End-of-Summer Tomatoes

I wouldn't say I've had a glut of tomatoes this year, but I managed to collect at least two bowls full. Better late than never with the heat we had the last week and a half. You didn't hear this Seattleite complaining about the weather. I wanted ripe tomatoes!


I took this latest harvest and added it to the pesto pasta I made last night. The pesto was simple: basil, garlic, parmesan cheese and toasted hazelnuts. Whirl the ingredients in the food processor with enough olive oil to make a paste and a couple dashes of salt and Voila! It was a big hit with my friends.

Before adding the tomatoes to the pasta, I quartered them and sprinkled them with a little kosher salt and olive oil to bring out their bright and tangy flavor.

Maybe I'll grab some crusty bread at the farmer's market tomorrow and use the rest of them for bruschetta. It will be my toast to the end of summer as I feel the slight chill of fall in the air.

Shinseiki Pear

Two and a half years ago I bought a 4-way grafted Asian pear. It is advised that after the first year of planting, not to let it go to fruit. Last year, as soon as the flowers were done blooming, I plucked them off. I didn't want to be tempted by the little fruits forming.

This year, I had a fair amount of blossoms. But there were several that didn't make it. I managed to get about 8 pears total. Mind you, it is a small tree!

Not knowing how to tell when the pears are ready for harvest, I asked my favorite fruit farmers at the Columbia City weekly market. Jim, from Little Wing Farm, told me to wait until the fruit start to "glow" with a golden yellow color. He also mentioned to start harvesting from the tips of the branches and work your way in. I told him it's such a small tree, I only have pears on the tips.

I found it interesting that Jim also harvests the same trees several times through the season. He told me at first it takes some trial and error to figure out how ripe the fruit is. This year, I don't have many chances with just a handful of fruit. Hopefully it's more trial than error.

Today, I took a closer look at it. There was a pair sitting on the end of the Shinseiki graft. The fruit had a yellow glow to it and decided to take a chance. The two pears lifted easily from the branch--a promising sign! I placed them on the dining table to snap a quick picture before we dug into them.

That blur is my son's hand trying to swipe one from the table.

I sliced one and saved the other for tomorrow. They were sweet with a hint of tartness, and juicy without being watery. Good crunch and structure, too. Can't wait to see how the other compares, and how the rest of the harvest will be this season.

Wow! Tomato!

Just when I thought it wasn't going to happen, it did. I've managed a bumper crop of 10 cherry tomatoes this year. High fives all around!

Turns out the tomatoes I've been tracking, were never going to turn red. Duh! They were the Wow! (yes, that's how the cultivar is written, complete with exclamation point!) cherry tomatoes, a Sungold rival according to Fedco Seeds. I'll have to say I agree. There is a certain sweetness of the Wow! that is like candy compared to the Sungolds I've had at the farmers' market.

The ones I tasted early on were a bit thick skinned for my liking. But, as the later fruits have been able to hang out on the vine awhlie, the skins seem thinner.


Their sweetness mixed with the tangy saltiness of the tuna made for a blissful lunch today as summer winds down.

I was surprised to find more later this evening that were ripe enough for snacking straight from the vine. I'll save a few for tomorrow's lunch.

Summer...better late than never around here!

Parsnip Forest!

The parsnips have taken over the small patch I sowed. Supposedly, carrots are good companion plants and sowed a couple of rows of them as well. You can't even see the carrots through all the parsnips.

The leeks are trying to get a word in edge-wise as well...

Looks like I have a major thinning project in store!

Sunchokes revisited

Here are my two sunchoke patches. After reading how the variety I chose may prove difficult to break dormancy, I was pleasantly surprised how quickly they responded.

Here's one behind the cistus.

And another just on the other side and behind the asphodel.

Not bad for growing in poor soil and getting minimal water. I can't wait to see them flower. Just hoping that the weather starts to warm up a bit more!

Cherries!

I managed to snag a few cherries from our tree the other day. Yum! Finally after a month later than usual.

We have what look like Rainier cherries, but I have heard that most cherry trees of this type in Seattle are techincally the Queen Anne variety. And it's an old tree. This year was supposed to be a heavy-yielding crop. Not so for some reason, and what a disappointment after having to wait for so long! I have tried to figure out why my tree is so stingy this year.

The blossoms were quite prolific this spring I thought for sure I was going to have a bumper crop. But, as the fruits started to develop, I had a ton of "drop." Spent flowers with barely a hint of a cherry fell all over the ground. Maybe it was the weather? Too much wet and cold to get things going?

My other theory is that a major add-on happened next door. My cherry tree is quite close to the fence. And to my horror, the contractors took the liberty in "pruning" the branch that hung over the fence. I wish someone had told me it was in the way. I would have gladly done the job myself. Now, I don't think the pruning of the branch is the cause of low yield. I do wonder if all the heavy equipment and the new foundation pour lead to stress. I have quite a bit of suckering in my garden that makes me lean towards this theory.

Anyway, enough of that. I savored these wonderful cherries in the little sun we've had lately. I just need a taller ladder to reach the rest of them before they all fall to the ground!

Slug-a-licious

Never mind the poor summer weather we're having these days. Slugs and snails have me down more than our grey skies.

I had wonderful looking marigolds at the end of spring. They were healthy, robust and oh so cute with their orange and red flowers--the Bonanza Bee. I plunked in a boarder all along the beds in my backyard.

Then slowly but surely, all of them were devoured and turned into little sticks of nothing. I didn't even get a chance to photograph the plants when they looked good. In a matter of a couple of weeks, I didn't have a single marigold to speak of!

Here are a couple of beauties.


















Lovely.

I don't know why marigolds are a favorite with slugs. I even had this discussion with my mom. She confesses bringing out the slug bait only when she was planting marigolds. I thought the pungent smell of their foliage and flowers would deter them. I guess not!

The other plants the slugs are after are my Charentais melon. Why they don't touch the Hannah's Choice muskmelon baffles me. Luckily I started a bunch so I've been replacing them as they get munched.


I just used the last of my stockpile of starts. I'm hoping a third planting is a charm. Fingers crossed!

On a happier note, my sunchokes broke dormancy and have been growing strong for about a month now. Woohoo!