Gardening tomatoes, herbs, and some veggies for 2012

[norma427]

Yeah he has. He's about a 100 lb. now and was only about 45 lb. when that picture was taken Christmas 2010. He's like my kid, I probably have more pictures of him than some people do of their children. LOL.

I hope the Roma come in good though, I wanted to plant some San Marzano tomatoes, but waited too late to seed them in the sprout trays so none this year at least. I suspect they wouldn't be as good as the canned ones from Italy though since my soil composition probably isn't anything like it is over there. I need to learn the techniques that companies use to can tomatoes so I can get the same tastes that you get from a good quality can. I suspect that little bit of cooking they do to them to make them safe for long term storage is the biggest thing that affects taste.

If you need any dried peppers though let me know, I plan on drying quite a few cayenne and jalapenos toward the end of the season or even earlier if they come in strong.

-Cory

Cory,

Good to hear your dog is like your kid.  I also have a dog that is almost 14 years old and swear he can read my mine.   

I made lots of Les’s sweet sauce for pizza, pasta and many other things from all kinds of tomatoes I raised last year, but don’t know how Roma tomatoes alone would be in Les’s recipe, but would imagine from the garlic, sea salt, olive oil and the slow bake Roma tomatoes probably would work in his sauce.  I know with all your studying you will learn how to preserve the Roma tomatoes you are growing. 

Thanks for the offer of dried peppers, but my two of my friends do grow many types of peppers and did give me lots last year.  They do gardening a completely different way than I do and understand so much more about gardening than I do.  I guess I don’t want to spend the time they do in gardening.  They have won many awards at Farm Shows in our area. 

Norma

[rcbaughn]

14 years old.... I sure hope my boy dog lives that long. Big dogs usually have heart issues before they get that old, but maybe my boy will stay healthy.

I'll have to look up that recipe for Les's sweet sauce, I love a sweeter variation of tomato sauce on a pizza. Helps cut the richness of some ingredients. I may try to just can the tomatoes alone and make the sauce with the plain canned tomatoes. Or I may try to can the already cooked tomato sauce if I can find people doing that as well. The flavors may intensify the longer it is in the jar though so I'd have to be careful I bet.

[norma427]

Cory,

I hope your dog lives to be 14 years old.

If you need the link to Les’s sweet sauce let me know.  There really isn’t any sugar in the sauce, but from slow roasting the tomatoes, the natural sweetness of the tomatoes comes out.

Norma

[rcbaughn]

Do you use his recipe for the grape tomato base or do you just use the simpler recipe with the canned whole tomatoes only? The canned only version looks a lot simpler and less time consuming for sure.

[patnx2]

Cool to see all the dif gardens. I have a space about 20 by 10 and I grow about two dozen tomato plant,jalapenos,regular green peppers,egg plant and squash. I had always wanted an acre but alas....... I have 12 fruit trees and all this on a regular house lot. I walk the perimeter daily seeing what's ripe. Fun. Bread,pizza and my garden is my zen thing. My best to all, Patrick

[rcbaughn]

Patrick, eggplant isn't something that we have ever tried to grow in our garden. Is it a pretty hearty plant? Makes me want to get some plants and give them a go if it isn't too late in the growing season.

I wish we had fruit trees, all we have is strawberries and blueberries. Well blackberries too, but those are wild and grow on the sides of a dirt road close by.... So I guess they really aren't ours. LOL, people probably think we're crazy standing on the side of the road picking berries. No one forages anymore since in this day and age anything can be had at the local mega-mart without any of the effort. I find it enjoyable to get out and actually find your meal though, and the same goes for meat.

-Cory

[norma427]

Do you use his recipe for the grape tomato base or do you just use the simpler recipe with the canned whole tomatoes only? The canned only version looks a lot simpler and less time consuming for sure.

Cory,

I used fresh tomatoes and canned tomatoes for Les’s sauce. If you are interested I did try many kinds of fresh tomatoes with different tomato sauces at this thread for Les’s sweet sauce.  http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,11539.0.html  I found grape tomatoes really aren’t needed to make Les’s sauce, and neither are 6-in-1s.

I found a great little food mill for cheap at a flea market recently, so I will be off to trying new ideas with tomatoes. 

Norma

[norma427]

Cool to see all the dif gardens. I have a space about 20 by 10 and I grow about two dozen tomato plant,jalapenos,regular green peppers,egg plant and squash. I had always wanted an acre but alas....... I have 12 fruit trees and all this on a regular house lot. I walk the perimeter daily seeing what's ripe. Fun. Bread,pizza and my garden is my zen thing. My best to all, Patrick

Patrick,

I also love to see different gardens.  If you can post pictures, sure would love to see yours too!   

I agree with you that I also like to watch how everything grows each day.

Norma

[norma427]

LOL, people probably think we're crazy standing on the side of the road picking berries. No one forages anymore since in this day and age anything can be had at the local mega-mart without any of the effort. I find it enjoyable to get out and actually find your meal though, and the same goes for meat.

-Cory

Cory,

I also go out and pick strawberries in the farmers fields and also look for raspberries in the wild.  I have my secret places for looking for the raspberries. 
 
Some kind of wild plant came up in with my perennials this year.  I am not sure if it might be a blackberry bush or maybe some raspberries.  I guess I will have to wait and see if it produces anything to be able to tell what it is.  It sure does have those jaggers on it.     

Norma

[Chicago Bob]

Nice looking garden Norma. We have ours planted right now and it's coming up pretty well. Ours is pretty big though, it's slightly smaller than an acre I think. Dad has a whole row of tomatoes right now, half of them Roma which makes me excited for fresh pizza sauce soon. Oh and the glory of all the pepper varieties. Here's a couple pictures, we always plant more than we need because of the deer taking out some of the plants, especially our sweet potatoes and melons.

P.S. - There's my boy dog in the second picture with dad. He's gotten big since my picture to the right was taken.

Cory,  Is that a Weinmaraner?  I once had one, "Buddy" and he was the best dog ever!

[patnx2]

Cory  yes egg plant seem hardy and are good producers. I remember traveling to Oregon and picked berries along the road,love it.
Norma,sorry I don't know to post pics yet. When I do I will. Patrick

[rcbaughn]

Sure is Bob! Ruger is the best dog ever, he has so much energy though that he can take it right out of me sometimes. But whenever he's in the house he is calm as can be and very well behaved.

Good deal Patrick, I will go read on trying to get some growing in my garden. Nothing like some good eggplant sauteed up.

[The Dough Doctor]

Hi Norma;
As always, I'm gardening for pizza again this year. Last year I had a couple of planters along our south facing drive way and the tomato and pepper plants did just fantastic, so this year I put out much larger planters (calf feed containers) and again went with tomatoes and peppers. They are doing fantastic! The tomatoes have all set with ping pong ball size fruit, and we will be picking the first peppers this weekend. Basil went in from seed so it is just now beginning to come up, but added two more wash tub planters of it, so we should be in for another great crop.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor

[norma427]

Norma, sorry I don't know to post pics yet. When I do I will. Patrick

Patrick,

These are a few links that might help you resize your photos. http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,13184.0.html

I still resize my photos with paint.   

Norma

[norma427]

Hi Norma;
As always, I'm gardening for pizza again this year. Last year I had a couple of planters along our south facing drive way and the tomato and pepper plants did just fantastic, so this year I put out much larger planters (calf feed containers) and again went with tomatoes and peppers. They are doing fantastic! The tomatoes have all set with ping pong ball size fruit, and we will be picking the first peppers this weekend. Basil went in from seed so it is just now beginning to come up, but added two more wash tub planters of it, so we should be in for another great crop.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor

Tom,

Glad to hear you also are always gardening for pizza!    Interesting to hear that you garden in calf feed containers.  Your peppers sure are ready early. Your tomatoes being ping pong size already is interesting too.  In my area peppers and tomatoes won’t be ready for awhile.

Would be interesting to hear about how your gardening goes over the summer.

Norma

[norma427]

In our area we had a lot of rain in the past week and since all the rain the plants have grown some and also perked up.  In the second picture the one tomato plant near the bricks on the left is one that is growing from a seed dropped from last year. 

Norma

[petef]

Why wait until July to post a pic when my garden looks pretty much the same each year. Below is one of my 100 sq ft plots from July 2009. The back row is all tomato plants. Peppers in the front section and cucumbers on the far right. Compost bins are behind the cucumbers.

Look at the fence. Those gray blocks support an electified wire that serves to keep the ground hogs out when they attempt to get in by climbing the fence. It does work to keep them out. Squirels just laugh as they pass through the fence.

Windmills are my experimental wind turbines for generating electricity.
Development of a Small Wind Turbine (part 1 of 2)

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3-1s7NamZ4&amp;feature=relmfu" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3-1s7NamZ4&amp;feature=relmfu</a>

[norma427]

Pete,

That was a beautiful garden.  I also have problems with ground hogs and your idea is great to keep them out.  I guess one shock and they don’t come back.   

Your experimental windmills are really cool too!

Norma

[Tscarborough]

I gave up on tomatoes, too much work too little return here in Austin.  I planted a little herb garden at the oven, Greek oregano, Thyme, spicy basil, and aloe for when I burn my arm.  I also planted a habanero (with basil on it's left) and a ghost pepper.

[norma427]

Tom,

I can imagine in Texas it is hard to grow tomatoes, or other vegetables, because of how hot it can be most of the summer.

Your herb garden with Aloe looks great!  I also really love your oven, just beautiful.   

Norma