So, how have your tomatoes fared this year?  It has not been a stellar tomato season for most in the Pacific Northwest.  In a good year, most of us start harvesting the early varieties in mid-July, but that has been pushed back by a few weeks due to our cool spring.  If you are experiencing late ripening of your tomato crop, I have a couple of suggestions for you:

1. In a ‘normal’ year, I recommend this around the first part of September, but I am doing it now in my own garden and think you should try it too:  it is time to prune out a lot of the excess foliage on your tomato vines, especially if the tomato cage is packed full of foliage.  Take at least half of the leaves and their short branches off, exposing the green fruit to the sunshine, and opening up the plant to more light and air generally. (I know this seems severe, but trust me and do it.)  This will also have the effect of slightly stressing the plant, which also hastens ripening.  A couple of weeks from now, remove a few more leaves.  By the end of September, remove practically ALL the leaves.  I have done this every year, leaving naked branches full of green fruit, and by the time of the first frost all of my tomatoes ripen.  It works.
2. As you know, indeterminate tomatoes are vines – they continue to grow in length and flower from the tips as they go.  This takes a lot of energy for the plant to continue pumping out blooms, so it is time to prune the ends.  I cut off the blooming ends right down to the first set of green tomatoes.  This will give the plant the energy to ripen the fruit already on the vine, rather than continue to try to produce more.

You should also take a realistic look at each of your tomato vines.  Some might be doing better than others at this point in the season.  I had two tomato plants in my home garden that for whatever reason had NO fruit on them.  What did I do?  Yanked them out and put in broccoli raab, which will produce a nice crop for me in about a month and a half.  Keep your soil working for you – if something is not productive, cut your losses and move on.  There are plenty of fall veggies that you can plant in those vacant spaces, and fall is a great time for many things.  Just ask us and we can give you lots of suggestions!

Is this crazy cold weather slowing down your veggie garden?  Will it ever end?   The warm weather crops, like tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and melons aren’t looking all that happy right now; and  I’ve had a few conversations recently with folks who haven’t even tried to put in their warm season stuff, because of night-time temperatures. 

This got me to wondering today what we have left in early-season tomatoes, so  I went searching for all the tomatoes we still have in stock that will ripen in less than 70 days.  That gives you a very reasonable chance to still get a good crop before the season is over.  I came up with a pretty impressive list (those with an asterisk are available in gallon size); the numbers are days to maturity:

So, don’t despair of not having your own tomatoes this year – it’s not too late!

It has been a logistical challenge to find room for all the tomatoes we have in stock this week.  We just counted what’s out there, and we have 120 varieties covering 24 tables!!  Lots of them are organically grown and/or heirloom varieties.

 Time to shop while the selection is the very best.

Nope, it’s a hanging basket!!  Just look up to see the selection – we’ve got ‘em for sun and we’ve got ‘em for shade.  They’re hanging from every rafter here, and more are coming in for the weekend.  Nothing says summer like these beautiful baskets of color.

AND THIS JUST IN:  Tomatoes in hanging baskets!  Now even those of you in condos with a sunny deck can grow your own.  How fun is that?!  No excuses for your own fresh salsa this summer!

Some may think we’re a little crazy about tomatoes here at Farmington Gardens – we have our annual tomato festival in September, where you can sample dozens and dozens of varieties; plus we pride ourselves on the best selection of tomato plants in the metro area.  Last year was particularly crazy – we offered over 120 different types of tomatoes! 

So, in our continuing effort to help you grow the best tomatoes you’ve ever tasted, right from your own backyard - we will have Celina here to talk about her favorites and how she likes to grow them.  We’ll have a list of the tomato festival favorites to help you narrow your search for the best tasting tomato.  We’ll even share some of our favorite tomato festival recipes which we’ve collected over the years.

This class is part of our special May mid-week class series.  Avoid the weekend crowds and visit us during the week!  Moms with children are welcome – we especially love to help young families learn the joys of gardening together.

This is a free class, but we’d love for your to register.  Call us at 503-649-4568, or email events@farmingtongardens.

The first tomatoes of the season arrived at Farmington Gardens this week!  We have about 13 varieties here now, and of course dozens more will arrive in the weeks to come ( fyi: last year we sold over 120 varieties of tomatoes – a truly amazing selection!).   As you will remember, it is still too early in the season to plant tomatoes outside without protection – there is still a high likelihood of frosts (like last night…) so you will want to use a wall-o-water or a cold frame or other protections.

I want to remind you too about tomorrow’s great class on tomatoes – 1 pm Sunday, April 11th.  We are bringing in a expert in the field, Tracy Mason from Westwind Nursery.  Tracy grows many of the popular heirloom varieties, which have the reputation for being a little more finicky than the hybrids.  Of course, hybrids were developed primarily for the purpose of long distance commercial transport and long shelf life.  Since those are issues we just don’t worry about in the home garden, we get to focus on more interesting things like complex flavors, delicate textures, amazing colors, and lots of variety!

No need to register for this class at this late date – just drop by if you can, and learn the tips to a healthy tomato garden and a bountiful harvest -  hope to see you here tomorrow!

It boggles the mind, but it is true – in years past, we have carried over 120 different varieties of tomato starts here at Farmington Gardens.  Not to brag or anything, but I do believe we have the best selection in the metro area.

To help you achieve success with your own tomatoes, we are bringing in a local grower, Tracy Mason from Westwinds Nursery, to share with you her secrets to growing the best tomatoes.  Tracy specializes in growing heirlooms, which are tastier and more varied than many of the hybrids, but some folks find them a little trickier to grow.  But with names like Mortgage Lifter, Cherokee Purple, Dixie Gold Giant, or Purple Russian, who wouldn’t want to take the time to grow such amazing tomatoes with such interesting histories and personalities?!

May is the ideal month to be planting out your tomato starts, so this class should give you plenty of time to get ready.  The soil will be warmed up and you’ll have thrown a little compost out there to renew the soil.  (You will have done that, right?)  Anyway, this is a free class; please call to register at 503-649-4568, or email us at events@farmingtongardens.com.

I always find this month an interesting time in the garden!  Many of the summer veggies have peaked but are still huge and productive.  The tomatoes, for instance, are still big and beautiful, and thankfully still ripening.  The kale is so huge it stops people in their tracks.  The Swiss chard, peppers and eggplants continue to look good.   Meanwhile, it is time to pull out those that have finished and make way to replant for even more good eating down the way.

Today I spent a couple of hours out in the garden.  It was time to harvest the pumpkins and pull out the declining vines.  Same for the cucumbers that have climbed to the top of our six-foot hand-made trellis.  (Amazingly, there were about 6 pounds of cucumbers hidden in there!)  And by the end of the season like this, there are dead and fallen leaves littering the garden, which are becoming slimy and diseased.  A good strategy for a healthy garden is to tidy up – slugs love this kind of plant material, so let’s not make it too easy for them. 

It was also time to give another pruning to the tomato vines – as I’ve said before, it is important to cut out extra foliage to let in light and air.  I also cut out new blooming shoots that had sprouted since I last thinned.  All of this will promote ripening – a good thing!

Once the bed was tidied up and I could ascertain how much available space there was for planting, then the fun began!  I planted a traypack of Olympia spinach, which did so awesomely in the garden last fall.  I also planted a traypack of red Pac Choi, which hopefully will be as prolific as the green variety we put in last fall.  And lastly, I put in a traypack of cauliflower.  I hope I don’t regret that, because cauliflower takes a bit of room.  But since we’ve not had that in the garden yet, I thought we should show you what it does.  So check it out the next time you are here.

With all these tasty new things in the garden, I scattered a bit of Sluggo around, just to distract the slugs.  As you know, Sluggo is safe for birds and animals, but does the trick for our nemesis the slug.  I highly recommend taking preventive measures!  And using Sluggo this time of year will kill off the adults before they have a chance to lay eggs over the winter, thereby reducing your slug population next year – a very good thing.

So I hope you too can find a bit of time this week to do some garden clean up and maybe plant a few new things too.  Remember the strategy of succession plantings – when something comes out, plant something new!  We have a good assortment of veggie starts here now, as well as garlic and onion sets.   Now is a great time to get all those going.

Are you all sick of hearing about tomatoes yet?  This’ll be quick – folks always want to know what the favorites were at our annual tomato festival, so here they are, listed in descending order of votes.  Sungold and Cherokee Purple were by far the crowd favorites, and tomatoes I would personally recommend you try growing at home.  Sungold is a prolific cherry, with a sweet and fruity flavor.  Cherokee Purple is a large heirloom with a rich tomato flavor and a deep red-purple color with green shoulders.  Both are great additions to the summer garden.

Now this recipe is super yummy.  I will definitely be making this one when I want something warm and spicy this winter.  It will be great with chapati bread, and a yogurt/cucumber salad.

Chole (Curried Chick Peas)

Serves 6

 2 cups                    cooked chick peas, canned or soaked and simmered

4 Tbsp                    oil or butter

½                             red onion, minced

2 cups                    tomato, peeled, seeded, chopped or canned diced

1 clove   garlic, smashed, peeled and minced

2 tsp                       ginger, peeled and minced

2 fresh                   green chilies, chopped and minced

1                              bay leaf

½ tsp                      cayenne

¼ tsp                      tumeric

½ tsp                      cumin, ground

2 tsp                       garam masala

2 tsp                       amchoor powder

2 Tbsp                    cilantro leaves, chopped

TT                           salt, pepper and cayenne pepper

1                              lime, cut into 6 wedges for garnish

 Heat butter or oil in wok or heavy pan. Add chili and onions. Fry until golden. Add ginger and garlic, cook until fragrant.  Add tomatoes. Let reduce about 15 minutes. Add spices except for cilantro. Cook for another 5 minutes.  Add chick peas. Simmer. Reduced until fairly dry or add water/stock and serve soup.

 Serve with rice or whole wheat tortilla. Garnish with cilantro and limes

Aren’t we having some great tomato-ripening weather?!  I’m hopeful we can get them all ripe before winter arrives – the race is on.  And just a reminder: if your tomatoes look as thick with foliage as this one pictured, you really need to grab your clippers and start trimming away some of those leaves – you should be able to see some daylight through the plant.  The tomato plant doesn’t need all these leaves now, and you really need to expose the green tomatoes to light and air.  Trust me; it seems like a totally brutal thing to do, to cut off so much of the foliage, but you will be rewarded if you do!

I promised you a recipe a day until we covered them all from this week’s Tomato Festival.  This Arugula Pesto Couscous and Sundried Tomatoes was really yummy.  Very garlicy.  You could ad lib this recipe in lots of different ways; Chef Dan gave us permission to get creative!

Arugula Pesto Couscous and Sun-dried tomato

 Make pesto. Set aside.  Sauté tomatoes in olive oil.  Season. Cook Couscous. Lightly toss all components together. Serve immediately.

 Pesto:

 2 cups    arugula leaves    

3 cloves   garlic, minced                                     

1 Tbsp    fresh lemon juice                                               

1/4 cup   extra virgin olive oil                                            

1/2 tsp    salt                                                                         

1/2 tsp    freshly ground black pepper            

 1 cup      sun-dried tomatoes, drained, if in oil

2 Tbsp    olive oil

TT           salt and pepper

 Couscous:

 1 1/2 part liquid: 1 part grain

 Bring liquid (water, stock, etc) to a boil.  Add instant couscous, stir thoroughly, cover tightly, turn off heat.  Let stand covered for 10 minutes.  Fluff, season and serve or hold for service.

Chef Dan

For those of you who didn’t make it to our tomato festival, all I’ve got to say is, I’m sorry you missed all the great smells!  Chef Dan Brophy from the Oregon Culinary Institute cooked up some fantastic tomato recipes.  I’ll post one a day till we get all five out there to you. 

This creole sauce was very fragrant, and a little spicy with cayenne. 

Creole Sauce

Yield: 8 cups

2 cups                    onion, diced

2 cups                    celery, diced

2 cups                    bell pepper, red, green or mixed, diced

4                              garlic cloves, smashed, peeled, diced

¼ cup                     olive oil

2 quarts peeled, seeded, diced tomatoes (substitute canned, if necessary)

1 cup                      water

2                              bay leaves

1 teaspoon            fresh thyme leaves removed from stem

6 Tbsps  parsley, chopped

0-1 Tbsp                cayenne pepper

TT                           salt and black pepper

 Option:   1 Tbsp corn starch for thickening

 Saute onions, celery, peppers in olive oil. After they start to tenderize, add garlic and sauté for 2 minutes or so. Add tomatoes and water. Bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer. Add remaining herbs and spices. Everything except corn starch. Simmer for about 1 hour. Thicken, if desired.  Traditionally served with chicken, shrimp or fish.