First garden pickings

Going through a cold spell at the moment, but in last week I've picked two small hot chillis from the one remaining 'Prairie Fire' plant that survived winter on the kitchen windowsill, plus 9 radishes from a pack of seeds I bought in a street market in Blaye, Bordeaux last month. The name 'Radis de 18 Jours' implies, I think, they take 18 days to grow but these took four weeks to get to this size.

Good texture and taste.

french-18-day-radish.JPG

Pretty! Got any 18-day pumpkins?

[Jenise]

Radishes of that general look are called lipstick radishes here, I think. But no matter, beautiful produce! You're waaaaay ahead of my area.

Those look like the French Breakfast radishes I grow. They look lovely! I started a new job in March, so my garden is a bit behind schedule, but I'm expecting our first radishes in a week or so.

Like a clock built under the asparagus bed, each year on May 1 they begin to show up--they began yesterday.

We now have one month of non-stop daily asparagus in front of us. The neighbors are waiting...

Garlic is already about 8 inches tall.

Figs are as big as peas.

The cycle is in motion.

And yes, those radishes look great!

I have pale pink flowers on my apple tree. That's about as far as edible gardening goes around here.

Nice crop, Peter.
We've been picking spinach that wintered over all Spring. Garlic is going bonkers. The lettuce, swiss chard, kale, bok choy are up and should thrive in the 80 degree weather forecast for the next 10 days. Planted a bunch of beans earlier today. Tomorrow I will plant the tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant. These were all started from seed, but for some reason they haven't flourished in my artificial environment. They're still small, but after several; days of hardening off, I've decided they will be better off in the ground,

Picked my first tomatoes this week, two Sungold on Monday and these yesterday 17 July

toms-first-150717.png

From left to right-
Angelle (3)
Gold Nugget (3)
Tumbing Tom (4)
Sungold (4)

All cherry size, all grown from commercial seed, except Angelle saved from a supermarket tom..

Tumbing Tom is a bush tom, grown in hanging basket, Gold Nugget bush in a pot, rest are cordons in grow bags.

Otheres growing yet to turn colour are
Millefleur
Choc Cherry
Henry's Dwarf

Also picked, first of two Dwarf French Beans, yellow and green podded.

Beans-first-150117.png

Thanks for the pics. Incidentally we've been eating sungolds for two weeks!

[Jenise]

In the last week I picked three Early Girls, one full-sized yellow tom, and a bowl of super sweet grape tomatoes. Also, tried one of my black tomatoes (because: how will I know when they're ripe?) but it wasn't even close.

I saw the most gorgeous shiny completly black tomato growing at the RHS Wisley* gardens a couple of weeks ago and made a nore to grwo it next year. Variety is Indigo Rose**.

If you're growing that one the test of ripeness is that the very base of it turns red, according to stuff on web.

* www.rhs.org.uk/gardens/wisley
** http://extension.oregonstate.edu/garden ... ndigo-rose

[Jenise]

Had to pull one of my tomato plants yesterday--excessive blossom rot. It's one of three tomatoes, all different, in the same bin, but the only one affected. DAMN. I even bought bone meal to amend the soil with (would have prevented this) but never got it mixed in. My own fault.

Unintended side benefit: four quarts of Rogov's pickled green tomatoes.

Unintended side benefit: four quarts of Rogov's pickled green tomatoes.

Or maybe better yet - fried green tomatoes!

[Jenise]

I love fried green tomatoes! But I love--and need--pickled green tomatoes even more. And if the raccoons keep ravaging my tomato garden, there will be more green tomatoes.

Well, I hope that's not the case, Jenise. But if it does happen, at least some very delicious good will come out of it! Can you share the recipe you have for pickled green tomatoes?

[Jenise]

Joy, I make mine this way:

Put clean jars in the oven at 225 for at least 15 minutes to sterilize. Wash and halve tomatoes. Prepare about four cloves of garlic per jar--peel, and cut in half if large. Put one of the larger tomato pieces on the bottom of the jar, cut side down. Throw in a garlic clove. Then start layering in more tomatoes, cut side down, sliding in more garlic as you go, until each jar is full. To each jar then add one heaping tablespoon of kosher salt and 1/4 cup white wine vinegar. Optionally, add a dried red chile. I always put one or two in a couple of the jars, just so that they vary. Top with water and cover loosely. Leave on the counter until a few bubbles form and indicate that fermentation has begun, about 48 hours. Then cover tightly with new jar lids. Boil about two inches of water in a wide sauce pan and insert jars, and add jars upside down until the vacuum seals it, about one minute. Refrigerate. Pickled tomatoes will be ready in about a month and will deepen in flavor over the next year or so, if you can keep your hands off of them.

This method has been arrived at over time because I didn't want to actually cook the tomatoes but wanted to keep them as crisp as possible. (I have the same issue with pickled cucumbers. I never 'cook' them either.) Fortunately, I have a garage fridge where I can keep these things indefinitely.