Oops...

Well I really messed up today. I hadn't done a water change on the tilapia tank in well over a week. I came home today and it smelled TERRIBLE. At the end of a water change there were 37 fingerlings left, so it looks like I lost about 20 fish. Since they're starting to get big (the largest one is at least two inches) it was a pretty bad loss.

Attack of the Swiss Chard!

My garden is overrun with chard at the moment, so I started scouring the internet for Chard entrees and found about none. I've had my mind on learning to cook Indian food since a lot of it is vegetarian and thus would be good for eating out of my garden, so I decided to try making korma with some chicken but mostly chard. I used this recipe for chicken korma, but added about two pounds of chard to the mix and tripled or quadrupled most of the other ingredients. I also added a couple spoonfuls of corn starch at the end to thicken up the sauce.

2 pounds of Swiss Chard

Cooking it up

Voila! The finished product.

Flavor turned out great! It was really delicious, spicy and creamy. Texture had some improvements to make though. The chicken should have been cooked longer and the chard was cooked so long it was reduced to no texture at all. The texture-less chard probably is more authentic, but it's an odd sensation to know I'm putting vegetable in my mouth and have the texture be no different from the sauce alone

Harvest Tally:
2 lbs of Chard
2.5 oz of Juliet grape tomatoes

Tomato/Pepper Bed

Now that the tomatoes are in the ground, I need to decide what's going around them. The plan is to have various pepper and basil plants in front of the tomatoes with some shallots and borage tucked in around the tomatoes. The only ones I'm worried about are the shallots, as it may be too warm for them to grow over the summer. I guess we'll find out!

Here's the layout. Each column will be separated by 9 inches, and each row will be separated by about 6 inches. A chain link fence runs along the top of this table, about 4 inches back from the row containing the tomatoes.

Planting Tomatoes

Elliott and I finished digging the trench out yesterday, 216 inches long and a little short of two feet wide and two feet deep. A helicopter was circling overhead...I wonder if they thought we were digging a really long grave.

This morning I planted the tomatoes, cutting off all the branches up to the top two, and then planting up to those two branches. I laid the plant's stem at a roughly 45 degree angle in the ground so the part above ground could be a few inches from the fence and the root ball would be close to the front of the trench. I sprinkled a tablespoon or two of E.B. Stone's Tomato and Vegetable Food in each hole and closed them up.

My cute little tomato plants, all ready to go.

Tilapia

Last Friday I drove down to San Diego to purchase some Tilapia fingerlings from Tilapia Mama. They were tiny little things (only a couple had made it to an inch long) and were mixed colors with a little over half being dark gray and the rest a pale pink color. I presume those turn out being black and red tilapia respectively. I paid $25 for 60 fish.

Tilapia Fingerlings

I then went to San Diego Pet Supply and Feed which is possibly the most impressive feed store I've ever been in (they had monkey food of all things...like, to feed your pet monkey). I bought a little over 8 pounds each of flax and hemp seed, and a little over 6 pounds of trout chow. The total came to about $40. She says she feeds her fish almost exclusively ground flax and duckweed, but recommended the hemp and trout chow as other options.

Tilapia Mama recommended using a coffee grinder to grind up the flax, so I stopped at Walmart and bought a $15 electric coffee grinder. I mixed about 1/2 a cup each of flax and hemp seed and 1/4 or 1/3 cup of trout chow in batches in the coffee grinder. Right now the fish are still too small it seems to eat a whole duckweed plant, so even though there's duckweed in their tank they are eating mostly this flax/hemp/trout chow mix and seem to love it.

Right now I've got them in a 30 gallon next to our discus tanks, my plan being to hold them in there until they're a little larger and more robust. The tank temp is at around 84 F, a temperature which I can't maintain outside until it gets a bit warmer. They are growing really fast and there are now many that are over an inch in size and are looking nice and pudgy. I lost three the first day, probably due to travel trauma...and I lost three more today probaby due to the water being too concentrated with waste. I'll have to do water changes pretty regularly since they're pretty dirty eaters and it's a small tank, though if they keep growing quickly I suspect they'll be out in the aquaponics garden before too long.

A complete ecosystem...or it will be once the Tilapia move in!

Tomato Varieties

I went a little crazy picking out tasty tomato plants this year. I ended up with a dozen bitty baby plants and it was hard not to buy more :)

Below are the photos and descriptions taken from Laurel's Heirloom Tomato Plants from whom I purchased my plants. I'll add my own photographs when my plants start producing, but I'm not sure I'll be able to compete with Laurel's descriptions.

Ananas Noir aka Black Pineapple (80 days)
We have been growing Ananas Noir as a special order for a very discriminating local tomato maniac. From Belgian grower Pascal Moreau, Ananas Noir is French for Black Pineapple. This big, unruly sprawling plant will give you a heavy crop of round, dark-purple 1 to 1½ lb. tomatoes with enticing green shoulders. The interior color is a prism of deep purple, pink, chartreuse and red hues. Loaded with full-bodied flavors, its smoky sweetness gives way to a surprising tang bursting in your mouth. Ananas Noir is a magical combination of fragrant tropical sugar and sassy enticement.Does well in fairly high heat and cool climates.


Anna Russian (65 days)
This was the very first heirloom tomato I ever tasted and one of the finest of the oxheart tomatoes. The plant has very delicate, wistful foliage as do many of the Russian varieties. Don't let that fool you! Anna is easy to grow and bears heavily during hot and cool weather.

Years ago my mom brought me some perfect heart-shaped Anna Russians from her garden. She had gotten the seeds from a friend. I tasted; I swooned. From 8 to 12 ounces, the fruits she brought had grown in beautiful clusters of 2 or 3--I wouldn't be without it.Still in my top 5 favorites after all these years, Anna Russian is always among the first few plants I set out in my home garden every spring in a little Tomato Love ceremony. Its perfect heart shape in colors ranging from pink to red make it very special indeed.

Anna Russian seeds came to Craig Lehoullier from Brenda Hillenius of Oregon, who got the seeds from her grandfather, Kenneth Wilcox. Years earlier he had been given the original seeds from a Russian immigrant friend--a genuine example of the intriguing history these grand old tomatoes carry with them. Very early ripening.

Black Plum (82 days)
This marvelous plant offers a very heavy production of rich, sweet, fruity, elongated, mahogany plum-shaped 3" fruits that fall into your hands by the dozens as you pick them. This one is outstanding eaten fresh, or sliced in a salad, with a rich smoky sweetness and a delicate touch of tartness to its creamy flesh, it makes a fabulous and perfectly balanced sauce or paste and is becoming a great favorite for canning. I like it fresh off the vine for straight-up garden snackin'. First place winner at the TomatoMania tasting of 2002. Does well in foggy/coastal climates as well as full sun. Early ripening. Does well in containers. A paste/sauce tomato.

Brown Berry aka Chocolate Cherry (72 days)
The first brown cherry tomato, Brown Berry yields an exceptionally large crop of chocolate colored 1" cherry tomatoes. Semi-sweet, elaborate flavors finish with a fine hint of tang just over its fruity sweetness. Wonderfully juicy and a great snacking tomato! Adds another layer of color and flavor to your cherry tomato presentation.


Chocolate Amazon (80 days)
This exceedingly rare, beautiful and incredibly delicious variety is the first tomato that I can say rivals my all-time favorite, Paul Robeson. Everyone who tastes it goes mad with tomato love and says it is the best tasting tomato they have ever tried, bar none. The flavor of this deep chocolate-brown tomato, as described by Lisa of Amishland Heirloom Seeds, " a distinctive, winey, smoky, rich taste and fabulous color." Lisa was the first to offer seeds of Chocolate Amazon which were sent to her by her Ukrainian friend, Sergey. Double the size of most other black tomatoes, reaching 1 lb. or more, extremely prolific and pumping out sweet, luscious, juicy tomatoes right into the cooler weather, Chocolate Amazon is in our top three discoveries for your 2009 garden Lisa's beautiful photographs are used here with her kind permission.


Goose Creek (75-80 days)
This delectable historical family heirloom is one of the rarest plants we offer and our top seller. The flavor and color run deep in Goose Creek, a stunning, deeply red fruit, round or slightly flattened, sometimes lobed, with occasional gold streaks or speckling, faintly visible in the photo. Juicy, very sweet and intensely tomatoey as if injected with concentrated tomato flavor, it is ambrosial. I've rarely tasted a tomato to compare. Averaging 6-7 ounces, with very few seeds; it has now made my top 3 list.

This family treasure comes to us from my dear friend and edible landscape expert, Jimmy Williams, owner of Hayground Organic Gardening in whose home garden is an enchanting escape. Jimmy and his Native Island Gullah-Geechee family are descendants of slaves brought in bondage from The Caribbean to the coastal islands of the Southern United States to grow rice for plantation owners. The Gullah are still keepers of a fascinating culture of food, language and beloved traditions--a most extraordinary and delightful people.

The seeds of this sublime fruit have been passed down through generations since the 1800's when Jimmy's great-great grandmother, a young Caribbean slave, smuggled them with her aboard ship. When the ship docked at Charleston near Goose Creek, South Carolina, she had the treasured seeds with her, hidden deep in her skirt pocket and planted them that first spring. Jimmy's grandmother, Elouise Watson, shared this precious heirloom with him more than 45 years ago, assuring Goose Creek's place in his family's garden for generations to come.

Among its extraordinary qualities: A very high fruit yield and very few seeds. Along with being very heat tolerant, it shows remarkable cold-tolerance along the cooler coastal areas where the fruits continue to set and ripen through November and December. It is a wonderful choice for growing in containers. Goose Creek has two distinctly different and superb flavors during two phases of its growth: when partially ripe and still showing some light green at the shoulders it has a brisk citrusy taste balanced with a fine, lingering touch of sweetness, and again at full red ripeness when it develops an intensely rich, earthy sweet flavor and luxurious, silken texture.

Very prolific, this exquisite variety has been featured recently in Fine Cooking Magazine, The Los Angeles Times Magazine, and Visiting with Huell Howser on PBS. This season it will be featured in Sunset Magazine, Mother Earth News, Weekend Magazine and The Victory Garden on PBS Television. Now available to the home gardener and online exclusively from Laurel's; it is a rare and exquisite selection for your table and your historical garden. A perfect gift for the tomato lover on your list. Can be grown in containers. Tolerates high heat and cold weather. Early ripening.

Opalka (70 days)
This wonderful heirloom originated in Poland. To me, and many other tomato lovers; it's absolutely the finest tasting paste tomato, with 5-inch long, thick red fruit, shaped like little red bananas.The foliage is wispy but the plant is very vigorous and prolific, often the tallest plant in the garden. Very meaty, virtually seedless and loaded with exquisite, refreshing, sweet flavors, marvelous for sauce and fresh eating. Yum. Despite the plant's large size, it's also done very well for me in 20 gallon containers.Does well in containers. Tolerates cold weather. Early ripening. Paste/sauce tomato.

Paul Robeson (65-70 days)

This is my all-time favorite tomato and our top seller. It is a gorgeous, dark and dusky-hued fruit with intensely sweet earthy taste with a hint of tanginess, a luscious velvety smooth texture, beautiful skin, rich with juice. You will love it. The seed was made available by Marina Danilenko, a Moscow seedswoman. This luxurious tomato is named for Paul Robeson (1898-1976), the elegant, renowned and charismatic operatic singer, law school graduate, champion athlete, film star, stage actor, and boundlessly brave champion of civil and personal rights throughout the world. This marvelous plant will give you its perfect 3"- 4" fruit in only 65 days from planting. Incredible; a symphony. I do believe this is the finest tomato in existence. Does well in hot weather and cold weather. Very early ripening. Can be grown in containers.

Sweet Orange Roma(76 days)
For all you folks who are entreating me to include a yellow-orange roma tomato, here it is. This 3" x 1½" fruit grows in prolific quantities and produces so bravely! Takes the heat like a champ and continues late into the year, undeterred by cooler weather. Sweet and lovely, great tasting, gorgeous tomatoes are perfect for fresh eating and cooking.

Valhalla (85-90 days)
This rare and gorgeous deep pink and yellow zebra-striped fruit arose a few years ago in the garden of Krystal Elser of Elser's Country farm. Descended from a pure silver tomato with darker silver streaks found in a patch of Black Zebras, its stunning pearlescent hues give way to elaborate flavors with sweet citrusy notes and a background of melon. Marvelous! Its sister fruit, Blood Gulch, is deep reddish-purple with green streaking and is also new for 2010. Bountiful on the vine, Valhalla will give you loads of 2" fruits and produce up until frost. Truly a delightful new variety for your heirloom garden. A Laurel's exclusive. Does well in heat and cool weather.

Yellow Submarine (70 days)
A wonderful little tomato! Similar in appearance to Yellow Pear but with a deep, rich flavor and excellent texture, Yellow Submarine is replacing Yellow Pear for many gardeners who long for this beguiling shape and color but with big yummy tomatoey taste. Now the cutest little tomato also has great big flavor! Early ripening cherry tomato.

Yellow Zebra
Look at this fruit! This dazzling tomato was such a surprise for me this summer during my tomato tastings. I saw it relaxing on the table there and hollered "Hey there, who are you?"I found it a local farmer's market and one bite convinced me to include it this year. The tantalizing appearance just blew me away. Its bright zingy flavors have a perfectly balanced sweetness with plenty of juice. High productivity, long shelf life and incredible beauty make Yellow Zebra more than a new discovery. It's a new favorite! The same size and shape of Green Zebra, bigger than a gold ball, smaller than a handball. Fabulous!Does well in hot and cool weather.

First Garden-Grown Meal...sort of

Tonight for dinner I picked a pound or two of snap peas and stir fried them up with some pork and served over rice. The recipe I used was pretty bland even though I doubled the amount of sauce that was called for (though it also called for shrimp, not pork) Luckily the peas saved the day! They were sweet and crisp and delicious.

Digging for Tomatoes

I spent a couple hours today digging a trench for my tomatoes. It only ended up being about a foot deep, a couple feet wide, and four and a half feet long (enough for 3 of the 12 little tomato babies I have to find a home for...but I sort of felt like I was digging a grave. I swear I could have buried a midget in that hole.

I took a pick axe to the bottom to fluff up the dirt and the bottom and then filled it back in with dirt from the next four and a half foot section. Ideally I'll have a long enough trench of nice fluffy dirt to get all my tomatoes in there. In the meantime, my legs and back are already feeling pretty sore.

Nasturtiums in Bloom

The nasturtiums have started blooming the last couple days. Maybe there will be enough next weekend to do some experimenting with them in the kitchen. All three varieties are starting to bloom, though the Vanilla Berry variety is not nearly as all over the place as the other two. They're still flowering though, so maybe next year I should stick with this smaller plant.

Vanilla Berry

Fava bean plants are growing strong and have loads of flowers on them. Some of the flowers towards the bottom are beginning to wilt and show signs that they'll produce a pod. Should have loads of fava beans in another few weeks to put in the freezer. Alas, some sort of bug has also taking a liking to the fava bean plants. It doesn't seem to be hurting the plants at all, but there's these little not quite sesame seed sized black bugs that are clinging to a couple of the stalks. They're so numerous that the whole stalk in that area looks black. Those areas also seem to have quite a few ants crawling around...not sure how the black sesame seeds are related to the ants but until the fava beans start to show some discomfort with the situation, I think I'll leave them be.

Strange little black bugs

All my leafy greens have been getting munched on by something over the last few weeks. I've got several holes in each leaf of my Asian mixed greens, Swiss chard, and the beet greens so I spritzed everything with some neem oil. If that doesn't work I'll dig up the bottle of Bt I have laying around somewhere.