The Beauty of a Tomato....

Yes! I admit it, I have an obsession with all things Tomato!

When I slice into one it gets me very excited!

They are Gorgeous inside. Am I not right! As I was cutting into a couple of Heirloom Tomato's,  I thought. I must show this to the world or at least to those who are nice enough to follow my blog!

So I say bring it on and share the beauty!

The Mr.Stripey! So yummy, juicy and meaty! This Tomato has  a mild, low acid flavor.Tastes great as Pico De Gallo!

The Black Krim! Meaty, juicy and a slightly salty  flavor! Originally from the Isle of Krim on the Black Sea!

Just a few Tomato's I have been picking! I have a few green ones! I broke a branch the other day! They will just have to ripen in a sunny location for now. Perhaps the green ones may become fried green tomato's!

Here is what I harvested in the past week! 

I'm very happy with my garden bounty this year! I just wish it would pump out more tomato's!

So far I have harvested 211 pounds of food! Not bad for a backyard gardener!

I am still waiting on potato's, tomittillos, black eyed peas and some peppers. I have gotten only a couple bowls of assorted peppers.

I hope your gardens are exploding!

 What are you harvesting?

Happy Gardening my friends!!!

Attack of the Tomato seedlings!!!

I may have gotten a little Ambitious this year! I am totally cool with growing 72 Tomato plants. Yes, call me crazy. Last year was a dissapointing Tomato season for me and many others. Although, I am not growing them all for me. I am hoping to swap some plants with others and I am selling some to friends and family. Who knows maybe I will make back what I invested, that would be nice. I do plan on growing at least 30-40 in my own Garden. Most of them will make Marinara sauce,salsa, bruschetta, diced and tomato paste to can for the winter months when I am missing fresh garden tomatos.

This weekend I got busy transplanting my seedlings into bigger containers! Since I am recovering from surgery, this was an easy enough job for me to sit outside and enjoy the sunshine. I took all my seedlings to the patio table and transplanted away!

I started them in the jiffy pellets that came in thier own little green house. I had great success. I had only 3 tomato plants that did not germinate.

I used a good potting soil with a couple of rabbit poop pellets and got right to work!

As you can see I filled each container with the soil and rabbit poo. I do this in a bigger bucket, this way I dont waste any soil!

It took me about an hour to do all of them. I did bury as much of the stem as possible to get a really good root system started. In about a month, they will all hit the raised beds in the main garden.

I am growing:

Black Krim

Purple Cherokee

Yellow Pear

Sweet 100

Big Boy

Mortgage Lifter

Red Lightning

Heirloom mystery mix

Purple and Green Tomatillos

Paste Tomatos

Black Cherry

Pompeii (Roma Sauce)

Garden Candy Cherry (orange, yellow& red)

I think thats all of them.

I still have to start Beefsteak and Pinapple and Mr.Stripy.

Here are some other things I have growing indoors.

Multiple Peppers, Marigolds to go with my tomatos and cilantro.

Hansel Eggplant which I love!

I have also started many Herbs! That will be a future post!

Happy Gardening!

 

~Peppers Peppers & Pickled Peppers~

Its Hot times in the Garden of Peppers! I have so many varities this year! We grew Cabanelle, a variety of sweet pepper. Hungarian hot wax, tells you all you need to know. Jalapeno, which is mild. Serrano, a little hotter then Jalapenos. Cayenne, which is hot and spicy. I use these peppers in differnt dishes, such as stir frys, salsa's, and I pickle them for later use! I also freeze extra peppers for soups and to add flavor to meat. I recently pickled 4 varieties of peppers with garlic for future eating throughout the year.

My recipe as follows

1 Pound of Cabanella Peppers

1/2 Pound Hungarian Hot Wax Peppers

1 Pound of Jalapeno Peppers

1/4 Serrano Peppers

6 cups Vinegar

2 cups of Water

4 Garlic cloves

I cut my peppers into 1 inch pieces. Then mix together.

Note: You may want to wear rubber gloves, to prevent hands from burning from the peppers

Combine Vinegar, Water & Garlic in large saucepan.

Bring mixture to a boil; reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes.

Pack Peppers into hot jars, leaving 1/4 headspace. Ladle hot liquid over Peppers leaving 1/4 inch headspace.

Remove air bubbles, Place lids on jars. Process 10 minutes in a boiling water canner.