JosieGladysGardens: In support of growing food wherever you can...

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

In support of growing food wherever you can...

Below is a letter I emailed Judge Larry Potter in Tennessee who ruled that Memphis resident, Adam Guerrero, must flatten his vegetable garden. Follow this link for details: http://www.memphisflyer.com/memphis/seeds-of-discontent/Content?oid=3052172
I am writing to support not only Adam Guerrero's right to grow vegetables and other edible plants in his front and/or back yards, but to encourage everyone to plant edibles wherever they have the sunshine to do so. Our country needs examples of how individuals can provide their own food (economic) security and fresh, unprocessed produce. Considering the state of our economy, this should be a priority. In fact, our prime example of the importance of a home garden is the kitchen garden recently revived at The White House. If it was good enough for FDR and is good enough for Mr. Obama, it should be good enough for the rest of us. Please reconsider and rule that lawns and azaleas are not the only acceptable plantings for a front yard.
(Re-posted to FB page Josie Gladys Gardens)

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Vegetable Trials (Yes, and Tribulations, Too!)

March 15, 2011
I can’t seem to stop planting tomato varieties. In the basement nursery, there are Hawaiian Pineapple, Spoon, Large Cherry, Mr. Stripey, Moneymaker, Mortgage Lifter, Omar’s Lebanese, Striped Cavern, Big Rainbow, Amish Paste, Jersey Giant, Roma VF, Principe Borghese, German Tree, Giant Belgium, Hungarian Pink, and an unknown black tomato from seeds saved. And, just now, I’m wondering why I haven’t planted any kind of grape tomato. Of course, there’s still time.

Most of these are planted because I’m curious about tomatoes – the flavor, color, and size. Spoon is the tiniest tomato, literally the size of English peas. And I’ve read that it will be a weed in the garden. Not such a terrible thing, tomatoes as weeds; maybe it will crowd out the crabgrass. Others, like Mr. Stripey, I have a fondness for; it is very low-acid, which means endless tomato sandwiches can be consumed without consequences. Mortgage Lifter is a reliable tomato and, I think, good luck. The breeder was an amateur who repaired radiators and sold tomatoes as a sideline. He sold enough of this one that he paid off his mortgage, hence, the name. Sure enough, after I started growing Mortgage Lifter, I was able to get a much more favorable interest rate on my mortgage. There are specific culinary reasons for growing the Cherry tomato: 1. to use fresh in salads, 2. to make Fireball Pickled Tomatoes, and 3. so the dogs, YoYo and Huckabee, can have their own tomato plant by the garden gate. This keeps them from eating the bigger tomatoes….are at least fewer of them.

Other tomato varieties – Omar’s Lebanese, Giant Belgium, Big Rainbow, German Tree – are returns from last year and are participants in my efforts to become proficient at growing hugemongous tomatoes. New in this year’s slicer trials is the Hawaiian Pineapple (said to have a fruity flavor), which supposedly will reach 1 ½ pounds. First, I have to overcome my hang-up about pruning tomato plants. Why can’t I make myself pinch off those side branches?!!

Then there are my culinary trial tomatoes: Principe Borghese, which did not do last year at all, is for making sun-dried tomatoes. Thanks to a suggestion from someone in a BlossomSwap forum, I will try drying them on the dashboard of my car where they will be safe from birds and bugs. Striped Cavern is supposed to be a thick-walled, hollow tomato perfect for stuffing. I have visions of chicken salad and roasted, rice-stuffed tomatoes for this one. Yum!

The remainder (Roma VF, Amish Paste, Jersey Giant, and Hungarian Pink) are part of my research for an endless yield, perfect flavor, and labor-saving sized paste tomato. This is probably the most important trial, since it has the most “pantry impact.” The goal is to find the very best paste tomato for putting up a year’s supply. These tomatoes will be evaluated on number of seeds, size of individual fruit, total production per plant, length of productive season, earliness and lateness, ability to hold on the vine and in storage, percentage of waste, quality (green shoulders, cracking, rot), and overall vigor. Of course, I will not be pinching the sideshoots of the paste tomatoes.

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Tuesday, September 20, 2011

In support of growing food wherever you can...

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