Top Awardees, 2014

At the end of the season when the plants are about ready, and the last of the edibles are safely tucked away in the kitchen to become something luscious, I park myself out in the garden. The little repurposed bench with peeling paint has been there all season to set vegetables on, hold treats and the chuck it for the balls I toss into the yard and rest in the heat.
Today I am taking stock, trying to remember as I look at the overgrown, worn out plants, how small and promising they were back in March. We'd had an unseasonably warm winter and planted early. The garden was composed and ready soil then, needing something productive to do.  The perfectly weeded walkways were covered in tanbark and now are covered by long leggy branches heavy with green and ripening tomatoes. I have really enjoyed the harvest, learning what to do with it, looking forward to the gifts it gives to the family.

This garden did even better than the first. It lasted a lot longer, for sure. Our first garden was planted late in May. I think Green Acres Nursery with their huge selection of non-GMO heirloom veggies and knowledge staff played a big role this year. More than once they talked us off the ledge when we had whitefly troubles. Their recommendation of a spray of water, white vinegar and a drop of dawn dishwashing liquid seemed to help. We bought our ladybugs there, too.

2014 Garden Awards

Most Surprising:  The salsa pepper plant produced literally hundreds of shiny green and red peppers of varying heat. It had no other identification on the card other than 'Salsa Pepper'. Canned in chile verde, pickled, and generally loved and appreciated in every dish we could imagine.

Biggest Dud:  The tomatillo bushes grew like wildfire and produced pods for the tomatillos to grow, but nothing grew beyond a bud. We'll trim her back, trellis and fertilize them and see what next year brings. Maybe they're in the wrong spot.

Most Prolific: We had just one Japanese Eggplant, thank God. Last year's plant produced maybe 8 this year it produced at least 4x that, and is still growing strong. I took 6 eggplants off the vine last week. Having full sun with late afternoon shade proved to be the key here.

The Big Bummer:  For the second year in a row, not very many zukes grew even though there were tons of flowers. The fruit forms, it grows an inch or two, it turns yellow and rots. They are plentiful in the stores. I'm thinking we'll give this a rest.

Best New Plant:  The Pepperoncini produced copious amounts but not enough to pickle and can them as we wanted, because Operator Error planted just one. Next year...

Biggest Faux Pas:  Planting artichoke plants in full sun in a hot climate.  Audrey is too big to transplant now and takes up an entire 4x8 raised bed.  She produced a lot in the winter but they were really tough. We took cuttings and they are doing better under the shade of the olives but I'm not hopeful unless we can devise a mister system to duplicate coastal conditions. Maybe not worth it.

Most Consistently Amazing:  We say it too much, but the Armenian cucumbers just blow us away.  Tons of them, all spring and summer long, big on flavor, crispness, last days and days in the fridge, and they grow huge. Two plants produced probably 100 cukes. I've pickled them, made a fresh tomato vinaigrette salad with 'em, given tons away. They are my favorite plant, other than tomatoes.

And Now on to My Favorite Topic: Tomatoes.
Top awards are for Beefsteak (size and viney fresh meatiness), Black Beauty (not prolific, but what a delicious rich and sweet flavor), and Abe Lincoln (not overly large, but oh the flavor, volume, color, texture). 

Big lessons from Garden 2014.  There were a lot of successes, but still mulling over the other side of things. The Romas bombed and last year didn't do very well either. Maybe a sunny / shady afternoon spot and try them there. The Jetsetter was planted late to replace the Romas and had a modest yield this fall. It won't ever hit its stride before winter.

The Biggest Water Lesson. It was driven home with this hot, hot dry summer the importance of consistent watering like we do with the garden. The corn never rooted, due to lack of water. The Rhubarb never even sprouted. The boysenberries are struggling - not sure if it is the location or just a water issue. I need to spend some time doing research over the winter.

Off Season Projects. Finalize and put into action a greenhouse design. Get a handle on the water cycles for the nectarine and apricot this winter with a drip system in by spring, so we don't have to start from scratch. Devise something also for the olives, fig and pomegranates and get an irrigation specialist to make it permanent and underground.
 

Flavor Up!

It's been the kind of growing season that will become folklore: tomatoes planted on March 31st are still going strong in October. Peppers and Japanese Eggplant, too.

The only problem is we're kind of sauced out by this point, have tons of tomatoes sliced and frozen, lots of canned sauce in the pantry, frozen in bags whole, stewed and chile verde made from the green ones and the tomatillos, and we've eaten them fresh every day all summer.

I cooked them down with some olive oil, and decided to try making tomato paste. We don't really use tomato paste but were told it tastes NOTHING like what is available in the stores. It was worth a try.

So, 16 quarts of fresh, quartered tomatoes made eight quarts of sauce that eventually became this wonderful, just-dip-a-piece-of-French-bread-and-eat-it-right-from-the-jar bruschetta. You're going to love it. Fresh bruschetta is good, and we love that, too - but this - as a gift for holiday entertaining - is amazing.

HOLIDAY GIFT BRUSCHETTA

16 qts fresh tomatoes, quartered in a stock pot (adjust recipe for volume)
1 whole head of garlic
7 yellow onions
Fresh herbs - sage, rosemary, thyme, marjoram, parsley, basil
Fresh pesto if you have it
Pepper, salt
Fresh chives

Cook down the tomatoes and put through the juicer, skins and all. Transfer to 8 qt stock pot, continue to cook on med low.

In a sauté pan, add cleaned, rough sliced garlic and onions, clean and add fresh herbs in big handfuls, to taste.  When sautéed adequately, add skins and seeds from the juicer and Cuisinart on high to pulverize until nearly smooth. Add to sauce. (We waste nothing.)

Taste as you go - add fresh pesto for deeper flavor, if needed (we had a 4 oz jar of freshly made, and added it)

350 oven. Lay out rimmed baking sheets and wide flat baking dishes - enough for 3 shelves in the oven.  Ladle sauce into each pan to cover the bottom and up some on the sides. A little tip: the sauce will cook down more evenly if all the pans have approximately the same depth of sauce. 

Set the timer for 30 minutes, rotate position of each pan, mix sauce and watch so it does not burn. Continue at 30 minute intervals. When sauce thickens to a deeper red color and reduces by 30%, it is ready. You can tell by the nice spreadable texture and chunks of herbs peeking through. Spoon into canning jars and process 15 minutes in a water bath canner. Cool. Label.

For those wanting to continue on to the tomato paste phase, I'd recommend turning down the temp to300 and continue baking until sauce reduces by 50% or more, and it has a thick, savory texture. Follow instructions for canning.

Tip: have a plate a cookies out, because the kitchen aromas will draw people into the kitchen like a magnet.