A couple of days ago, I finally cut the first dahlia of the season. I had planted them kind of late (May 28), but they have come up nicely. I have seven dahlia plants total in my garden plot. Looking forward to many more dahlia bouquets in the months to come.
I made the small bud vase myself at JP Clay where I have been a member since January.
This cool and rainy August Sunday was the perfect day for slow-roasting a sheet of (mostly) cherry tomatoes. I convection-roasted tomatoes (plus unpeeled garlic and thyme) at 270F for 2 hours until they had a slightly dry/jammy consistency, then packed them in olive oil and let them cool. They will be stored in the freezer for a few months.
Finally, my first vine-ripened tomatoes of the season! I already picked two blushing, green ones to ripen on the counter, but these two are the real deal. One Mountain Sunrise and one Caiman. These are the first two that I harvested after covering whatever the rats left on the vines with those wire mesh bags. It seems to be working. I hope to get at least a few handfuls from my 12 plants.
Yesterday and this morning, I spent a few hours in the garden weeding and cleaning. I also started my fall sowing: Coreless Amsterdam carrots (a fast-growing variety), cilantro, Golden and Detroit Dark Red beets, and a fall greens mix (a mix of lettuces, chards, greens, Chinese cabbage, spinach, endive).
We are having a major rat problem in the community garden this year. They are decimating the tomatoes. Even the unripe, green ones. There are bait stations in and surrounding the garden, but with the abundance of fresh food, the rats do not seem to bother with the bait.
Everyone’s plot is affected. We always have some losses, but this year, we reached a different level. About a week ago, another gardener gave me a couple of nylon mesh bags. I assumed the rats might just “juice” the tomatoes right through the bag, but it was worth a try.
The nylon bags have been working so far but they are small. I was trying to take one bag off today, and accidentally pulled the tomato, which had grown and was now stuck inside (it was the tomato from the picture above; all the other tomatoes in the picture had disappeared).
I also ordered wire mesh bags to cover individual tomatoes. They finally came today. I installed about 15 or so – all the tomatoes I have currently left. It’s just sad. Fingers crossed I can save at least a few handfuls of tomatoes.
Last night, after three weeks of curing, I cleaned my garlic and prepped it for storage. For the hardnecks, I just clean off the dirt and the outermost papery skin, cut off the stems and root hairs and placed them in a ceramic crock to live in my pantry for the coming months. I will use those up first as hardnecks do not keep as well as softnecks.
I also braided the softneck garlic and added a few strawflowers for decoration. The braid now hangs in my pantry. As always, I saved the two largest heads of each type (4 heads total) as seed garlic. I will plant those cloves in early November for next year’s harvest.
First round of pesto in the freezer! Last night I processed the basil I had harvested the day before and made pesto. I still had garlic scapes in the fridge, and used a few of those plus pine nuts, olive oil and salt. To make the pesto more versatile and to be considerate of pesto lovers in my circle who cannot have dairy, I did not add cheese. Cheese can always be added later. I then froze the pesto in ice cube trays and transferred the (ten) frozen cubes to Ziplock bags this morning to freeze for the longer term.
I braided some of my shallots today, and added a few strawflowers from last year’s garlic braid. This year’s strawflowers are not quite ready yet. I am so excited to have them hanging in my pantry with the drying herbs.
