I has Tomatoes! ( And rain finally)

There were two more but they got eaten (not by me sadly).
Also I have no idea what variety of tomatoes these are. The plant was a volunteer that sprouted over the winter and then got attacked by spidermites so I cut it back to almost nothing at one point and then stuck it in the garden when it looked like it might survive. It's a small tumbling cherry which makes me thing it's a ditmarsher (I grew one last year) but the colour of the fruit looks more pink, like Russian Rose, which I also grow. This is not my best year for tomatoes. I got off to a rocky start with the aforementioned mites, I mixed up most of my seedlings so not sure what got planted where in containers and I'm having loads of issues with BER- all the Opalkas so far have had to be tossed along with most of the Big Orange Stripes and even a Black Brandywine today - it broke my heart because it was so close to ripe but the middle was rotten throughout.


It's been such a funny year- cold and rainy for so long, things got off to a slow start, then when the heat finally kicked in, it was so dry everything was parched. I've managed to keep everything alive till now but it's felt like all my plants were in survival mode, growing but not producing much. We finally got a good solid rain last night- after the heatwave that was the past few weeks it was desperately needed and everything looks so much happier today. Just in time for me to leave.


Tomorrow I head off on my big adventure- my first ever trip to the UK! My aunt and I are spending almost 4 weeks there, doing some family history research among other touristy stuff. If you are so inclined I hope to be posting some of my adventures in my newest blog The Rising Village but I'll try to post here as well if I get a chance.


It's not great timing for the gardens and preserving but hopefully there will still be lots to eat and can when I return mid August - as long as the Russian remembers to water!

One last pic of the beets in the bin! They're going to have to make it without me watching over them. I think they'll be fine.

Eating in the Heat

We've been having some really hot days recently - temps in the 30's with the humidex making it feel well over 40 (that's 90's and over 100 respectively in American.) This week we expect to hit 36 by Thurs with no relief in sight. For the first time in my life I am grateful for the air conditioning that sneaks in from the apartment vents below us- it doesn't do much in the rest of the house but if I shut the bedroom door it's at least bearable to sleep in at night.

To make matters worse we haven't seen rain in weeks either. Yesterday we were expected to get hit with some big thunder storms but they somehow skirted by us here in Toronto, hitting west, south and east of us but delivering only a smattering of raindrops here on the way by. My gardens are still surviving but the rainbarrel is dry and the containers on the roof have to be watered daily. I'll be hooking up the hose to the kitchen sink today and giving everything a good soaking before refilling the rainbarrel myself. I don't know if it's the lack of water but everything seems to be in a lull right now; the lettuce is done, the bush beans are slowing to a trickle but the climbing beans are just starting to flower. I don't have any cukes or summer squash yet and the tons of tomatoes are still still a ways from ripening- at this rate I'll be lucky to eat one before I leave for England next week!

The most noticeable effect of all this heat is on my appetite and I find I'm not very enthusiastic about preparing food either. When it's too hot to cook, too late for salad greens and too early for tomatoes, what do you make? Yesterday I went to the Sorauren Farmer's Market hoping for inspiration and came home with a loaf of olive bread, a cucumber, some fresh onions, a zucchini and a patty pan squash.
I'd never made cucumber gazpacho before but it seemed easy enough and I used what I had on hand to come up with a variation that was exactly perfect for this heat wave.

Cucumber Gazpacho

1 good size cucumber - I used a field cucumber and didn't bother to seed it but you can if the seeds are large.
1 green pepper, seeded - I picked a very small one from one of my container peppers
1 hot pepper seeded (I used a jalapeno)
1 glug of olive oil
splash of red wine vinegar (to taste- you could use lemon juice or balsamic too)
1 clove of garlic
handful of onion greens- I cut the tops off a fresh red onion- you could use spring onions as well
1 sprig of fresh dill
salt and pepper to taste.

Chop the veggies in chunks. Add everything to a blender or food processor and puree until smooth- I had to add about 1/2 cup of water to thin it slightly. Pour in bowls, and drizzle with good quality olive oil. (I also added a touch of brine from a jar of pickled hot peppers to mine because I like heat when I'm hot but the Russian is a bit of wimp- he doesn't like olives either so guess which bowl is mine!) Chill before serving.

Serve with a piece of dense bread to soak up the remainders and you have a perfect meal for a hot summer night! I wish I'd bought more cucumbers.

The Late Great Beet Challenge!

Linda at Tree and Twig Farm was offering up some free Detroit Red Beet seeds last week if you agreed to participate in a grow-a-long so I gladly signed up! Linda sent the seeds to readers coast to coast and we all agreed to post about our results so we can compare locations, growing conditions and of course results! The idea is to show that it's not too late to still plant seeds and in my case I hadn't yet planted any beets and a bin just waiting to be used. My seeds arrived in the mail earlier this week and today is the agreed upon planting date!


I've never tried to grow beets in a container before but to make the most use of space I like to try different things in the ground and up here on the deck to see what works best. I have very different growing conditions in the two locations- the garden in the ground is partly shaded and the soil depth is still not as deep as I'd like. It lies on top of a former gravel driveway, which provides great drainage but not much depth for root crops. I provide water from a soaker hose attached to a rainbarrel so only the roots get water unless it rains! Up on the deck we get lots of sun and it's a black tar roof so it's hot and can be very dry. I have to water often and that sometimes washes away the soil nutrients so I feed the containers regularly with worm compost and a slow release mineral mix from Urban Harvest. I already have a similar bin of carrots planted so the two bins are getting a good amount of sun sitting on my work bench on the deck.



Also in containers nearby are the tomatoes,


the sweet and hot peppers,


and of course the roof squash!


I'm looking forward to some tasty beet greens and hopefully, a wonderful crop of beets!