Patty,
Surely not a San Marzano but looks very solid. I put two tomato plants outside since the weather is good. Too crowded in my small greenhouse. Tall plants but should do better after I recover the greenhouse with new "fillim" :-)
I''ll get a picture of a large Pink Brandywine and Mariana's Peace which are both starting to get red.
Ha! Thank you Peter for the stats on the name "Clive"..it was funny when he asked it though.
It was just over-the-top British!
(we loved the guy--he was a good sport)
Quint,
That tomato is a Big Boy. I saw the tag that came with it. I guess I didn't remember buying 3 Marzanos and 1 Better Boy.
It does look good. Its slow going so I'm hoping I can beat the tomato hornworms.
It would be nice to have a small green house shed. We made cold frames years ago; raised beds with rebar to slip PVC pipe over and plastic sheeting (fillim) (Conestoga style)
It gets so hot here that by afternoon tomato plants look wilted. They recover, but I can't help but think it would cause stress.
Are you able to grow any crops in early winter? Cabbage?
Patty, I shut down most growing after I harvest the last of my tomatoes sometime in October. Usually concentrating on fishing then.
I just started some lettuce and hope it holdover through winter. My early crop of Romaine, Butterhead, and Grand Rapids will do for a while yet but the Red Sails I just started should withstand winter and supply a little. Also a bit of Lacinato kale. I have a good crop of both pole and bush beans coming along. After we eat as many fresh as we can I trim, blanch, vacuum pack and freeze quite a few 12 ounce bags. Pepper crop coming along well too. Big Jim, Aleppo, Rustic Italian, e.g. I love pickling those Aleppos.
Sounds like a really nice garden and well planned!
I didn’t really plan this year. It was a quick start.
Nice to have pole and bush beans in the freezer!
Crock pot, some broth, oil, onion and garlic…slow cook!
I have a vac sealer but it struggles with the better bags that I buy.
(Weston brand bags) so I seal each bag twice. The sealing strip isn’t very wide.
Maybe upgrade this winter. It’s an old foodsaver.
We can grow cabbage, broccoli and collards in the fall.
I may try a late bed of cabbage and make some small batches of kraut.
I’ve never made it before. I got DD an small fermenting kit. I may try one of those first.
My pickles turned out really nice…they are just a bit too salty. Yikes. I couldn’t eat more than 2!
Need to find a lower salt recipe.
I need to grow collards again. A great green for lots of uses.
We replaced our vacuum sealer a couple of years ago. They old one was behaving like yours no matter what I tried. Not the bag's fault.
We got a new basic one and it works perfectly.
I grow pickling cukes too and I had so many last year I made over ten gallons of homemade garlic dills, and some bread and butter pickles.
We still have over two gallons left and eat them regularly all year. They are not canned but kept in the refrigerator and hold up very well. Still crisp from last September.
Here's a Mariana's Peace. Heirloom, Indeterminate. It's about ready to pick and I'm anxious to taste it.
