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| First tomato harvest. 100 grams. Some very rough-looking tomatoes. |
The tomatoes are planted 24" between plants and each plant has an 8' tall, bamboo pole to be trained up and I am trying to keep them to two-leaders. From east-to-west there are 2 Maybe-Federle, one Stupice, one Black Krim, six Stupice, two Maybe-Rosa de Bern. The rows run east-west and the east end is slightly shaded.
Mrs ERJ has a plant of Sweet Baby Girl cherry tomatoes in her kitchen garden. I will not be including those tomatoes in the tally nor will I count the four tomatoes that I planted in the potato patch to fill "holes" in the rows.
My reason for weighing them is to get a better handle on how productive tomatoes are in my soil and under my intermittent care. My maximum tomato consumption is one quart of canned tomatoes per week or (roughly) sixty quarts per year. That works out to 120 pounds of fresh tomatoes. Working backwards, that suggests that I need to pick 5 pounds of tomatoes per foot-of-row over the course of the season.
That seems pretty aggressive-but-possible at this point as along as I don't let any of the tomatoes go to waste, that is, go unpicked.
Eggplant
I picked 500 grams of eggplant yesterday. That is a bit more than a pound of them. I am still trying to figure out how to cook with them. So far, they have gone into "skillet" dinners along with new potatoes, sweet corn, breakfast sausage and various sauces for flavor.
Mrs ERJ asked me how they tasted. I had to admit that I couldn't really taste them but that they added "squeak" to the mouth-feel while chewing. Any guidance from my readers about simple, easy eggplant recipes will be appreciated.
Yesterday's work-ticket
I try to keep Sunday's work-ticket light. I flushed out the trickle irrigation lines in the Eaton Rapids orchard. Then I ran it over-night.
According to the internet, I am using my irrigation system wrong. The experts claim that I am only supposed to run enough water for each day's use by the plants. So, if I calculated that a tree will transpire five gallons of water in the next 24 hours then I should run a 2 gallon-per-hour emitter for 150 minutes every day. The thinking is that watering more than that increases the size of the wet-spot and weeds and grass in the lanes will use that water.
That tidy and overly-exact plan falls apart when you have an orchard with trees of various sizes.
I am using the system to provide supplemental moisture. I figure that I can run the system overnight one or two times a week and the soil absorb absorb the extra and the trees can "mine" it on the days I don't run the system.
One of the quirks of the Eaton Rapids orchard is that the top 24" of dirt is highly variable (some is gravel, some is highly organic) due to prior uses of the plot. However, that top 24" is underlain by a clay soil that keeps most of the water from sinking deeper than the roots can reach it. If I go totally crazy running water in the orchard, the soil in the middle of my potato-patch gets the over-flow.
Today's work-ticket
Disassemble the Troy-Bilt tiller, elongate the motor mounting holes to better align the pulleys. It occurred to me that I might be able to loosen the pulley on the transmission and slide it closer to the engine...I will keep that in my hip-pocket in case I need to.
I also purchased the specified gear-lube which I will add to the transmission. I purchased a cogged-drive belt which should be more tolerant of the small pulley diameters.
Then I have to reassemble the unit and test it.
Pull weed in a couple of rows of potatoes.
Spray the cabbage for cabbage loopers.
Bonus images
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| Pears. A Duchesse d’Angouleme clone |
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| Grapes. A Robert Johnson hybrid of L-50s (V. riparia) by Trebbiano (V. vinifera). I had been unimpressed by this vine until this branch found a sunny spot. The mediocre performance was not due to the genetics, it was due to lack of sun. |
I make Eggplant, Sweet Potato, and Black Bean Chili.
ReplyDeleteSpice mix:
Salt
Black Pepper
Cumin
Oregano
Garlic Powder
Onion Powder
Ceyenne Pepper (powder)
Chili Pepper (seeds)
Ingredients:
Pork Steak
Egg Plant
Sweet Potato
Black Beans
Celery
Tomatoes
Carrot
Onion
Garlic
Thank-you for the recipe!
DeleteI never grew those types of tomatoes. We tried Brandywine and liked them, and the yield was good for us. Tried Wisconsin 55 I think, for an early yield but got little yield so only one year there. Added San Marzano for making sauce, which were pretty good yield and good flavor. Later changed to Amish Paste, as the yield was better. I used Brandywine and paste tomato in my sauce, good flavor.
ReplyDeleteHave you tried any of those tomatoes ?
Southern NH
I think I have grown Amish Paste. I also grew Cherokee Purple with is very similar to Brandywine (I think).
DeleteWhile the taste of the Cherokee Purple were outstanding, the yield was shy. The strain of Amish Paste I grew had a lot of cracking near the stem although another gardener in the area said they did exceptionally well in a year when there was a lot of Late-Blight pressure.
Last year I grew ACE 55 and it had good yields and flavor. Absolutely nothing wrong with it.
My late wife, an Italian girl, first dried out the eggplant overnight by slicing it, salting it a little, and stacking it with paper towels interspersed. She said her mother taught her, as it allowed the eggplant to then absorb flavors and liquid better.
ReplyDeleteERJ, you might look up a recipe for Baba Ganoush. From the Mediterranean region, it is basically eggplant dip with lemon juice, olive oil, tahini, and garlic. Used for dipping pita into. We had it in both Greece and Turkey; highly recommended.
ReplyDeleteThere are about 50 southern Italian recipes for eggplant, which is a staple south of Naples. Marinaded, thin slices are commonly used as a pizza dressing, along with other vegetables and meats. Eggplant Parmigiana (Parmigiana di Melanzane) is the most common dish; baked eggplant. Pasta alla Norma (Eggplant Pasta) is the quickest dish to prepare.
ReplyDeleteThe Italians generally marinade their egg plant. Olive oil, garlic, chili oil, and parsley with a vinegar base is the usual marinade. Marinaded egg plant is compatible with all their dishes.
Do they sauté the eggplant after marinading it or to they eat it raw like pickles?
DeleteWhenever I happened to grow eggplant, I always cooked a sort of ratatouille dish. It was a combination of peeled and chopped eggplant, peppers, onions, garlic, tomatoes, and sometimes some zucchini.
ReplyDelete