I had to do it - stewed tomatoes

Based on the performance of the tomatoes in my garden over the last several years, I did not expect to have a big harvest this year. And that was fine with me. My late husband was a big fan of seasonal bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches if the tomatoes were fresh from the garden. Enough was produced to keep him happily munching on BLTs and not much beyond that. This year is different.

First off, I only planted five plants. At this point, I'm saying thank God! Those five Roma plants are really outdoing themselves. Based on the last several seasons, I figured I'd get enough for the table but not enough to process. 

Wrong. This morning I processed eight three-quarter-pints of stewed tomatoes, and I expect I'll have enough to do another batch before the season ends. 

I do love those three-quarter-pint jars. I wish they were more readily available. I think each jar will be just enough for me to get two servings. That's perfect. I may even try a few half-pint jars since I have a lot of those empty at the moment. 

I'm wondering if the addition of potash to the raised bed I planted the tomatoes in has made the difference. There has not been even one instance of blossom end rot this year, and that is my tomato nemesis. 

The heat this summer has been brutal, and it has effected the garden. But I will persist and be happy for all that I did get. It's also time to plant for late fall harvest, something I've rarely done. Maybe I'll have success with that in 2025. We plant in hope. 

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, gardening, home food preservation, tomatoes, blossom end rot, rural living, a writer's life, fall planting

Update over at BTK

 

There's a bit of an update over at Between the Keys. It's one of those posts that has a bit about writing, gardening, and life. Yeah, I may have rambled all over the place. 

Check it out at https://kckendricks.blogspot.com/2025/08/i-didnt-expect-this.html

Bye, bye to tomato row

 Blossom end rot: a disorder caused by a lack of calcium in the soil or by the plant's inability to absorb enough calcium through watering in which the bottom of the fruit breaks down and rots. 

Earlier today I made the decision to pull the plug on the 2024 tomatoes. Due to a number of factors including the June heat wave, the plants simply weren't producing usable/eatable fruit. 

The first thing that happened was that the tomatoes reached the size of golf balls and just fell off the vines while green. Then the fruits, still the size of golf balls, developed blossom end rot. Each and every fruit has fallen victim to the malady. There's no use to continue to water the plants. It's time for them to go. 

Every gardener faces the possibility of crop failure, but it's certainly annoying when it happens to you. I understand why it happened this year. Following my husband's death, I had to replant seeds too late in the year, and then the heat wave hit. I forged ahead hoping for only enough fruit to enjoy on the table, not to home can. Nope.

Moving on, it's time to pull the plants and tidy the garden. Next year, and the gardener always looks forward to next year, I'm planting only determinate varieties of tomatoes, and if the variety name has the word "bush" in it, all the better. Perhaps that will help since the plants themselves don't keep growing and growing. We'll see. I'm not giving up.

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, blossom end rot, gardening, garden failure, country lifestyle, rural living, a writer's life, determinate varieties, tomatoes

Garden failure 2024

Live and learn.

That's an old saying, but a true one. The 2024 gardening year is mostly a bust. I shot a little video this past weekend to talk about it. 

The link, if you want to see it, is at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFmKP4zaIes

I began the year with high hopes. Little did I know what a turn of events would transpire. The Lord of the Manor and I had a simple plan for some veggies for our table, and then it all went off the rails. 

He passed at the end of March. The garden didn't get planted at the appropriate time. A heat wave hit at the end of June. It's not been fun. Never before have I seen tomatoes get to the size of a golf ball and just fall off the vines. 

The spaghetti squash looks good, and I'll have enough jalapeno peppers for a batch of cowboy candy. There are two cabbage to harvest, too. Beyond that, I don't have much hope. 

It's amazing how quickly we'll get to the planning stage for 2025. It's time to adjust my thinking and act accordingly.

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, gardening, rural living, country lifestyle, a writer's life, garden planning, tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, spaghetti squash, failure

Moving from garden to firewood

My gardening season is over. There is one lone basil plant in the garden and I'm toying with the idea of putting it in the greenhouse to see how long it will go. The begonias will stay in their planters until a hard frost gets them. I'm content to let them go because the mother plants will tucked away all nice and cozy in the den this winter with a grow light. 

The Greenstalk has been moved to its new location by the patio. The daylilies have been repotted and the big pots are ready for next year. The year #1 buckets have new soil and are in the greenhouse waiting for spring. 

My best tip for anyone planning a container garden - woven ground cover from Grower's Solutions. It held up to foot traffic, stopped the grass and weeds, and is easy to keep tidy. I used the leaf blower to keep it free of debris. 

I feel really good about the 2023 season. I not only enjoyed having the garden and watching it grow and produce, but I gained more knowledge. My garden will never feed us for an entire year, but it puts a few fresh things on the table with some left over to preserve.  

Now it is time to move from gardening season to firewood season. I have a good supply of firewood for this year, and what we split now will be for the 2024-25 winter, and possibly beyond. I have a large maple that I've contracted with a service to take down, and an equally large cherry that I could drop but my cousin says he will do the honors. 

Before we get really into it, there is a small pile of cherry and oak to split and stacked that can be burned toward the end of this year if needed. Using the bucket on the John Deere, I'll bring some poplar up to the house and clear a spot to begin stacking for next year. We worked a lot harder before we got the tractor. 

Life in the country moves with the seasons. There's comfort in being in tune with nature. I may not have the biggest house or drive a brand-new car (by choice, mind you), but I am content to be where I am with what I have. And not only am I content, I am generally happy with my life and my country lifestyle. 

Yes, there is work to do. Daylight, I'm waiting on you!

The Lady of The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, firewood, gardening, rural living, being content, John Deere, country lifestyle, a writer's life, nature, cherry trees, grow bags, tomatoes, peppers, tree service

Just roll with it

This was to be the year I made and canned ketchup. It was not to be. I planted tomatoes that should have grown to the size of my fist, Beefsteaks, for slicing and canning. Canning them is fine, but it does require a longer simmer time to remove excess water. No biggie. It was not to be. The seed pack said Beefsteak but the seeds said, "we're cherry tomatoes!" 

Drop back two and punt. 

I've been harvesting the little 'maters and popping them in the freezer until I had enough to do something with. After a Saturday afternoon trip to the canning jar pantry, I decided I'd better make more pizza sauce. 

A few days ago I pulled the bags of frozen tomatoes out, plopped them in a large, deep pot, and cooked them down. Once they'd all gone to mush, I ran the mix through a food mill, put the sauce back into the pot, and let it simmer for several hours until it had reduced and thickened. From there, I made pizza sauce according to the recipe in the Ball Book. I ended up with seventeen jars (and seventeen seals) or enough for about the next year and a half. 

The tomatoes are still producing, and I'll have enough for another batch of pizza sauce. It wasn't the plan for 2023 but in the long run, it works just fine. I'll just have to make more pizzas. 

Sometimes you have to go with the flow.

The Lady of The Hideaway

KC Kendricks, The Hideaway, pizza sauce, tomatoes, gardening, home canning, rural living, country lifestyle, a writer's life, plans change

The tomatoes have blossoms

A few short days ago I was in my little garden patch talking to my tomato plants. I wanted to give them some encouragement so their buds would turn into flowers on the journey to become fruit. It has happened! 

All eighteen plants now have blossoms. I have two varieties planted, Beefsteak and Giant Pink Belgium, and I think this is the last year I'll plant two. If I stick to one heirloom variety, I can save the seeds, and in time, have a strong tomato well acclimated to my microclimate. I'd like to try it, anyway. 

Unless I get an incredibly huge amount of tomatoes, I'll have to supplement my harvest with half a bushel or so from the local fruit stand and/or farmer's markets. I processed a good number of jars in 2022 and I think it will see us through. And if it doesn't, I'm not going to get hung up about buying commercially canned tomatoes. I think we do what we can when we can.  

One thing I would like to home process is ketchup, so we'll have to wait and see how that works out. But for now, the tomatoes are blooming and I'll be happy with that. 

The Lady of the Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, tomatoes, home canning, gardening, rural living, country lifestyle, growing in containers 

Almost time! Flowers forming on toms!

One of the most pleasurable things about gardening is walking through to check the plants and discovering the changes. Seeds sprout, plants grow, they start to vine, new leaves pop out, and flower buds form. Yea!

Several of the tomato plants, both the Beefsteak and the Giant Pink Belgium, have flower buds ready to open. I'm not at all sure where this fits in the 2022 schedule. I know that by mid-June last year there were green Roma tomatoes on the vines. This year the weather seems cooler, so it may take longer. 

But no matter. All happens in a garden in its own time. You can only hurry the season so much without a heated greenhouse. Oh, yes, I'd love to have one but as with all expenses, we'll have to wait and see.

It's enough for now to see the buds in the tomatoes. One lesson that is quickly taught to novice gardeners is that you must be patient. 

The Lady of The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, tomatoes, gardening, flower buds, rural living, country lifestyle, container gardening, greenhouse, Beefsteak, Roma, Giant Pink Belgium

Cucumbers 2023

I will freely admit I am not a master gardener, but a novice at best. My grandfather was a Master. Oh, he never went to school or took classes for it, but he knew it. He lived it. His parents and grandparents' survival depended on the crops they raised and "put by" for the next year. He worked the garden right beside them. From my front porch, I can still see the area where they planted and it is about three acres in size. 

I wish I'd been able to learn more from him, but I needed to work a full-time job. After work, there was my first marriage to tend to, not that my efforts there were successful. Now I have time to garden and I'm learning almost from scratch. 

Pop grew cucumbers from time to time, but they weren't a staple in his garden. I recall that my grandmother would tell him she needed to make a batch of pickles (bread and butter) every few years, and he'd plant some cukes. Once the pickles were in the jars, the family got salad cucumbers because my grandparents didn't eat very many of them raw. 

This is the first year I started cucumber seeds inside. Nine seeds sprouted that have been transplanted into buckets in the garden patch. Cucumber is a fruit and is about ninety-five percent water. The seedlings are very tender and can't tolerate colder temperatures the way a tomato plant can. 

I knew I took a big chance getting the cukes outside this early. We're still ahead of our last frost date but my instinct tells me that while the temps are dipping into the mid to high thirties, we won't have frost. Nonetheless, I decided to hedge my gamble and move the cukes and tomatoes into the greenhouse for the next two nights. We had a good rain yesterday and the air is damp. I expect the greenhouse will add a layer of protection from the dampness settling on the leaves overnight. 

Planting early wasn't something my grandfather did, but we have new and improved varieties these days. If my cucumbers wilt due to the cold night, I still have time to direct sow more seed. If that happens, I'll consider it a lesson learned and stick to direct sowing from here on out. 

Live and learn.

The Lady of The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, gardening, rural living, country lifestyle, cucumbers, tomatoes, greenhouse, freeze warning, a writer's life, simple country pleasures

Rainy day views

daffodils in the rain

One would think that having reached this stage of my life, a truly rainy day wouldn't bother me. Usually, it doesn't, but this year I'm anxious to be outside working on gardening chores. There is still much to do. At least I can do a few things today, inside in the dry.

The Beefsteak tomato seedlings are ready to transplant from the sprouting tray to larger containers. I'm not fancy with this. I use plastic cups that are rinsed out each year and reused. Four-inch black plastic pots were more expensive, so NO. I didn't go that route. 

Our rain today is the kind that has settled in, complete with fog and distant thunder. From my desk, I can gaze out at the daffodils and marvel at how bright and cheery they are in the rain. I'll enjoy them today because this rain will beat the blooms and by tomorrow they will have faded. 

rainy day office view

Looking out the office door, I can watch the raindrops bounce on the deck boards and see them splatter on the window. The earth needs a good soaking rain and yet I wish it would come in showers that I could work between. We humans are never satisfied, and I should be. Where I live, this could easily have been a snow event, winter's last hurrah as it were. 

But there is hope! The weather radar map shows the actual rain passing in a few hours. I still won't be able to work outside because the ground will be too wet and squishy. I tell myself to stop fretting about it, that I'm retired now and am not constrained to getting everything done on the weekend, but a lifetime of habits and that worker-bee mindset are not always easy to set aside. 

I should console myself with working on the current manuscript, but my heart is outside, in my garden space, and writing prose when my heart isn't in it has never worked for me. It would be better if I take my cup of tea to my comfortable reading chair and just enjoy the sound of the rain on the roof. 

The Lady of The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, rural living, country lifestyle, rain, snow, weather, a writer's life, radar map, gardening, tomatoes, transplanting seedlings 

Little green sprouts 2023

The cabbage and Brussels spouts forced my hand. Yesterday, I transplanted some very tender and very leggy seedlings.  They seemed to shoot up overnight and then, of course, they began to fall over. I transplanted eight of each which is all I'm doing of them for this year. 

After that, I planted marigold seeds for the third time. I sure hope the old saying is correct and this time is "the charm." The two previous plantings both damped-off on me. I'm using a different approach this last time. If this batch of seeds doesn't produce, I'll just have to purchase marigolds from the nursery. 

Then I moved on to tomatoes. Last year I planted a lot of Roma tomatoes and they did really good. I canned diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, and pizza sauce. Between what I canned and what was already in the pantry that is commercially produced, I doubt I'll need to can many tomatoes this year. I planted Beefsteak and Pink Belgium seeds and hope to get some nice slicing tomatoes to eat fresh from the garden. 

There is a lot more to come. I have herb seeds to plant in the Greenstalk, and some Kennebec seed potatoes to plant in the raised beds. I just need to be patient and wait on the weather. 

I hope that in three weeks, I can move the cabbage, Brussels, and begonias to the greenhouse and free up space on my shelves. We'll have to see how that goes. It all depends on the weather. 

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, gardening, tomatoes, herbs, Greenstalk, rural living, country lifestyle, a writer's life, pizza, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, Burpee seeds, Roma tomatoes

Green tomatoes - winning so far!

Earlier this spring, I started a passel of tomato seeds. "Passel," in country-speak, is a lot. The word is in the dictionary, but it's not a word you'll hear city-dwellers using too often. Anyway, I planted a BUNCH of tomato seeds. I did not expect to have one hundred percent germination so I gave some of the young plants to friends. 

Originally, I planted Roma, Veranda (cherry), and Bodacious (slicing). The Bodacious had excellent germination and the seedlings looked good, then all but two of twenty-four seedlings died. The tray they were in sat side-by-side with the Roma and Veranda seedlings, and they're fine as the pictures show. Not to be deterred, I grabbed a pack of Rutger seeds off the rack at Walmart and started them. They are doing very well, flowering right now, but still behind the other two. 

I'm still calling it a win. I learned not to purchase Bodacious seeds. Learning is good! I learned I may not want to plant an entire pack of 25 or 50 seeds. I might want to scale back to twelve and see what grows because I can always plant more seeds. In fact, having staggered planting might be an advantage when harvest time rolls around. 

What am I going to do with all those Roma tomatoes? The plan is to home-can diced tomatoes in pints to use in chili, soups, and hopefully new recipes we'll find and want to try. I also want to make ketchup and I think for that I can add the cherry and slicing tomatoes to the Romas for a richer flavor. I also want to freeze-dry some of the cherry tomatoes for in green salads over the winter. We'll see how that works out in due course. 

I have a few ideas on how to improve my little garden next year. With a recession starting, I hope I'll be able to carry through on them. Stay tuned.

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor (The Hideaway)

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, gardening, country living, tomatoes, planting seeds, harvesting, a writer's life, simple country pleasures, Roma tomatoes, cherry, staggered planting, home canning, home food preservation