It’s that time of year again when waiting for tomatoes to ripen becomes a national pastime. And after April’s unseasonably mild days, cool nights and cloudy skies, it seems to be going extra slow this year. In my garden cucumbers, squash and beans have been lagging behind with slow, uninspired growth. But the warmer, sunshiny days of May has helped spur our vegetables into production.
Green tomatoes are better than no tomatoes.
This year I planted 20 tomatoes, which includes both reliable favorites and a few new and unusual varieties. Three new ones I am most curious and excited about are Helsing Junction Blue, Cherokee Carbon and Atomic Grape.
Helsing Junction Blue almost ready to harvest.
Helsing Junction Blue was bred by Tom Wagner, a well-known independent plant breeder residing in Washington who introduced Green Zebra to home gardeners. It is a cherry tomato whose name honors a CSA run by Helsing Junction Farms a few miles down the road from where the plant was grown; its deep blue color comes from high levels of a health-promoting phytochemical called anthocyanin. Sunlight helps boost anthocyanin levels so the more sun exposure the plant gets the deeper the color. So far mine are looking pretty good – I hope the taste is as rich as the color.
Jay says Atomic Grape is one of his favorites, and this year he shared one of his home-grown transplants with me. This oblong, multicolored cherry tomato was developed by Brad Gates of Wild Boar Farms in California, who is known for crossing and selecting for tomatoes with unusual colors and patterns. Atomic Grape won best in show at the 2017 National Heirloom Exposition and the folks at Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds declare it as their favorite tomato and put it on the cover of the 2018 seed catalog. Cherokee Carbon is a recent introduction from the Heirloom Marriage™ breeding program that combines the desirable characteristics of two heirlooms (in this case Cherokee Purple and Carbon).
Black Cherry and Sweet 100
My goal every spring is to harvest my first tomato by Mother’s Day. I was close this year but a squirrel took my first ripe tomato, a variety called Stupice, on Mother’s Day weekend. After that my first to ripen was a cherry called Tami-G ’followed by Black Cherry and Sweet 100. Now we are waiting for the big ones.
But tomatoes are not the only thing we are waiting on around here. Our first grandchild is expected to enter the world in mid-July and…it’s a boy! The proud parents live in Oklahoma (our Aggie married a Longhorn and moved to Oklahoma – it’s like a CW song) so we don’t get to see them as often as we’d like but that 8-hour drive gets easier each time we make it.
Mama-to-be has been sending us monthly updates on the baby’s size using fruits and vegetables as examples. He started out the size of a poppy seed, then an olive, then a bell pepper, then a grapefruit, an eggplant, a spaghetti squash etc. The day she sent the spaghetti squash update I was sitting at the computer working on a collection of squash photographs, one of which happens to be a single-serving spaghetti variety called Small Wonder. And now that is how I refer to him – our Small Wonder.
Two Small Wonders arriving in July!
But there is more. Our extended family will be welcoming two Small Wonders this year because our niece is also expecting a boy. Much to everyone’s surprise and delight the cousins are both due in July, one day apart. And Bruce’s mom, mother of three sons, becomes a Great-Grammy times two in the same month, same week or perhaps even the same day. Lots of joy and anticipation around here!
Indian blanket and purple horsemint stand out along some of the trails in Austin.
While we wait Bruce and I are hiking the many trails and greenbelts around Austin, enjoying the diverse flora and fauna. The spring wildflowers are fading but the summer display is just getting started. Recently we’ve noticed groups of horsemint and Indian blanket (they must like each other), along with LOTS of hedge-parsley.
You may not recognize the name hedge-parsley but you have probably noticed masses of tiny white flowers cropping up along the roadsides, in fields and sneaking into landscapes. Beware…these tiny innocents eventually produce even tinier seeds that stick to everything like Velcro. If you find them in your yard remove the flowers before they have a chance to go to seed. As they say, one year of seeds equals seven years of weeds. And who needs that.
Hedge-parsley (Torilis arvensis), aka beggar’s ticks or beggar’s lice
Beggar’s lice, up close and personal. No wonder it sticks to everything.
One other plant I see this time of year, sometimes along the trails but always in my own yard, is pokeweed. Yes, that same plant Tony Joe White sang about in the 1970s. He called it polk salad, but this native plant has various names including poke sallet, pokeberry, inkberry or just plain poke. It’s not a cultivated garden plant but rather a tasty and nutritious perennial weed that crops up in the spring all across the South, at the edge of a field, in cracks on the sidewalk or, according to Tony Joe, “down by the truck patch”.
Pokeweed, also known as poke sallet
It starts as a small, pale green shoot that eventually grows up to 10 feet tall, producing deep purple berries on pendulous spikes. The berries are beautiful but poisonous to humans, yet birds eat them up and “plant” them all around. Though pokeweed has been eaten by generations of Southerners, if you are new to this spring treat it is important to note that the older leaves, stems, roots and berries are poisonous and should not be consumed. The traditional method of preparing a mess of young pokeweed is to wash the small, tender leaves, and then plunge them into boiling water for 10 minutes. Drain the leaves then boil again for 5 minutes. Drain, chop and enjoy sautéed with a little bacon, olive oil or butter, mixed with scrambled eggs and spring onions; even added to quiche or casseroles. If, by now, you are humming the tune by Tony Joe White, you’ll probably enjoy this recording of “Polk Salad Annie”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCSsVvlj6YA
Or this version recorded with Johnny Cash:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsUJl9IB-04
I share my posts on The Simple Homestead Blog Hop. Be sure to stop by and check out all the amazing things these gardeners and homesteaders are doing!