Even before the first big tomato harvest 2 weeks ago, the garden is still the most productive I've ever had. We moved a year ago, and I managed to get some plants in the ground this year... and wow, having sunlight and summer heat makes all the difference.
Here's the count so far:
- Lemon Boy tomato (7oz each): 123 = 53.8lb
- Early Girl tomato (5oz): 46 = 14.4lb
- Sunsugar tomato (0.5oz): 454 = 14.2lb
- Celebration tomato: none yet
- Yellow pear tomato: died
- Yellow papaya squash (1lb, they were older): 7 = 7lb
- Vulcan chard: 10 fully grown leaves
- Mint: a nibble every other morning
- Basil: just enough for tomato flavorings
The tomato harvest from 2 weeks ago
What have we been doing with all this stuff?
- Fresh:
- Hundreds of Sunsugar tomatoes eaten raw, they are a burst of liquid sunshine.
- Balsamic basil tomato salad
- Tomato soup, which ends up hilariously orange, but is also the best tomato soup I have ever tasted.
- Salsa... SO much salsa, on everything
- Baked parmesan squash
- Stir-fried chard
- Mint tea
- Preserved for winter:
- Sun-dried tomatoes
- Canned tomato soup
- Canned crushed tomatoes... last night I canned 10 quarts!
- Dried tomato skins (for making veggie stocks)
- Gifts: I've given quite a few tomatoes to family and coworkers. They are too good to keep to myself!
From the top left, clockwise:
salsa, tomato soup to be cooked, fresh tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes in the making
The fruit harvest has not even begun yet... the plums are very nearly ripe (I make my grandma's plum preserves recipe), and the apples still have a long while to go (apple crisp, mostly... they are bug-eaten so they must be sliced up). There is also a rapidly-growing sweet potato vine that is taking over an entire garden bed, so there may be some treasures under the soil later.
It is really fun to see what has been successful in the garden, and to plan for the coming seasons. Today I stopped to pick up some seed: beet, spinach, chard, kale, radish, and a pack of mixed mustards. I'll plant them this week, and hope for a very leafy fall harvest.
Yesterday afternoon's harvest. This is a ridiculous amount, coming off just 3 plants all at once.
You can see a yellow papaya squash on the top right side, and it looks like those lemongrass stalks in the windowsill are ready to be planted after 2 weeks in water.
I'll work on getting up some of those recipes I mentioned today, and will link them back to this post.
What's your favorite way to eat tomatoes?
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