Heirloom tomatoes come on strong!

Well, we came back to market for a few weeks – the last 2 weeks in August. Partly, we just can’t stay away and we also have had a bumper crop of blackberries, tomatoes, cucumbers and basil that we couldn’t eat all ourselves. In terms of tomatoes, we have had good yields off Limmony (beefsteak yellow), Stupice (Czech red), Wonderlight (yellow), Red Striped Roman, and several cherries – white cherry, galina and sungold (not an heirloom but oh so yummy and sweet). We added some of the roma that we were growing for canning and made some beautiful mixed boxes. 

 

Heirloom boxes

Jamey has come up with an innovative way to keep basil crisp and fresh. He harvests the root ball and bags it up with some water. This avoids the late-market wilting that you see so often with fresh basil. We tested it out and I found that by Thursday of the following week, the basil looked a little sad – but that’s 5 days of freshness. Amazing, no?

 

Basil

I’m now one week from D-Day and eagerly anticipating having one less tenant in my belly. Not that this pregnancy hasn’t been fun and rewarding – we’re just anxious to meet the new wee gardener. In the meantime, we’ve been picking apples, canning tomatoes and jelly and generally trying to put the garden to bed a little early this year. 

R.

Glee, Satisfaction, Frustration…

Ahh the ups and the downs of farming.

Glee

Arrived home Friday to discover that neighbouring farmer had found a sufficient dry window to be able to disc Garden Plot C.  Now we can plant out our tomatoes, squash, beans, etc….

Satisfaction

We did our first market of 2008!  It was a week earlier than last year and our sales numbers were up over last year’s opening weekend (thanks in large part to rhubarb).  It was so great to be back and see all the regulars.  In addition to the rhubarb we had spicy and original salad mix, sorrel, edible flowers and green onions.

Frustration

Came home to try and get some tilling done before the forecast rain.  Target was the edges of the new plot and the beds for this weekend’s greens planting.  10 minutes in, the tiller broke.  Like really broke.  As opposed to the belt challenges last year, this was “I wish I was a welder” broke.  Arghh.  Metal fatigue at the joint there the arms attach to the body.  %$@!  Stay tuned for innovative, temporary fixes and whether our friends who weld can repair it.