dinner. Last night we ate some of these, pan cooked with garlic and thyme. Very tasty and the texture is wonderful.

My snappy beans are producing again. I picked a good amount. I have a second planting of beans that I haven't started harvesting yet. Soon though.

Wednesday, potatoes and a second crop of beans from those first plants.

More tomatoes and the first of my gold zucchini. I planted those zucchini seeds July 7. Three seeds planted and three plants grew. Five weeks later, we have fruits to pick.

Thursday, more tomatoes, a Pickling Cucumber, and two Gold Zucchini.

Well, well, well, what do we have here? I found this nice ripe tomato hanging on the vine with a bite taken from it. It was the only one, so I have to rule out nocturnal critters. If a critter got in there at night, when we are indoors asleep, he would have gone down the line taking bites out of all of the tomatoes. How do I know this? Because that is exactly what happened last year. It was a mess. I don't know how many tomatoes I lost to that critter, but it was a lot. Since there was only one tomato in this condition, I have to think it was a squirrel. They sneak into the garden occasionally. Being diurnal, they have to be quick, strike and get out before someone sees them.

Uh oh, a critter took a bite out of this tomato!

Finding this tomato, makes me more vigilant. I have to pick those tomatoes fast before I lose them to critters. If they are not completely, utterly ripe, I put them on the counter for a few days before using them. Now a home grown tomato is a bit different when it's ripe. I mean deep color and soft flesh, that kind of ripe tomato. Some ask, how do I know when a non-red tomato is ripe? This is a good question because a ripe tomato in my garden may not match the pictures of the seed catalog. Most seed growers are located in warm and sunny places like Florida for example. So called black tomatoes will have a much deeper color in hot climate than it would in Connecticut.

I've learned to feel my tomatoes. When they start to soften, I take them from the vine. Usually, a few days on the counter does the trick and they get even more flavorful with that last bit of ripening. One could leave it on the vine for those extra days, but then you take a chance that your tomato might get tomato-napped by a critter, or a heavy rain could cause it to split, or insect could decide to make it their lunch. So a few days early is okay. As long as it has colored up most of the way, and is starting to soften. Some folks who have really bad insect or critter or cracking problems, will pick their tomatoes as soon as they start to blush. That's too early for my taste. In my opinion, that will never get to be as flavorful as a fully ripened on the vine tomato. However, if it's pick at blush, or lose the tomato completely, I'd just pick it early and call it a day. What you will get is much more vine ripened than what the grocery store labels as vine ripened... trust me.

Now, I've mentioned several times about setting tomatoes on the counter. You will never, ever find a tomato in the refrigerator at my house. Why? Because they don't belong there. The only reason to put a tomato in the refrigerator is if you want it to lose all it's flavor. But then, why would you want that? Exactly my point. No refrigerator! No!

A closer look at Sebring Gold Zucchini. Pretty yellow.

Eat What You Grow!

Within a few days, I expect to have a few more different tomato varieties to show. In the meantime, we've been eating the Super Bush and Azoychka tomatoes as they ripen. So far, we've been able to keep up with production.

Here we have dinner ingredients from a dinner last week. This is my first artichoke picked from my own plant! Of my six plants, all now have buds on them. Also included is a Super Bush tomato, six fingerling potatoes, and a bulb of garlic all from my garden.

Dinner ingredients scrubbed clean and looking pretty.

Gardening isn't all pretty pictures. Sometimes you have to get your hands dirty before you can taste the fruits of your labor. I had extra seed potatoes left over after I had filled my designated areas for planting potatoes this spring. I decided to put them in a container that I drilled drainage holes into and filled with soil. After the plants started growing, I filled the container further with straw. These containers are much easier for finding "new" potatoes when the urge strikes.

Those aren't my dirty fingers! Although they do resemble them, they are fingerling potatoes, aptly named.

Here is the dinner I made with those ingredients! Chicken stuffed with tomato and garlic, pan cooked potatoes with lemon and olives, and a steamed artichoke for sharing.

More ingredients than not are from my garden. Satisfying in more ways than one.

Here we have our tomato salad for dinner last night. This is my new favorite! For this I used Azoychka and Super Bush tomatoes, basil, Italian flat leaf parsley, and garlic from my garden. It's a concoction made with balsamic vinegar that is reduced down to a syrupy consistency. The reduction produces a thick sweet sauce. While that cools, mix olive oil, garlic, green and black olives, basil, parsley, black pepper and capers. Spoon the olive mixture over sliced tomatoes. Then pour the balsamic reduction over the whole thing. I let this sit at room temperature after assembling it before serving. It's sweet, it's salty, it's tomato heaven.

Tomato Salad... delicious!

With 1.5 pounds of Viva Italia Tomatoes, I was able to make Roasted Tomato Soup. A family favorite, we rarely have leftovers. The only soup I eat in summer! We don't have a picture since my anxious dining companions were awaiting it's completion.

Viva Italia are paste tomatoes. A designation given to meaty, less juicy, less seedy tomatoes that are good for use in cooking.

Okay, I admit it, I'm an over grower. My eyes are bigger than my garden and I grow way more than we can consume. These tomatoes are easy to share with friends and neighbors. I picked another batch of cherry tomatoes the same size two days later. These extra tomatoes will get added to the pot when I start making sauce soon. There's no such thing as extra tomatoes around here.

At all hours of the day, we snack on the ever abundant cherry tomatoes.

You Say Toe-mah-to

I say Tomato! Tomato! Tomato! I finally picked my first three tomatoes. Well, first full sized tomatoes. Cherry tomatoes have been ripening for a couple weeks. Wanna see them? Okay great!

Azoychka Tomato, bottom and top.

This ripe tomato snuck up on me. I thought that Super Bush would be the first, but it was a tie. Picked at day 69 from setting the plants out in the garden. This tomato is right on schedule with the estimated days to maturity (DTM) of their seed packet. See that cracking? No biggy, just cut it away. The tomato is still just fine to eat. Tomatoes often have scarring on the top or shoulders. For that reason, I store tomatoes upside down, shoulders down, so that if any bruising occurs, it's on the part that most likely will be cut away.

Azoychka sliced

Bright yellow inside, this is one happy tomato. I forgot to weigh it. I was a little bit excited about eating my first tomato and stopping to get a picture was about as much thought as I put into it. But based on experience, I'd say it was about 7 ounces. It was just the right amount for piling on a sandwich.

Azoychka sandwich with bacon. Only half left because I had already eaten the first half
when I thought to take this picture.

I said I was going to have a BLT, but I left off the L. I like it better this way anyway. It has been said in descriptions, that Azoychka has a hint of citrus. I would agree with that. It is just a hint. A nice contrast to the saltiness of the other ingredients of the sandwich. And the color... you just can't get a prettier yellow than that. Try this heirloom from Russia.

Super Bush tomato. These are the ones we've been watching. They weigh 13 oz and 6 oz.


Here is the 6 oz tomato sliced, one small slice missing, due to being tasted.

Well, I have to say I was pleasantly surprised at the flavor in this tomato. Somehow, I got a prejudice in my head about container or "patio" tomatoes. But the description did say this would be a good tomato and it is indeed! Meaty, juicy, a little sweet. Good tomato. Definitely worth growing. A great find for anyone growing in containers. This plant is compact and very sturdy. A minimal amount of staking is required to keep the top heavy plant from flopping over. I did not prune it at all. Lots more tomatoes to come on this plant as well.

Cherry tomato line-up. Left to right, Tumbling Tom (red), Tumbling Tom Yellow,
Black Cherry, Sungold, Ildi, and Grape

Okay, cherry tomatoes, don't feel left out. We love you too. Hubby and I snack on these all the time. He really gets a kick out of picking and eating them right in the garden, while I point out everything I'm growing. I like to pick a bowl full and set them on the table for passersby to pluck as needed (wanted).

My absolute favorite is the sungold. These are little orange nuggets of goodness. They are very sweet, very fruity, very abundant and early with the first ripe fruits coming in at 45 days from planting out. My second favorite, I got to try for the first time last night, and that is black cherry. Very good, sweet little tomato. I've only eaten one so far, so I'll have to eat more before I can give a thorough review.

Make Your Tomatoes Grow!

Stare at them! They can feel it and it makes them happy. Check them several times a day! So they don't get lonely. If you don't have time in the morning before work, that's okay. Just look at them when you get home and then again a little later. Tomatoes don't have a very good sense of time. Keep positive thoughts about your tomatoes. No negative thinking allowed. Take pictures! And then compare. See, they are growing. Here's the proof right here.

Super Bush. You remember him, right? Remember that new little tomato that was pushing it's way out not too long ago (21 days to be exact)? Well, he's about 3 inches across now and there's lots more smaller ones right behind him. I counted 22. Then I realize from outside of the garden fence, that there were other ones that I didn't see. So lets just call it, more than 22. Wonder how long it will be till ripe ones. I think that first one, has a little bit more growing to go before ripening.

Now, now, don't be jealous. If you have one of these plants and you're wondering why you don't have a three inch tomato on there yet, maybe it's because I started this one just a wee bit earlier this year. Just for fun. I thought I could put it in a container and put it out early and get a few early tomatoes. Next year, I'm going to start one tomato early again, but even earlier! Also, the staring and checking and photographing helps too. So if you haven't been doing that, you better start! If you do have a three inch tomato, bravo!


Here's an update of Tumbling Tom Red. Don't know which tomato was the one I showed you before. The plant is covered with tomatoes and still cranking out flowers. Being cherry tomatoes, many are about full grown now. Time to ripen! Tumbling Tom Yellow is also covered with tomatoes, but not quite as many and not quite as big a plant. I'll give him a break since that seed was started later. Don't you love cherry tomatoes? They grow so quickly. They give you a constant supply through the summer. They don't quit till frost. What more could you ask for?


I guess it would be hard to make a nice juicy sandwich with cherry tomatoes. So we must also grow some biggies. Beefsteaks are starting to do their thing now too. Here's Cherokee Purple. If it's not quite clear yet, I really like growing purple veggies (there will be more coming soon!). Although, Chereokee Purple (Oops! Typo! Wonder if there is a Chereokee tomato, perhaps it sings poorly in a bar on Tuesday nights! Or goes well with that ringed cereal!) has purple in it's name, in tomato lingo, purple doesn't really mean purple. It's more like a dark pink/red. Well, I'll show you when they ripen. These are still small, bigger than a cherry, but smaller than a ping pong ball, they will get much bigger. The word Cherokee in the name, comes from the belief that these heirloom tomatoes were grown by the Cherokee Indians. Isn't that a neat thought? That these seeds were passed down from generation to generation and we are eating the same food?