tall clover farm

Boz is a big fan of green beans and the pole bean trellis (but for different reasons). Lucky for me, the green beans form  two feet off the ground.    My Fortex and Romano green beans have sprouted, and they are looking for my support–something I’ve come to expect in a good pole bean. After trying all [...]

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The snap pea is an exceptional, easy-to-grow legume. The day I discovered sugar snap peas was the day I broke up with snow and shelling peas. We still see each other; it’s just not the same. Snap peas offer the best of both: the shelling pea’s cozy row of fat peas, and the snow pea’s tender edible pod. It’s two, two, two [...]

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Plants that taste good have legs (and in some cases wings). If they strike our palate’s fancy, the world becomes their oyster (or serving dish as the case my be). The tomato, the anchor of Italian cooking, calls the Andes home. Peanuts, the perfect topper for Phad Thai, plant their roots of origin in South America. Chiles, which fire [...]

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If I only had one culinary pumpkin or winter squash to grow,  Sweet Meat would be it.  For some varieties, beauty is only skin deep. Their color, size and weight may impress, but the flavor falls short. Sweet Meat not only has a creamy dense texture, but its flavor is rich, buttery and distinctive. It makes the best pies, the creamiest soups, the most savory [...]

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Now that I’ve got you thinking about seed catalogs let me provide you with Tom’s two cents on some of the prizes found on the pages within. Indulge me as I wax on about my favorite pole green bean, a French filet or haricot vert variety called Fortex.  Even with a name that seems better suited to the [...]

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My Favorite Seed Catalogs When friends ask, “So Tom, what are you reading these days?” I have to skirt the truth. I cite something I’ve read before or some nonfiction tome that brings this line of questioning to a speedy halt. Truth be told, I do read regularly; it’s just my books of choice are seed [...]

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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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There’s broccoli and there’s sprouting broccoli, a cousin to the bulked-out broc we tend to knock. After some British friends of mine sang its praises, I planted it for the first time last summer. Surprisingly, it overwintered and I harvested it this spring. Two words: tender and delicious. The stalks are pencil thin with little broccoli mop [...]

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How to Make a Pumpkin Pie from Scratch Using Fresh Pumpkin I made my first fresh pumpkin pie of the season, entering it in the Vashon Farmers Market annual pumpkin pie contest.  I placed third, an admirable ranking considering the winner was a cheesecake and received bonus points for using homegrown ingredients in addition to pumpkin, i.e., cream, eggs [...]

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I love this pumpkin, warts and all! Galeux d’Eysines pumpkin roasted and ready for its pie debut. I’m not sure when I first fell in love with growing things. It’s a fascination I can’t recall not having. Of all the things I’ve grown or grow, pumpkins seem the most magical to me. A teardrop-shaped seed the [...]

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