Pick those green tomatoes before a freeze!

green tomatoes need to be on single layer

Now is the time to finish picking those green tomatoes before it freezes tonight! I have been collecting boxes and paper bags to store them in for some time now. They will be everywhere in the house this year. Last year I put them in the studio and it wasn’t heated and I didn’t get any tasty ones. Tomatoes that are picked need temperatures at 51 degrees or higher to finish ripening-so that leaves OUT most garages unless they are heated. Put them on a single layer of possible, not stacked as in the first photo.

Tomatoes starting to ripen

Also be sure to cover them so they are not in direct sunlight and be sure to rotate them as they all ripen differently. MOST of your tomatoes that have start turning light green will ripen just fine and SOME of those dark green ones MAY ripen as well. Don’t bother with picking all the immature small ones (depending on size of mature tomatoes), they won’t ripen well.

cherry tomtoes in clusters starting to ripen

Also I cut off the whole cluster of decent size cherry tomatoes to ripen. You can sort through them later to get rid of the small ones…

Lees Ferry flyfishing trip

Just got back from  a little rest and relaxation-flyfishing and camping at Lees Ferry in the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area just below Lake Powell in Arizona. Glen Canyon is in the uppermost northeast part of the Grand Canyon National Park.  All float trips into the Grand Canyon originate here and the Colorado River is a tailwater coming out of the Glen Canyon Dam and a top trout flyfishing spot. The scenery and rock formations are unparalleled in beauty. The history of Lees Ferry is fascinating too. After the first night of rain, the weather was great and we caught many fish. What a great trip!  Now it’s back to finishing the garden for the season! Tomorrow I pick the rest of the tomatoes and anything else as it is going to freeze on Monday night. Hard to believe summer is over. It’s been a terrific growing season. Here are some pics of the trip. Hope you enjoy them.

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Gone Fishing!!

Colorado River at Lee's Ferry

This week I’m taking off and going flyfishing at Lee’s Ferry at Marble Canyon, AZ. It’s a tailwater that comes out of Lake Powell where the water is a constant 42 degrees and the trout fat and fiesty. This tail water fishery is below Glen Canyon Dam, at the head of the Grand Canyon. Weather should be in the 60-70’s and nites in the 50’s. Perfect. Might get some rain too. Hope not too much but a sprinkle or two would be nice. I’m going for the majestic canyons where the Colorado river carved through them and of course the trout which is catch and release.  Some people ask why go fishing if you don’t keep them. I tell them I use to do ‘catch and eat’ but now I like the hunt-trying to see if you can fool them into thinking your fly is their food and then releasing these beautiful animals  back into the wild. I use single barbless hooks so the fish don’t get hurt.

Be back later this week-hope to have some great stories and pictures to share before getting back to finishing up the garden season. Still lots to do but we’ll talk about that next week!

Tips on How to Ripen Tomatoes Inside

 

How to ripen green tomatoes

 

So now that you’ve been waiting all season for your tomatoes to ripen, what do you do when you know that a hard frost is going to hit and you still have lots on the vine? Here are some tips on ripening tomatoes inside.

• Watch the news to see when we will get a potential freeze forecast. I have been caught running out at night picking as many as I could because I didn’t watch the weather forecast. I try to look a few days ahead now so I’m not out in the garden at night with my flashlight!
•  If we are going to get a freeze, run out before it freezes and pick all the decent size ones off. I don’t bother with the small ones, they are probably not mature enough to ripen properly anyways.
•  Sort the tomatoes from rock hard green to almost ripe and put them in heavy grocery paper bags and fold over the top. That way you don’t have to go through each bag every day and pull out the ones that are ripening sooner.
• When they start to change color, I pull them out and put them in bags where they are all similar in the ripening stage.
• In the bags with the green ones, I will put an apple in the bag to help ripen them if I am in a hurry. An apple releases ethylene gas (the tomatoes produce this as well) which helps the ripening process. That is why you fold over the bag to help trap the gas that both the tomatoes and apple are releasing. Don’t forget to check your bags every few days.
• Some people say to pull the whole plant and hang it upside down and watch the tomatoes as they ripen. Keep the plant out of direct sunlight. This can be done if you have a few plants but if you have a lot of plants, you may not have the room inside (visions of a tomato jungle inside my small house) and this is why I bag mine. I can keep them in another room out of the way.
• You can also choose to wrap green tomatoes individually in newspaper and lay them in shallow cardboard box in a single level. Store out of direct sunlight. Check them regularly. I don’t use this as I would have to unwrap all of them to see where they are at but this would work if you don’t have a lot of tomatoes.
• Leave them stem side up-they won’t rot as quickly.
• When your tomatoes are almost ripe, to increase flavor, set them in front of a warm window a couple of days before you want to use them.
• Also to increase flavor, be sure to store them in a room that is at least 55 degrees. Last year I didn’t and they didn’t have much flavor. If they won’t ripen or aren’t flavorful they are probably stored in too cool of a place or perhaps they were too small to begin with.
• Lastly you can always pickle green tomatoes or cook with them!

Fall is here-Aspens in Santa Fe

 

fall color in Santa Fe

 

Fall is here. Went up to our ski basin last Sunday and rode up the ski lift to the top of the mountain. The ski lift starts at 10,000 feet high and the top is 12,000 feet high. Glad I had my fleece jacket as it was pretty cool up top. Beautiful. It was really nice to get away for the day and our ski basin is so close-within 20 minutes of Santa Fe. This year the aspen color is unbelievable. And don’t you just love the smell of the trees. Last year we had one big freeze and they didn’t have time to change color. But not this year. Here are some photos of the day. Enjoy.

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Another Big Tomato-Striped German

 

Closeup of Striped German Tomato inside-my all time favorite

 

 

2.14 lb Striped German

 

My other big tomato is a Striped German, a beautiful bi-color tomato. I’ve been waiting for these to ripen all season. I grow them for eating. They can grow very big as they are a beefstake and are a super sweet tomato with just the right amount of acid to balance it. They get lots of cracks because they are thin skinned, very typical of an heirloom  tomato but nobody cares because of that incredible flavor. Very luscious and juicy. The flavor is unbelievable. If you ever get a chance to try one, jump on it. It is the first one I always sell out of at the Farmers Market.

It is one of those tomatoes that runs down your chin when you eat it in a BLT. I think out of all the tomatoes I have grown over the seasons, it is my all time favorite.

 

16.5 inch Striped German

 

Soon our tomato season will be gone as the nights get colder. We must watch the weather now for that first freeze. I still have many on the vine and will  most of the bigger ones off when I hear we will be getting a freeze on the news. Then I will bring them inside to ripen. I usually have tomatoes to eat well into November. Maybe we have another week-if we are lucky..

2 lbs 11.4 oz Giant tomato-My NEW personal best

2 lbs. 11.4 oz

GIANT TOMATOES I have several tomatoes that ended up pretty good size. One type I grew for giant competition and the other for good eating. This post will be about the competition giant tomato.

My biggest competition tomato comes from the 7.18 N.Harp plant and is 20.5 inches in circumference. It weighs 2 lbs-11.4 oz. 

This is now my personal best!

I was going to take it to the weigh-off in Colorado Springs but since it was still green and I wanted the seeds from it, I kept it home so it could get fully mature and red and let the seeds develop. I believe this tomato (grown by Nick Harp) originally came from a Big Zac variety several generations back. I also have a 17 incher that weighs 2 lbs 6 oz.

20.5 inches in circumference

I grow the Big Zac variety for competition but do sell them as well at our Farmers Market. They taste wonderful and have a good old fashion tomato flavor unlike some super sized competition tomatoes. Not bad-supersized and tasty!

‘Kong’ article written in Santa Fe New Mexican newspaper-Sunday, 10-10-10

This morning an article was written about my giant pumpkin, Kong breaking the NM State Record in the Santa Fe New Mexican paper. Some of you who follow my blog from afar may be interested in reading it! Just click on the link above to get to it..

 

Photo from S.F. New Mexican newspaper

 

What do I do with giant pumpkins?!

So what will I do with the giant pumpkins I grew this year? ‘Well for starters, ‘Kong’ is on display at Liquid Light Glass studio until the first Friday of November Nov. 5th) when we will have the 3rd Annual Pumpkin Bash where all those helpers (who graciously offered me their time and muscle) and friends can have a whack to see who can split the pumpkin. Then we cut up the pieces and I will have called previously many of my cook friends and they will come get their piece of pumpkin for pumpkin soup, muffins or pies, etc. My giant pumpkins are grown organically and taste great. I also may be taking it to the Farmers Market for the Farmers Market Institute’s annual fundraiser next weekend as well. I’m waiting to hear from them the logistics of moving around a 421 lb pumpkin. This is not something you can just whip around!

Also I took my last giant pumpkin, ‘Little More’ whom I named after the grower, Pete Mohr (from whom I got the seed) to Tune Up Cafe for a Charity Fundraiser that I do with them every year to raise money for the Youth Shelter here in Santa Fe. Anyone who wants, can guess the weight of the pumpkin for a dollar and if they guess it correctly, will get a free entree from Tune Up Cafe. We usually raise between $200-$400 for them. Then the last week of October, I will take ‘Little More’ to Erika Wanenmacher, an artist at Baca Street Studios who will carve it for our Halloween Party we have at the studio complex on Oct 30 this year. Erika carved one of my pumpkins last year and did a great job. Can’t wait to see what she will do this year.

Last year's (09) pumpkin carved by Erika Wanenmacher

And lastly, I took the one I had in the State Fair, ‘Harpie’ which won a first place, to Kitchen Angels here in Santa Fe to help feed homebound individuals living with challenging conditions.

I try to grow these giants and it makes it all seem worthwhile to do something positive with them at the end of the season. At first it bothered me to cut them up but we wouldn’t want them rotting in the patch would we? That seems like such a waste and I do not like to waste..

KONG BREAKS NEW MEXICO STATE RECORD!!!!!!!!!!!

Saturday, Oct 1, 2010/GPC Old Colorado City Weigh-Off, Colorado Springs, Colorado-

Kong broke the New Mexico State Giant Pumpkin Record today coming in at 421 lbs beating the old record of 404 lbs! The record comes home to Santa Fe which is quite a feat considering our high altitude and short growing season. Kong also got a ribbon for third place in the weigh-off for 3rd biggest pumpkin out of about 25 contestants and $100 (yea-paid for my gas to get up there!).  The first place was a 1109 lb monster pumpkin grown by a Colorado grower named Marc Sawtelle and second place was over 800 lbs grown by another Colorado grower named Doug Minix. These guys are my heros-they are really nice and share information about growing these monsters. My pumpkin was little by comparison but still bigger than all the rest of them. My giant marrow, ‘Big Zuc’, also got a ribbon for Best Squash and also set a new New Mexico record. What a way to finish the gardening year. Couldn’t be better!!

So the weigh-off day went as follows:

Got up at 4:30 am and left by 6am to get up to Colorado Springs by 10:30am. We unloaded Kong at 10:30 and waited till weigh-off time at noon. We met the mayor of Colorado Springs who told us the sorid story of the city when it was a mining town and one side of the main street (that we were on) was for the brothels and other side was the respectable side.  He told us the story of how the men would drop off their wives at the opera on the respectable side, go into some tunnels to cross the street over to the brothels and come back again to pick up their wives after the opera! Hmm! He looked like the guy in Monopoly (I think the banker?) I also met Buffalo Bill Cody (I think reincarnated)! Lots of people and families came.

At noon when they went to turn the digital scale on they couldn’t get it to work! Arg! I was freaking out inside as I really wanted Kong weighed and didn’t want to go all the way home without doing that. Talk about how anticlimactic that would of been! Anyways they worked on it for about 40 minutes while I’m dying inside and finally they got it fixed. Phew! Talk about a freak out! Where were the ‘tums’?

Then they started weighing them from smallest to largest. The next thing that made me worried was the entry right before me was a beautiful orange color and looked bigger to me, but only weighed in at 375 lbs. Sheez! Did I measure wrong? Marc and Doug(the two biggest growers there) told me later that color (as in bright orange) always weighs lighter than the salmon color pumpkins. Then the big moment..and Kong weighed in at 421 lbs. Elodie and I were screaming and yelling as they announced I broke the NM State Record! Such a thrill! Then they put my giant marrow, ‘Big Zuc’ (think zuccini) on the scale and it weighed 43 lbs. Biggest fricking zucchini I ever grew! Also a NM State Record! Icing on the cake! So I got ribbons for third place for Kong and Best Squash for ‘Big Zuc’ and of course the sweetest was breaking the NM State pumpkin record. What a way to end the giant pumpkin season! Here is a slide show of the weigh-off.

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Kong Gets A Lift To Colorado!

LOADING KONG

Friday Oct 1, 2010/8:30 am-Up early today getting ready for the gang to come and help pick up Kong into the truck. My friends who helped are some big dudes and I couldn’t have done it without them. Thanks guys!  Kong measured 269 OTT which means it is around 404 lbs but the three charts that estimate the weight put me between 404 lbs up to 415 lbs depending which chart you look at. I would of liked to cut it off tonight but this is when I could get the whole gang together. Hope I don’t need the extra weight Kong could gain today. We leave at 5 am tomorrow to drive to Colorado Springs for the GPC weigh-off. Here is a slide show of the loading event.

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Kong to go to Colorado Springs Weigh-Off

Turns out the weigh-off in Boise City, Oklahoma has been canceled which is just as well as I don’t think I could stand 2 more weeks of anticipation of what might be with Kong. So I will go to the Colorado Springs weigh-off. Plus the seed that produced Kong was a 895 Grande, which is a Colorado grower and I  have been a member of Rocky Mountain Giant Vegetable Growers up in Colorado , so I feel closer to the Colorado group of giant pumpkin growers.

I will measure Kong tonight and Friday AM just before we cut him off to see what my final measurements reveal, but it is too close to tell at this point if I have broken the NM State record…

Kong crawls to 400 lbs with three days left..

My giant pumpkin, Kong is now at 400 lbs and I must get to 405 lbs by Friday AM (when I cut it off). 405 lbs would just barely beat the NM State Record (404lbs) and the weigh-off is this Saturday in Colorado Springs. I just found out there is another official weigh-off on Oct 16th in Boise City OK (which is actually closer) but last year I waited till a later weigh-off hoping to get more weight and missed it because of a blizzard here in Santa Fe and in CO and my weighing it here on a certified scale didn’t count as it has to be weighed on one of these big GPC (Great Pumpkin Commonwealth) events to count. That plus my giant pumpkin buddies are in Colorado. I am going by an older weight chart which puts Kong at the least weight (400 lbs now). If I go by the newer charts, I’ve already beat the record. I’m leaning to going anyway this weekend as I already have a truck lined up to borrow and 6 strong guys coming out on Friday to lift it in the truck for me.  And who knows how long this beautiful weather will last. I also have a giant zucchini that I have to get weighed as well. At last week’s weigh-off (they have three of these official weigh-offs in CO) the biggest zucchini was 4 lbs-my biggest is around 50 lbs! What a quandry…Grow Kong, grow..

Kong reaches 396 lbs…

Kong has reached 396 lbs! I am trying to get it past the state record of 404 lbs by pushing it a little with fish emulsion and seaweed every day. I have to be careful not to blow it up! It will be touch and go until the end when we take it on Saturday up to Colorado Springs, CO for the weigh-off. Every pound is critical now. I won’t know if it beats the record until they officially weigh Kong as I could be wrong on my measurements (wishful thinking?) or it could weigh light (or heavy).  I need at the minimum 10 lbs in 4 days and that is if the measurements are correct. The weatherman is predicting warm days in the 80’s which bodes well for Kong. Grow Kong, grow.. Stay tuned!

2010 Tomatoes winners from my garden

This year I planted 20 varieties of tomatoes and want to give you my favorites. Here are the winners!

HEIRLOOMS

costuluto genevese tomato

Costuloto Genevese-This Italian heirloom is the prettiest tomato I’ve ever seen. It has highly fluted or scalloped edges that are beautiful when sliced horizontally. It ripens to a beautiful deep red and and has that old fashioned tomato flavor. Very prolific. One of my favorites for Caprese salad.

Black Cherry-I grew them last year. Wonderfully complex, earthy sweet flavor so typical for black tomatoes.

Paul Robeson-I grew them last year and I like them even better this year. This one is a favorite of many at our Farmers Market. Complex flavors of sweet and just the right amount of acid.

Green Grape-This is my new favorite cherry tomato. Unbelievably complex sweet flavor. I like to mix them in with my other cherry tomatoes for a medley of color and flavors

black pear tomato

Black Pear-New for me this year, they have a wonderful sweet black tomato flavor. Very abundant.

Striped German-Giant Bi-Color beefstake that is a supersweet. Beautiful yellow and red marbling inside. Takes all summer to ripen but it’s worth the wait!

pantano romanesco tomato

Pantano Romanesco-Another Italian heirloom hailing from Rome. This one is very prolific and nice sized.  Beautiful fluted tomato with that old fashioned tomato flavor