New Tomato Varieties

We are so excited about growing so many new tomatoes this season! Here is just a sneak peek at some of our new varieties for 2010:

Chocolate Stripes: Dark red, almost brown color with striking green-gold stripes, this Chocolate Stripes tomato is robust in flavor, with sweet notes and complex undertones. The whole tomato is a beauty too--a medium-large globe that is a dark, chocolaty red with green stripes. A big winner at Tomato Fest last year for flavor and beauty. Not only are they beautiful to look at, but the plant has some disease resistance, is a huge producer and fruit has perfect texture. Definitely has the sweetness of a black. Perfect balance of meatiness and juicyness.




Green Grape:
This old-fashioned tomato is an heirloom originally developed by the Tater Mater Seed Co. from crossing the Yellow Pear with Evergreen. The distinctive 1”, yellowish green fruits are borne in clusters of 6-12 that resemble large muscat grapes. Fruit has a translucent pale-green on the inside. This variety has become popular in restaurants and markets because of their unique attractiveness and great punch of flavor. Excellent mixed with other cherry tomatoes such as Black Cherry and Sweet Million.






Vintage Wine:
One of the most beautiful tomatoes available today, Vintage Wine bears beefsteak-style fruits weighing up to 1.5 lbs. A recent introduction and is still rare in the tomato world. Fruits are brilliantly colored, with a bright red base and orange and yellow stripes. Pulp is thick, with a full tomato flavor









And a new pepper too!


Sweet Pickle Pepper:

Very compact plants are loaded with these beautiful upright peppers in colors of red, orange, yellow, and purple, all at the same time. Similar to the hot ornamental peppers, these Sweet Peppers are larger at about 2 inches long and chunky, making for a spectacularly colorful display. This fruit is very edible and sweet, especially when fully ripened to red. As the name suggests, would be beautiful pickled in clear glass jars

Canning again, my feet hurt, I smell like a tomato and my fingers are sore from peeling tomatoes. Our Romas and San Marzanos are prolific this year and the Opalkas are giant! The color red that they turn when canned is just beautiful and they call out for the tomato soup and spaghetti sauce in the winter. There is a great sense of accomplishment when the first jars start filling up my cupboard where I keep the seasons harvest in jars. Corn is in the freezer and onions are dried and ready to use all year long. Our Blueberries were a bumper crop and made the most amazing jam! There is nothing like it in any grocery store anywhere!

24 jars of pickles seems like a lot I know but we have a lot of folks around here for lunchtime in the spring and those pickles will all get eaten. Thank goodness watermelons don't need canning but all those apples all over the apple tree are going to make apple butter this year which cooks down in the slow cooker. We also have the prettiest french filet beans in yellow and green all packed into jars to enjoy for a long time.

Putting up is exhausting work, how did women survive doing this all summer long every year? I am afraid my family would have starved by the end of November. Living out in the country like we do, I can't just run to the store and get dinner every night so it is nice to have lots of great staples to choose from but I don't think we could live off of our own garden yet. We do have our own eggs and beef and we are lucky to trade for pork and sometimes chicken too.

Tomato Late Blight in the Northeast

Reports of Bonnie's Plants in the Northeast with Late Blight are in the news right now and I am sure many folks are worried about their tomato plants. This is an incredibly nasty disease that causes terrible looking lesions which start on the stems and move to the leaves.

Because of the distribution of plants all over the country by Bonnie's and others, and the fact that they don't know where it is coming from, Bonnie's greenhouses or at the stores, they are very concerned and have pulled plants off the shelves of several stores. This is akin to the situation with produce that is grown in factory farms, processed in very large scale and distributed all over the country. When there is an outbreak, it is almost impossible to control the spread.

If your plant shows signs of these particular lesions, they should be destroyed immediately, you will not be able to prevent the spread of the disease. Because the fungal spores travel airborne, it will move to your other plants and only get worse. If you don't have lesions like this, don't worry, you are probably just fine. We haven't had any reports of lesions on any of our plants and we don't have any reason to believe our plants have been contaminated since we don't sell in big box stores.

Fungicides can be used to prevent this disease and prevention is important if you live in areas where rainfall is extremely heavy for weeks at a time. This creates the perfect conditions for the spread of diseases.

Fall Vegetable Gardening! Yes, fall!

Here at The Tasteful Garden we are always one season ahead of you and believe it or not, we are getting ready for Fall. We have selected our varieties and are seeding now to have plants ready for shipping during August 17th-September 14th.

We have also updated our Fall Vegetable Gardening page to give you tips on when to plant, what to plant and what to do with the plants you have in now.

This gorgeous Swiss Chard "Rainbow" is just one of the many selections that are best grown during the cooler season. Others include Beets, Radishes, Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Cabbages, Kale, Radicchio, Spinach and Lettuces. So many varieties, so little time!

Harvesting Time

Well after not having time to think for so long I realized that it has been quite a while since I posted to this blog. I have been enjoying reading our other Tasteful Garden blogs and I hope you have too! I especially like Teresa's blog about the fairy visiting her garden and the compost blog from Jenny where at a party on her patio, the guests put their paper plates into her compost bin!

Here at The Tasteful Garden, we harvested onions this morning and the first tomatoes, a couple of San Marzano Redortas. The squashes are trying to get going and have lots of baby fruit but we are losing them to squash vine borers and hope to save one or two.

Sunflowers are about 36" high and the french filet beans are starting to bloom. Peppers are thriving and we are already almost tired of cucumbers, not quite but almost.

The cows got out again the other night, before we finished the electric wire on the fence, and ate every corn stalk we had. Oh well, the neighbors corn looks great so maybe a trade...

We are getting ready to do some construction around here to enlarge our packing room to double the size and we will be putting up yet another greenhouse to make room for more plants next year. We keep growing and growing!

Michelle Obama's Vegetable Garden!

Wow, that is just the coolest thing. We are so proud of Michelle and thrilled with the decision to plant a vegetable garden at the White House. Alice Waters and so many other wonderful gardening folks got this idea started many years ago and this year just became the perfect year for it. We are offering to donate tomato plants, we will keep you updated if that happens!

There is just nothing better for the American Family than the great example they are setting. Eating vegetables from your own yard, community garden, or farmer's market is all about good health, happy family activity, and respect for the planet too! Never mind that it is a great thing to share with your neighbors.

YEA!!!

Absolutely Gorgeous Tomato Plants!

Every year it is exciting to see the new crop of plants come to size but I can tell you that this year is the best ever. We have beautiful plants in our greenhouses and I just wish you could all walk through with me. That tomato plant smell is so strong and the plants are just growing by the minute!

We have a fantastic selection and we are so proud of our babies!

We will be adding future posts with diary entries about how some of our long time customers are doing with their growing season, from all over the country. If you want to add your Tasteful Garden diary, email us.

February is getting very springy

We have seen Forsythia in bloom and Daffodils are open, the first fruit trees are turning white and one Rhododendron flower has opened. Our camelias are in full bloom and some nice warm weather has been making it feel like spring is just around the corner! But the thing that most makes it spring around here is the greenhouses filling up with tomatoes, peppers and herbs! The first tomato plants of the season are about 4" tall and look gorgeous! We will begin our first shipment on March 2nd and from that point on it will be chaos around here.

When do I plant tomatoes in my area is one of the most commonly asked questions we get so here are some helpful tips and a map of expected average last frost dates for the US. Keep in mind that these are estimates so you should always be careful to watch out for late frosts that can do severe damage to young tomato plants. Also, using wall o' waters or season extending mini greenhouses can give you an earlier planting time and give a boost to your plants that will get you larger fruit than your neighbors!

The best time to plant is not the same for everyone. Each person has to decide at what point their garden is ready for certain types of herb and vegetable plants. Perennial Herbs can be planted just about anytime it is beginning to get warm but Annual herbs such as Basil and Dill need to wait until night temperatures are well above freezing every night. Tomatoes and other "warm season" vegetables are frost tender and will be severely damaged by even a light frost which can happen when temperatures are as low as 36-38 degrees. "Cool season" vegetables such as lettuce and broccoli like a bit of frost but a light freeze can cause damage and hard freezes will kill them completely.

Getting Ready for Spring

Wow, we really had a warm day today! Every time the weather gets warm and sunny during the wintertime it is a good day to work outdoors. I do think we can get depressed being stuck in the house so much so take advantage when a warm day comes along. Here are a couple suggestions for quick 1 day projects in the garden:

Build a raised bed
A simple box is easy to build with a few screws and a good drill. You can even get the boards cut for you at the lumber store. You can also use angle irons or special hardware for attaching corner boards to each other that will make your box strong and able to last for several years. (We also have special sturdy plastic hinge connectors in our catalog) Once your box is built, dig up the grass where you want to put it, rototill it a bit and add lots of good soil mix and compost. Use the stuff for outdoor planting beds, not regular potting soil for indoor use. That compost will work even on cold days to get the bed ready for planting once you are past your last frost date.

Start a compost heap
Compost is like gold in the garden and it is easy to get started. All you need is a place to put it, shaded and out of the way, some kind of support to hold it all together, (hay bales work great) and access to the hose. There are so many ways to build a compost container but you don't need anything expensive. Read more about composting here

Plan your garden
Spend some time thinking about where you will put your plants this year, how many of each you will need, what varieties to grow and when you want to plant. Drawing this out on paper, or on your computer is fun and keeps you organized so you will not end up with too much of one thing. Think about the sun exposure--don't shade out any lower growing vegetables. Then visit The Tasteful Garden for a fun shopping experience choosing all your fantastic flavored vegetables.

Black Swallowtail Larvae

Watch this caterpillar eat through the parsley leaves! Amazing.

New Videos from Garden Fork

New videos are now available from our Growing Tips page which include some from our friends at Garden Fork. They make the most creative videos which feature their two Golden Labrador Retriever puppies that run all over the place. New topics include Mulching and Composting Leaves, Tomato Hornworms, Using Wall-O-Waters, and Japanese Beetles. These videos are informative and are fun to watch. Check them out on our Growing Tips page.

Gardening in Wintertime

This time of year many of us are under a foot of snow and can't really do much in the garden but there are a few things we can all do. Composting is one of the easiest things to do this time of year since we eat so many vegetables and we also have lots of leaves around. Adding your leaves to a compost heap or basket, along with all those wonderful kitchen scraps, (don't forget the eggshells and coffee grounds), will make for yummy spring loamy compost for your garden.

On warmer winter days you can actually get outside and do cleanup chores in the garden. Getting rid of any weeds and basic clean up of dead plants is a good start. Also working on building raised beds and pathways is a great chore for wintertime. All that hard work is much easier to do while the weather is cool.

Sitting by the fire drawing garden plans is my favorite wintertime chore and planning how much to grow of everything is so much fun and makes me want to cook soup! Tomato bisque with a little rosemary and garlic foccacia.

Tomato Bisque is made with homemade marinara sauce, pureed and add 1 cup half and half, heat over low heat to a simmer until hot and steamy.

Here is my recipe for Marinara which we made last summer and froze several containers.

5-6 cups tomatoes, cored, diced and seeds removed if you prefer
2-3 cloves garlic
1 medium onion
fresh herbs, Basil, parsley, oregano or marjoram, chopped
salt and pepper to taste
Hot pepper flakes if you like heat

Add a little olive oil into a large skillet and add onion, cooking over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Then add garlic and herbs and cook another minute or so. Add tomatoes with their juices and cook for about 20 minutes until tomatoes are soft and turn from light pink to deep red.

Tomato Selections for our 2009 Season!

Choosing tomato varieties for you is what we do best. We sort through the pages and pages of information about every tomato we can find and try to determine which ones are going to grow the best, most importantly taste the best, and make all that work worthwhile. Our new selections every year are limited to only about 8 varieties as we only drop that many every season. We evaluate each variety for not just what sells best (although that is important) but if we have disappointing results consistently with a tomato variety, we will replace it with something new.

Many of our varieties are so popular that we will never drop them...here are just a few.

Cherokee Purple

The best tomato we have ever tasted! This tomato will convince you to grow Heirloom varieties. They are from the Tennessee Cherokee Indians, discovered over 100 years ago and have a thin skin and soft texture. When fully ripened they have dark reddish-purple color, full acidity and a rich, old fashioned, sweet flavor. Make sure to mulch for best results and hold back on the watering. Our best results were during an 8 week drought with minimal drip watering. 80 days

Orange Russian 117

This is truly a WOW tomato which was a standout in our tomato testing this year. It is a bicolor heart-shaped tomato with smooth golden flesh marbled on the inside with streaks of red. A cross between Russian 117 and Georgia Streak this 1 to 2 lb.yellow-orange tomato has a pink blush, is very meaty with flavor that is well balanced, somewhat fruity in flavor and has very few seeds. 85 days.

Persimmon

Fantastic, huge, golden orange variety with fruits that range from 1 to 2 lbs and 5" across! Rich color, meaty texture and good acid content make this a great selection which melts in your mouth. Has a wonderful fruity flavor and smooth flesh. 80 days

Green Zebra

One of our most popular tomatoes for its spectacular flavor, these beautiful small fruit start green with dark stripes and ripen to a yellow color keeping the green stripes. The amazing sweet and tart flavor makes this one great in Salsas and Salads. Plant early as it does not produce well in summer high temperatures 75 days

Pineapple

An old-fashioned, gorgeous, yellow heirloom with red-orange stripes, this plant will not produce a huge quantity of fruit but what you get is very sweet and extremely large, up to 2 lbs. Rich flavorful tomato that is the most amazing size and texture. These are great to eat sliced and have exceptional color and sweetness. 85-90 days

Box Car Willie

This old prolific heirloom variety is the best producer of red, smooth 10-16 oz. fruits. Don't be thrown by the name because you won't believe the incredible taste. Old fashioned flavor with high yields for an heirloom tomato is great variety for an all purpose kitchen tomato or delicious sliced on a sandwich! 80 days

Italian Sweet Beefsteak

Huge, luscious red beefsteak tomatoes on tall plants can grow up to 3 lb fruits! Potato leaf heirloom plants produce tomatoes with excellent sweet, juicy Italian flavor. 85 days

Rose de Berne

One of our very favorites! This is a delicious Swiss heirloom variety has beautiful quality, looks, and taste. They are pink skinned with deep rose colored flesh, round and uniform. Simply excellent flavor. Originally discovered in a market in Arles, France from a farmer growing a number of old tomato varieties. Very rich flavor, good acid and sweetness. 75 days

Brandywine

This is the most well known Heirloom variety for good reason. It has huge fruit with incredibly sweet flavor. It originates from the Amish in the late 1800's. It is always a staple in our garden because it is so reliable. Starts out pinkish, and turns slowly red, and then slightly purplish as it ripens. Very large vines, they can grow up to 12 feet if the soil is kept somewhat cool with mulches. Ripens in 80-90 days

Arkansas Traveler

Also known as "Traveler" this Southern Heirloom variety is known for producing well in hot weather. Beautiful dark Pink tomatoes are 6-8 oz. and very flavorful and sweet. They are always a reliable producer of large bountiful crops even during the heat of summer. Late season 85 days

San Marzano (Redorta) Heirloom

This is an authentic Italian heirloom tomato used all over Italy for canning. We chose a variety from Tuscany, named for a mountain in Bergamo. Huge plum type tomatoes grow to 4 1/2" long and 2" across. They have a meaty texture and full acidic flavor along with excellent sugar content for the best sauces. 80 days

Mortgage Lifter

One of our most popular tomatoes, this old fashioned variety of well-shaped, large fruit has very few seeds and a fantastic meaty interior texture. This one is extremely sweet and delicious in tomato sandwiches. Many are over 2 lbs! 85-90 days

Thanksgiving is coming soon!

Don't forget fresh herbs for Thanksgiving. Now is the time to stock up on Sage, Thyme, Oregano and Parsley for all those great recipes for the big meal of the year. Stuffing and dressing just can't be the same without fresh herbs. Roasting the turkey with herbs under the skin is a wonderful way to add flavor. We always brine our turkey and include Thyme, Oregano and Sage. Our turkey is always moist when we soak it in a salt brine solution the night before Thanksgiving. Our recipe also has honey for a golden color and sweetness.

Mamaw's dressing is always cornbread dressing with fresh sage and chicken stock (with the pieces of chicken cut up into it). Tradition is the best part of this wonderful food holiday.

Wow, now that is a purple tomato

Reuters – A purple tomato genetically engineered to contain nutrients more commonly seen in dark berries helped prevent cancer in mice, British researchers said on Sunday.

Well, we have always known that our beautiful heirloom tomatoes tasted better but this can prove that they are also healthier than eating store bought tomatoes too! Cherokee Purple, while not as purple as these, does have a very dark red flesh with purple crown and green gel inside. We are learning more about how colors of fresh foods make a world of difference as far as antioxidents and anthocyanins, like in these tomatoes which have the about the same amount as blackberries.

Video additions

Well, it seems that everyone is getting on the video bandwagon and so are we. We have added some new videos to show who we are, how to grow some of our plants and more importantly, how to cook with the fruits of your labor! We will add more of these as we can, let us know your feedback. Here is the latest addition.

Happenings here on the farm!

Our 2 young bull calves just got weaned and boy are they are hungry! With our dry weather, grass is growing slowly so needless to say, they have found their way through the fences and the mother cows just follow them right through. Unfortunately, they have decided that our fall planted lettuces were just what they wanted and they have eaten them down to the ground! Lucky we still have peas and beans going but we will really miss that lettuce. One of the calves we will trade, along with his mother, to a neighbor so that we can get a new cow to breed with our bull, Bruno. She is a Red Angus and we hope to have some really nice beef from her offspring.

Our chickens are what we call "yard birds" which is sort of like free-range, only more country. They love to get out and scratch for bugs and worms, especially after a rain. Because of their diet, they have yolks which are so dark yellow you wouldn't believe it. This means they are high in Omega 3 that they get from the grass and protein they get from the bugs. They have access to the entire yard and we will sometimes be sitting in the kitchen and hear one clucking nearby. We even had a few eggs hatch this year when the hens hid the eggs from us! Fresh Farm eggs just can't be beat and with over 40 chickens, we never have to be without them.

Fresh Potato Parsley soup with white beans and Basil

photo courtesy of: Kitchen Gardeners International

2 tbsp butter
2 leeks, cleaned well and chopped
2-3 celery stalks, chopped finely with leafy tops
1 quart chicken stock (homemade is best)
5-6 medium white potatoes, peeled (if skins are thin, you can leave the skins on for more fiber and a rustic texture) and cut into large bite-sized pieces
1 can white navy or cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 bunch or several stalks of fresh parsley
2-3 stems of fresh basil (or use a tsp of prepared pesto)
juice of 1/2 lemon
Salt & pepper and 1/2 cup cream or half and half (optional)
sour cream and chives to garnish

Remove parsley and basil leaves from stems, set leaves aside and tie stems together with kitchen string. Add butter to a Dutch oven and melt over medium heat. Add leeks and celery and cook for about 5 minutes until soft. Add bundle of herb stems, potatoes and chicken stock to Dutch oven and cook on medium heat until potatoes are fork tender, about 10 minutes boiling time.

Remove herb stem bundle. Chop parsley and basil leaves finely and add to simmering soup along with drained cannellini beans, lemon juice, and salt & pepper to taste. Simmer soup until beans are warmed through, about 6-10 minutes. Soup can be pureed at this stage for a smoother texture. Add in batches to a blender or use an immersion blender. Add 1/2 cup cream or half and half for a creamier, richer soup.

Serve with a dollop of sour cream and fresh snipped chives. This recipe would be great with a bruschetta of tomatoes, basil and garlic.

Fall Alliums!

Garlic, Onions, Leeks and Shallots can be ordered now and should be planted in early November in most areas. These fantastic bulbs are going fast so order now. We have French Red Shallots that are just huge! Music Garlic bulbs are also very large this year and taste fantastic. Grown by our own Chris Bennett in his garden here in Alabama. Onions and Leeks will be in stock and ready for shipment on October 17th. They are very easy to grow and perfect in the garden through the winter with harvesting from early spring through June.

Fall vegetables, that mature in cooler temperatures, are available online now for shipment beginning next week. "Fall" or "Cool season" Vegetables will begin shipping August 11th and continue through September as quantities last. Every year we plant a full collection of the most beautiful vegetable plants, all ready to go into your garden. Many of these vegetables such as Arugula and Mustard Greens can be harvested very quickly and will continue throughout the fall. A few vegetables will even overwinter such as Cabbage and Collards! Try growing some of our greens this fall and add nutrition and superb taste to your table.