nearly the Last of the Garden

Just before Thanksgiving I took this picture of the harvest that was sitting then on my table.

The avocados came from a friend, grown in a backyard in Santa Clara.  Yummy and buttery, possibly the best I've ever eaten.  I shared one with a friend on Thanksgiving and the other with another friend on the Saturday after. The seed from the second one is in a small pot of dirt outside.  It will be interesting to see if it survives and sprouts leaves.

The tomatoes became

part of a plate of dinner for me and the salad on Thanksgiving.  There was so much going on on Thanksgiving, that I didn't have time for pictures. The meal was one of the best I have made for Thanksgiving.  A turkey meatloaf, subbed for the bird, since there were only two of us eating. Fresh herbs combined to make poultry seasoning.  Amazing what that did to the meatloaf.

I made pumpkin custard, which is pie filling without the crust and then totally wrecked the calorie saving virtues of it by making hard sauce. Decades ago at a very memorable Thanksgiving with friends in Chicago I ate hard sauce for the first and only time in my life up to this year.  After looking for a recipe on line I have to say it is basically butter cream with booze.  And it is good.  Rum in the pumpkin and rum in the sauce.

The ways in which the garden has provided stability and blessing and great culinary delight in my life is part of what I am so grateful for this year.  Rain and weather that is not so cold as it was in November are two more blessings that I give great thanks for.

Growing tomatoes, 2015, Part I

The harvest is in.  I lost count of how many tomatoes my plants produced, but for about three months I ate tomatoes everyday and shared them several times a week with friends whom I share meals with.

All of my plants were (and still are) container grown so that I could tend them in my power wheel chair.

Gardening has always been an empowering activity to me, connecting me to the earth and to my ancestors, many of whom were farmers.  This summer I found it amazing to pick my dinner, plan my dinner around what I had in the garden and eat simply and humbly.

It was even more empowering to me because I started out with two big drawbacks.  First, I am a power wheelchair user and I like to say that I live my life on wheels.  Second, the drought in California made gardening difficult.  I had been putting off my garden for several years because of the drought and this year I decided that if it was going to happen while I could still do it, it had to be now.

The plants did not take as much water as I thought they would, bringing my water bill up only a few dollars.  This was good.  A soil mix that held conditioners that hold water helped a great deal. A separate blog post will cover this.

Here are the varieties that grew in my garden this year.

Anais Noir, a beautiful heirloom that is so delicious! This tomato started it all for me when a friend gifted me with a perfect tomato from her garden in Santa Barbara at Christmas.

Sandul Moldavon, another heirloom that ripens to a rich, tomato red.  it tasted like the tomatoes of my Midwestern childhood and nearly brought tears to my eyes.

Sweet Solano, a yellow tomato, slightly more acidic than its larger, red cousins, but delicious none the less.  A bonus is that in spite of its small size, it produces lots of seeds for saving for next year.  Great tomato for salads or for lunch or for a quick snack.  A bit large to pop in your mouth right of the bush.

Purple Cherokee, was finicky in my garden.  It seemed like it thought it must go to seed right away and worked on producing one tomato that was ginormous.  Didn't weigh it after picking it so that it would stop hogging all of the plant's energy, but should have. It ripened in a paper bag, spilled forth an abundance of seed when I cut it and was absolutely delicious.  I dried part of it so that it will come out of the freezer in the winter to brighten a winter meal.


Black Vernissage, a purple tomato, bigger than a cherry, smaller than a small tomato.  Absolutely delicious flavor and lots of seeds.  Did have a problem with browning leaves (verticulum wilt?) and the plant died before the others.  To be fair this plant was in too much shade.  More sun next time!  See the plate above the small purple tomatoes are these. Yum!


Sungold, a highly regarded yellow cherry tomato did not do as well for me as I had hoped that it would, but to be fair it got a late start, could have used a bigger container and more sun.  Next time! Don't think I have any pictures.

Riebenstraube is a beautiful grape tomato.  I love it.  Planted late, the plants took off and are still healthy and strong.  Lots and lots of flowers, lots of clusters and now the weather is getting a bit too cold.  Picked them today will see if they ripen in a paper bag.

Gardening with the Best Assistance--Friends

Yesterday and today I played with my plants. Yesterday I dug in the dirt--a big bag of potting soil, but it is real dirt nonetheless. I have dirt under the fingernails to prove it! A small bag is residing on the porch waiting to fill pots for various transplants and will be refilled so that I can pot up new bulbs that came from American Meadows two weeks ago--tulips, King Alfred Daffodils, the fragrant ones, white daffodils and a new Amaryllis bulb, big Amaryllis bulb. I can hardly wait.

Today I messed about with moving pots and moving plants--at one point I was enmeshed or maybe ensnarled in potted rose bushes and trying to move a tomato plant by myself was a mistake. It did more damage to the plant than me, but there was a moment there when I wondered what I was going to next. Then I carefully grabbed one rose, between the thorns, and extricated it from me and the wheelchair. Next I did the same with the other. Then I admonished them to stay in their places. (Yes, I talk to my plants.)

My friend L came and expertly, patiently staked the remaining tomato plants before moving them. They are nicely in a row farther down in the patio from where they had been, getting more sun. They have tomatoes growing on them, so now we are hoping for ripening--and they need more water than I have been giving them for the grow bags were so much lighter than I thought they would be.

I smell of tomatoes and basil and dirt and wish my house could be equipped with a handicap accessible bathroom and shower. Someday, perhaps. I dream and dream also of the garden that will grow in the next season.

I am grateful for the exercise and sunshine, the warmth of the Fall day and the friendship of L who is home, all too briefly, from the sea.

Tuesday Once Again

Today I had the pleasure of playing with my plants. The basil smell of coffee grounds (which I sprinkled around them on Sunday) as well as of their own scent. It is a different combination. The roses have gotten leggy and suffered through the heat. I trimmed the dead flowers and dead leaves off the yellow one and was pleased to see two buds waiting in line to bloom. The red one is next and then the Mr. Lincoln. I also sprinkled chopped up banana peels around the base of the roses and the basils as this supplies potassium to the plants. It also feels good not to throw away the banana peels, but to put them to another use. (Eggshells are good for this too. They supply calcium.)

The tomatoes have grown even though the weather is cooler and the days shorter. They smell wonderful. I can hardly wait to see if they flower and fruit and I am wondering if some of the growth is "suckers" that should be removed. Not knowing a whole lot about them I am sort of gardening in the dark here.

Saturday my friend who brought lunch took this picture of my pineapple sage, also known as "Nature's Hummingbird Feeder".



This is a beautiful plant that smells like a ripe pineapple. I highly recommend it to anyone who gardens. Once established it will grow well from cuttings so that you will always have a gift to share with another gardener, or friend who loves hummingbirds.

I am grateful tonight for my garden and the friends who have been helping me with it.

Growing Tomatoes

Two tomato plants languish in my side yard planter box. I know that the soil has not been amended and it was not watered before they were planted. The planter box grew a spectacular crop of weeds during the spring, but I assume they depleted rather than added to the soil.

Tomatoes need a lot of water and these probably haven't been getting enough. They also thrive on sun, and the area is partially in shade. I know that there are roses that will grow in part shade, but what about tomatoes? Probably not.

This morning I entertained myself by looking for information about tomato roots. They can grow to be three feet deep. That was new information. The pots they are supposed to be transplanted into are less than that, but better than the hard ground they are now in for they will be filled with very good potting soil mix.

So the next question is will they survive transplanting? There is a phenomenon known as "transplant shock" during which the newly planted either take hold and thrive or give up and die. I am thinking of seeing if they can be transplanted in stages. First they should go into some pots that are big enough, full of good soil and set where they will get morning sun and afternoon shade until they look like they are making it and then moved to the back to get used to more sun. Then and only then can they be transplanted into the really big pots.

The other day I realized that if I really wanted big pots, the family collection of vintage metal garbage cans would be great. I think I could grow a Meyer lemon in one. Very funky form of recycling, I'd like to give it a try.

Will report on the progress of the tomatoes. I have eaten the first three crooked neck squash as baby squash. Very yummy. But should be allowed to grow more. Am told that the beans are flowering and are ready to be staked. This is good.

Life is good except that it is hot and I prefer cool. The plum tree continues to stand. Gratitude is a major part of my life tonight.