Three Ears, A Nose, and A Catface

Hubby snapped this picture while I was preparing the rest of our dinner. Corn shucking is one of his unofficial, but appreciated duties.

Friday night was corn night. I picked my first three ears. Now I know I was a little early, so I'll give them some more time before picking anymore. The two bigger ears were nicely filled out, but the tips still seemed immature, so I think they could have gone longer. The third ear, was small and I knew that, but picked it anyway. What can I say, I couldn't wait anymore. The corn was delicious, tender. It was picked and minutes later, slipped into the boiling water.

Corn really doesn't need much cooking. The more you cook it, the tougher it gets. Not to toot my own horn, but I've often been complimented on my corn cooking. The secret, I cook it for six minutes. That's all you need. I dare say, you could even do less! But I've been doing it for six minutes for so long and getting good results, that I'm going to stick with it.

Since this was our first serving of corn from the garden, I cooked it simply, only boiling it and eating it off the cob with butter and a little salt. I think my favorite method for cooking corn is on the grill. Grilling seems to enhance the flavor. Try squeezing some lime on your corn before eating, it's really tasty.

Here's a funny little tomato I've been watching in the garden. He's got a nose! I had one with a nose like this last year too. Unfortunately, he got tomato-napped by a critter before he ripened. I decided not to take a chance this time and photographed him while at the blushing point.

This nosy little tomato is from my mystery plant. At least I can get some entertainment out of this wrong plant.

Catface? This doesn't look like my cat's faces. They're cute and this is... well... not pretty. I don't know who coined the term catfacing, must not have been someone owned by cats, but that is what they call it when tomatoes (or other fruit) turns out deformed like this. It's due to environmental factors like low temperatures during pollination or self pollenization (tomatoes). Some varieties are more prone to it. It's not something you can control. So don't worry about it. The tomato is still edible and still tasty. You just have to do some fancy cutting. You don't really want to eat the leathery brown parts. Use these tomatoes for your salsa or bruschetta, where you'll be dicing them anyway.

Catfacing can look even more contorted than this Paul Robeson tomato. Thankfully, not all of the tomatoes on this plant are catfaced.

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.

ANTICIPATION [an-tis-uh-pay-shuhn]

Whatever happened to Miss Lemon Tree, you ask? Well, those blossoms did get pollinated and a cluster of 8 lemons is forming. They sort of look like limes now, but I'm pretty sure this is a lemon tree, and lemons turn yellow when they ripen. I counted up all the baby lemons on her and there are 24. At this point, can't say if they will all stay put until ripening, but I have a good feeling at least a few will. I'll be ecstatic if even one grows to maturity and I get to eat it. I want to make a Shaker Lemon Pie. Having to be purchased and not grown, lemons were somewhat of a luxury for early Shakers. Not wanting to waste even the skin, the entire lemon is used to make this pie. Something about that thrifty sentiment appeals to me as a grower of a highly anticipated fruit.

Left to Right: Lemon Blossoms June 8th, 5/8" fruit forming July 11th, 1 1/4" fruit July 26th.

Speaking of highly anticipated. Guess what I discovered yesterday? The Super Bush Tomato plant finally has blushing fruit! Yup, it's from that cluster I've been watching from the start. I think I should be able to pick it within a week's time. I've already planned what I want to do with it... a BLT sandwich. I've been eating cherry tomatoes regularly now, but it's not quite the same, is it? Actually, I like the big meaty beefsteaks for my BLT's, but these will do just fine.

There was a third fruit blushing further up the plant. It had blossom end rot, also known as BER. BER is a physiological problem and can occur for a variety of reasons, due to environmental conditions that affect the uptake of water and calcium. It cannot be controlled by fungicides or insecticides. Keeping the plant adequately and consistently watered, and having the soil at the proper pH is the best you can do for it. Some tomato varieties are predisposed to it and there's really not much you can do to prevent it, other than growing something else next year. I removed the fruit with BER because it will be inedible and I don't want the plant putting anymore energy into it. I threw it in the woods without thinking. After it left my hand, I realized I could have photographed it to show what BER looks like, but oh well. If it happens again, and I really don't want it to, I will take a photo. But lets just say, it looks like a black mushy spot on the bottom of the tomato. Bacteria and fungus quickly get into the compromised skin and rot the fruit. You'll know it when you see it. Don't fret about it though, it usually only presents itself in the first, and unfortunately most anticipated, fruits. It should clear up on it's own. It cannot spread to other fruits or plants. Just remove those affected fruits and think about it no more.

Super Bush Tomatoes finally turning red. The bottom fruit is that first tomato we looked at back in June.

Remember I showed you that bright purple Aurora pepper? Well, the plants are covered with peppers now. There are a few orange peppers showing. Nothing quite red yet, but soon. I'm going to let this one ripen to red before I try it. The first purple pepper I tried wasn't very hot at all, sort of like a radish. The second one I tried, was much hotter. Hot peppers are supposed to get more flavorful as they ripen, so I'm interested to see how this pepper develops.

Aurora Pepper plant. A prolific producer of small pretty peppers.

I Spy With My Own Little Eye...

something that rhymes with type paw cherry. For those of you who aren't good at that game, it's a ripe strawberry! Shhh, don't say it too loudly. They're hiding, and it's a good thing too, because the bluejays (not to be confused with bluebirds) have been eyeing them for weeks, just waiting, waiting for that berry, and all her brothers and sisters, to ripen. Much the way I do as well. They dive bomb me when I'm working in the garden too. They want me to go away and leave all the booty to them. The nerve! Don't they know these are my berries? Probably not. I think bluejays subscribe to the finders keepers train of thought. That's why I put mesh netting over my berries. I'm hoping it keeps them out. I may have to electrify them to keep the humans out as well. Just kidding... or am I??? I wouldn't chance it if I were you. Just sayin.


Next up is my first teeny, tiny tomato from my Tumbling Tom Red (not to confused with Tumbling Tom Yellow) tomato plant. This one is a few days old, so you can see it better than the others in the background. It was only the size of a BB a couple days ago. Now it's the size of a... slightly bigger BB.


This guy is my Super Bush tomato plant. Look how sturdy. Look how masculine. Definitely a boy, at least to me. When I was giving away seedlings, everyone wanted these. They got all excited by the thick stem and sturdy appearance. Well, looks aren't everything you know. Show me the tomatoes, say I!


Well, it's a start at least. See that dried up blossom on the left? Pushing it out is a tiny tomato fruit ready to start growing. I would have pulled the blossom off to show you, but I don't want to tempt fate. I mean one slip of the finger and oops! No more baby tomato. So for now, hands off!


Here we have an Aurora Pepper. To give you an idea of it's size, the widest part is about the width of my index finger. My first time growing it, I'm not completely sure how big the peppers will get, as they are supposed to be small, but I think it has a little bit more growing to do. Just a bit. No one really wanted these seedlings when I was giving them away. Yes, it's a hot pepper, but not very, I don't think. It's a number 3 on a scale of 0 to 5 according to my seed source. Zero being a sweet pepper, like the bell peppers you get at the super market, no heat at all. I was happy to keep my extras anyway. The plants don't get very large and it's said that it's fruit ripens from purple to orange to red and you end up with all colors on the plant at once. I think it will be pretty. Can't wait to see.

Lemon tree very pretty and the flower so sweet... okay, she's not looking very pretty in this photo, but look! On the bottom there, that nubbin, the green thing, is that a lemon forming?! I hope so. Over the winter, while Miss Lemontree was inside the house, I tried to play bee and pollinate her flowers. She got a few of these forming, but they all fell off eventually. Not the right time I guess. She wasn't ready, not enough sun. But now, it could be the right time. Could be. No pressure Miss Lemontree


There's always the hope of these little pretties. My little tree is covered with buds. Oh and the flowers DO indeed smell sweet.