Celebrating The First Tomatoes

Posted on June 11, 2013 by Ann Lovejoy
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Early Harvests & Fine Feasts

Tomato by Ann Ranlett http://annran.blogspot.com/

The first of almost anything often seems worth celebrating, especially if it involves eating something delicious. Here on Bainbridge Island, the entire community seemed to be rejoicing over the first local tomatoes to find their way to market. The market in question was the island’s Farmers Market, where Brian McWharter, a local grower, was selling the first fruits of his grafted vegetable crops.

Besides selling in the market, Brian runs a CSA and also supplies our local Town & Country grocery market with a great deal of produce grown at Middlefield Farm, an historic property about a mile from the grocery store. Late in May, Brian told me that he was growing both grafted tomatoes and peppers and would be picking his first ripe tomatoes the first week of June.

Home Grown Goodies

My own grafted tomatoes are covered with blossoms, with a few small fruits already formed, but none are yet fully ripe. Even so, we have so much in the way of greens, snow peas, green onions, and strawberries that a wait of a few more weeks seems inconsequential. In fact, I can’t remember ever having tomatoes even close to ripe by this time of year before, so even green ones seem well worth a mild celebration.

Mine are growing in my sunporch, which hardly qualifies as a true greenhouse. However, it does provide more warmth than the deck where all my larger potted things are growing, especially at night, when temperature still dip into the high 40’s on occasion. The deck is south facing, offering floods of sunlight when there is any, though most mornings are muffled in marine fog. This generally burns off by mid-afternoon, which makes both the greens and the peas very productive and happy.

Agretti Again

I’ve even got some seedling agretti returning after last year’s crop froze to death. I had not noticed any flowers, though they are most certainly inconspicuous at best. This succulent Mediterranean marine vegetable looks like muscular chives and has a crisp texture and salty, seaweedy flavor that’s lovely in salads. I also like to frizzle the young shoots in olive oil with garlic and sea salt and use them as a tasty garnish on steamed asparagus or poached fish.

In Italy, agretti is often fried or steamed and drizzled with olive oil and fresh lemon juice. The result is delicious, especially if you add some chopped shallots to the mix. Many years ago, I remember eating a totally amazing pasta dish in southern Italy involving wide fresh noodles tossed with agretti, fresh spinach, and baby peas in a very light, lemony cream sauce. Here’s my version of that memorable meal:

Fresh Pasta With Spring Vegetables

8-12 ounces fresh tagliatelle
2 tablespoons virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons chopped shallots
1 organic lemon, zest grated
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 bunch (about half a pound) agretti, rinsed
12 ounces young spinach
1 pound new peas, shelled
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup heavy organic cream
1/4 cup peccorino cheese, coarsely grated

While pasta water heats, combine oil, shallots, lemon zest and 1/4 teaspoon sea salt and pepper in a wide, shallow pan over medium high heat and cook to the fragrance point (about 1 minute). Add agretti, spinach and peas and cook stirring often, until lightly wilted (2-3 minutes). Add wine, bring to a simmer, add cream, reduce heat to low while pasta cooks. Drain pasta, toss with sauce and serve, garnished with grated cheese. Serves at least one.

Welcome Baby!

My son and his wife are also celebrating the birth of their son, a strapping 10 pounder with a great deal to say for himself. After several false starts, he arrived briskly yesterday afternoon amid a loving crowd of family and friends. I was amazed and impressed by both parents, my daughter-in-love for her generosity in sharing her labor and delivery with the many people who love her dearly, and my son for his ardent, loving, calm, and compassionate support. They are truly partnered and will clearly be remarkable parents, aided and nurtured by their chosen community. How beautiful!

And the baby’s name? So far, it is Small Person Lovejoy, until his doting parents have time to suss out the most appropriate one(s). Onward!!

Posted in Recipes, Sustainable Gardening, Sustainable Living, Tomatoes | 4 Comments

Sweet And Savory Rhubarb Treats

Posted on June 5, 2013 by Ann Lovejoy
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Crazy About Rhubarb

All spring we’ve been eyeing the rhubarb plants, waiting for the exact moment to begin the harvest. We started in mid-May and are still gloating over the succulent stalks coming into the kitchen. For the record, I love rhubarb. So do my housemates, and we are having so much fin inventing new ways to appreciate it. Rhubarb crumble? Check. Salsa? Check. Sherbet? Insanely good!!!

I also love rhubarb for its flamboyant good looks. Those bold, ruffled leaves, the wine red or deep green stems, the fountaining plume of florets, so beloved of bees, all make for a plant with a lot of drama. Years ago, when I grew a number of ornamental rhubarbs, it was a full time job to keep my dad from wading into the border, knife in hand, to gather it for the kitchen. I don’t know that the ornamental types are inedible, but since the foliage is pretty toxic, it’s not worth wrecking a perfectly good garden vignette to find out.

Oh Baby

SInce my first grandchild is due any minute (early labor has begun), I’m keeping this short. I will, however, share some of the favorite recipes we’ve come up with this spring, starting with:

Rhubarb Sherbet

4 cups rhubarb, in 1-inch pieces
1 cup water
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup honey or sugar to taste
1 cup organic heavy cream

In a saucepan, combine rhubarb with water, bring to a boil over medium heat. Cover pan, reduce heat to medium low and simmer until soft (15-20 minutes). Put rhubarb through a food mill or puree it, add vanilla and sea salt, then sweeten to taste. Add cream and chill for at least 2 hours or overnight. Freeze in an ice cream maker, return to freezer until set (about 30 minutes), then serve. Serves at least one.

Shrimp Salad With Hot Rhubarb Dressing

2 cups cabbage, shredded
4 cups mixed greens
8 ounces cooked shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 orange bell pepper, thinly sliced
4 green onions, sliced
Hot Rhubarb Dressing (see below)

In a large bowl, toss all ingredients, let stand 10 minutes, then serve. Serves 4.

Hot Rhubarb Dressing

1 tablespoon virgin olive oil
2 shallots, finely chopped
1 dried Italian hot pepper
1 red onion, chopped
1 teaspoon lemon thyme, stemmed and chopped
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
2 cups rhubarb, in 1/4-inch slices
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
1 tablespoon sugar (or more to taste)

In a deep saucepan, heat oil, shallot, and dried pepper over medium high heat, stirring, until pepper is well browned (2 minutes). Discard pepper and add onion, thyme, and salt and cook, stirring often, until soft (3-5 minutes). Add rhubarb and orange juice, sprinkle with sugar, cover pan, reduce heat to medium low and cook, stirring often, until tender (15-20 minutes).  Use at once or chill for up to 2 days. Makes about 2 cups.

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Indigo Children: The New Black Tomatoes

Posted on May 29, 2013 by Ann Lovejoy
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Indigo Rose’s Babies & Nutrition’s Top Tomato

For the past few years, I’ve been growing an unusual new tomato called Indigo Rose, which has proven to be a terrific performer despite our fluctuating, often cool maritime Northwestern weather. Blue-skinned Indigo Rose is outstanding in several ways; for one, it boasts remarkably high levels of anthocyanins, the potent antioxidants that make blueberries a superfood. For another, it tastes amazing; bright, tangy, and sweet-tart. Finally, it’s stunning in a salad and gorgeous on the plate.

Happily, no genetic engineering was used to create this new super tomato. Instead, Dr. Jim Meyers at Oregon State University patiently hand-crossed dark-colored heritage tomatoes with wild varieties from Chile and the Galapagos Islands. The result is a dazzlingly delicious, 2-inch tomato combining midnight purple skin with a rosy red interior. However, since it never turns red, it can be hard to tell when it’s really ripe. The secret? When the skin turns from glossy blue-black to matte purplish-brown, the amazing taste will be at its peak.

New Blues For You

While Indigo Rose was winning gardener’s hearts across the country, hybridizer Peter Mes was busily breeding a whole crop of new baby blues. These blue babies are as healthy and wholesome as their mom, packed with anthocyanins and a host of other phytonutrients. Most grow 3-5 feet high and need sturdy cages or trellises to climb on (especially the indeterminates, which are strong growers).

The Indigo family now includes INDIGO Apple, an indeterminate grower that produces 2-4 ounce, round fruits with blue-black topsides and rosy bottoms. These succulent sweeties are excellent for eating fresh. INDIGO Blue Beauty is also indeterminate, producing hefty, pink 4-8 oz. beefsteak tomatoes with dark blue shoulders and rosy flesh.

Blue Cherries

Those who prefer tiny tomatoes will delight in INDIGO Blue Berries, which offers clusters of midnight red cherry tomatoes with sparkling flavor. They really look like cherries but have that true tomato taste that makes it hard to stop popping them in your mouth. INDIGO Ruby also looks cherry-like, with plum-shaped and plum colored fruits with dark red flesh. Tastiest of all is semi-indeterminate INDIGO Kumquat, which produces large crops of fragrant, sweet-tart, peach-colored grape tomatoes with the familial deep blue shoulders.

Also semi-indeterminate, INDIGO Sun produces generous crops of sunny yellow cherry tomatoes with purple streaked shoulders and warm yellow flesh. These share the family’s high anthocyanin levels and offer a bright, spunky flavor to boot. Another golden girl, INDIGO Starburst, is a determinate plant with plump yellow fruit blushed with purple and sweet on the palette.

Tomatoes On Seawater Seem Sweeter

A few years ago, I read about a Rutgers University study in which commercially grown tomato plants were given a single dose of seawater. The resulting tomatoes were significantly more flavorful than those that did not get a sip of seawater. I decided to try this myself and was favorably impressed with the enhanced flavor. Ever since, I routinely give each tomato plant a cup of seawater mixed into a quart of plain well water. This boosts the natural flavors without disturbing that crucial sweet-tart balance that makes the best tomatoes sing of summer.

Grafted For Greatness

All my tomatoes are grafted these days, thanks to the excellent results I’ve had for the past few years. When erratic weather stunted my control plants, the grafted ones just kept on growing, despite cool nights or sudden heat. After years of struggling to grow tomatoes well in my cold Northwestern gardens, I’m totally sold on the benefits of growing grafted tomatoes. That is to say, I now get great harvests of RIPE fruit as well as the usual masses of green ones in late fall.

If you give grafted tomatoes a try, DO NOT follow the usual practice of deep planting or mulching, since roots formed on the scion lack the advantages the rootstock brings to the union. Keep the graft well above ground and pinch off any shoots from beneath the graft. Handle grafted plants gently and cage or stake them well, providing ample support to avoid damaging the graft. Feed and water as usual, pruning off excess foliage to direct more energy to fruiting.

How To Succeed…

You’ll find explicit, clear information on grafting and grafted vegetables at http://loghouseplants.com/plants/library/grafting/. Please do read it; it’s critical NOT to use the usual techniques when we plant grafted tomatoes, because doing so negates all the benefits grafting can bring. Good luck, and may this summer be fruitful!

Posted in Nutrition, Sustainable Gardening, Sustainable Living, Tomatoes, Uncategorized | Tagged | 3 Comments

When Tent Caterpillars Arrive, Be Safe & Sane

Posted on May 20, 2013 by Ann Lovejoy
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Don’t Burn Down The House

For the past few years, I’ve been seeing an occasional baggy web that indicates the resurgence of tent caterpillars. It’s been quite a while since their last true infestation, which was a memorable one. Personally, I find the sound of caterpillar droppings falling to the ground to be particularly creepy. This year, the tent caterpillars are definitely back in force.

By late April, I noticed a few trees and shrubs holding small white tents full of these pesky creatures. In areas where the infestation was light last year, this years’ crop looks bigger than over. Where there were no caterpillars, the first few webs are just beginning to show up on susceptible trees and shrubs.

Watch And Wait?

Before leaping into action, it’s worth asking ourselves whether tent caterpillars are really so bad? After all, they have been part of the natural cycle of events for millennia. If an infestation of tent caterpillars isn’t very close to your home or deck and isn’t bothering your garden or orchard plants, the recommendation from forestry scientists at WSU is simply to leave them alone.

Why? By thinning the canopy of the forest, tent caterpillars allow young conifers to stretch more quickly toward the sun. Those revolting caterpillar droppings help fertilize the understory of the woodlands. Hmm. However, when tent caterpillars are wreaking havoc in the garden, it is very hard to sit back and let them defoliate your favorite roses or fruit trees. Fortunately, there are a number of safe, sane and effective ways to cope with a revolting caterpillar infestation.

No Flames, Please

These do NOT include using flame weeders. In the past, a surprising number of enterprising folk managed to set their homes on fire because they were trying to kill tent caterpillars with flame weeders. Really, no. No flames, please. You don’t have to simply be passive, though; as soon as you spot either white tents or baby caterpillars, you can take action. Start by stripping off any webs you can reach and bag or burn them. Some folks like to prune off affected branches, but this can be disfiguring to the tree or shrub and depletes the plant’s resources as badly as the caterpillars will.

Spraying toxic caterpillar pesticides only works when you spray the caterpillars, not the webs, which are waterproof and impermeable to toxins. Instead, if there are many unreachable webs in your garden, your best option is to spray the foliage near the webs with Bt or Bacillus thuringiensis. Bt is a naturally occurring bacteria that makes a great pest control. The form of Bt used on caterpillars interrupts their normal digestion and maturation processes. When they eat leaves sprayed with Bt, they stop eating and die.

How Long, Oh Lord?

This process can take a couple of days, though affected caterpillars stop feeding fairly quickly after taking in the Bt. It works fastest on small caterpillars and takes longer with husky big guys. You should see definite results (such as a lack of moving caterpillars) within 2-3 days of spraying.

Like most botanical pesticides, Bt doesn’t last very long, so you may need to spray several times if you have a bad infestation. This may be especially true this year, as fluctuating spring temperatures cause caterpillars to hatch out in flushes. To control an outbreak effectively, timing is critical. Watch your plants, and notice when the caterpillars emerge from the webs. Until they do, nothing is going to kill them, however deadly. Once the babies emerge and begin to feed, you can start your spray program.

Be Mindful Of The Bees

Choose a calm, windless day and a time when bees and other pollinators are not present (early morning or late afternoon). Spray only the trees and shrubs that are hosting emerged and feeding caterpillars. Usually, spraying Bt every 2 or 3 days for a week will take care of even a severe caterpillar attack.

Carefully targeted and timed Bt use minimizes or eliminates accidental non-target caterpillar kill. Because Bt dissipates so quickly, it won’t persist to be a problem for the later-appearing caterpillars of Painted Ladies and other handsome butterflies. Take time to examine your caterpillars to see if they really are tent caterpillars. Tent caterpillars are about 2 inches long, dark brown and very fuzzy, with a white stripe down their back and linear or blobby red or blue side markings. If your caterpillars look like this and are emerging from baggy tents, you can be very sure about your identification.

Take A Good Look At That Face

Before spraying with Bt, examine the caterpillars for signs of parasitic wasps. Typically, the tiny wasps lay a single egg on each caterpillar’s head, though an egg may appear anywhere on the body. The white eggs are about the size of a pinhead. Dotted caterpillars are already doomed.

If you find plenty of white-dotted tent caterpillars, you may decide to do nothing to the caterpillars that are not eating your garden favorites. Tolerating a little damage will encourage the parasitic wasps, which are an excellent natural control. If the caterpillars are feeding on precious plants, you may want to spray Bt anyway, or do some hand picking. However, instead of squishing them, consider tossing tiny caterpillars into an area of weeds or long grass, so they remain available to their natural parasites.

If You Do Nothing

If you do nothing, the caterpillars will pupate, then emerge as moths. In a month or so, you will notice rusty reddish-brown moths/fluttering frantically around outdoor lights at night. The moths will soon lay their eggs for next year’s generation of tent caterpillars. You can strip these egg sacs off very easily when they are fresh or any time during the year. You may also release tiny trichogramma wasps that parasitize the eggs.

Tent caterpillars are most likely to be found on fruit trees, from Indian plum and wild cherry to apples, pears and peaches. They also enjoy alders, cascara, and birch trees. You will need a trombone sprayer (and good water pressure) to reach tents that are high up in large trees. In high population years, the caterpillars can pretty well defoliate these trees. Healthy trees are rarely killed, but trees that are already struggling can be pushed over the edge by a bad attack. Evaluating where the caterpillars are and how many there are can help you decide your course of action.

Oldies Are Not Goodies

If you use Bt, check the label on the bottle to be sure you have a fresh solution. Usually, the shelf life is a year or two for unopened bottles and about 3 months for opened bottles. Wettable powders may be good for two years if unopened. Any Bt lying around in the garage since the last tent caterpillar infestation is most probably no good, especially if it has frozen and thawed. Start fresh for best results!

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