Preserving tomatoes and chillies this summer - plus the quest for green Mexican chilli sauce!

My garden this summer

After returning to my life, where I actually had a life - I planted my garden to the best of my ability, even planting companion plants like basil between tomatoes - trying to establish herb areas, etc.  We also added pine needles as mulch to the tomato plants - which did wonders!  The clay heavy soil of our garden was balanced with acidic material.  The chilli plants also did really well (also it was a very hot and dry, long summer).  

Anyways, I then had to preserve the abundance, like tomatoes, and chillies.  

A walk through my garden in February:

Preserving tomatoes - the easy way

Preserving is a huge amount of work!

I tried a fancy recipe by Wellness Mama, with fresh herbs, and boiling for hours, carrots, and putting a carrot in and removing it later to remove acidity.   Although it was delicious, I just didn't have the energy to do that every time I had a bowl of tomatoes!

Wellness Mama pasta sauce!

Later on, a few friends had said they oven roast cut up tomatoes with garlic, onions etc.  Then just freezing it.  So I started doing that!  Sometimes with fresh herbs from the garden, whole sprigs.  

180 C for about 45 min (until done).  

It was so much easier!  I did freeze it usually before blending due to not having time - but when I needed to use it I could blend it.  It was so delicious, and made it possible to preserve with far less energy.

Some of my tomatoes were the yellow type!

Fresh herbs from the garden - that I added, and also shared at work.  I learned how to grow and harvest oregano, basil, thyme, rosemary...all things I actually wanted to use.  No more growing things I don't actually use.  I even was able to harvest some funny but useful carrots for some roasted sauces!

Preserving chillies

Shane and I went to a Mexican restaurant, and loved the green chilli sauce!

By far the most fun and exciting - addition to our lives, chilli sauces!  Not hard to make either, just panfrying up cut up chillies, garlic and onions, and spices.  USE GLOVES TO CUT UP THE CHILLIES by the way.  I went without twice and not right away - became in extreme pain.)  

I kept trying recipes for chilli sauces, starting with Green Gavin chutney sauce involving lots of spices like cumin and turmeric (and not blending it up after).  They were all really good - but in the end although the heavily spiced sauces were amazing, realised that the green chilli sauce was probably not very spiced (I'm talking cumin, turmeric, ginger, coriander).  I would still use the garlic and onion though!  Going to try this later today, and will post up the results.

Here are a few versions I created, with a photo of how the cut up ingredients looked.  One well liked one at the end was SPICE TRUCK that I did not photograph.  (We named them so we could remember what worked better, what we liked, etc.)  Basically I followed a basic recipe, amounts of chillies and garlic and oil roughly the same, and experimented with the spices.  

Hot chilli chutney - from the Greening of Gavin blog.

Recipe here: http://www.greeningofgavin.com/2009/02/hot-chilli-chutney.html

But it involved frying for 15 min, and these ingredients:  450g chillies , 1 onion, 6 cloves garlic, 2 T ground cumin (was 4 but I reduced it), 2 T turmeric, 25g grated root ginger, 1 T salt, 3/4 cup olive oil, 3 T sugar, 1 1/4 cups white vinegar.

How it looked before frying.

How it looked after bottling!  This sauce was VERY spicy and hot.  Was amazing added to mayo - but extremely intense straight.

After this I realised I could blender it, and it would be more pleasant to use as a sauce - on cheese and crackers, or in cooking.

Nonnie's experimentations with chilli sauces, first one -
Beauty

I carefully recorded what I did with this one, put alot of energy into it.  We named it Beauty as it was delicious.  This is what it looked like before we cooked it.  After it was cooked, we blendered and bottled it and used it right away (in a sterilised tall bottle).

It is easy to share with you now as I recorded each version directly onto a new Google Slide, duplicating and changing the relevant details each time (well actually after scribbling on scrap paper with a vivid the changes and adding later).

Fry - 15 min

450g green chillies

1 onion

6 cloves garlic

1 t ground cumin

1 t coriander

1 T salt

3/4 cup olive oil

Boil - 10 min

½ cup brown sugar

1 1/2 cups white vinegar

Boil hard - 1 min

¼ packet pectin

• Sterilise the jars and lids in an oven 120C
• Finely chop chillies, remove seeds as much as possible.
• Mix together the first lot ingredients (chillies etc).
• Transfer to a heavy based pan and fry for 15 minutes, stirring often to prevent sticking.
• Add sugar and vinegar and bring to the boil. 
• Cover pan and boil for 10 minutes stirring occasionally.  Then add ¼ packet pectin and boil max heat for 1 min
• Cool down for 20 min, then blend
• Pack into jars, then seal.

Nonnie's experimentations with chilli sauces, second good one -
Spirited!

Lots of spices and kick!!!  Looked much like Green Gavin.  The turmeric is for health, also the garlic, onion, ginger, and cumin and coriander for taste.  And apparently black pepper helps activate the health benefits of turmeric!  Which needs to be cooked to be activated as well...

Fry - 15 min

3/4 cup olive oil

480g green chillies

1 large brown onion

8 cloves garlic

a few chunks ginger

1 T cumin seeds

1 T coriander (ground)

2 T turmeric (ground)

Black pepper, sprinkle over

3/4 T salt

Boil - 10 min

½ cup brown sugar

1 1/2 cups white vinegar

Boil hard - 1 min

¼ packet pectin

More detailed method - as above (Beauty recipe).

Last entry to come - hopefully regular Mexican green chilli sauce....the quest could be closer to its ending (the quest never truly ends as you never stop learning...)

green mexican chilli sauce (my version)

The traditional version had pork stock, and flour to thicken. Still searching for that amazing recipe I had at a restaurant - but this one I made was really good! Used pectin instead of flour to thicken.

--Fry - 15 min--
olive oil - cover pan 1 cm
370g green chillies (hot)
1 green capsicum
2 small brown onions
8 cloves garlic
Ground cumin, sprinkle over
Black pepper, himalayan rock salt, sprinkle over

--Boil - 10 min--
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup white vinegar

--Boil hard - 1 min--
1/2 packet pectin

• Sterilise the jars and lids in an oven 120C.
• Finely chop chillies, remove seeds as much as possible.
• Mix together the first lot ingredients (chillies etc).
• Transfer to a heavy based pan and fry for 15 minutes, stirring often to prevent sticking.
• Add sugar and vinegar and bring to the boil. Cover pan and boil for 10 minutes stirring occasionally. Then add ¼ packet pectin and boil max heat for 1 min.
• Cool down for 20 min, then blend.
• Pack into jars, then seal.

Learning how to grow a natural, beautiful little garden with plants that attract good insects, crop rotation

I love growing a veggie garden - creating new life, connecting to nature - the cool magic in the garden (and bugs, smells, life). But then when the veggies are produced, it's almost an afterthought and I often don't know what to do with it.  Especially now that I am working full-time - there is only time to have a small, manageable patch.

I learning now to grow what I am going to use, keep it on the right scale - and to plant flowers and things which attract bees and insects which eat pests...like ladybugs. It is so fun! And I am keeping it very small scale so it's just ...fun to go out and snip spinach for a sandwich or dinner or whatever - or kale. Mint repels cabbage butterfly. Marigolds repel pests.

Chillies are easy to grow - and make into sauces and things, so I always grow them now.
Tomatoes shouldn't be planted too closely together AND a tip from my kiwi friend Bridget - never water the leaves, it causes mold and rotting - in this warm humid climate.

I am also cutting away any leaf right away with that white spotty fungus on it (powdery mildew) like courgette leaves - and pumpkin leaves. Then it doesn't spread. Nothing is worse than the wastefulness of suffering, pest ridden life when you are gardening!

I am also practicing crop rotation (prevents disease spreading, and different plants take different nutrients) never planting same type of plant twice, rotating through all 4 types of plants. Although - I started with the best of intentions with sections - but now there are just all these spots I am rotating - a little bit too random. Will need to plan a bit better next time.

Categories you need to rotate:

Group 1: Plants grown for LEAVES OR FLOWERS, such as: broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, lettuce...

Group 2: Plants grown for FRUITS such as: tomatoes, peppers, pumpkin, corn, cucumber, potatoes (are you not a root?!! oops learn something new every day)

Group 3: Plants grown for ROOTS such as: carrots, onions, beets

Group 4: Legumes that FEED THE SOIL such as: beans, peas,over crops (such as alfalfa or clover)
I am enjoying my small scale, productive, beautiful, little bit of nature. Learning what conditions the plants thrive.

I have also planted a heap of seedlings of plants that attract bees and beneficial insects (a mix from a special gardening lady at our raft race community day). And comfrey - it's deep root system means that leaves added to compost put minerals in there.

 

Info from the Kaipatiki Project Hot Composting Course

I took the Kaipatiki Project's free hot composting course - it was great.  A highlight was that you can add comfrey as a compost starter - that you can make a fertilizer "stew" of weeds, or seaweed in a barrel of water.  The basic concept was the layering of thin, wetted layers of nitrogen (green stuff, food scraps) and carbon layers (dead stuff like paper, hay, leaves), in a proportion of  30% nitrogen to 70% carbon and then hot composting will begin.  Before the course I had a compost pile which consisted of nearly all nitrogen - so it didn't hot compost - a process which kills bugs, weeds, breaks materials down quickly - and results in balanced compost.  And if you read the list below, there are many minerals and nutrients to be found in different materials! 

This information, like compost - is gold.

For info on the Kaipatiki Project's free composting project (and other cool courses), go here: http://kaipatiki.org.nz/courses

 

What you need

A balance of all 4 elements - air, fire, water, earth

Air: moving inside the heap to help the micro-organisms to breathe

Fire: the creation of heat helps it to break down quickly

Water: helps to increase bacteria and keeps the organic material

soft

Earth: (minerals)

For best results, aim for 70% carbon and 30% nitrogen.


Carbon:  Dry grass, straw, dry leaves, cardboard, newspaper, sawdust

( untreated)

Nitrogen:  Animal manure (except cat and dog), food scraps, weeds (noninvasive),

comfrey leaves, seaweed, fresh grass clippings, coffee

grounds

Suitable bin types

3 bay boxes

Adjoining boxes spaced 1 mtr x 1 mtr x 1 mtr are ideal for building hot compost piles. There is sufficient surface area to obtain height and build up heat. It is also beneficial for flipping and storing

decomposing compost. Aim to turn the pile 'inside out' by moving the outside of the pile to the centre of the new one.

Wire netting with batons

This allows for a moveable compost heap.

Tumbler

Fast breakdown using shredded or fine materials.

Making a hot compost pile

• Choose a shady location to build the pile

• Build directly onto the ground so worms and microorganisms can readily access the pile and begin to colonise

• Recommended size 1 mtr x 1 mtr x 1 mtr. A big heap works better and faster than a small one.

• Begin with sticks as the bottom layer to provide drainage and allow for air movement into the pile

• Work at layering green and brown materials, approx. 15cm deep (depending on material)

• Use a variety of ingredients to obtain nutrient-dense compost - include activators like blood & bone, comfrey leaves, urine, rockdust, stinging nettle.  These can be sprinkled between layers.

• Break up material to help the decomposition process.  Use a mower or shredder for quick results.

• Water each layer.- a dry heap will not decompose

• Add compost from an existing pile - this will add micro-organisms to help get things started

• Place weeds carrying seed or pests at the centre of the pile where the heat is the greatest.  Dead animals can also be added here

• Cover the heap with a lid or a piece of carpet.

Keep your pile going

• The pile will heat up for 2-3 weeks.  Flip at this pointas it begins to cool down.

• Repeat approx. 3 weeks later. At this stage the original materials should not be distinguishable

• The breakdown process will differ between hotter and cooler months - expect it to take longer in winter

• Check the consistency of the decomposing matter as it is being flipped.  Is it smelling sweet and obviously decomposing?

• When flipping, aim to turn the pile 'inside out' by turning the edges of the original pile into the centre of the new pile

Problems can occur if...


1)  If it is too dry materials will remain intact.

2)  If too wet the pile will become smelly. 

Add materials to rebalance the pile when flipping.

Uses

• Add to gardens, trees and shrubs as a top dressing

• Build up raised bed gardens

• Sift and use for making potting mix (add sand or pumice)

• Coarse compost works as a wonderful mulch.  To prevent blackbirds scattering' the compost apply wet barley straw on top.

What to use in your compost layers

Note: Weeds are a good bulk compost ingredient.  If seeding or carrying pests, place in centre of heap where heat is greatest.

alfalfa/clover contains nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus

banana plants the leaves, trimmings, banana skins/fruit contain phosphoric acid and potash

bindweed contains boron

blackberry contains iron

borage contains potassium

bracken fern has a high potassium content

broom contains magnesium and sulphur

chamomile contains calcium, potassium, sulphur

chickweed contains copper, boron , zinc, phosphorus, iron

citrus high in potash; oils and resins break down in compost, but better shredded

coffee grounds contain minerals, trace elements, vitamins, carbohydrates, sugars

comfrey contains phosphorus, calcium, iron, potassium, sodium. Invaluable in the compost,

helps get it 'started'

corn cobs weather in the open before shredding or grinding;  holds moisture well

dandelion contains silica, potassium (roots)

dolomite use in place of lime

feathers  good nitrogen content; need to be moist and may need lime/dolomite or extra plant

material to aid breakdown

fennel contains copper, potassium

fish high in nitrogen and phosphorus;  some may be oily.  Need plenty of soi l and moisture

for quick breakdown

grass high nitrogen content, helps create heat; spread carefully to avoid putrification

hair must be very wet; kept separately and rotted, makes a good insulating mulch

hops contain nitrogen and some phosphorus. High water content. Helps heat compost

horsetail high in si lica, calcium

gorse contains nitrogen

inkweed good source of potassium

leaves very high mineral content; shred leaves and mix with manure or nitrogen-rich material

for leaf compost

manure is a major traditional component of compost as it is high in nitrogen; any animal dung can be

used (except human, cat, or dog)

nettle (stinging) contains iron, phosphorus; it is a good compost starter

peas - waste from crops, high in nitrogen, good potash content

rockdust mineral rich

sawdust is best as mulch, needs supplementing with nitrogen, but helps aeration and moisture

retention (must be untreated)

seaweed - high nutrient value valying according to type; most are rich in potash and iodine.  Some must be soaked before use.  Can be composted dry or fresh.

straw - little nutrient value, but adds bulk; large quantities need nitogen supplement

tagasaste - high nitrogen content, breaks down quickly and can be coppiced as a compost crop.
Excellent too as mulch.

thistles contain nitrogen, copper, silicon

willow contains calcium

wood ash adds potash, some phosphorus.  Don't allow ash to stand in rain as water leaches

potash

wool waste decomposes when moist; contains nitrogen, potash, phosphoric acid

yarrow contains sulphur, potassium

How to make hot chilli pepper jelly (and preserving info)

This is the best thing I ever made from my garden produce.

So simple to make, but the finest.  You simply blender hot chillis, capsicums (peppers in North American) and vinegar.  I found the recipe here at this great publication about chilli peppers and capsicums, "Peppers: Safe Methods to Store, Preserve, and Enjoy"    (Content reviewed and revised by LINDA J. HARRIS, Food Safety and Applied Microbiology, Specialist, Department of Food Science and Technology, University of California, Davis.)  Their recipes were adapted from “So Easy to Preserve,” 2nd Edition, Cooperative Extension Service, University of Georgia.

This is because I couldn't just try a recipe blindly.  I was learning to live off the land, and preserve my garden produce - possibly for a long time, so I had to learn how to do it safely (and yummily!).

My favourite recipes in this publication was the "Pepper Jelly" (p.11), followed by "Hot Chilli Salsa" (p.8).  But one of the reasons it tasted so amazing was the produce - fresh from my own garden, and using a variety of amazing heirloom and interesting tomatoes ranging from jam tomatoes, various coloured tomatoes, to different shapes of varieties.

Here is the recipe for Hot Chilli Pepper Jelly (sometimes called Red Pepper Jelly) but omitting a few drops of food colouring as I like completely natural foods.  For the info I needed on preserving in general, go to the full scientific paper on preserving peppers, here.  It is so easy!  Just blender, and bottle.  An amazing food with cheese, or on meats.

Hot Chilli Pepper Jelly

Makes 5 half-pint (250-ml) jars.

4 or 5 jalapeño or other hot peppers cored and chopped

4 medium green or red bell peppers cored and chopped

1 cup white vinegar (5%) or 250 ml

5 cups sugar or 1.25 L

1 pouch liquid pectin

1. Put half the peppers and half the vinegar into a blender; cover and process until

peppers are liquefied. Repeat with remaining peppers and vinegar. 

2. Combine the pepper and vinegar mixture with the sugar in a large saucepan and

boil slowly for 10 minutes. Remove from heat.

3. Add liquid pectin and boil hard for 1 minute. 

4. Skim foam off the top of the jelly and pour jelly immediately into canning jars, leaving 1⁄4 inch (0.5 cm) of headspace.

5. Wipe jar rims with a clean, damp cloth and secure lids and ring bands.

6. Process the jars of jelly in a boiling water bath as prescribed in Table 7.

Table 7. Recommended Processing Time for Pepper Jelly in a Water Bath Canner

Processing Time at Various Altitudes

For jar size of half-pint or pint: 

Altitude 0–1,000 ft  is 5 min processing time

Altitude 1,001–6,000 ft is 10 min processing time

Altitude above 6,000 ft is 15 min processing time

My tomato learning this year

 January

 Starting out fresh this year - lots of hay and baby tomato plants of a variety of jam tomatoes.  

The dream is to grow enough to make my own pasta sauce - enough for my family's needs one day.

  

Hay as mulch

The new shoots of grass that you have to weed out (or turn that hay patch over to kill them) are annoying - but it was cheap (and I could get a bale of hay as opposed to a plastic bag of pea straw - no packaging and cheap).  

PEA STRAW IS BETTER

 February

Plants growing - didn't have the bamboo poles yet so tying some plants to the fence in the meanwhile.  Even used a forest stick for one stake which worked well (lots of natural notches to find and tie to, unlike slippery bamboo poles).   

A useful notch

Almost too much learning and keeping up with the garden to report.  For the first time I really felt the pull of the land, I got a two month temp job filling in for an absent secretary, and then keeping up with the garden I had planted was a challenge.

This year I was inspired by Jackie French's gardening book,  The Best of Jackie French: A practical Guide to Everything from Aphids to Chocolate Cake, where she says, 'Don't prune your tomatoes or you'll get less fruit'.  She said you can let them ramble up a bank, or stake them.  So I decided to let them grow without much pruning, and let them explore their true vine nature.
 
I theorized that as long as I gave them nutritional (and enough gravitational) support, each new branch, like another plant, would produce as well as if it were planted separately.

  March

 

gravitational support

I solved the staking problem by utilizing a pile of very tall bamboo that we had resourced for the Stillwater Raft Race in March.  The tomato plants, as they grew, were staked organically, giving them support as needed - even using somewhat an idea I saw posted by Different Solutions where the bamboo is made into crosses with a cross bar laid across the row of crossed poles.  I used stretchy ties from old t-shirts to tie growing branches to the tent-like framework.


problems with my method

BUT this way of staking suffered from lack of sufficient planning - so while the plants were supported, it was hard to walk across through the crazy framework when it was filled with growing and easy to damage the tomato vine branches, and hard to access the tomato fruit.  And my veggie garden looked like The Blair Witch Project movie.

Also, the "vining off" became exponential - and especially with my decreased amount of time to spare - the vines nearly overcame me.  In the end, I had to go on as lateral shoot seek and destroy mission, which continues to this day.

solutions for next year

Next year, I can really envision this ordered, productive, lovely life - I can picture the fruitful, well managed rows of tomato plants - supporting a fruitful existence.

My husband said he will help me create an ordered structure of bamboo poles.  I will prune away until the main stalk is established (my friend Deb's idea), letting a maximum of three branches grow off each plant, properly staked to the structure (hanging from structure from stretchy ties - they seem to like that).  And I would rather have more, well-managed individual plants, than more hard-to-control branches.

But I am glad I got to see the tomato plant's true nature, and even that I made a few painful mistakes.  Now I really get it.

Problematic: multiple stalks rather than one main trunk

nutritional support

I kept saying to myself, I really have to fertilize the plants!  Weeks went by.

Finally, I got a few huge sacks of compost, and spread a small bucket load on every plant.


problems with my method

BUT this resulted in a huge infestation of whitefly, as there was too much nutrients at once!  Jackie French said about fertilizing tomatoes in her book, 'A little bit and often is best'.  So I got to see why this was important the hard way!  

Ew!

I had to fight, fight fight with Neem oil, and Neem granules in the soil, which did hurt the plants a bit the extent that I did it.  And the whiteflies are still there now on half my plants - and little white wiggly wormies still infests much of the soil.  And Neem is stinky.  (I did remove many green tomatoes to get red in my house before spraying.)  I also had a deep moment with a praying mantis who had arrived to bring balance into my garden.  I brought another in that we found in another part of our yard - to help maintain balance in future.

solutions for next year

Definitely going with 'little and often is best' for next year.

     = = = = = = = =

Despite the problems, I still ended up with many healthy tomatoes.  And a great deal of "tomato learning".

April

For an earlier post on how to prune laterals, go here.

Night Watering

There are few things I find more fun than throwing buckets of water on thirsty plants in the middle of the night.

Yes, my neighbours surely think I'm weird (but I think that's a given anyways).

Here's why:

Under the stars, crickets singing, sky black with stars.  Puff of cloud wafts by in the Aoearoa night sky.  Bamboo staves so tall they rise above our fence into the tangle of blackberry jungle from next door.

SPLASH!  I imagine the tomato plant's relief - and a strong smell of tomatoes wafts by to say thanks.

Splash!  The marigolds also say thank you, wafting a marigold smell.

I feel alot of energy, in the night - alone - with no one to bother me.  It's silent, except the crickets, and the stars.

Water is life - tales from my garden

When you have access to unlimited water, you just don't appreciate water the same way as when you are on tank water, the supply is limited, and you have to bucket greywater to each and every one of your plants that you want to live.

I wheelbarrow a large container of water back and forth, bucketing water from a greywater container onto my plants - much cheaper and also more helpful to my plants than a gym membership.  But it is hard work for the value you will much later harvest, and all the lifting can injure my back.  Since Auckland is experiencing drought conditions of the like of which I have never seen in my 9 years living here (but apparently in 70 years), the only water my garden has gotten in the past month or wo has been hand carried.

(Basically, instead of hosing directly from our water supply onto the garden, we use water in which we have washed our clothes first - since we have to do laundry anyways.)

I have stopped buying new seedlings, as we have the space in my veggie patch - but not enough water (or time and energy to deliver it).

In a documentary I saw, societies can only thrive if they have water - which is obvious - but in this situation of complete water delivery using my own energy along, I can feel exactly how related water is to life.

If a plant has water - it lives.  How much water I can afford, is how much life I can support in my garden.

Water = life

Auckland field

Pumpkin patch

When we bought our house, Shane and I had been longing for land to use as we wished.  We basically fought for territory - Shane got the front yard, and I got the back - so we could both experiment at our will.

But somehow, I couldn't figure out where to put my pumpkin plants - as they tend to get tangled with everything else.  I cleared them some space in an area that used to be choked with weedy, ugly groundcover - in the front yard....  Now look at  them go!  Creeping into the non-veggie garden space - with lots of space for them to grow unhindered.  (Shane said he doesn't mind though.)

I am guiding the growing branches to the concrete area above, and to the space along the bushes below.

Aren't the baby butternut pumpkins cute!

I planted butternut pumpkin plants sown from seeds saved from one I had bought to eat from the grocery store.  I could also have squashes and crown pumpkins as I transplanted random seedlings from the compost as well.
 Earlier Stage - the same 5 pumpkin seedlings a few months ago (in December):

When to plant tomatoes

This year I planted my tomatoes pretty late, and was feeling glum about that - worried that my crop wouldn't be bountiful. But I was insistent on using all my great heritage (Koanga Gardens) seeds, so I planted seeds around Labour Day (Oct 22).  (Usually people are planting big seedling plants into the garden then).  Just a note for myself for next time - August would be the earliest sowing time for the sub-tropical region of Auckland.  Apparently you just need 3 warm, frost free months for a good harvest. (I just looked it up on this great NZ website - www.gardengrow.co.nz. Has every plant you could want. Wow.  Will use this site when I make a beautiful growing calendar.) The summer has been so hot though, so I think my crop may be fine all the same, which is making me very happy.

I am planning to try to make pasta sauce, and even tomato sauce (that's ketchup to you, North Amerikeens).

I have heirloom jam tomatoes planted that are apparently supposed to be good for saucing this year, some regular jam tomatoes (using saved seeds from a tomato from my friend Bridget's plants), and some random interesting heirloom ones given to me by by friend Debbie (Chocolate Stripes).  For the full biodiversity of tomatoes you could grow here, look on Koanga Gardens' website seed list here.  I am going to save the seeds from the tomatoes I grow this year that I like best, not worries about if they mix and mingle.  I can culture my own favourite variety, right?

One of my seed-sown (end of October) babies, actually getting big.

A stick I picked up on a walk is a useful (and free) support for this plant.  The natural character of a forest stick provides a useful notch to support the tomato plant's weight.

 

I rip up old t-shirts to use as stretchy staking ties.  You can also buy stretchy cotton cord at the garden store, but this is free, and also gets rid of old horrible t-shirts for me - a great cycle.  

I also bought some curved bamboo sticks to stake the tomato plants on.  Since I want alot of tomatoes - although most gardeners do prune the laterals off tomato plants as I did last year (so that the fruit it produces will be bigger and the plant will be tall and straight), I just read in a book by Australian author and gardener Jackie French The Best of Jackie French: A practical Guide to Everything from Aphids to Chocolate Cake  (Harper Collins September 2000), ISBN 0-7322-6551-7) that she doesn't prune her tomatoes.  She feels that if you do, you get less fruit.  She also says to feed them well, that it's impossible to overfeed a tomato plant (as in over-fertilize).  I figured that all those branches of the vine that appear to grow in various directions might be just like having more than one plant coming off the same vine.  Meaning: if I feed the plant well enough, perhaps then it's fine to have unpruned tomatoes that are also good quality fruit.  Hopefully can just guide all the crazy directions of branches of the vines onto these curved hoop stakes and have heaps of tomatoes this year?  So unlike last year, I am allowing them to be like vines.  Besides, Jackie French is obviously a creative woman, so is probably a great and tuned in gardener.  (She has also written children's books, historical novels, etc etc.  All her books are listed here at www.jackiefrench.com).

I can't wait to try all her recipes for what to do with the tomatoes after: tomato paste (which I  love), tomato sauce, dried tomatoes, tomato jam (like fruit jam).  (She places recipes for that fruit or vegetable after the gardening advice - great eh.) 

Apparently the first tomatoes brought back from South America were yellow.  Yellow tomatoes today are lower in acid.  

Loved this also from the Jackie French book: apparently the time to plant tomatoes traditionally is when you can sit on the ground comfortably for 10 minutes, "bare-bummed, but it isn't essential" - which is August to December.

Bu I am used to Canadian weather,so I had better not try that.  I would probably find it comfortable year round.