From the Test Gardens

Look who came for a visit on a blustery day with pouring-down rain interspersed with moments of glorious blue sky. No worries—it’s a banana slug, a Pacific Northwest native that doesn’t do as much damage to gardens as the non-native dark-colored ones. It apparently doesn’t like having its photograph taken. —Debbie Leung, Olympia, Washington

I opened my hoop house doors at noon today and knew immediately I should have done it a bit earlier in the day. It has been a gorgeous late-winter day. There’s still the nip of winter in the air, but the sun has a spring warmth to it. As I pried open the door, a gush of steam greeted me as the warm air in the hoop house collided with the cool outside air. I had to wait a while before I could head in to pick—it was that hot.

In the hoop house, winter greens are beginning to bolt.

The work of winter and spring are colliding just like that warm and cold air. I’m still harvesting nice winter greens to sell, although many of the plants are doing what they need to do to keep their species in existence: The seed stalks are shooting up. Some mustards and arugulas have flowers, and there are some small (and tasty!) seed heads.

My leeks and onions have been in for a while now, and I have some lovely baby green onion tops to add to my favorite dishes. Onions, when growing from seed, need a regular “haircut” to keep their tops at 1 to 2 inches. This directs the plants’ energy back to the roots, helping the onions size up nicely. I’ll direct seed my favorite onion—the fabulous ‘Long Red Florence’—right in the garden as well, so I can harvest early, from transplants, and late, from seed.

‘Long Red Florence’ onions

I also have some herbs growing along nicely. Oregano, parlsey, thyme, sorrel, plus a few oddities. There’s my cultivated apple seed from Germany and an early-maturing type of cotton that I hope produces the most wonderful fluffy cotton balls ever on my Wellandport plantation. One must try these things. Or at least I must.

I love having one of my grow-light stands in the kitchen, right near the woodstove. Two weeks ago I seeded all my eggplants, early brassicas, and lettuces for transplanting into the garden in April. Amazingly enough, a mere 24 hours later, some of the kale varieties were up. With the woodstove kicking out heat, those little kale seeds decided to pop. Miraculous.

A dense crop of ‘Stupice’ tomato seedlings awaits transplant.

Then there’s my favorite early tomato, ‘Stupice’. I have a 4-inch pot that must have 200 or so little baby ‘Stupice’ sprouts in it. These will be my June tomatoes, I hope. I’ll get them planted in my hoop house in April. Then, with a bit of luck and some row cover fabric thrown over them for extra protection, I should have ripe tomatoes 55 or so days later. Those first tomatoes are always the best!

As for the peppers, hot and sweet, they will all go in tomorrow. I’ll soak the super-hots, like ‘Scorpion’ and ‘Carolina Reaper’, for a better germination rate. I wish I’d planted them a little bit earlier, but I’ll get that fire rolling in the kitchen and hopefully they’ll jump up quickly. I just hope the weather stays cool so I need and want the fire. If you come to visit and I’m wearing my bathing suit, you’ll know why—I’m just trying to get those hot peppers going!

It’s so wonderful to see all these things sprouting and growing. Great also to feel the warmth of the sun and to dream about what this year’s garden can do. I never get tired of it because it is different every year. My gardens…my blank canvases await! —Linda Crago, Wellandport, Ontario

There was a break in the rain today, so I had to get out into the garden. It was gray, dry or lightly misting, and warm (about 60 degrees). First, there were lots of slugs, the little kind—there had to have been over a hundred that I “dealt” with. Many were on the Portuguese kale. What is amazing about this “kale” is that they are making giant heads, about 8 to 10 inches across! I’m going to wait for a good frost to sweeten them up before harvesting.

Portuguese kale, or "tronchuda beira," from Renee's Garden

Remember the giant kohlrabi from last year, ‘Superschmelz’? I’ve been letting them get really big to really test them and thought I’d bring one in today for lunch. It wasn’t very pretty, but it was a good 8 inches in diameter and very heavy. I cut off a wedge, peeled it and it was fabulous! Sweet, crunchy, and not woody. It’ll take a while to eat it all!

'Yellowstone' carrot, 'Jester' acorn squash, and 'Chersonskaya' winter squash

Two weeks ago, I pulled another ‘Yellowstone’ carrot from a mid-April sowing for a stew. It just keeps getting bigger! Here’s a picture of it with the ‘Jester’ acorn squash, both surrounded by the ‘Chersonskaya’ winter squash. Haven’t tasted the squash yet. Beautiful, but I’m disappointed by the yield of both varieties.

While finishing up fall chores in the garden after lunch, I noticed more slugs! This time I counted: 122.  —Debbie Leung, Olympia, Washington

As another mostly-annual tomato-tasting party approached, we knew that this year’s record-setting stretch of warm, dry days here in Olympia, Washington, had to end soon. Hopes for ripe tomatoes were high in this region where growing tomatoes is always a challenge. But as equinox approached, reality set in. Evening temperatures dropped into the 40s and we remembered this year’s cool, wet spring that seemed to last into midsummer. Like most years, we awoke on party day to gray skies, scattered showers forecasted for the afternoon – drats!!! My hope was to not repeat past parties where, huddled on the covered back deck with tomato juice dribbling down our fingers and chins, a constant drizzle chilled us to the bones.

As people started to arrive, the weather seemed to improve. Many contributed their best homegrown tomatoes for the tasting.

With a crunchy baguette sliced thinly to cleanse the palate between tastes and volunteers ready to slice and dice tomatoes, we gathered outside. Many folks had wandered through the garden while we waited for everyone (and tomatoes) to arrive, and I was barraged by questions about the “black tomatoes.” So to introduce the tasting, I told the story about the ‘Indigo Rose’ tomatoes and the experience of our test group, but we didn’t taste them first—no need to start with disappointment.

The heirlooms ‘Prudence’ and ‘Moskovitch’ were grown by neighbors in cloches to minimize blight and maximize heat potential. A riper specimen might have improved the blah response to ‘Prudence’. Many liked ‘Moskovitch’, with its tangy, citrusy zing. Sweet and dependable ‘Juliet’, a mini-Roma-type, is favored by a gardener friend and was grown outdoors in the open without fussing. People generally liked its firmness and flavor. My next-door neighbor brought full-sized Romas. The not-quite-ripe sample got muted comments that included sweet and firm with the texture of melons.

In contrast, little ‘Cherry Roma’ got people excited. They loved the crunch, the acid, the splash in the mouth, the burst of concentrated flavor. People also liked ‘Black Cherry’, a test variety, for its wide range of flavors, a complexity that included a limy tartness with a savory flavor that “stays with you.”

Clockwise from upper left: ‘Indigo Rose’, ‘Momotaro’, ‘Sungold’, ‘Early Cascade’, ‘Black Cherry’

‘Early Cascade’ is my standard, usually a small, dependable slicer. A few were ripe weeks ago, but the not-quite-ripe samples got expected responses, including “a little supermarket-y.” The flavor of ‘Momotaro’ makes it worth growing for me even though it ripens only in the best of seasons. Tasters agreed even with the barely-ripe sample. Animated descriptions included smoky, meaty sweetness, great for sandwiches. Also “a mellow, understated pleasantness.”

The sun peeked through the clouds as we tasted ‘Early Girl’, my neighbor’s standard for ripening and being blight-free in our drizzly climate, and ‘Indigo Rose’. People found ‘Early Girl’ agreeable and the eating quality of ‘Indigo Rose’ horrid, “definitely flashy in appearance but not in flavor.” They hadn’t yet colored up to the shoulders, but flavor at full ripeness could still be a question.

‘Sungold’ got passed around last as in year past, like a comforting dessert that everyone loves.

We concluded that here in the Puget Sound region of western Washington, growing cherry tomatoes are where it’s at. Our growing season is very long, but conditions that favor tomatoes are short and unstable. Ripening slicers takes short-season varieties, weather luck, and fussing with microclimates and plastic.

Eleven-year-old Emily summed up the event. The tomato lover travelled 75 miles with her parents and grandparents for the rare occasion to eat her fill of tomatoes. Her favorites? ‘Black Cherry’, ‘Cherry Roma’, and ‘Moskovitch’. She helped polish those plates clean.

Postscript: As people left, they asked what I would do with all the leftover tomatoes. Sauce! My lazy method, easy enough to make even after a long day of party preparation and socializing, starts with quartering the tomatoes, skins and all. Throw them into a pot to simmer. Stir occasionally, especially in the beginning as the tomatoes in the bottom of the pot cook first. When the tomatoes are soft, use a hand-held blender to dissolve the chunks and skins right in the pot. Continue to simmer until it thickens as desired.   —Debbie Leung, Olympia, Washington

It’s still warm enough to wear T-shirts, but it is definitely fall here in Olympia. Mornings are chilly and days are in the 70s. You can feel it in the air and see it in the light. Days are getting shorter. I could use a bit more summer!

Last week I thought I’d start slug patrol again since another planting of lettuce seedlings got devoured. I found hundreds of those pesky little slugs. Then I started counting. Yesterday there were 61; today 58. Most were on the Portuguese kale and ‘Little Jade’ Napa cabbage (the fall crop that is growing very quickly), followed by ‘Ozette’ potatoes and kohlrabi. I also found some on arugula, beans, and peppers.

A brief report on some of this year’s trial varieties: ‘Black Cherry’ tomato is starting to ripen and taste quite fine. ‘Indigo Rose’ tomato plants are still filled with large cherry tomato-sized shiny black balls. I let a Portuguese kale grow without harvesting its leaves, and it’s starting to form a head! Got small ‘Purple Peacock’ broccoli heads, one off each plant, and the side shoots are quite slow in coming. ‘Jester’ acorn squash is putting on squash and they look beautiful. I had high hopes for the ‘Chersonskaya’ winter squash, which were starting to make a number of squashes, but they look like they probably didn’t get pollinated—they’re drying up while only a couple inches across.

'Yellowstone' carrots from Fedco Seeds

Here’s a picture of the ‘Yellowstone’ carrots. They look great but don’t taste so great fresh; it’s a good carrot to cook with. The ‘Atomic Red’ carrots are about an inch tall. I’m growing them for the winter season.  —Debbie Leung, Olympia, Washington