Growing Tomatoes – Maybe

I don’t think things are going well in the tomato test garden.  I have plenty of blossoms:

Lots and lots and lots of blossoms in fact  but very little fruit:

The  few tomatoes that have condescended to grow are very small.  Am I being impatient?  How long does it take for a tomato plant to go from blossom to ripe fruit anyway? It is already mid- July and I think these plants  had better get motivated if they are going to produce anything by the first frost in September.    They have plenty of sun, lots of water and about two months to come up with something edible.

 

Tomatoes

I now have blossoms on my tomatoes.  I have no idea if  they are early or late for the season but I do know they are good:

It is very gratifying to watch the plants gradually develop.  Only a few months ago this plant was just a seed that I put in some soil and now it is beginning to form fruit.  It just doesn’t seem possible but the proof is right there in the garden.  Of course , it’s still early and  a lot can go wrong.  Some animals got into the garden and ate the tops off three of the plants but I don’t think any permanent damage was done.  I have since built a fence. Incidentally, I read the other day that tomato plants make a good  natural dye so I have that to look forward to.

 

Test Garden

This year the experiment garden is all about tomatoes.

 I  have never had much luck growing tomatoes which I blame on the fact that they do not thrive on neglect.  However, this year I planted six tomato plants in my special little plot and will devote to them the attention they deserve.  Or so I say now.  The purpose of this experiment is to find out how much fruit, measured by weight, these plants will produce.   All six plants are heritage tomatoes that I started from seed.  There are three Livingston Perfection, one Moscow, one Urbanite and one Howard German.  They got off to a late start due to the cold, wet spring but I think they will come ahead just fine.  The first task is to build a fence to keep  unwlecome animals out.

 

Signs of Spring

The maple syrup season has ended. My twelve taps only produced about nine liters this year. There would have been a couple more if it weren’t for that unfortunate burnt sap incident. When we tapped the trees there was still snow on the ground, although not a lot:

Some snow in April took care of that:

As of three days ago we were still getting some interesting ice patterns on the puddles and ponds in the morning:

but that hasn’t stopped the garlic

or this crocus:

It’s amazing how much can happen in a month.

 

Planting Seeds

Every spring I plant seeds because I cannot believe it will work. These are tomato seeds. I have taken them out of the dark envelope they have been stored in since they were collected last year and I will put them in dark soil. I will add water and they will grow. Everything they need to know to become tomatoes is in these tiny seeds. They will not become lettuce or eggplant or petunias, they will become tomatoes . No matter what direction the seed is pointing when I plant it, the roots will grow down and the stem will grow up. How do they know which way is up when they have been tossed around and then surrounded by earth? When I close my eyes and spin around, I don’t know which direction I am facing. I am humbled by a tomato seed.

 

Fall Planting

I have noticed that despite the fact that the growing year is ending, nature seems to be preparing for spring. I find this very reassuring. The hollyhocks are dropping their seeds:So are the milkweed:

Just as an aside, I read somewhere that you can spin the fluff from milkweed seeds into yarn. I have not tried this and can’t imagine I ever will. It’s an interesting idea though. I have knit with yarn made out of soy so maybe milkweed isn’t such a crazy idea.

Not wanting to be left out, I planted 75 tulip bulbs:I am sure that all 75 will grow. I am sure that the squirrels will never think to look for them in the freshly dug flower bed. Planting at this time of year is all about hope.

I also planted 250 cloves of garlic:

I have already given away at least this much for seed garlic in an attempt to encourage friends and strangers alike to grow their own garlic. It is very easy and rewarding and much better than the stuff you buy in grocery stores.

 

Easily Missed

This dahlia has been hanging in there despite some pretty frosty temperatures.

I spent quite a lot of time admiring the pale pink petals and the yellow beads in the center. Several days later I noticed it again.

This time it was the way the early morning sun shone through the petals that caught my attention. When I leaned over to take a look from the other side I was surprised to see a bee that had been caught out after the temperatures fell. It was in some sort of stupor from which it awoke as it was warmed by the sun. But look what had happened to those little beads in the center. They had burst open and released their pollen. The bee had noticed this, but I would have missed it.

At the risk of sounding silly or sentimental, isn’t it amazing the things that are going on all around you that you can so easily miss?

 

The Cucumbers Won

I admit defeat. After pickling and canning so many cucumbers that the smell of vinegar makes my stomach turn I am ready to say that I was outdone by an abundance of cucumbers. I have made dill pickles (sliced, whole and quartered) bread and butter pickles, spiced cucumber rings, lemon zingers and relish. Well, someone else made the relish, but I was very supportive. All the time a little voice kept telling me that there are not enough years in a lifetime to eat so many pickles and eventually that voice became too loud to ignore. The rest of the cucumbers, which were really past their prime anyway, were thrown into the compost where they were enjoyed by chipmunks and raccoons. However, besides a supply of pickles that are really quite good, I learned a couple of important things:

1) there were 132 seeds in the package

2) just because you buy a package of seeds it does not follow that you have to plant the whole package

3) homemade dill pickles taste better than commercially prepared dill pickles

 

Dill Pickles

The time came for me to finally make the dill pickles that had been planned since last spring. The garlic was ready, having been harvested and hung to dry several weeks ago. The dill was ready. I was pretty certain the cucumbers were ready. I admit I hadn’t been down to that garden in a while but it couldn’t have been more than a week since my last visit. At that time there were lots of cucumbers that were growing nicely. So I went down to the garden to pick some perfectly symmetrical, perfectly sized cucumbers to fit into the 500 ml mason jars.

You can see the problem. I had no idea that cucumbers grew so fast. This was not an isolated problem either, I picked about thirty cucumbers this size which gave me plenty of time to think about just how few ways there are to eat cucumbers. They are not the most versatile vegetable. Not wanting to waste them, and not able to think of what else to do, I went ahead and made the pickles.

I sliced them instead of leaving them whole as the recipe instructed. I have no idea how they will turn out. I made two batches but still have plenty of these large cucumbers to use up. I have not completely given up on my original plan because on the vines there are still plenty of these that I will be watching very closely:

 

In the Woods and Garden

You probably don’t need me to tell you that summer is slipping by quickly. This year we had quite a large crop of red currants. Normally the birds get to them before I do but this year there were plenty for everyone.

I tried making some jelly. The keyword here is “tried”. It’s a bit thick. I am exaggerating – it is unbelievably thick. It is hard to get a knife into it, that’s how thick it is. I am dutifully eating it with cream cheese on a bagel every morning and it tastes okay, but did I mention that it is a bit thick? I might try again if the birds haven’t made off with the rest of the currants.

I love watching the peas developing in the pods, it’s like nature’s little ultrasound. Dragonflies are pretty fascinating as well, you can’t see it in this picture but they have wings that sparkle. Even though I’m someone who thinks that sparkles are best avoided I really love the way the wings sparkle. I think if you are going to have wings, they should sparkle.

I haven’t been into the woods much because the mosquitoes and I are having a turf war and they have claimed the woods. Last week I sprayed myself with a toxic amount of insect repellent and headed into the woods. Since it has been a pretty wet summer I guess it isn’t surprising that there are a lot of mushrooms. The only thing I know about mushrooms is that you shouldn’t eat them unless you buy them at a grocery store so although I can’t name them, here are some pictures of a few of the many different types.