Monday, July 16, 2012

Hartman Garden Update - July 16, 2012

It is tomato season!


I am so excited to be harvesting tomatoes... These are some of the heirloom beefsteaks. I feel like I've been watching these babies grow for ages, starting out as just seeds germinating under a light on a corner of my desk in the dark days of winter. I am so attached that it is almost difficult to eat them! But their deliciousness wins out in the end. I've been eating them raw but their true deliciousness came to life last night when I put them on top of a pesto pizza. Even Richie - who doesn't like "chunks" of tomatoes and made a face when he saw it - gave it a try and admitted that they tasted "ok." We might convert him to a tomato eater yet!



We also have a bumper crop of cherry tomatoes and are harvesting more than I can eat, so I decided to utilize my new canning skills to preserve some for the winter. This is another recipe from The Preservation Kitchen. Don't know how they taste yet, but they sure are pretty!

The only disappointment thus far has been the San Marzano tomatoes. I've been fighting blossom end rot with them and have only managed to salvage a couple small tomatoes so far. My research tells me that the cause could be any of several issues, including a lack of calcium in the soil and inconsistent watering. I've added egg shells to the container and put mulch on the soil to help keep the moisture level, but when the temperatures soar into the triple digits, it is hard to keep up sometimes.

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