tall clover farm

As good as it gets: homemade ketchup from homegrown tomatoes via some lessons learned. My culinary redemption is complete. As some of you may recall, my last attempt to make ketchup did not end so well; my kitchen looked like Freddy Krueger had stopped by for lunch.  (Witness the tomato carnage in How Not to Make Ketchup.) The good news is confidence has [...]

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Tomatoes need our support.  (You trying maintaining vertical with 10 pounds of green, red orbs hanging off your branches. ) Some people cage them in, others rely on the stake. As for me, I’m a fan of trellising. I create a vertical plane that the toms can grow up for maximum sun exposure, air circulation and  [...]

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Uh oh Boz, I know that look, the scowl of an unhappy bulldog, judging me for taking too long to plant all of my tomato starts. (Gracie on the other hand, believes a nap can solve any of life’s issues.) Smart dogs.  Indeed, I waited too long, hoping that one day in May the sun would shine on my Puget Sound garden [...]

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This time of year all conversations lead to the ultimate fall gardening question: what should I do with all of my green tomatoes? That’s easy; compost them. (Did I hear a collective gasp?) Yep, the time is ripe to let go of a fruit we enjoyed all summer when it was at its best for [...]

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 Don’t let cool summers keep you from growing the season’s finest garden treat. Of all the tomatoes I planted this year, here are some my favorites, based on taste, robust growth and prolific nature. Northern Exposure tomato is an all around winner: beautiful round deep red baseball-size toms –firm, meaty, flavorful and possessing an impressive shelf life of [...]

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  Heirloom tomatoes: Amish Paste, White Beauty, Old German, Pineapple, Hillbilly, Lemon Boy and Sugar Lump. If I left these on the vines, October rains would sauce them for me. Some days show up like a great performance; the key players tune up to bring you a perfect mix of light, breeze and balm. Sunday [...]

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Pinching tomato suckers: not on my garden to-do list  Step away from the tomato plant and no one gets hurt. Garden myth: you should pinch tomatoes suckers (the growth between main stems and the leaf) for a better tomato crop. I ‘ve been growing tomatoes since I could say spaghetti sauce, and I’ve found that [...]

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