Farmer's market tomatoes

Here is a picture of the first commercially grown Ramapo tomatoes I have seen. I bought them at the Capital City Farmer's market on State Street in Trenton. The weekly market is an interesting admixture of state employees and locals and sells a variety of things from baked goods to perfume. It also features live music. It's over now til 2010.

As for the tomatoes, quite good, the best tomatoes I've eaten this year.

Another season

Got a few tiny tomatoes in a tub with a ripening banana. The banana's do cause the peppers and tomatoes to turn red. Hope they don't all taste like bananas. Found a good article about why gardening doesn't really save most people any money.

After a few years of vegetable gardening, next year I might try begonias or something that flowers. Perhaps a few flowers and some cayenne peppers. Flower gardening would be a novelty. Except for cactus, African violets and an aging geranium, I haven't tried it since I was a tot.

The 2009 crop

It's weird at work, I feel like I'm living in this agricultural community instead of New Jersey. Everybody is bringing in their produce from the garden and comparing notes. I've had a good year myself. Maybe it's because of the rain or maybe it's because the squirrels seem to have subsided this year, but I did well with my cayenne and anaheim peppers as well as my cherry tomatoes. The cayenne and cherry tomatoes came from seed (cheepo seeds) and the anaheim peppers came from a co worker. I'm guessing on the anaheim label but that's what they look like. They guy I got the from claims they are "Portuguese hot peppers" but I'm skeptical about that label.

In true agricultural areas people are blase about their gardens. You can tell city folks a mile away.

August 2009

Not too bad. This year I bought "Plantation" seeds for a dollar apiece at Big Lots. I bought cherry tomatoes and cayenne peppers. The cherry tomatoes are fairly large and seem to have done well. The plants are bigger than I imagined, even bigger than the Ramapo tomatoes I grew last year. The peppers didn't fair as well. Still I have already been using my meager yield for cooking. I also got a plant of indeterminate origin from a co-worker.

This year, for whatever reason, I didn't have the squirrel problem I had last year. One squirrel was hanging out in a basil pot but they don't seem to have eaten anything so far. It has been a very rainy year but the hot sun the past few days have been instrumental in ripening the cherry tomatoes. I counted about forty-five fruit so far.

2009 plants

In keeping with the theme of "hard times", I didn't buy heirloom tomatoes this year. I just went to Big Lots and bought two packets of seeds, one cherry tomatoes and one cayenne peppers. I potted them in the window and now I have potted a lucky few on the balcony. One of the tomatoes died (so I thought) so I planted another one next to it. A week later, it came back to life and now there are two rivals in the same pot. Resurrection. Better than Angels and Demons.

2009 seeds available

I just received an e mail from Rutgers. The Ramapo tomatoes are available again this year. I've decided I have too many squirrels and not enough direct sunlight to venture to grow them again this year. I'll probably grow cayenne peppers and maybe cherry tomatoes, or as a Chinese American co-worker called them, "cherry potatoes". You can find my other blogs on my profile. Happy gardening!

A new blog

I've started a new blog, Hard Times. It's getting off to a rocky start but be patient.