More Giant Tomatoes

On the other blog I showed you a giant tomato--2 lbs 3 oz.  A couple of days later, I found some more--not quite as gargantuan, but nothing to sneeze at:

 The dark red one is the 2 lb 3 oz one--that's a 2 lb margarine tub behind it.  The left-most one is 25 oz (1 lb 9 oz), the light one in front of the margarine tub is 1 lb 8 oz. and the smallest one to the right is "only" 15 oz.  These all came from the Supersteak plants.  The biggest one, along with a sweet onion made a whole bowl of salad.  The second-largest was a gift to my neighbor, and the smallest one went into sandwiches.

A glimpse toward the garden from the deck.  The Hyperion daylilies are so stunning.  That's an 8'tall rose bush "Rosarie de L'Haie" between and just behind them.

I should gather the onions whose tops have fallen over or dried up (did you know that if you bend over onion necks you are inviting disease into the neck and they won't keep very long, but if they naturally fall over, then that is better).  It sure works.  My friend, when she gets tired of the garden and wants to clean up, bends the onions, and by November they are taken to the dump because they are rotten.  My onions last till they are used up--I usually have to buy onions in June just before we can start harvesting green onions from the garden.  That's how long ours last if we don't use them up.  My favorite onion varieties are (listed in the order of their keeping qualities--first are poorest keepers, last are longest in our storage conditions)  Walla Walla, Kelsae Sweet Giant, Candy, White Sweet Spanish, Red.  I don't like the taste of onions from sets.  Our onions are planted from plants started in the greenhouse.  I use up all the ones that didn't have the full count because the cats lay on them or they didn't germinate well.

Last year the garden flooded, and I thought the onions drowned, but as soon as I pumped the garden and it dried, the onions started growing again--they weren't as big as usual, but we still had onions until February.
  If my knee allows, tomorrow I will edge and cut the weeds out of an out-of-control flower bed, where I want to plant rhubarb and herbs. The grass and clover and poplar suckers are so big that I will just cut them and feed them to the sheep, then when they start to re-grow, I will use Round-up.  As soon as Kubota Man repairs the lawn tractor I can hitch up the sprayer and Round-up all around the farm:  a new high-bush blueberry patch, a new Saskatoon and Haskap berry patch, and a very neglected old raspberry patch and an old strawberry patch.  Also a row where we will plant several more cherry bushes.  I already cut the weeds out of three other flower beds, and the re-growth is just ready for a feed of Round-up.
I'm just debating if I should plant 6-8 grape vines on the south side of the garage--Kubota Man says he approves if I think I'll have time to look after them.  I really want to, but have to do a serious reality check first.  I really want the grape vines--we get such nice grapes (blue ones) on the vines that are left over in the nursery.  And I love grape jam and jelly..........(stop, take a reality break).

A little later on in the season, I will hitch up the 12" auger to the tractor and plant some more trees and shrubs--the ones I planted in late Sept or Oct last year all took except for one tree and one shrub--not bad out of a total of 24 plants. 


Have a great Labor Day Weekend.