The last tomatoes of 2022. I harvested them yesterday, November 5, just before I pulled all plants. My first tomatoes this year were harvested on July 15. I will savor the last red tomato and quick-pickle the green tomatoes for sandwiches. Yum!
Category: Preserving
More Slow-Roasted Tomatoes and Basil Pesto
The garden is brimming with tomatoes. Pictured above is yesterday’s harvest, and I harvested almost as many tomatoes the day before. Time for a second batch of oven-roasted garlicky tomatoes and basil “pesto”. To keep it versatile, I make the latter only with basil, olive oil and salt. I leave out cheese and nuts to add in later depending on the use. Sometimes, I like to mix it with goat cheese for a pesto-goat cheese-spread or use it in a compound butter, which would not need Parmesan. I also found that it freezes better this way. For the tomatoes, I only use red ones and no big slicers. If the larger tomatoes are very juicy, I blot them with paper towels before they go in the oven. I roasted this batch at 275F for two hours and packed it in olive oil. This batch will go in the fridge, the last one went in the freezer for use in a few months. I like to use those in pasta sauces, on pizza or as toppings for sandwiches or savory crepes. It is amazing how a baking sheet packed with tomatoes gets reduced to a single half-pint canning jar.
Some more basil pesto for the freezer:
Preserving
Over the past few days I have been preserving some of this summer’s harvest. I oven-dried tomatoes, and pickled cucumbers and peppers. My cucumber harvest this year was pathetic. I got about six cucumbers from as many plans. The tomatoes are very strong though. I guess it is the heat. The peppers are “Pickling Peppers”, a gift from Sand Hill Preservation Center, and I followed the instructions and pickled them. Looking forward to trying them in a few days.
Garlic 2022
Today, I processed this year’s garlic harvest. I cleaned all of the garlic, saved the three biggest heads of each soft necks and hard necks (in the very left of the picture), braided the soft necks into two braids (the smaller one to give as a gift) and placed the hard necks into a crock in the pantry to be used up before the soft necks. Seven heads are damaged and will be used up first (small bowl in the top right). Overall, I harvested 58 heads, 27 hard necks and 31 soft necks. The hard necks are Red Russian, and the soft necks are Transylvania.
Thai Basil Pesto
I harvested much of the two Thai basil plants on my back porch and made pesto. I used it for dinner to make Thai pesto noodle bowls with crispy ground pork. I followed this tried and true recipe for the pesto though. So good!
Pesto Time
I made a good amount of “pesto” today. By “pesto” I mean basil, salt and olive oil. I leave out the garlic, cheese and nuts to add later depending on the dish. This way, it is more versatile. Just blitzed it all up and froze it covered in olive oil in an ice cube tray. Looking forward to yummy meals all year long: pesto chicken, base for pizza and pasta, pesto mayo for sandwiches and much more. Next up will be my Thai basil peanut pesto.
Garlic Harvest
I harvested my garlic today. It was a good amount and decent-sized. I harvested 27 heads of hardneck garlic (Red Russian) and 30 heads of softneck garlic (Transylvania). 57 heads total of 60 that I had planted in the fall. I will air-dry them now for about two days and then hang the stalks to cure in my back hallway for two to three weeks, depending on the humidity. They will then be cleaned, and I will save two or three of the biggest heads of each variety for planting in the fall. The softnecks will be braided and the hardnecks, which we will consume first, will just be stored in a basket or wooden bowl.
Red Currant Jam
I made red currant jam. I picked 500 g from our red currant bush and made jam by adding 250 g of sugar and a bit of vanilla extract. I also added Gelierfix, a pectin-based gelling agent, according to the instructions to help the jam set. I canned the jam in a water bath for ten minutes, so it is shelf-stable. Looking forward to eating the jam for breakfast or using it for baking in the winter months.
2021 in Review
It is the end of December and time to review the past gardening season, what worked well and what did not. We had another year of COVID, but this spring, summer and fall were eased by the introduction of vaccines until omicron hit just a couple of weeks ago. In the community garden, life was back to almost normal, except that we did not have any gatherings or communal work days. Everybody logged their communal work hours individually.
I did not mulch with hay this season (except the garlic) to get rid of the pill bugs and I seemed to have some success. The downside of course was that I had many more weeds than in other years, especially early in the season, when things had not filled in yet. So, I will go another year without hay.
Fruiting crops (tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, eggplants) It was a good year for tomatoes in the community garden. I had a really good harvest and could not keep up with eating them fresh, so I had to roast some of them. Yum! It is so nice to use your home-grown vegetables in the middle of winter. I had planted a total of ten tomatoes: one each Striped Roman, Paul Robson, Black Krim, Valencia, Break O’ Day, Poll Robson Angolan and two each Green Zebra and Baker Family Heirloom. Unfortunately, the labels fell off, and I could not identify them all in the end. The central stake/garden velcro method worked well for me. I will not go back to cages for tomatoes. I had good luck with pickling cucumbers this year (pickled twice) and the slicers did okay. Definitely better than last year. I think, I had powdery mildew but it did not hit until late. I shall investigate. I only grew hot peppers this year, a Thai pepper on the porch, which did very well, and Jalapeno on the porch which also did well. The Jalapeno in the plot also did well. Eggplants were not great this year. They stayed tiny and never ripened. Not sure what the problem was.
Squash. I had planted three varieties of winter squash: Butternut, Delicata and Lakota. Only the Butternut really took off, the two others were measly, the Delicata died early and the Lakota had one tennis ball-size fruit in the end. The Butternut had five fruit, one of which mysteriously developed soft spots and mold and I had to toss it. Four squash was just the right amount for this winter. I planted one zucchini this year. Strangely, it did not produce as well we in previous years but I had a few zucchinis.
Root vegetables. I planted beets, carrots and radishes. The porch radishes were great. The plot radishes were eaten by something and very woody. I am not going to bother again. The carrots were delicious as were the beets, but they were small this year. Perhaps I did not thin well enough.
Brassicas. I only planted kale this year. Three plants, which was plenty. They stayed small though and I suspect it is because they were shaded by the corn and tomatoes. Next year, I will plant them so that they get more sun.
Greens and lettuce. I planted chard and lettuces. The Chard had the same issue like the kale, I had planted it partly shaded by corn or tomatoes, so it stayed smallish. This will need to change next year. Lettuces did great in the spring, as usual, and the fall greens did well too. I just harvested some mustard greens last week and there are still greens in the ground.
Legumes. I planted peas and pole beans this year. The peas did well. I had a decent harvest and no loss due to birds. The beans had a hard time growing and I had to resow twice. The harvest was good, but I did not have enough plants to make it worthwhile. I will need to plant more next year.
Alliums. It was a good year for garlic. 64 heads pulled from the ground. Later in the fall, I noticed that I had onion maggots. Some of the hardneck bulbs were infested. I cleaned them all up (separated the cloves and discarded the diseased ones) and it seems to be fine now. I will need to look into it for next year. Hopefully the eggs do not overwinter. I planted the new crop as far away form the old site as possible.
Corn. For the first time in years, I dared to plant corn. I planted it in early June. Such a delightful crop. It’s a surprise. You don’t know what the colors are until you “unwrap” it. I just loved it. The rodents seemed not to be interested and I harvested around a dozen ears from six plants in the plot. I also planted some on the porch but those plants stayed small. I saved seeds for the plot for next year!
Flowers. A great year for flowers. I had this giant sunflower, which made me so happy. Lots of Zinnias and dahlias as well. I planted camomile, but it got leggy and eventually died. Also marigolds for the tomatoes. I loved the Zinnias. I harvested them well into October. I will plant even more next year.
Herbs. In the plot, I planted basil and parsley this year. The basil did well, but I don’t think I made traditional pesto this year other than garlic scape pesto early in the season. Next year for sure. The Thai basil did great and I made Thai basil pesto, which was delicious. (We served it over fish). More basil next year. I had plenty of basil for garnishes from my porch herb garden. I replanted basil on August 15, both on the porch and in the plot, and that was a great idea. The basil never bolted and I had fresh basil until well into October. Basil succession it will be from now on!
Perennials. I grow asparagus and rhubarb. The rhubarb is still sickly. I am not sure what the issue is. I might just have to pull it and plant a new one. I love rhubarb and I miss it. The asparagus did well. It has gotten kind of clumpy and I think, I will divide it in early spring.
Porch. I grew mostly herbs on the porch this year, which I find to be the best use of the space. I also grew one hot Thai pepper plant that did very well and yielded a lot of fruit, which I turned into homemade Sriracha, it is so flavorful and spicy that it will likely last the whole year. I am definitely doing that again next year. I also had baby eggplant, one tomato plant, none of which did very well. In the spring I planted lettuces, which did well followed by corn, not so much. The cucumber also did not do well. I think lettuces, herbs, hot peppers (I also grew a jalapeno that did great) is what I will do next year. Lots of parsley and basil. And flowers.
Plans for 2022. I had ten tomato plants, which was a great number and I probably will grow the same amount or maybe scale it back to 8 next year. Key again will be to do a mix of early, mid and late tomatoes, so I have a steady harvest from late July to late October. The hot peppers did great, I will definitely plant a Thai pepper for homemade Sriracha and a Jalapeno again on the porch. Probably not in the plot. No bell pepper though. Eggplants: I just love them. Next year, I might try a couple of traditional Italian eggplants or the slender Asian variety. The dwarf varieties just do not seem to work well for me. As for cucumbers, I will plant two or three pickling and perhaps two slicers. I feel the pickling cucumbers are of greater value for me because we all love them and they keep for a while. I sometimes feel I am too late harvesting the slicers in time and then they are too big. I will plant carrots and radishes again, but radishes on the porch only and not in the plot. I will plant one zucchini and make sure it has plenty of space and sun. One winter squash will be plenty for next year as I am the only one eating them. Maybe I will try Delicata again, because I love it so much. Or honeynut. Peas and beans again. For beans, only pole beans and more next year. Peas for snacking only, so I will plant a ton for early harvesting in the spring. I will plant lettuces from seed again, different varieties. Perhaps I will manage to succession plant this year, that would be great, so I could have a steady supply in late spring and early summer and then again in the fall. I want more Swiss chard for next year, perhaps three or four big healthy plants. Also three kale plants. No other brassicas, I think, because of the aphids and because I just have had not much luck with cauliflower or Brussels sprouts. I will grow leeks next year, I really missed them this year. The garlic went into the ground in early November. As for flowers, I will plant more Zinnias and dahlias. I really loved the Zinnias. And I loved the giant sunflower, even though it took up space and shaded some of my crops. Maybe cosmos again, and nasturtium, and of course marigolds to keep the tomatoes good company. For herbs, I will have my little kitchen garden on the porch again, with basil, (a lot of) parsley, rosemary, sage, thyme, mint and more. In the plot, it will be basil and parsley. This year I will make a lot of basil pesto for sure. I also loved the Thai basil pesto, so I will grow Thai basil on the porch again. As for the perennials, I will divide the asparagus and hope for the best for the rhubarb, although I might just have to replace it. On the porch next season, I will grow my herbs, hot peppers and perhaps some flowers. And lettuce and radishes in the spring.
Thai Hot Sauce
I finally harvested my Thai peppers today. I had one plant in a container on my back porch and it gave me two cups of hot peppers. Most of them were red, some (about a third of them total) still green. I cut off the entire plant and then picked the peppers to make hot sauce. I followed this recipe for Thai hot sauce but I lowered the amount of vinegar because I wanted it thicker. I also do not have a food mill, so it is just hot sauce, seeds and all. It is super spicy and I am looking forward to using it instead of store-bought Sriracha sauce and Chili garlic sauce.
