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I am enjoying the first garden of my life....and I can say its been a real experience. I've harvested over 100 large tomatoes out of it, and tons of green beans, cherry tomatoes, yellow pear tomatoes, orange pepper, fresno pepper, onions, basil and eggplant.


Tomatoes...


Seriously I'm amazed what is coming out of my garden....I'm giving them away, stewing them and freezing, today is salsa day.

What other methods/recipes/styles (besides canning) can I preserve my tomatoes?


Currently I'm cooking them with onions, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper then freezing.

I just harvested about 45 Roma tomatoes. Roasted them with garlic and basil and olive oil, S&P and some pepper flakes. Great over pasta and they freeze really well after being roasted.

Next up anaheim chilies and some cantaloupe, can't wait.

I've had cherry tomatoes, basil, parsley, and a bunch of other herbs all season, and way too many cucumbers!

Apples are starting to get some color as well.

I'm having a hell of a time with my garden. I keep planting RJ chat room twinks and nothing seems to be growing accept a tendency for stray dogs to dig up the stinkier pieces and roll in them.

Gazpacho freezes like a champ.

You might want to reconsider canning. You don't need a pressure cooker for tomatoes since they are high in acidity so it is relatively easy.

We make our own "sun" dried tomatoes using a dehydrator. Dehydrating concentrates the sugars and flavors and are sooo great to pull out and use in the middle of winter.

GuerrillaSodomite saidI'm having a hell of a time with my garden. I keep planting RJ chat room twinks and nothing seems to be growing accept a tendency for stray dogs to dig up the stinkier pieces and roll in them.

have you considered pickling?

maybe you're not fertilizing with enough Schmirnoff Ice and A&F.

Timberoo said

GuerrillaSodomite saidI'm having a hell of a time with my garden. I keep planting RJ chat room twinks and nothing seems to be growing accept a tendency for stray dogs to dig up the stinkier pieces and roll in them.

have you considered pickling?

maybe you're not fertilizing with enough Schmirnoff Ice and A&F.

I've been fertilizing regularly with Abercrombie, Hollister, H&M and generous amounts of surly teen angst, but to no avail.

camfer saidWe make our own "sun" dried tomatoes using a dehydrator. Dehydrating concentrates the sugars and flavors and are sooo great to pull out and use in the middle of winter.

OMG sun dried tomato bruschetta is da bom. You don't have to serve it on bread, I add bow tie pasta with sun dried bruschetta and viola, people actually think I worked hard on making dinner.

GuerrillaSodomite said

Timberoo said

GuerrillaSodomite saidI'm having a hell of a time with my garden. I keep planting RJ chat room twinks and nothing seems to be growing accept a tendency for stray dogs to dig up the stinkier pieces and roll in them.

have you considered pickling?

maybe you're not fertilizing with enough Schmirnoff Ice and A&F.

I've been fertilizing regularly with Abercrombie, Hollister, H&M and generous amounts of surly teen angst, but to no avail.

I'd stop trying to get them to grow and just make jerky.

Timberoo said

GuerrillaSodomite said

Timberoo said

GuerrillaSodomite saidI'm having a hell of a time with my garden. I keep planting RJ chat room twinks and nothing seems to be growing accept a tendency for stray dogs to dig up the stinkier pieces and roll in them.

have you considered pickling?

maybe you're not fertilizing with enough Schmirnoff Ice and A&F.

I've been fertilizing regularly with Abercrombie, Hollister, H&M and generous amounts of surly teen angst, but to no avail.

I'd stop trying to get them to grow and just make jerky.

Or maybe your idea of pickling. Though I think that an appletini is the brine of choice.

GuerrillaSodomite said

Timberoo said

GuerrillaSodomite said

Timberoo said

GuerrillaSodomite saidI'm having a hell of a time with my garden. I keep planting RJ chat room twinks and nothing seems to be growing accept a tendency for stray dogs to dig up the stinkier pieces and roll in them.

have you considered pickling?

maybe you're not fertilizing with enough Schmirnoff Ice and A&F.

I've been fertilizing regularly with Abercrombie, Hollister, H&M and generous amounts of surly teen angst, but to no avail.

I'd stop trying to get them to grow and just make jerky.

Or maybe your idea of pickling. Though I think that an appletini is the brine of choice.

you know what you can use for a cocktail onion...

For now, I'll spare us both my typing out all of these recipes. But if any of these (which are from England) look interesting let me know and I'll send the recipes:

1) Autumn Chutney (great with curries or with sharp cheeses)

2) Fine Cut Green Tomato Marmalade (gingery and nice on bread)

3) Rosy Tomato Jam (excellent on grilled cheese sandwiches)

4) Tomato and Lemon Shred (also gingery - good on toast)

5) Tomato Relish (a little spicy - great with cold meats and sharp cheeses)

They're all easy to make and keep forever.

My Grandmother's cherry tomatoes have been doing EXTREMELY well. I eat about a cup or two a day!

My neighbor's garden when I was a kid yielded hundreds and hundreds of tomatoes every summer. She'd come over with several bushel baskets and my mother made tomato jam.

It was nauseating.

I have about 300 linear feet of flower borders. I didn't grow any vegetables this year, but my yard was on the local horticultural society's annual garden tour.

So far I haven't been pulling anything out of my garden. I really need to get a composter for when I do clean up. I've been dragging my feet on that front.

I was hoping to have enough tobacco to make my own snus. However, I made a couple of mistakes early on, but also planted too late, due to ordering seeds too late. Fortunately, I didn't plant ALL of my seeds, so still have 16 species of seed left for the 2010 season, which include two virginias, a couple of marylands, a low nic variety, with the rest being exotic orientals (perique, balikesir, celikhan, bafra, basma, bursa, izmir-osbas, samsun, etc.) I'm not sure if I will EVER plant the rustica, given it's strength. I haven't touched the plants in the ground as of yet, and will most likely trash them, due to lack of maturity.

Green Tomato Chutney; yummy yummy.

I being down South in Oz, am now in Spring, and all my fruit trees, have finished their blossom, so I'll have pears, apples, plums, oranges this year. I have room for two more fruit trees in my kitchen garden, but what to plant?

GuerrillaSodomite saidI'm having a hell of a time with my garden. I keep planting RJ chat room twinks and nothing seems to be growing accept a tendency for stray dogs to dig up the stinkier pieces and roll in them.

Well pickle me Grandmother.

Pattison saidGreen Tomato Chutney; yummy yummy.

I being down South in Oz, am now in Spring, and all my fruit trees, have finished their blossom, so I'll have pears, apples, plums, oranges this year. I have room for two more fruit trees in my kitchen garden, but what to plant?

Figs of course! I miss my fig and lemon trees.

Timberoo said

GuerrillaSodomite said

Timberoo said

GuerrillaSodomite saidI'm having a hell of a time with my garden. I keep planting RJ chat room twinks and nothing seems to be growing accept a tendency for stray dogs to dig up the stinkier pieces and roll in them.

have you considered pickling?

maybe you're not fertilizing with enough Schmirnoff Ice and A&F.

I've been fertilizing regularly with Abercrombie, Hollister, H&M and generous amounts of surly teen angst, but to no avail.

I'd stop trying to get them to grow and just make jerky.

whatever you do, don't polish them

RST2009 said

Pattison saidGreen Tomato Chutney; yummy yummy.

I being down South in Oz, am now in Spring, and all my fruit trees, have finished their blossom, so I'll have pears, apples, plums, oranges this year. I have room for two more fruit trees in my kitchen garden, but what to plant?

Figs of course! I miss my fig and lemon trees.

In fact one of my neighbors are mad about figs too, and has a number of them, even some hanging over me back fence; and I do eat them.

Have a lemon tree, the party tree, it's where they guys go, when I have a party. So I won't something I don't have. I may do a persimmon, and something ells.

Pattison saidGreen Tomato Chutney; yummy yummy.

I being down South in Oz, am now in Spring, and all my fruit trees, have finished their blossom, so I'll have pears, apples, plums, oranges this year. I have room for two more fruit trees in my kitchen garden, but what to plant?

Do you know what varieties of apples you have? It would have to have a very low chilling requirement to produce in the same climate as an orange. Curious to know what's working for you there,

Some other fruit trees to consider: kaffir lime for the leaves which are used in thai cooking, satsuma mandarin orange, pomegranate.

GuerrillaSodomite saidI'm having a hell of a time with my garden. I keep planting RJ chat room twinks and nothing seems to be growing accept a tendency for stray dogs to dig up the stinkier pieces and roll in them.

Hmm. which fertilizer are you using there GS? It might be time to switch.

Does anyone here have experience growing tobacco? I thought I would have to trash my plants, due to lack of maturity from planting too late. However, they are putting out flower buds, which means they are reaching maturity. Should I cut the flower buds off? Is it time to harvest the leaves? With the Virginia Gold, I had understood one waits for the leaves to fall off the plant and then collects them. Is it too late and too cool in the season to do that? Or should I cut the leaves from the plants and hang them to cure?

Freezing is so easy...stream them for a few minutes and then throw them in a zip lock bag.

I don't believe it would be possible to freeze them. I am going to make snus out of them, which requires 90 days of air-curing prior to pasteurization, so they must be hung to dry. I just don't know how to tell when the leaves have hit maturity. The leaves are HUGE, so should be either at maturity or right before maturity. If I had planted on time, the leaves should have fallen off the plants, from the bottom up, as they yellowed, at least as far as the Virginia Gold. As far as the Turkish, I've not a clue. I don't even remember which species of Turkish it is, although it might be either Basma or Bafra.

Never mind. I found it:

"Harvest the leaves as they ripen unless you expect frost then harvest all the leaves at once because the frost can damage them." http://www.howtogrowtobacco.com/

It's supposed to be 36 F tonight. I am harvesting!

My shoe is a size 12, which should provide some perspective of the actual size of the leaves of Virginia Gold tobacco;

I have a garden plot in downtown Vancouver. I just harvested some eggplant and made a beautiful eggplant parmesan. I also had some fairly sizable cucumbers, tomatoes, squash, lettuce, swiss chard, etcetera, that made for some great salads.

Next year I'll be cultivating uncomfortable tension as my ex-boyfriend owns the plot next to mine (its how we met). Needless to say, he'll have to be on the lookout for his rosemary bush