Tomatoes planted!!!

It seems as though the weather has stabilized.....I hope!! My garden helper and I planted the balance of our tomato plants in the garden today. I am not taking any chances with this crazy weather we have been having. So, all of the tomatoes that are not planted in the greenhouse bed are in Kozy Koats. My tomato plants were way too big and getting a bit stressed. Next year I am going to start the tomato seeds later.

Tomatoes planted to date:

1 - Brandywine
2 - Cherokee Purple
1-  Matt's Wild Cherry (my grandson's plant)
2 - Howard's German Red
2 - Unknown Italian - Seeds my in-laws got for me 4 years ago in Italy
2 - Lancaster County Paste
2 - Paulina
1 - Pineapple
1 - Eva's Purple Ball
1 - Tiffen Mennonite
1 - White Tomesol
1 - Winter Long Storage

My litlle helper and I also planted 4 tomatoes in large containers for my in-laws. These will be placed on their upper porch. Their garden gets way too much shade and the plants hardly produce anything.

I will do a complete garden update of this past week tomorrow.

Seeds from Italy!!

My in-laws have returned from their trip to Italy. They brought me seeds!! I am so excited and can't wait to germinate and plant them!

Tomato - Pomodoro - S. Marzano
Tomato - Pomodoro - Early Pack 7 (These are green at the top. They said that they are served in the restaurants in Italy)
Eggplant - Melanzana - Lunga Violetta Di Firenze (A long slender type)
Chicory - Cicoria - Rossa
Spinach - Spinacio - Matador
Lettuce - Lattuga - Quattro Stagioni Sel. Rossina Di Pescia
Escarole - Endivia - Scarola verde fiorentina
Arugula - Rucola - Coltivata

I did a little research and this is what I came up with.

Tomato - Pomodoro - San Marzano
     Classic Italian plum tomato used mainly for cooking as it has very little water inside, few seeds and is very meaty. Use for making Passata, cooking, sauces and passata. Indeterminate. Fruits typically of 70-100g each in weight.

Tomato - Pomodoro - Early Pack 7
     I have not found any information on this tomato. I think that it may be a beefsteak type of tomato.

Eggplant - Melanzana - Lunga Violetta Di Firenze
      Long purple. 8 inch long rustic deep purple eggplant. Classic rich eggplant taste. Good producer, reliable. 70 days.

Chicory - Cicoria - Rossa
     Has very good colour contrast between the red leaves and white ribs and veins, is fairly easy to grow and consistently forms nice heads. Nice taste and texture. Sow to mature in autumn/winter about 75-80 days after planting to get the best colour and flavour.

Spinach - Spinacio - Matador
     Spinach Matador Dark green plant, very smooth leaves. Excellent taste. Nice for salad mixes. 47-50 days.

Lettuce - Lattuga - Quattro Stagioni Sel. Rossina Di Pescia
     A 'butterhead' variety with soft round, medium sized hearts for sowing and harvesting throughout the spring and summer. The outer leaves and heart show an attractive bronzed-red colour. Lettuce is very suitable for inter-cropping between taller, long-standing vegetables , such as beans, tomatoes, peppers, etc.

Escarole - Endivia - Scarola verde fiorentina
     Probably the most widely used in Italy. Large, splaying head with golden coloured heart. Sow Jun-end Aug and harvest till mid Dec.

Arugula - Rucola - Coltivata
     This is a herbaceous plant found in the wild in Italy. It is quite short and has thin, serrated leaves which are bright-green in color and have an intense aroma. Owing to its strong but pleasant flavor it is particularly suitable for mixed salads or on pizzas. The plant grows well in any type of soil and requires little care.

Harvest Monday

I harvested two more heads of romaine lettuce last night. This lettuce made it through the winter under two feet of snow. We had a wonderful ceasar salad with dinner last night! Only two heads left :(

Ceasar Dressing Recipe

1-2 Cloves Garlic

1 Egg

1/3 Cup Vegetable Oil

1/4 tsp. Dry Mustard

3 Drops Tabasco

1/4 tsp. Worcestershire Sauce

3/4 tsp. Red Wine Vinegar

1 tsp. Lemon Juice

Pepper & Salt

Finely chop garlic, add remaining ingredients and blend well. I use a mini chopper/grinder. You could use a blender or food processor.

Top fresh greens with your choice of grated cheese, bacon bits, croutons or anchovies....what ever you desire! ENJOY!

Busy day in the garden!

Yesterday was a busy day around here! The day started off with a successful trapping of a feral cat. I am a cat lover to say the least. I have two cats, Alvin and Miss Banana. This feral cat has been causing havoc in the neighborhood! He has attacked my cat Alvin two times in the past year and cost me $500. in vet bills! Alvin is a special needs cat. He is about 80% blind and has brain damage since birth.

This is Alvin enjoying our wedding reception at our home.

 We are trying to get everything ready outside before it's time to plant all of the peppers, the balance of the tomatoes, all of my flower pots and the other warm weather crops. My husband has been trying to get the deck pressure washed! He was only able to get a small area finished before "date night" last night. It's now raining and will continue to rain for about two days. We do need the rain!

I planted 107 onion seedlings! 30 Copra, 19 Patterson, 36 Redwing and 32 Prince. I still have 22 Redwing seedling left to plant. I can't plant those until the hubby is finished pressure washing the deck. The deck comes right up to the bed were they are going to be planted. That pressure washer will take them out in an instant!

I also planted some parsley, basil and marigolds. I companion plant, so there are onions everywhere there was a spot to put one! Hopefully the onions will do better then last year. We had a very wet spring and they were very small.

The Pak Choi is looking great. They did have an encounter with I believe slugs, when I first planted them. I added some diatomaceous earth and the nibbling has stopped. The Pak Choi is planted at both ends of the garlic bed.

The mixed lettuce is also looking good. I think that it is about time to thin it.

My favorite lettuce, Buttercrunch! I can't wait until it is time to eat it! Next year I will have to start some lettuce inside.

The snow peas are looking good. My English peas aren't doing as well as the snow peas. I guess I will have to try those rootrainers that Dan used this year for his peas. Hopefully we will enough peas to freeze this year. Last year, that darn groundhog ate 3 crops of peas! 

Today in the Garden

Today I added some mulch around my potato onions. They look good. This is my first time planting them. I planted them in the fall along with some shallots. The shallots rotted in the ground. We will see how the potato onions do.

There are lots of dandelions in the yard....maybe I should have my little helper pick them and make another batch of dandelion jelly!

The potatoes are coming up nicely in the bags that I made. This year I planted Cranberry Red, Yukon Gold and Caribe Purple. We thought it would be nice to have red, white and blue potatoes!