Peppers, Tomatoes, and Leeks, Ahoy!

   And we're off!  Tomatoes and peppers for 2025 have been sown.  Peppers (Ajvarski and Anaheim) on March 4th, tomatoes on March 25th.  Leeks (Giant Musselburgh) are on the go as well, sown March 6th.

   The tomatoes must have been eager to get going this year.  Most varieties had begun germinating in earnest by March 29!

 

Tomatoes and a few tiny asters have germinated.

 

Leeks, peppers, and oregano clippings from last summer.

  

   Here are the tomato varieties for this summer.  Clearly, I did not succeed in narrowing down the selections to 10-12.  

An asterisk indicates the first time growing a variety.  

 

Determinate and Dwarf

Dwarf Speckled Heart  (DWARF, red & gold striped hearts, 5-12 oz fruit, productive, ~ 75 DTM).

Dwarf Purple Heart  (DWARF, purple-black, heart-shape, 6-16 oz, Deep crimson flesh, meaty, well-balanced flavour.  Plant sprawls a bit, ~4' tall.  Good producer.  70-75 DTM.)

Dwarf Audrey’s Love (DWARF, 2-4 oz striped bicolour elongated plum, chocolate with green stripes, great flavour, 3' tall, heavy producer, mid-season: 80 DTM)

*Dwarf Arctic Rose (DWARF, pink, round/oblate, early, often 5-6 oz, 3.5' tall, stout central stem, can grow in 5 gallon containers/pots but will thrive in containers 10+ gallons, balanced/sweet flavour. 65-70 DTM.)

Early Annie  (DET, red globes, 3 to 4-inch round, ~4oz, canning/slicing, reliable.  60-70DTM)

Principe Borghese  (DET, red, heirloom, determinate, small, dry, few seeds, good for sundried tomatoes.  Reliable, productive.  ~ 75 DTM)

Fisher’s Earliest Paste  (DET, red, egg-shaped, early, hardy, good flavour.  90+ years of selection by the Fisher family of Montana. RARE.)

*Siccagno (DET, red, small fruit, no staking needed, drought tolerant/low irrigation, paste, Italian heirloom.)

Taxi (or “Yellow Taxi)  (DET, uniform bright yellow globes, 3-5 oz, sweet/low-acid, compact/busy plant, productive, disease-resistant.  ~2’ tall.  Great for salads/salsas/fresh-eating. ~75 DTM.) 

Semi-Determinate

*Katja (SEMI-DET, pink beefsteak, larger fruit than most early varieties: 3-5” and 8-16 oz.  Good flavour, good slicer variety.  Plant sprawls a bit, does well in cool summers.  60-65 DTM.  Origin: Siberia.)

*Orange-1  (SEMI-DET, orange globes, 2-8 oz, ~75 DTM, good flavour, productive, meaty, few seeds.  Also called, “Belarus Orange”.  Does well in cool summers.  Origin: Belarus.  Uncommon.).

Moskvich  (SEMI-DET, deep red globes, 4-6 oz, productive, cold tolerant, crack resistant, early, slicer. ~ 60-70 DTM. Russian heirloom.) 

 

Indeterminate

Japanese Black Trifele  (IND, black/mahogany, pear-shaped, medium-sized fruit, rich flavour, ~80dtm.  Despite the name, it’s origin is either Estonian or Russian, depending on the source you read.)

Hungarian Heart   (IND, pink, large oxheart (often 1lb or more), paste/canner/fresh, crack-resistant, few seeds, origin: Hungary, ~ 80 DTM. Heirloom.)

Franchi Red Pear  (IND, red, large, pear-shape with vertical ribbing, 8-18oz, early for a large tomato, 75DTM, origin: Northern Italy.)

Eva Purple Ball  (IND, smooth, round, pink-purple fruit, 4-6 oz, multi-purpose tomato.  Excellent, complex flavour. Easy to peel. Excellent disease resistance. Grows well in hot, humid areas.  Late 1800s heirloom from the Black Forest region of Germany brought to the USA by Joe Bratka’s family.  ~75 DTM.)

*Marina’s Praise (IND, elongated orange and pink bicolour plum with pointy tip, excellent fruity flavor, variegated foliage that is more prominent early in the season.  ~80 DTM.  This variety is a cross between 'Orange Russian 117' Oxheart x 'Variegated PL’.)

Indigo Pear Drop (IND, large cherry, elongated pear-shape, heavy yields, golden yellow with purple/antho shoulders, sweet/fruity, great for snacking, 65-70DTM)

Malachite Box  (“Malakhitovaya Shkatulka”, IND, GWR/green-when-ripe, beefsteak, medium-to-large sized fruit, ~70 DTM, very good flavour.  Russian heirloom)

Update

   Several varieties were damaged somehow (too much heat?), so on April 1st, I started more Principe Borghese, Hungarian Heart, Dwarf Artic Rose, Moskvich, and Marina’s Praise.   

Also started on April 1st were these additional varieties: 

Bellestar  (DETERMINATE, red, medium/blocky-oval shape, 4-5oz fruits, canner or paste, compact, early set, Canadian heirloom, ~70 DTM)

Mac Pink  (DETERMINATE, pink, round, 5-6 oz, small core, productive slicer, 4' tall, Montreal heirloom, early, 65 DTM.  Stabilized cross Coldset x Homestead. 

Orange Strawberry  (INDETERMINATE, bright orange, oxheart, droopy foliage but vigorous plants, few seeds, ~80-85 DTM. Heirloom.)

Pink Berkeley Tie Dye  (INDETERMINATE, pink/red/green striped, beefsteak, 8-12oz fruit, rich flavour, mid-season, ~ 70 DTM, open-pollinated, disease resistant.)

 

Snowfall, Deer, and Happy Hour For The Blue Jays

   Mid-October!  Time flies when you're wrapping up the gardening season.  There is so much to do.

   An end to the tomatoes is in sight (thank Heaven), with only one small box of them left ripening in the kitchen.  After a bit of a drought, this was a big sauce year.  I canned about 36 L of sauce; that should do us at least a year.  The Ajvarksi peppers did well, so there are several bags of those, too, chopped and in the freezer. 

   A few days ago, I processed one of the North Georgia Candy Roasters and cleaned the seeds to save.  I'd forgotten just how much food is in one Candy Roaster squash!  There was enough to have in two batches of red lentil daal with plenty left over to make a soup, which I did yesterday.

   Yesterday morning was a nippy -10 C, though by mid-afternoon the sun was shining and the temperature had risen to 7 degrees C.  We had a healthy (and unexpected) snowfall on October 19th that not only stuck around for a few days, but was added to by subsequent rounds of flurries.  It felt strange that it looked so Christmas-y outside when Hallowe'en hadn't even come and gone yet.

 (We got another 3 inches or so on top of this.)

 

   The deer visits have slowed down now that there is almost nothing left in the garden to eat.  The last few visits have been from the same little family; mama and her two youngsters.  These pictures are from earlier this month (October 4th). They were taken at dusk on a misty day, through windows, with my basic little digital camera.  Forgive the disorderly (grungy? chaotic? lowbrow?) look of the place; we had just begun to dry out the frost-guard sheets, put away tools and pots, save the dahlia tubers, till the plots, etc.  A task that can take up much of the month of October.

(Click pictures to enlarge.)

 

 

 

  

 

 

   I had periodically heard, but rarely seen, blue jays in our area.  Usually, a sighting would involve spotting one flying overhead, calling loudly, heading to someone else's yard.  The spectrum of birds we see here seems limited to sparrows, magpies, crows, ravens, and occasionally Bohemian Waxwings, so I longed for a blue jay to linger.  

   Yesterday, I heard one calling.  It sounded nearby.  To our surprise, one had discovered the dried sunflower head R. had placed in one of our trees and was having his fill.  We discussed what they like to eat (in a nutshell - no pun intended -  they love peanuts).  R. made a small platform, installed it in the tree near the sunflower head, and then left to shop for peanuts.  He placed a handful on the platform when he got home, and we were curious to see if a blue jay would discover it in the coming days.

   Less than an hour later, we looked out to see the blue jay sitting on the platform with a peanut in his beak.  He took off with it, presumably to stash it somewhere, and made his way back.  He (and/or some of his buddies, though I think it was the same bird) repeated the process until the peanuts were gone.   The feeding platform was a hit!