Grow Some Bananas In Your Garden.

Banana Leg tomatoes are finally ripening in the garden and they are most welcome.

The Garden Is A Good Place To Laugh

Patio Gold

These tomatoes bred specifically for containers seem right at home in my repurposed trash receptacle.

Lycopene Cravings

The first hard frost hasn't even arrived yet, but I am already dreading the severe withdrawal symptoms that I'll experience because of my addiction to fresh tomatoes.

Columbus Day

Love him or hate him, there can be no argument that Christopher Columbus' voyages changed the world map and the way people eat. Without the age of discovery unleashed by his travels, peppers, tomatoes, potatoes, corn and chocolate would have remained locked in the New World for years, decades or centuries to come.

Try to imagine German, Irish or other European cuisines without potatoes. What would many cuisines of the world be like without peppers, both sweet and spicy? And would you want to live in a world where the Italians had never encountered the tomato? So if you can't celebrate Columbus for the man he was, you can celebrate the food diversity his voyages triggered in the rest of the world.

A Pizza The Good Life

All good things come to those who wait and now we're in a month that was definitely worth waiting for, National Pizza Month. And while we can't grow mozzarella, pepperoni, ham or sausage in our gardens(sigh), we can grow herbs and veggies that make a homemade pizza all the more special because they add fresh flavors that can only be found in produce that was harvested just a few minutes ago.

So go ahead and grow basil and tomatoes. Make that homemade pizza sauce. Shred yellow summer squash or zucchini. Drain them, squeeze out the excess liquid and sprinkle them  generously over your creation. Put on some young tender spinach. Add homegrown onions and peppers if you like, raw or sauteed. And you can even include roasted homegrown garlic if you have a mind to.

The variations of pizza are endless. And you'll need far more than one month to explore them. So get started now and enjoy! Mangia! Mangia!

Sumptuous And Simple Summer Vegetable Recipe

When the tomatoes and summer squash are producing faster than you seem to be able to keep up with, it pays to have a simple recipe or two handy to use the abundance that Mother Nature has given you. Here is one of my favorites.

Summer Vegetable Medley

• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 lb. yellow summer squash, sliced
• 1 large or two medium tomatoes, cut into wedges
• 1 bunch of green onions, sliced
• 1 large bell or 3 to 4 regular sized banana peppers, seeded and cut into chunks
• 1 tsp salt or 1 tsp non-salt seasoning mix
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp black pepper 

Heat oil in large skillet. Saute squash for a couple of minutes then add the pepper chunks. After a couple of minutes more add the green onions. When the other vegetables are tender, add  the sugar, salt/non-salt seasoning, pepper and tomato wedges and stir well. Lower the heat and cover the skillet. Simmer for 10 to 12 minutes more  stirring occasionally. Season to taste and then serve. This is great over white rice!

Roma Tomato Heaven

These fresh, ripe Roma tomatoes are headed to the wonderful place that all good Roma tomatoes go, Marinara sauce!

Just A Part Of Today's Small Container Tomato Harvest

I left these on the vine as long as I could to make sure they had full flavor. I was not disappointed. There would be more to show you, but I couldn't help checking product quality(snacking) while I was harvesting.

Welcome To The Container Tomato Jungle

It looks as though it's going to be another good year for container tomatoes. And yes, they are as delicious as they appear to be.

A Simple Recipe For Hearty Tomato Soup

Most tomato soup recipes start with the words, 'peel and seed tomatoes'. And if you're like me, your first thought is, do I really have to go through all of that for a tasty tomato soup? Well, the fact is you don't. What follows is a recipe for delicious tomato soup that involves none of the tedium of peeling and seeding tomatoes.

Coarsely chop one medium sized onion and saute it in a deep, heavy pan with olive oil until it is soft and translucent. Then add about one pound each of coarsely chopped tomatoes and carrots, three diced stalks of celery and four or five cloves of minced garlic. Saute all ingredients for another 1-2 minutes.

Add four cups of water or chicken stock, a couple of bay leaves, a little pepper, and one tablespoon of a non-salt spice mix such as Mrs. Dash.

Mix all ingredients and then bring the mixture to a boil. Allow it to simmer for 30 minutes. Then puree in a blender or food processor.

You don't want a perfectly smooth soup. So short bursts at the puree setting should be enough create a thick, coarse-textured soup.

You may serve your soup topped with chopped green onions, chives or whatever suits your taste. And I have found that this soup goes well with thick slices of garlic bread.

Bon Appétit!

The Cherokees Are Coming, Tomatoes That Is...

The first Cherokee tomatoes are starting to ripen. I thought it would take longer for them to reach this stage but I'm not going to complain. If the weather behaves as it usually does, they should have the rest of August and all of September to reach their full, flavorful glory.

Groundhog Wars- Part Deux

In the never ending struggle to thwart the ever present woodchucks, my best friends have become large, discarded, plastic trash receptacles and discarded plastic storage bins. When combined, they make great high rise containers that keep the fruits of my labor beyond the reach of the relatives of Punxsutawney Phil. In the photographs above pepper plants, basil and a container tomato plant have found a happy home.

Of course, I can't do this with all of my  plants, but every little bit helps.

The Season Of Bounty Is Upon Us

 As this photo of the initial harvest of Tumbling Tom and Tiny Tom container tomatoes clearly shows, the season of bounty has finally arrived. And the larger tomato plants are not far behind. It's been forecast that the next two months in this area will be warmer than average. So I hope the bounty will last at least until the end of September.

My Blue Bargain

 A few days ago I went to our neighborhood dollar store hoping to find some planters on sale for 50% off or more. As I rounded the corner to enter the aisle containing the gardening and outdoor products, there in the middle of the floor was this blue beauty. It was bruised beyond use for its original purpose of storage, but I instantly recognized that it would make an excellent plant container. The price for this 30 gallon gardening treasure? Eighty-nine cents!

My bargain hunting doesn't pay off nearly this well most of the time, but on the occasions when it does it makes all the misses worth the time and effort. As you can see I have placed two tomato plants in it and they are thriving. I hope they will both have a bountiful yield.

Tomato Finale

The average first frost date for our fair city is October 13th. We've managed to dodge that this year, but if the prognosticators of the weather are correct we'll have frost overnight in a couple of days. So these are probably the last vine ripened tomatoes of this growing season. Maybe one of these days I'll have the resources to grow fresh veggies year-round. Until then, like most people, I'll just have to make do with what I have.

Tomato Grower's Lament

When nightshade fruits come out to play.

They ripen in the sun all day.

They may come in the summer.

They may come in the fall.

But it's a real bummer.

When they don't come at all.

A Plethora Of Lycopersica

Humans in Central and South America had been eating tomatoes since at least 500 B.C., but it took the Spaniards to spread this versatile vegetable to Asia, through the Philippines and to Europe.

A member of the deadly nightshade family of plants, rumors persisted for years in Europe that tomatoes were poisonous. And for some time the plants were grown as nothing more than ornamentation or conversation pieces. Of course, there is always some adventurous soul who will try anything. And once Europeans learned that it was the leaves and not the fruit that was poisonous, they couldn't get enough of this strange, shiny import from the Americas.

This year I have about a dozen small containers planted with Tiny Tom, Tumbling Tom and Peardrop varieties. And as you can see from the photo above, the plants have given an abundant harvest.

Garden Medley

No need to wonder why I look forward to this time of year so much when you see a quartet of flavors pulled fresh from the garden like this. We have red Tiny Tom and Canary Tumbling Tom tomatoes accompanied by savory carrots and bulb green onions. And by the way, these were all grown in containers.

Southern Delight

It has come to my attention. I say, it has come to my attention that there are some who have never, I say, never sampled the southern delicacy known as fried green tomatoes. It's a travesty, I say, a travesty that this is the case. Especially when they are so easy to make you'd have to be busier than a centipede at a foot counting contest not to have time to whip up some for yourself. So why don't you give them a try? Unless you're too much of a Yankee, I say, Yankee to do so.