Lazy Gardener

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My favorite paste: Amish Paste. I really like that one b/c it's dry, flavor is pretty good, and it is 6 - 8 oz. I've tried Olpaka, not impressed. Big and beefy, but I think flavor is lacking. Grandma Mary's paste, ok. Oxheart: impressive size. flavor... meh! Last year, I grew Pink Brandywine. Really liked that. This year, I'm growing Pruden's Purple. Have grown that in the past, and it is comparable to Brandywine. I also like a good yellow or orange tomato, but do not have a favorite. Taxi is good. And best snacking tomato: Sun Gold, though it's prone to splitting. I'm ok with that. Will take splits in exchange for superior flavor.
 
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flowerbug

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when it comes down to flavor we have always liked the beefsteak type tomatoes for canning, we put up tomato chunks most of the time and the juice around the seeds is where a lot of the flavor comes from. we also sometimes put up tomato juice but perhaps we are done with that since we are both pretty happy with just doing chunks. i think for how much time it takes either way it is about the same as when you do chunks you have to scald and peel them but when you are juicing you don't have to peel them since the mill will catch all the skins with the seeds. the time spent milling is probably about the same time we'd spend peeling and chunking. we don't have any kind of automatic juicing machine so this is all manual labor.

i did get my planned chores done today. :) it was a nearly perfect day today as far as the weather goes. nice breeze and about 73F.

first bean garden weeded and planted, weeded some pathways and checked out the strawberry patch and pulled some weeds out of there too while i was at it.
 

Mini Horses

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Well I have several type tomatoes growing. Just going to add these paste varieties. Then done with those....Will start these from seed so won't get into ground for a while but, weather good here plenty long enough to mature & bear well.

Plan to do a few hills of seed for starter plants out there today. Direct sow of carrots & beets on my list for today, also. I love beets! Some radish, onion sets, etc. Rowing for my dry bean planting as well as the transplant area for the squash & zuc plants that in the starter hills now. They are ready for a new home! ;)

Plenty of projects here that I need to do BUT -- no seeds planted means no food growing. So precedence in place today.
 

Lazy Gardener

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I'm over the moon with joy. I think I found some Pink Brandywine seedlings in the garden yesterday. They are only about 1" tall, have excellent color, and are "potato" leafed. So... hoping that's what they are. I've transplanted 4 of them into the new raised bed. Hopefully, they'll have time to bear a crop for future generations!
 

Daisy

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I didn't do much today bar a little weeding but before the weekend I took some branches down to let light in the kitchen and secured some fences in prep for our big storms. I tried to plant some ground covering herbs from their pots into the ground. I HOPE they spread to cover the black sand that has quickly eaten my summer mulch. Things do not grow fast here so I doubt they could get too out of control for me. Mint along the kitchen side, thyme at the front and back where the soil is most dry and oregano in the edging spaces. I separated the strawberry plants into 4 separate pots and planted some sage to try again. I ripped out the old parsley and potted up the new stuff and 2 dill seedings that were entangled in the strawberries. I have tiny seedings all over the place but everything is very slow to grow. Then the ex tropical cyclone hit and we got about 80ml of rain in 2 days. It uncovered a whole lot more glass, plastic and asbestos in the garden so I am slowly picking up bits as I go. I was very happy for the rain though, so were the ducks.
 

Lazy Gardener

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Didn't get much done in the garden. Spent several hours this afternoon getting all the tender plants covered up to protect them from the 30's temps for the next few nights. Scrambling around for buckets, milk cartons, bits of plastic, bigger bits of plastic, hoops... and the fence posts and such to secure them from the wind. Will most likely leave everything covered tomorrow, even if it's covered by a container that lets no light in. A day with no light but plenty of heat will do them more good than a day of cold.
 

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