We are in the thick of harvesting tomatoes and attending local Tomato Tasting with samples from the many varieties in our trial gardens. Last week we were at Monticello for their Annual Saturdays in the Garden Tomato Tasting.
They usually have the tomato tasting at the edge of the orchard near a row of fig trees laden with ripe fruit, but after a rainy ending to the tasting last year and many 100°F days recently the event was moved to the Woodland Pavilion. Surrounded by shade trees and comfortable chairs in a lovely room with natural light and air conditioning in reserve, I think I like the change. With 30+ participants and over 30 varieties of tomatoes the tasting is a low key version of the tasting at the Heritage Harvest Festival at Monticello, coming up on Sept. 15, 2012.
Here are some of the varieties we tasted and talked about last week at the Saturdays in the Garden at Monticello:
Varieties from our Southern Exposure Seed Exchange Trial Gardens:
Amys'
Apricot
Old
Virginia
Dwarf
Rosella Purple
Glacier
Matts'
Wild Cherry
Red
Cherry
Radiator
Charlies' Mortgage Lifter
Roma
Black
Cherry
Hungarian
Italian paste
Amish
Paste
Red
Pisa Date
Green
Zebra
More varieties from Southern Exposure:
Cherokee
Purple
Georgia
Streak
Yellow
Brandywine
Persimmon
White
Wonder
Paul
Robeson
Varieties from Monticello:
Purple
Calabash
Costoluto
Genovese
Large
Red
Black
Krim
Varieties from Ann Eddins, local tomato grower:
Estonian
Granny
Cantrell's German Red/Pink
Mortgage
Lifter Halladay's Strain
Rose
Mortgage
Lifter Bicolor
Dr. Lyle
Plus last minute additions from participants.
We
have another Tasting Scheduled for the Edible Orange Fest and our own on Farm
Tasting for local customers later this month. Of course we will have lots of
varieties for the Heritage Harvest Festival at Monticello and the
Mother Earth News Fair at Seven Springs in PA. What a great
way to share the taste of heirloom tomatoes.
When we aren’t busy picking, eating and preserving tomatoes, pepper, beans, eggplants, and more we are trying to keep the weeds under control and everything watered. I felt like it was all worth it when I went out to the partially shaded area where I maintain my seedling beds and start especially tricky fall crops like snap peas. How sweet it is! The snap peas have blossoms and are setting little peas. Our broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and other brassicas that were just little sprouts last month are sturdy little plants growing well and just waiting for cooler weather to really take off. If you haven’t started your cabbage family seedlings yet some should begin to appear in local garden centers and farmers markets soon.
The long string of 90-100°F days has cut down on how often we can have salad, but we do still have lettuce. As soon as the new planting are big enough for cut and come again we should be back to daily harvest.
We just prepared the area for our garlic planting and sowed it with a quick cover crop of buckwheat. In October, we’ll till under the buckwheat, add more compost, and wait a few weeks for everything to break down before planting the perennial alliums.
While we have yet to pick our first ripe tomato that we planted in the greenhouse, we are getting ready to harvest our garlic in the next week. A couple weeks ago, we pulled a few garlic plants, just to enjoy some of this years harvest. Your tomatoes look fantastic and I'll bet they taste fantastic too.