Blackswamp Girl's Tomato Review

Check out Kim's (aka. Blackswamp Girl) review of the tomato varieties she grew this summer in Ohio. Not sure how regional differences come into play, but some good recommendations such as Black Krim and Cherokee Purple.

Total Score

Yesterday I picked up this apple peeler/corer/slicer at a garage sale for 4 bucks! That leisurely detour home from Stumptown was fortuitous. I finally got around to using the very nice apples that my aunt Jeanie gave me a few weeks ago. This gadget is super cool and works like a dream. I couldn't find a maker's or origin mark anywhere on it. The people I bought it from mumbled something about grandma's heirloom, but the suction device on the base makes me think it's newer. At any rate I'm stoked for apple season.

Finally!

Yum

This is the part where all the hard work pays off with an early evening stroll into the garden and a return with lots of good stuff.

Breakfast of eggs with pesto and parmesan and sauteed golden zucchini.

The Golden Nugget tomatoes are the clear winners this year, producing early and abundantly while I still wait on the others. This caprese is divine. Creamy fresh mozzerella, sweet tomatoes, basil, fruity olive oil, sel de mer and pepper. I find it better without vinegar. The tomatoes provide the right acid balance to the olive oil.

Sauteed yellow zucchini and beets.

Strange New World

Perhaps it was a childhood haunted by the threat of nuclear annihilation, or maybe it is a basic human conundrum, for tales of The End are as old as history; I have always been fascinated with dystopian tales. Before McCarthy's The Road, Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake was one of the last fully absorbing, can't-put-it-down books in recent memory. I'm thrilled that she returns to this world again in her newest, Year of the Flood.

Ms. Atwood's creations are not quite far away enough from our own world to be a comfortable jaunt into "what if". She describes it as speculative fiction rather than science fiction. This world reflects potential outcomes of current trajectories by unchecked human meddling in the web of life. As the Times review puts it,

Nuclear, ecological, chemical, economic—our arsenal of Death by Stupidity is impressive for a species as smart as Homo sapiens.

Ms. Atwood holds up a dark mirror, one much needed as we ignore the power of nature and our dependence on it, and asks, will Homo sapiens win the Darwin Award?

Tree house

Yesterday I came across this rustic little tree house built into a rhody. Looks like a great spot to read on a hot afternoon. Or spy on passers by.

A Few Snaps from Cistus Nursery

Here are a few shots from Cistus Nursery—a very cool place, definitely worth visiting anytime you are at Sauvie. They've got lots of mediterranean, southern hemisphere, and hardy tropical plants that seem to do well in our area. There are a few (wish there were more) very nice photos in the design section of their site.

The entrance drive is a rich little journey.

Madrone and manzanita. Dreamy.

Great texture and details on this clematis. It had buds, blossoms, and fuzzy seed pods.

Monkey Puzzle Tree, or Auracaria araucana. A spectacular ancient species.


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Fat of the Land

On Wednesday I went out to Sauvie Island, and despite being chased off of one spot by the most heinous mosquitoes in recent history, scored some fabulous blackberries. Garden fresh free food. Good living!

I froze some of the berries to use in pies, smoothies, and ice cream at a later point, and made jam with the rest.

To freeze berries, I first lay them on a cookie sheet in a single layer and freeze them overnight, then transfer them to a plastic freezer bag. This method keeps the berries individually separate rather than clumping into a big mass.

My prized jam stash. Two jars of grape jelly from last fall, and strawberry, raspberry, and the new blackberry addition. This is a great outlet for my much reviled but irresistible hoarding instinct. Better to have lots of jam than a bunch of crap in the basement. They also make great impromptu gifts.

Mid-August in the Garden

It's hard to believe it's already the middle of August, but as I look around I see the signs. Flowers fading and going to seed, squirrels fastidiously cacheing, the shadows a bit longer. Generally speaking, I am very happy with the results of this garden, my first. However, there are definitely some things I will improve next year, first and foremost the soil! The weather was very cool during the middle to end of July and early August, and it really put at damper on the growth of the plants. The soft skinned squashes have withered and wilted. Tomatoes still mostly green. I side-dressed the squash and tomatoes with Steve Solomon's complete organic fertilizer—a recipe from Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades, not a store brand—and the past week of very hot weather seems to be improving the conditions. I'm hoping to continue to get more blossoms, especially on the squash, as blossoms are the precursor to fruit. I have been very fortunate to have a couple of weeks off from work to enjoy this heaven that is summer in the garden.

This morning when I woke I could see these gossamer spiderwebs from my bed, luminously reflecting the sunlight with a spectrum of colors. The spiderwebs are everywhere! As a child I would recoil from them, probably some protective instinct. This spring I watched the eggs hatch, and the spiders grow from tiny specks. I now consider them my friends and valuable inhabitants of the garden.

It all changes so quickly. I want to document and remember the phases and evolution.

Last fall I had more grapes than I knew what to do with. This year we had to cut back the vines and tear down the trellis structure because it was very rotten and apt to fall down at any moment. I haven't yet decided yet what to do to support the grapes. Looks like we will only have a few.

The squash. It's like an easter egg hunt.

Essential botany lesson: Flowers are the reproductive structures of the plant. Pollinators or wind serve to transport the male gametes from the stamen to the female stigma, whereupon fertilization occurs. Once fertilized, the ovary of the plant swells up to become a fruit. We have commonly, and erroneously, used sweet / savory as a convention to divide fruit from vegetable. Many of the foods we consider to be vegetables are, in fact, fruit. This photo wonderfully illustrates. In the center of the blossom you can see the stigma. At the end of the squash fruit (that's right, squash are fruit), you can see the remains of that same part. Fruits contain seeds. Vegetables are other parts of the plant—leaves, stems, and roots.

Illustration courtesy of Wikipedia Commons.

There are many bumblebees in the garden. The go crazy for the lavender. Sometimes I find them asleep in a squash flower. Precious. ... at least I think they are just asleep. Where do bumblebees sleep?

Carrots Love Tomatoes

I just picked up Carrots Love Tomatoes by Louise Riotte. It's a very cool reference book for companion planting, a fascinating aspect of gardening based on the fact that plants can attract or repel other plants and insects. They can also affect soil composition. By planting the right combinations of plants together we can create the conditions for them to thrive. Conversely we can avoid detrimental combinations. I will be referring to this one often!

You can also check it out online at Mother Earth News.

Rosy Pusseytoes

Nick brought back this splendid little bouquet of Antennaria rosea (common name: Rosy Pusseytoes) from his field work travels. It's one of my faves. It's native to the western united states, so you may be lucky to find it on a hike.

Here are the dried blossoms:

And here it is growing in the wild. Photo: travelingwild.

Pollen Origami

Another great micro world story from Science Friday.

Pollen starts to dry out when it leaves the flower, which can destroy the genetic material the grain is carrying. To combat dehydration, pollen grains have evolved a way of folding up to prevent water from leaking out. Eleni Katifori and colleagues describe the physics of pollen folding in a new paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Where to Begin

Yesterday I was talking with Krista about her garden. Being relatively new to gardening she was feeling a little overwhelmed and not sure where to begin. I definitely would not call myself an expert, but here is what advice I can offer.

It can be daunting to feel like you have to come up with a grand master plan for your dream garden, especially if, like most of us, your resources are limited. I think of my garden as a process rather than a fixed project with a beginning and an end. It is organic in the truest sense, ever changing, being born, growing, struggling, reproducing, and releasing back to "the pool". There are successes and failures, which, if we pay attention, can reveal insight into what the organisms thrive in or lack in their environment.

If you are just starting it may make sense to create an idea or style board and list the kinds of things you want in your garden. For example, stylistically I like native / wild landscapes, and japanese gardens. I want grow food and flowers and have places to relax outdoors. It can be that simple to begin with.

Understand the basics of your land: soil, light, and water. Those are the key variable conditions for growing plants. Soil is a big one. If the earth has not been cared for it may take a few years of adding compost and organic fertilizers to get it optimal.

Learning is part the practice and the fun, but you don't need to know a lot in order to begin. Make friends with a gardener, maybe exchange helping days. Ask the people at the nurseries. In our area Portland Nursery has a great information desk with people there just to answer questions and give advice. They also offer classes.

Remember, you can always change it. You may want to start small before embarking on a your grand dream garden. Vegetable gardens are low commitment, as they last a season and need to be rotated. Larger shrubs and trees are a bigger (literally) commitment, so consider them carefully.

Here are a few book recommendations—good basics to begin with. Libraries are also great resources for books. We are lucky to have good ones in our area.

The journey is the destination. Follow your heart and listen to the earth.

Reproduction by Explosion

Some plants are FAST. That's right. There are various fast methods plants use to spread their genetic material. Check out this video from Science Friday.



Plants have a reputation for staying put. But some plants are moving so quickly, we can't see their motions. Biologist Joan Edwards and physicist Dwight Whitaker broke out the high-speed cameras to capture the story of exploding peat moss. The research was published in the journal Science.

Archways

Archways are deeply mythic and rich with symbolism, signifying transition, and eliciting curiosity. Some were created by nature, some by people long since passed, and some are ephemeral, here for only a season or a year. Here are some Flickr finds that caught my eye.

Powerscourt Estate Gardens grotto, Ireland, by Milwaukee Amy.

Hampton Court Gardens, Herefordshire by royblendell.

Airlie Gardens by char1iej.

Sissinghurst Castle, Kent by amberlight1.

Longwood Gardens, Kennett Square, PA by Father Skye Mother Earth.

Isabelle's garden, Cupar, Fife by monicaflick.

Apple archway at Barnsdale Gardens by ~Angie M~.

Bassetti's Crooked Arbor Gardens in Woodinville, WA by pixn8tr.

Tresco Abbey Gardens, Isles of Scilly by chrispursey.

Garden of Dreams, Thamel, Nepal by jams007au.

Chinese Tea Garden in Syndey by Mags

Morikami Japanese Garden by Julianna-Klose