Tomato Blooming!

Look very closely ... that's the first tomato blossom of the season! It's a Japanese Black Trifele. I've never grown this variety before, so I'm very curious to taste it and compare to last year's favorite, Black Krim (also growing again this year).

Tonight's Dinner

Straight from the garden ...

The produce is far more beautiful than my broken birdbath. ;(

At 6:00 are some awesome black cherry tomatoes that are like candy. There's also one Principe Borghese tomato there, too (I think that's the first one to make it in the house - I usually just eat them in the garden!). At Noon are a couple of sweet cherry peppers and a few more ground cherries.  And there are two different kinds of cucumbers there, too.

There are a couple of gorgeous looking eggplant out there, too, but they'll have to wait for a different dinner.

The Waiting is the Hardest Part

Excuse the bad cell phone pic, but I was so excited to see multiple clusters of tomatoes on the "Principe Borghese", I just had to take a picture.

Blooming This Week

Variegated loosestrife (this picture is about a week old - it's not being obscured by the crazy overwintered kale).

Principe Borghese blossoms (I was out there this morning and there are two tiny little tomatoes on this plant!)

Sweet Cherry Peppers

Mexican Midget

The overwintered leeks are going to bloom! I'm excited to see what they look like.

A single Icelandic Poppy blossom

Veggie Tales

The over-wintered kale has bolted. It's sort of alien looking right now, but I'd like to collect seed, so I've let quite a bit of it go. The yellow flowers are kind of pretty. And if I end up with a whole bed full of  kale next year, I don't think I'll be complaining. ;)

This relatively ugly brown patch is a "three sisters" planting (ignore the rest of the ugliness back here - I've got plans for it, but it's going to take me another year or so before I get things under control). I put the corn in over the weekend and am waiting to see something sprouting. Squash and beans will go on once the corn pops up (hopefully the corn pops up!). I'm sure there are more productive ways to get a crop, but it sounded like an interesting experiment and I had the space for it.

The first buds are just barely visible on the "Principe Borghese" tomato.

2010 Produce Meets a Tasty End

I used up the last of 2010's frozen tomatoes yesterday. I had about 3/4 gallon of whole frozen romas, some frozen sun-dried romas, and a quart of frozen sauce (shamefully unlabeled - but I think I just cooked down a bunch of tomatoes with garlic and froze it). I threw them all together in a pot along with some frozen pearl onions, a handful of fresh thyme and oregano (from the garden!!), garlic, red pepper flakes, and a splash of red wine. I cooked it down until it got thick and tasty and then stuck my trusty hand-blender in the middle of it all.

I had some on pasta, but I'm thinking the rest of it will make excellent pizza sauce!