Winter Tomatoes

I cant say I'm optimistic, but seeing something labelled "Winter Tomatoes" at our local garden center sparked my curiosity enough to buy it. Apparently these varieties (the one I bought is "Siberian") set fruit down to about 40°F - that's a couple of degrees above freezing in Centigrade - but I can only imagine that the taste will be dreadful. Still, they are also bred to fruit rapidly, so maybe they will develop before things get really dark. If they are successful, I should be able to extend the tomato season by a couple of months either side, we shall see.
The main tomato crop is still coming in, but the fruit, taking far longer to ripen, tend to be soft, mushy and not as good as they were. OK for sauce though. I've also dried a massive jar of dried tomatoes by now, probably equivalent to 20 pounds or more of fresh fruit. So if these "winter tomatoes" dont work out, I'll still be OK for winter lycopene.

Brussels Sprouts woes

On the down side, Nature has thrown nearly all it has against the Brussels Sprouts; the first planting has somewhat lacy leaves, and the second planting has also seen some attacks. First it was the birds pecking the leaves (I put up netting), then I see some slug trails (did I wrongly accuse the birds? I think not because I saw them flying up from there and I know they eat the Sunflowers and Zucchini) and finally there are a few Cabbage White butterflies decorating the underside of the leaves with eggs. I put up some birdscarers, bought some new slug poison (Metaldehyde seems to work best, the one poison I will be using apart from peach leaf spray) and have been brushing off the butterfly eggs and killing the parents by splatting them. Three so far. Sometimes they come in pairs, and I only manage to kill one, so I feel a bit guilty as its partner will be lonesome, but goddammit, keep off my veg!
Or Else.
So far, I havent had club root. Touch wood on this one.

The plants seem to be surviving and developing, so hopefully they will get past these trials soon enough. I have more plantings to follow as soon as the ground opens up.

Fall Plantings

Alas, Summer is drawing to a close. While there are still plenty of tomatoes wandering in, its clear that no new ones are forming. Most (but not all) of the Zucchini have been pulled up, and the space has been used to sow some new seeds (see last post). Of that planting, so far the radishes have emerged, and I think a carrot. But its still early days on that. Today I started some Black Kale, Parris Island Kos Lettuce, and a small amount of "Five color Silverbeet" Swiss Chard and Lovage. Of the Lovage, I only need one or two plants, because its quite strong tasting. Its very useful though in soups and stews, with a very strong celery-leaf flavor. The Chard, like the Carrot, Brussels Sprouts and Kale, should hopefully provide meals through the winter. I'm hoping also for Leek (if they ever get bigger) and perhaps Broad (Fava) Beans. Now that I have saved my own Broad Bean seed, I have plenty to experiment with regarding planting times.



The Insuk's Runner Bean, above, is over now, and the only thing keeping me from tearing it all up is that I'm waiting for a few more seeds to ripen for next year. I have fully replenished my stocks at this point, but given the hardship I had this year in starting plants, the more the merrier. I also want to plant them more thickly next year. While I did get about 10 meals, I'd really like a few more. I'm also hoping that the steadily improving soils will help in yields.

I threw three buckets of home-made compost in the hot dry bed (about 5 feet by 3 feet), and its looking quite good. About 5 buckets went into the radish/lettice/carrot planting, and another 2 into the Brussels Sprouts by the door. More will be going into the ground wherever I prepare for a new crop. I know I said I was trying a no-till system, but I do want to get the fertility and texture of the ground up a bit more first. Then it will be top dressing only, I hope. I do notice a major improvement in soil texture this year, so previous compost additions have been working well.

If anyone in the area is reading this blog, feel free to give suggestions for Fall and Winter plantings.

Fall seeding

Above, I'm sundrying some of the August crop of tomatoes. This year, August appears to have been the glut month for tomatoes, and I have been freezing tomato sauce, sundrying, and giving tomatoes away to anyone who dares come near.
Sun drying seems to work here, but its clear from a failed experiment last week that you need to take all the seeds out and get down to a thin shell (otherwise they grow something that looks like either bacteria or yeast - undoubtedly unhealthful.

Above is what I assume to be "Omar's Lebanese", although I didnt label this one. The closest alternative is "Black Krim", but this plant seemed much more like the one "Omar" that was labeled. On average, the fruit are 1 lb each.

Today I cleanout out the Zucchini from the morning shade bed - they hadnt been doing much for a while anyway. In went a few buckets of homemade compost, and despite my desire not to dig, I lightly spaded it in. The soil had a fairly good crumby texture. The compost dug in last year seems to be doing something useful.
Threw some "Tom Thumb" lettuce, "Kuroda" Carrot and "French Breakfast" radish on, a little old potting soil on top, and watered it all in. I'm not expecting much from the carrots, given past experience, but maybe the improved soil and fall planting will make a difference. Time will tell.

Bought a dehydrator today, lets see if its useful.