Autumn Toms

I'm not sure why, but my tomato plants have proven to be more prolific in autumn than they were over the summer months. They were most productive just before I had to leave town for a week in July, so my co-workers enjoyed that produce.

Until things get too cold, looks like I'll be harvesting. Some of my Cherokee purples may turn soon as well. 

The My Garden Sandwich

Temperatures have been unseasonably warm which--along with a late planting of cucumbers--has kept my garden going longer than I expected.

I've been enjoying a veggie-heavy sandwich enhanced with available ingredients, and I've been pretty pleased with the flavor.

On a sub roll, I've been using:

• Cucumber slices
  
• Orange bell pepper (though I will soon use red because that's what's just ripened)
• Clippings from Territorial Seed Company's Micro Greens salad assortment (slightly cooler temps seem to have killed whatever was eating them)
• Tomato (from my grocer's produce section, the tomato plants gave out already)
• Veggie cheese, American or Swiss (ditto-grocer. I don't know how to make it.)
• Vegenaise® - from the health food store and very, very good.
  
• Sliced turkey

I have done the sandwich without the meat and found it to be just fine as well.

I hope it's healthier than average, and it does have the spiritual benefit of being grown as the result of my own effort.

Alternating Green

I believe I can dub our spring/summer garden a modest success. The production was moderate, but anything it lacked in quantity was compensated by the spiritual enrichment.

Brandywine tomatoes proved to be the largest but our plants didn't produce that many. The Cherokee purples were the most interesting and the Mexican Midget cherry tomatoes the most plentiful and the tastiest. Peppers were a mixed bag also, with some hot peppers proving the most prolific. We grew enough red and orange bell peppers for a few rounds of fajitas without requiring supplements from the grocer.


It's the spirit that counts
Given the spiritual benefit, we've decided, especially since it's hot for most of the Texas autumn that we'd try a winter garden, and I use the term winter loosely.

Seeds for this round are coming from the Territorial Seed Company, another provider of heirloom seeds and more.

The Micromix
I've sunk a few radishes and otherwise mostly varieties of greens including kale and a micromix (pictured) that should sprout ready for clipping, washing and salad preparation in a couple more weeks.

I think my results in our square foot garden will remain only supplemental to our diet, though we're hopeful to sprout enough kale for a soup Christine wants to make soon, and it all may save the cost of a few bags of Dole romaine mixes.

It continues to feel good to get back to the land.

Produce Yet Green

Our purple tomatoes to be are finally showing a bit of color. They've been green enough for frying for what seems weeks now, and it's difficult not to be impatient.

As a temporary fix we bought some of the heirloom Cherokee variety at a farmer's market on Saturday from a guy and girl who looked pretty counter culture. Pleasure doing business local. It's a Green thing.

That prompted me to wonder if my square box garden and my back-to-the-land effort make me seem more hippie-esque or just more like my dad.

He didn't know about things like "local" and "Green" with a capital G. He just liked tomatoes, and he liked making me work in his garden.

I hated it. It was one more source he had for giving me things to do.

Now it feels a little more back to the land, which I guess is why any pseudo-suit with a bohemian streak tills the land, or the compost in his square box at least.

Maybe the Old Man was on to something. He just had a Dick Cheney way of expressing it.

Snow Day

We were getting groceries yesterday when the blizzard started, a snow shower that blotted out the sun.

I'd seen clips from Georgia on CNN before leaving but did not expect I'd be travelling through the artic to get home.

It was a pretty sight even though we knew it would not stick, and fortunately I'd covered our tomato and pepper plants Friday night in anticipation of cold though not snowy weather for the weekend.

I rigged up some spikes made of old coat hangers and old sheets that we usually fold into padding for the aging wooden chair the cats trade off sleeping in.

The sun is climbing high enough now that it should be safe shortly to remove the covering and see how the plants weathered.

Yep, being a farmer gives you a whole new respect for the weather man.

Back to the Land

I don't know that I have anything profoud that I've gleaned, but Christine and I worked on our square foot garden quite a bit over the weekend.

That involved assembling the boxes, interlocking cedar planks with old-fashioned pegs that hold them in place. I felt a little like an Anabaptist putting those into place. I just needed one of those black, wide-brimmed hats like Harrison Ford wore in Witness.

Once those were ready we put up some metal arches from which we will string netting for tomato plants to climb. Alleviates the need for staking. I'm sure it's better in some way and has been discussed extensively on PBS.

Next came the mixing of the various kinds of compost with vermiculite. I wasn't really sure what vermiculite was before this project, but it's basically those little white, nearly weightless pellets that're always mixed in with potting soil. It's considered a mineral and I think it is basically a soil conditioner. I don't know what that means but I read it somewhere.

You have to wear a mask when you're initially dealing with it so you don't inhale any dust. I don't like things that require me to wear a mask. Some people are scared of snakes.

I once did a newspaper series on asbestos. I'm scared of particulates.

I felt distinctly more industrial than "back to the land" during that portion of the endeavor.

After we had the vermiculite mixed in and dampened, I allowed myself to inhale again.

And it was time to shovel the mix into the cedar plant boxes.

I pretended I was Van Helsing unearthing one of the brides of Dracula. Made it more interesting.

Finally it was all done and I draped a tarp over the effort lest Oliver Littlechap our indoor/outdoor kitty think I'd constructed two new litter boxes for his convenience. So far he's taken little interest. I've decided to take that as a good omen.

We gardeners are big into things like omens. And almanacs. Must remember to get an almanac.

The plants arrive from the antiquarian plant dealers in about a week.

Purple tomatos will be here before you know it.