A Tasty Tomato Snack

It's surprising what discoveries can be made during an early morning or early evening walk through ye olde vegetable garden.

For instance? I keep waiting, patiently, for three Azoychka tomatoes to turn yellow. They are three of the largest tomatoes I have in the garden. And they stubbornly remain GREEN -- as do about four or five other Lemon Boy tomatoes.

Not that I'm complaining. I am getting surprise production out of the red tomato varieties. In fact, because I was concentrating so hard on the Azoychka, I completely MISSED the Cosmonaut Volkov that was turning ripe right before my very eyes.

The Cosmonaut Volkov, plus a Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red, became part of a tasty tomato snack that Venus and I enjoyed before dinner on Tuesday night. I cut these tomatoes into quarters, douse them with red wine vinegar, dust them with salt and pepper and finally finish the seasoning off with a coating of dried oregano flakes.

Yuuuuum! Tasty.

I also find it somewhat surprising how common red varieties of tomatoes can have a dramatically different taste. The Cosmonaut Volkov has a rather mellow taste to it, while the Rowdy Red is tart, sweet and acidic at the same time.

The Volkov, as you might be able to deduce, is a relatively new variety that was developed in Russia. The Rowdy Red was developed closer to home, by a UC Davis breeder, according to Gary Ibsen of "Tomatofest" fame. The following is from his website:

The seeds of "Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red" came from Archie Millett, a tomato breeder with the University of California at Davis since the early 50's. Following years of crossing thousands of tomato varieties at the university to produce a disease resistant tomato with intense flavor, Archie retired in '87 and continued cross breeding his favorite tomatoes to further enhance the flavor qualities of his favorite tomato from his small home garden.

One day while visiting Archie in his garden he gave me these seeds by pressing them into my palm and said, "Here, Gary, these are for you. I've only shared these with friends and family. This is the best tasting tomato of my 50 years of growing tomatoes. Name it what you want. Share it with others."

...wanting to give this special tomato a boost into recognition and acknowledge Clint, I asked Clint's permission, to name it, "Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red," after Rowdy Yates, the character played by Clint in his old television series Rawhide." Clint replied, "Sure, Gary, name it whatever you want."

Thus, a new tomato "star" of the garden was born.

Reviews on the Rowdy Red have been mixed at best. The plant peforms best here, close to where it was developed. It has not done as well in other gardens in areas across the country. It is growing well in my garden, and I understand it is growing well in other local gardens as well.

The Radish that SWALLOWED Natomas!

I thought this second Sunday post was going to be about tomatoes. Little did I know.

I was going to brag you know -- about pulling FOUR ripe tomatoes out of ye olde tomato garden, including the likes of a Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red (it was begging to be picked), a Druzba and two more Bloody Butchers.

But -- as it turns out -- a common red radish stole the show. Here are the tomatoes to your left. No, we did not run out to the store and buy them (as some have alleged). Those are vine-ripened, heirloom tomatoes. Each and every one. I have never in my life witnessed heirlooms ripen before any other variety, including cherry tomatoes, but this is one heck of a strange year.

Not that I'm complaining. I'll take vine-ripened or tree-ripened anything, any day of the week. But, as good as the tomatoes will be for dinner tonight -- the star of the show isn't tomatoes.

It's the radish that swallowed Natomas.

Venus and I were out harvesting greens for dinner, plus radishes and tomatoes, when she discovered a whopper growing near the back of the garden. This was totally unexpected. This radish has been in the ground for the exact same time as the other, normal sized radishes. It's not woody. It's not old. It's just a baseball sized radish.

Quite frankly, I've never seen a radish quite this big before. Don't get me wrong. We've pulled some whoppers from the garden before. But a radish the size of a baseball? Planted at the exact same time as the normal sized radishes?

That's a first, for both of us.

The garden will contribute quite a bit to tonight's dinner. The fresh greens, tomatoes and radishes will make one whopper of a salad. The potatoes we pulled out of the potato bed will be tossed with oil and other seasonings -- making for a nice potato dish.

The London Broil steak that would normally be the star of tonight's barbeque? Eh -- I can take it or leave it.

I have the radish that swallowed Natomas.

Tomato Babies

The 2009 Summer Garden is now planted.

Yes, you heard me right. The 2009 Summer Garden is now planted -- and better yet -- it's growing.

If you're wondering if RIGHT NOW is the time to plant summertime favorites like tomatoes, cucumbers and corn in the backyard the answer is NO! WRONG! Not after a weekend of rain and cold weather like we had this past weekend in the Sacramento area.

Don't get me wrong -- we need the rain. We need the snow. We'll really need it later this summer when thirsty Southern California starts demanding a supply of Northern California's clean, fresh and tasty water supply. So, let it rain, let in pour. More importantly, LET IT SNOW!

But there are some things that gardeners can do INDOORS to start their OUTDOOR summer garden. And that is taking place in greenhouses, homes and even workplaces across the Sacramento Valley area. In short -- it's time to plant some tomato seeds.

Want to get an early start on tomato season? Do you desire a fresh-off-the-vine heirloom tomato in JUNE? Then, the time to plant is now -- and as you can tell by the photos -- the planting effort is already underway.

The greenhouse you see pictured belongs to none other than Master Gardener Extraordinaire, and "Fruit of the Heirloom" (FOHL) charter member Fred Hoffman, host of the highly popular "Get Growing with Farmer Fred" radio programme on NewsTalk 1530, KFBK and also Talk 650, KSTE.

And Fred has one big advantage that I don't have -- YET. It's called a greenhouse. And this is almost essential to getting plants started early. As I said, it's almost essential. I know one other grower (Nels Christenson) who starts his seeds in his work office. Venus and I start our seeds in a spare bedroom, using a converted wine rack.


BUT -- if you're going to do some large-scale growing of tomato plant starters -- well -- you can't lose with a greenhouse. There, you can easily control the elements of heat, light, moisture, fertilizer and other issues that are so important when it comes to starting tomato plants. And you don't have to deal with curious and sometimes BRATTY cats who think it's just enormous fun to whack plant-starter pods from one side of the room to another.

But, provided you plant NOW, and provide the cats with some new toys in hopes that they'll leave the starter pods be, you'll see your planting efforts germinate in less than a week. Tomato plants are like weeds. They germinate quickly and grow rapidly. In short, you can't possibly screw this one up, even if you're a beginner. To be honest, you don't even need grow lights. You can start seeds in a windowsill.


The seed cups you see pictured here were planted ten days ago, and they've already germinated. These cups, and a lot more like them, contain forty to fifty varieties of heirloom and hybrid tomato plants. Heirloom varieties with names like Brandywine, Azoychka, Opalka, Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red, Black Krim and many more have already sprouted and are growing like mad.

These starter plants will be kept inside for the next two to two-and-a-half months. By mid-April, the starter plants will be at least a foot high, and possibly a lot more. In short, planting in February gives you a tremendous head-start on the summer growing season, which can be very long in the Sacramento area. If Mother Nature cooperates (which isn't always the case), you can be rewarded with a six-month growing season. And that means multiple harvests.

It seems hard to believe that the small cups pictured in Farmer Fred's greenhouse will be growing tomatoes larger than grapefruit, but that's just one of the wonderful, wild and wacky things about growing heirloom tomatoes...

The TOP TEN from TomatoFest!

Gary Ibsen of TomatoFest fame recently sent this news release to Farmer Fred Hoffman, and I wanted to make sure you were informed of the growing popularity of certain types of Heirloom Tomatoes:
Bill

Announcing "Top 10" Heirloom Tomatoes for 2009

"Black" Tomatoes Still Reign with the Best of the Reds and Pinks

Bi-Colored and Cherry Tomatoes Also Growing In Popularity

Carmel, Calif. – January 25, 2009 – TomatoFest® Garden Seeds today announced that "black" tomatoes again rank high in the "Top 10" list of favorite heirloom tomatoes going into 2009. The "Top 10" favorite heirloom tomatoes are:

Brandywine (pink)
Paul Robeson (purple/black)
Aussie (red)
Julia Child (pink)
Cherokee Purple (purple/black)
Black Cherry (purple/black)
Kellogg's Breakfast (orange)
Gold Medal (yellow/red striped)
Aunt Ginny's Purple (purple/black)
Carmello (red)

"Black" tomatoes were more popular in 2008 than in any prior year," said Gary Ibsen, grower of 600 varieties of certified organic, heirloom tomatoes in California, and founder of TomatoFest® Garden Seeds, the most prominent internet retailer of organic heirloom tomato seeds.

"The purple/black colored heirloom tomatoes continue to rise in popularity at produce markets, with restaurant chefs, and with home gardeners for the 6th year in a row," "Black" tomatoes are fast becoming as popular as many of the best tasting pink and red tomatoes."

"Black" tomatoes are not really black," remarked Ibsen. "They cover a range of dark colors, including deep purple, dusky deep brown, smoky mahogany with dark green shoulders, and bluish-brown. The depth of colors seems to be encouraged by a higher acid and mineral content in the soil."

"Black" tomatoes are native to Southern Ukraine during the early 19th century. They originally existed in only a small region of the Crimean Peninsula. Soon they were showing up as new varieties in many shapes and sizes and began to appear throughout the territories of the former Soviet Union. Then they began turning up in the former Yugoslavia, Germany and the United States.

"A survey of our tomato seed sales to home gardeners and commercial tomato farmers, along with a review of our sales of fresh heirloom tomatoes to retailers and restaurants, demonstrate soundly that consumers have discovered the superior and complex flavors of the "black" heirloom tomatoes, and are selecting these bold colors along with their mix of favorite red, pink, orange and bi-colored tomatoes," said Ibsen.

Also showing a rise in popularity in 2008 with a greater presence in produce markets, are sweeter tasting bi-colored tomatoes, and a wider selection of different colored cherry tomatoes.

Photos and descriptions of all the above listed tomato varieties can be found at TomatoFest.

Bill's Note: Venus and I have grown four of the varieties listed in Ibsen's TOP TEN, and loved each and every one of them. Some heirloom afficianados go so far as to claim that Kellogg's Breakfast is the best tasting heirloom tomato, bar none, and they have a pretty good argument.

I ordered several different varieties from TomatoFest this year, and I have high hopes for a unique variety called "Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red." Time will tell with this new heirloom tomato entry into our backyard North Natomas garden. Some growers have reported amazing success with it, others have not.

And that's the trial and tribulation, so to speak, of growing heirloom tomatoes.