i have seven cherry romas. but the hot, dry spell we've been having seems to put have put all the other plants (and the remaining fruit on the cherry roma plant) into stasis. the two yellow pear plants are trying to take over the world, and are laden with unripe fruit. the two black krims have seven large fruit each. even the black cherry has begun to bloom and set fruit. now if more of these fruit would just ripen. unfortunately, i'm not going to be able to stare at them (a crucial part of cultivation) for the next couple of days as i will be in boulder till saturday. it's also going to be in the 90s here while i'm gone, so i doubt anything will ripen in my absence. next week is supposed to be between the low 60s and the low 80s every day, so i'm hoping i might have a lot of tomatoes to eat in another 10 days.

Here's a little update with some photos I took last night. There seem to be a lot of gaps with beans that just didn't get it together. It could be the weather, the altitude, number of daylight hours or bad seed. But certain beans really do better in particular circumstances.

I realize this is kind of boring but you have no idea how much this tickles me.















The red amaranth are volunteers that left so the beans can climb on them if they like.
The sunflowers are in front of corn from Chiapas.

Oh, the amaranth is beautiful! So are the sunflowers.

But not the beans?
See! I knew you weren't real bean people!

Well of COURSE the beans! That goes without saying.

This morning I discovered about 8 healthy, producing plants that had been ripped up by the f*cking dogs. I hate them!

I have a new spot I'd like to plant beans in but it's slightly windy and I have trouble growing anything there except Santa Barbara daisies because the gophers have catacombed it. My mimosa tree has really struggled there, yet the one halfway up the block is gorgeous. What are the natural pestilences for beans? Surround the tiny plot with rosemary?

It's too late this year and you really need to solve your gopher problem, I would think, or nothing much can happen.

Gopher stew recipe

Not so much in the garden as in the utility room:

Our Aji Brazilian mini bonnet chilli



and in close up:


Each of the branches are loaded like that.

What is this? How old? When planted?

Who are you all of a sudden, Granny Clampett?

About 2 weeks ago:

my haul so far: a bunch of cherry romas, and two black cherries



i hope to have more black cherries and some yellow pears ripening soon.

These beetle traps really work. Yuk!

That's like the finish on a beloved '68 Camaro. Gorgeous.

Mongo: that's a beautiful photo.

Here's one of Coustralee tomatoes that planted again this year. I call them the Sophia Loren of tomatoes. With Logan's head for scale: he's a big four-and-a-half.



We have been eating zucchini-corn fritters now, topped with a tomato slice and a fried egg: breakfast or dinner, it doesn't matter.

Glorious!

Dr. Jones, if you're getting tomatoes as gorgeous as this, I'm sure you're not doing anything wrong by them. Just need to wait on the weather.

More green tomatoes spotted this morning!

Cucumbers run amok!

thanks for the vote of confidence. i just wish more of the bastards would ripen. the red cherry plant is the only one that has its assembly line working.

We just ate our second Paul Robeson tomato, and it went to the top of the chart in about two bites.

The BEST tomato I've had, maybe ever. Mora: can I send you some seeds?

How big a tomato is it? I've stopped growing anything bigger than medium/small. The season just isn't long enough to do them justice.

Dr. J., you realize that the smaller tomatoes start to produce and ripen first? The bigger ones will come, be patient.

Robeson Tomato

Well, I'll weigh the next one that comes. I guess it's on the larger side of medium. You might like the Jaune Flammés, if you want smaller. Incredible and intense flavor.

so many pages into the idiot's guide and no one told me this?

by the way, i have photographed my tomato patch as well. be prepared to have your paltry garden put to shame before the evening is out.

No...really?

Well there are idiots, and then there are idiots.

Geeg, I think I love you,
Today, I took the hoe to the weeds in my parents' garden. Dang, if it isn't fun to bring out the hoe. I was rewarded with a heavy pint of pesto and dinner of tomatoes, and some lovely anticipation for the Brandywines.

Mine doesn't look like that: it's redder and fluted. But yes, a keeper!

Liza, you got to beat dem hoes after you bring them out. Haven't you seen Superfly or Dolemite?

Doesn't sound like a Jaune Flammée.

ETA...Liza: Hoe!

It came from my friend Cynthia Sandberg at Love Apple Farm. It's possible it was mislabeled: we got a zucchini that was labeled wrongly in a huge haul of seedlings. But we've also had some odd behaviors in our tomatoes, which she told me are not that uncommon.

I didn't know that simplest thing you posted: that larger tomatoes take longer to come in.

I need to ask her about that 'mater. I mapped our garden, and I'm pretty sure that's the one, but maybe not.

Now I'm eager to find another hottie tomato for you. Thanks for all the help, GG.

I've never heard of a fluted Jaune Flamee (Yellow Flame). Mine always were reddish in the middle and bright orange on the outside like the pics GG showed. I don't grow it anymore because my family like sweeter tomatoes.

Really fluted reds that are tart and taste good in sauce could be one those Italian tomatoes, like Costoluto Genovese or Costoluto Fiorentino. That would be my first guess since those are pretty popular.

I really like Love Apple Farm. They have some good varieties.

"They" = Cynthia. Sandberg.

Like I said, maybe my seedling was mis-labeled.

I know the Costoluto kinds. This just might be something else. Thank you for your input, Jschyun!

Alright, I'll shut up now. I guess I have no idea what to do with myself now, what with this strange sensation of having time to waste.

Wow, always seemed to me that Love Apple Farms had to be more than one person. Kudos to her then.

We got tons of green tomatoes but nothing is ripening yet. This is frustrating.

It may be an issue of sunlight and ground warmth.

My next door neighbor has tomatoes alongside his house, and in two places in his back yard. The tomatoes alongside his house get the longest duration of direct sunlight daily, and are mostly light red to full red. The tomatoes by his barn get less sunlight, and are mostly green, with a few reds.

In his case, it works out nicely because it spreads the picking season over several weeks.

And here's the latest from today's Wall Street Journal about a Princeton graduate, Tim Stark. "After a short stint teaching English literature . . .was a financial analyst and later a community liaison . . . His second act career was born one day while walking home . . . discovered a dumpster full of discarded wood . . turned the scrap into a germination rack for some heirloom tomato seedlings . . .decided to try selling them at the Union Square Greenmarket in NYC . . . sells to buyers from over 50 restaurants including Danielle and Babbo." Watchit, Mongo. It all starts with English literature.

These guys are in full direct sunlight, but arguably we planted in late may.

Today, for the first time this season, I was able to walk out to the garden and pick a ripe tomato for my lunch.

I love that feeling.

Mind you, I then forgot to eat it, but it felt good anyway!

Nothing even remotely colored yet, but there are, finally, quite a few green tomatoes formed...

Up to my armpits in greens. Got lots of nice chiles too. Tons of herbs, basil, etc. Bull nothing ripe in the tomato department.

My guess is that in a week or two we are going to be overwhelmed with ripe tomatoes.

a bunch of my yellow pears have ripened. and one of the black krims has decided to join the party!

Congratulations.

My cherry tomatoes are finally starting to color up en masse (there've been a few samplers over the past two weeks). And two of the smallest of the Jaune Flammées are coloring up.

The eggplants had stopped flowering on account of the rain & lack of sunshine, but I just checked and they're starting to go at it again. Oddly, the poblano peppers seem to be happier than I've ever seen them over the years. Seems cool, rainy weather is what they want for flowering and setting fruit. Who could imagine? Now they'll want warm sunshine for growth. Little fuckers.

My peppers also all of a sudden are having a growth spurt, after all that rain.

I picked a tomato I thought was ripe, but wasn't. (I thought it was a ripe green.)

So I fried it up in the pan, and slopped into a grilled cheese sandwich, and that was one of the better mistakes I've made in a long time.

We've got padróns coming on, and the very first of the Litchi Tomatoes from Love Apple Farm are turning red. Little buggers are covered in thorns, even on the hull, and really hard to pick.