It's an annual event - the season starts in January with planning...then planting, observing, transplanting...then into the garden, lots of maintenance, watering and feeding and troubleshooting....then the harvest and the madness of picking, seed saving, preserving, tasting, processing (and eating of course) - and finally the demise of the tomatoes, ravaged by the heat, disease and critters. And it always seems to happen a week or two after Tomatopalooza.
Over the last week I've pulled most of my tomato plants - there are maybe 20-30 remaining, including the extremely valuable and fought-after Sungolds! But it's not all bad news, because now the eggplant and hot and sweet peppers get to shine. There is now space to allow the remaining plants to spread out and stretch a bit. And that's what I am up to - rearranging things, then ensuring everything is well fed and ready to continue pumping out the produce for the coming few months. And there is still squash, cukes and beans - and soon, melons.
Tonight Sue will accompany me to another Zely and Ritz tomato dinner (it was to be the last, but I just noted they added one for next week....I am not sure if we can attend). So we will treat tonight like it is the last, enjoy the wonderful food, and share tomato stories with our fellow diners. What fun!
What's ahead? I've got a load of pepper and eggplant seed saving to do, will be digging into the book project once the contract arrives, heading to Decorah for the tomato tasting on September 1. And - already thinking about next year, the Dwarf project, what to continue and what to stop growing. If gardening has a season, that season seems to have 12 months around here!
Over the last week I've pulled most of my tomato plants - there are maybe 20-30 remaining, including the extremely valuable and fought-after Sungolds! But it's not all bad news, because now the eggplant and hot and sweet peppers get to shine. There is now space to allow the remaining plants to spread out and stretch a bit. And that's what I am up to - rearranging things, then ensuring everything is well fed and ready to continue pumping out the produce for the coming few months. And there is still squash, cukes and beans - and soon, melons.
Tonight Sue will accompany me to another Zely and Ritz tomato dinner (it was to be the last, but I just noted they added one for next week....I am not sure if we can attend). So we will treat tonight like it is the last, enjoy the wonderful food, and share tomato stories with our fellow diners. What fun!
What's ahead? I've got a load of pepper and eggplant seed saving to do, will be digging into the book project once the contract arrives, heading to Decorah for the tomato tasting on September 1. And - already thinking about next year, the Dwarf project, what to continue and what to stop growing. If gardening has a season, that season seems to have 12 months around here!
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