Recent content by Branching Out

Our daughter and a couple of friends joined us for dinner tonight, so we cleared the trays of seeds and tomatoes off the kitchen table and sat down to a nice meal together. We had homegrown chickpeas, red Thai curry with our peppers, and coconut curried lentils. On the side were Shintokiwa...

We have had a long warm dry summer and the pepper plants have done great. Thankfully they hold well in the garden because we have a bumper harvest this year, and we can't get to them all at once. Today I picked 15 Alpine Poblanos off of just one plant-- almost all red. I'll save the seeds and...

This book by Carol Deppe has excellent information on vegetable breeding. Each winter I take it out of the library in an effort to learn a bit more, as the genetics are complex and more than I can digest in one go...

It was 31C(88F) here yesterday, which was uncomfortably warm. We have several more nice sunny days ahead, and then the rains will return on Saturday evening. My plan for each of the next few days is to harvest, weed, and mulch as much of the garden as I can with bulk compost. The harvest is...

I have harvested dry pods from every main season cultivar in my garden except for Tarbais-- so you're in good company. It must need longer than what is typical. The Tarbais pole bean plants are gorgeous though, with lush foliage.

We did several late plantings of green beans too, and it was a good strategy. They're producing like crazy. Dinner tonight included tomatoes and cucumbers from the garden, grilled chicken thighs, and Cantare green beans. The beans were sown on July 20th!

I think you're right flowerbug-- thank you. Blossom End Rot is one of those things that often goes unnoticed until the bottom of the tomato is flat and blackened, but apparently in its early stages it manifests as tan patches on the bottom of the tomato.

A few of my Dwarf Sweet Sue tomatoes have developed a marbled tan patch on the bottom, and I'm trying to figure out if it's maybe a bacterial fruit rot or perhaps the beginning of late blight. These tomatoes are growing in a hot dry spot under cover of the roof, so blight would be an unlikely...

Very similar colouring for sure-- but totally different leaf structure if this photo is an accurate depiction of Maglia Rosa. These mystery tomatoes are primarily slender, and not plump like a typical plum or Roma. It's interesting to note that Speckled Roman is one of the parents of Worry--...

I picked a tray of Greek Asemina tomatoes yesterday, and found this little guy stuck in the retaining wall beside one of the plants. It must have got shoved in between the rocks when it was still small and green. I had to cut it to get it out. 😊

This spring I sowed an entire packet of 25 seeds of Worry tomato. It's a 60cm(2') tall dwarf cultivar with thick rugose potato-leaf foliage that produces gorgeous medium-sized orange striped beefsteak fruits. Once the seedlings developed I noticed that there was one plant that looked different...

My first time for Koronis Purple, a Robert Lovitz dry bush bean, and I was able to harvest some very pretty seeds. There were just 8-10 plants, grown in a rather punishing hot and dry location in the garden. Some descriptions suggest that early pods can be enjoyed for fresh eating as a snap...

This time of the year I like to have a big salad for breakfast. This morning it's both English and Lebanese cucumbers, mini red sweet peppers, and cherry tomatoes.

Amazing similarity but I agree that my beans curl quite a bit more.

September heat records falling all over the place here in the past couple of days too. Yesterday it hit 40C(104F) in Lytton, which is a few hours from Vancouver and traditionally the hottest spot in British Columbia. Today is forecast to be even warmer...