What are You Eating from the Garden?

[Branching Out]

Taste?

The Winter King and Queen watermelon tasted good, with the caveat that the melon had a spot on it so one section was mushy and starting to ferment. The rest of the melon was quite yummy, with a nice crispness to each bite. I like my watermelon to be crispy. If the melon is blemish-free you are supposed to be able to store them melon indoors until December. I bought these seeds because I am hoping to be able to have home grown produce that stores well so we can eat it during the autumn, rather than producing a glut of fruits that need to be consumed during the summer months. This variety is definitely worth growing again.

 

[heirloomgal]

I bought these seeds because I am hoping to be able to have home grown produce that stores well so we can eat it during the autumn, rather than producing a glut of fruits that need to be consumed during the summer months.

How has is your trial of storage tomato varieties going? I like the idea of 'long keeping' garden produce too and would like to experiment as well with that.

 

[Branching Out]

How has is your trial of storage tomato varieties going? I like the idea of 'long keeping' garden produce too and would like to experiment as well with that.

So far so good heirloomgal. I have had a chance to get to know the characteristics of the different varieties, which is an important starting point. It seems that many of the storage tomatoes have thicker skin, which is okay; that, I think, is what increases their shelf life. They suggest storing them in trays so that the tomatoes are not touching each other, because if one rots the whole tray can go. Mine are now kept on leak-proof trays in the basement, as the ones that spoil tend to ferment and leak fluid all over the place. It can make quite a mess, so you really have to keep an eye on them. The perfect storage set up would likely be on racks placed on leak-proof trays.

Some of these varieties are noted as tasting rather flat when fresh, but excellent when roasted or dryed-- so we have dried some and roasted a lot. All were very tasty. (The tomatoes that store well and dehydrate well may have less fluid than what is typically the case). We still have some storage tomatoes on the vines too (likely for another week, provided the weather stays warm and dry enough). The few that are in storage in our basement are looking good. One, Annarita, doesn't taste very good on my palate; perhaps I will see if I can keep that one a while longer, and then roast them (no point having tomatoes that store well but don't taste good!) A few were picked 100% green, to see if they ripen to red off the vine. The small orange ones on the blue tray in this photo are hard as rocks, which I think bodes well. They are called Giallo a Grappoli, and if stored properly rumour has it that you can keep them until the new year. These tomatoes were planted very late and are just maturing on the vines now; if I can time them just a bit earlier next year they could all be harvested by early October, and then placed in storage. Other Italian storage tomatoes from the Vesuvius region are Pienollo Giallo (yellow) and Pienollo Rosso (red), shown on the white plate in the bottom right corner. They taste good, look good, and store like rocks so far. I planted those ones along with all of my main season tomatoes, so we have been eating them for months. Those seeds need to be planted later next year, so they ripen in September and not in August.

All and all a great first step in learning about these unique tomatoes. If you can get the timing correct I think there is great promise for growing storage tomato cultivars. Next year I hope to have one third of my tomato crop as extra early cold-tolerant varieties that I can start enjoying in May, one third as main season BLT/salsa or drying tomatoes (such as Fiaschetto di Manduria), and about a third as late season storage tomatoes. I also hope to grow fewer different varieties, but more plants of each type so I can select for the strongest plants. I saved a ton of seed, so if there are any that you would like to try growing let me know and I will send you some. (Note that I did not isolate the varieties, except for one that was part of a community grow out).

 

[heirloomgal]

So far so good heirloomgal. I have had a chance to get to know the characteristics of the different varieties, which is an important starting point. It seems that many of the storage tomatoes have thicker skin, which is okay; that, I think, is what increases their shelf life. They suggest storing them in trays so that the tomatoes are not touching each other, because if one rots the whole tray can go. Mine are now kept on leak-proof trays in the basement, as the ones that spoil tend to ferment and leak fluid all over the place. It can make quite a mess, so you really have to keep an eye on them. The perfect storage set up would likely be on racks placed on leak-proof trays.

Some of these varieties are noted as tasting rather flat when fresh, but excellent when roasted or dryed-- so we have dried some and roasted a lot. All were very tasty. (The tomatoes that store well and dehydrate well may have less fluid than what is typically the case). We still have some storage tomatoes on the vines too (likely for another week, provided the weather stays warm and dry enough). The few that are in storage in our basement are looking good. One, Annarita, doesn't taste very good on my palate; perhaps I will see if I can keep that one a while longer, and then roast them (no point having tomatoes that store well but don't taste good!) A few were picked 100% green, to see if they ripen to red off the vine. The small orange ones on the blue tray in this photo are hard as rocks, which I think bodes well. They are called Giallo a Grappoli, and if stored properly rumour has it that you can keep them until the new year. These tomatoes were planted very late and are just maturing on the vines now; if I can time them just a bit earlier next year they could all be harvested by early October, and then placed in storage. Other Italian storage tomatoes from the Vesuvius region are Pienollo Giallo (yellow) and Pienollo Rosso (red), shown on the white plate in the bottom right corner. They taste good, look good, and store like rocks so far. I planted those ones along with all of my main season tomatoes, so we have been eating them for months. Those seeds need to be planted later next year, so they ripen in September and not in August.

All and all a great first step in learning about these unique tomatoes. If you can get the timing correct I think there is great promise for growing storage tomato cultivars. Next year I hope to have one third of my tomato crop as extra early cold-tolerant varieties that I can start enjoying in May, one third as main season BLT/salsa or drying tomatoes (such as Fiaschetto di Manduria), and about a third as late season storage tomatoes. I also hope to grow fewer different varieties, but more plants of each type so I can select for the strongest plants. I saved a ton of seed, so if there are any that you would like to try growing let me know and I will send you some. (Note that I did not isolate the varieties, except for one that was part of a community grow out).

This is so interesting @Branching Out, what a fantastic trial you did with these tomatoes. Thanks for such great information. One of the biggest confusions I had about these tomatoes was when to start them; I wondered if they were started at the same time as regular tomatoes, would they mature too early? You mention the importance of timing to get these right, I guess that would be my learning curve with whichever varieties I try. Now I'm feeling extra eager to try storage tomatoes. I also grew a tomato called Fiaschetto this year, but it was Sel. Fiaschetto from Weston Seeds. If your Manduria tomatoes are on the upper brown tray they look just like the ones I grew. Darn, I should have held some back to see what kind of shelf life they had. They produced a concentrated set, but they seemed really juicy to me. Might not be the same toms. The whole lot of those tomatoes look quite impressive, and the Pienello varieties - wow, those are such pretty fruits. I actually didn't realize that there were so many longkeeper varieties, I thought the gene pool was much smaller. Years ago I bought a single storage type called Zhiraf and never did get to trying them, I started some a few times but always wound up giving them away or thinning them from the herd because I always have too many plants. Now I regret losing that variety!

 

[flowerbug]

beans today from the freezer and turned into buritos without shells. we'll do round 2 tomorrow.

 

[digitS']

• Greens
• Greens
• Greens
• & Green Beans

Steve ▪ & Carrot Cake

 

[flowerbug]

i really wish i had some green beans today.

 

[Branching Out]

I made soup with garlic, roasted cherry tomatoes, kale, piazinho peppers, and thyme from the garden. The peppers were so spicy that I was concerned that I had ruined the soup, but thankfully the family was happy with it. Next time I will go easy on the spicy stuff! The recipe called for white beans but I had a couple of cans of Mayocoba beans that I added instead. Good chance the soup will taste even better tomorrow.

 

[flowerbug]

salmon patties today so included in those will be some of the onions we harvested.

 

[Phaedra]

Red romaine lettuce