Heirloom and red tomatoes

Just a wrap up about tomatoes this year. We like Brandywine, pictured here:

 And I grew another heirloom-type, German Johnson, which was pinker in color, but had that usual odd-shaped fruit, and PLENTY of flavor!

 This last photo shows two 'Champion' tomatoes. They were okay, but not much different from Celebrity, which we grow every year. Our Champions didn't seem to produce as many tomatoes as Celebrity or another favorite, Utah's DX-52-12. Not much of a name, but a favorite here in Utah with consistent production and good flavor. 

For me, next year I'll plant fewer cherry tomatoes, and I will plant Lemon Boy and Hawaiian Pineapple again (two yellows). Brandywine, German Johnson, and DX-52-12 will be on my list, as well. I'll be shopping for Purple Cherokee, as well. I grew it in 2012 but couldn't find seedlings this spring. Ah well, next year! 

what to do with all those cherry tomatoes???

We had many more cherry tomatoes than we could eat fresh. What to do, what to do?

Finally I decided I could use them in a pasta recipe. It's not anything too creative,

 but it IS really tasty:

Pesto Pesto Salad

Cooked  and drained pasta. We like this mini-farfalle.

Pesto (I have a recipe, just too lazy to write it out here. Get your own!)

Cherry tomatoes, sliced in half.

Parmesan cheese, if desired. 

optional: black olives, artichoke hearts

I just stir everything together. It's tasty-riffic! 

Cherry-grape type tomatoes

Somehow this year, about 25 % (4, total) of the tomato plants we planted were cherry tomatoes. Although they are delicious, 4 is really too many for our family. Next year, not so many ! 

 Sunsugar, a yellow-orange cherry tomato, is a BIG favorite around here. Tasty! In the picture you can see various shades of ripeness. 

The picture below is of a Principe Borghese tomato plant. This is the second (and last!) time I'll grow this variety,

because it is promoted as a Roma-type tomato,

 but we seem to be able to manage only 'grape' sized fruits. 

I'm not sure what the problem is, because the other tomatoes grow to the right size. So, no more tries for this variety. 

Yellow tomatoes

I am trying out Hawaiian Pineapple this year. It is a beefsteak type tomato, which has been a good size for slicing. Mine tend to have cracks, as you can see.  It is flavorful and a good producer this year in my garden, with some tendency to have disease (fusillarium or verticillium) but not terrible. And how many tomatoes can you grow that are 'school bus yellow?' 

This one is a favorite - Lemon Boy- I've grown this variety for several years, now. It is consistent and produces a nice sized fruit. 

Both yellows are yum-tastic, and I'll grow them again next year, I think. 

Tomatoes -what kind are YOU growing this year?

Tomatoes are the most popular vegetable crop grown by the home gardener, and for good reason. They are easy to grow, and delicious! 

This year I tried a few new varieties, as well as some family favorites. 

This one is called 'Green Zebra.'

It is an odd variety, and I didn't realize at first that it was ripe. You can see why. Green Zebras can ripen to a more yellow/green color than the ones I've shown here. 

I don't think I'll grow these again. They are small - and have a mealy texture. 

one more iris post - rebloomers.... in Northern Utah????

I own a few reblooming iris, but I don't count on them ever reblooming in zone 5-ish Northern Utah. 

Then last week, I did a double take as I drove by this yellow beauty in a nearby neighborhood. 

It's SEPTEMBER!! Amazing!!! I am so impressed. Made my day. :)

The end of Iris Week: " I want that"

After the irises are done blooming, what does an iris lover do?

In addition to splitting the iris and moving them around the yard, giving them away, it's always fun to look at the iris catalogs (paper AND online) and dream a little bit about what OTHER irises I might want:

'Lady Friend '

'Bohemian Garnet'

Not to be covetous or anything, but I do love iris! Reminds me of this lady from the movie "Napoleon Dynamite:"

Iris week continues.... Red?

There's not really a pure, true red bearded iris, yet. 

 I have no doubt someone will develop one, I'm surprised it hasn't happened, yet.

For now, though, I enjoy the ones I have in the yard, the near red maroon, russet, and wine colored irises. 

Most of my irises are tall bearded, or German iris.   

  I do have to confess to a fondness for the Siberian iris, as well, though. 

                    

These are some in the yard. They are overgrown at this point, and need to be separated or they will not bloom again for me. Siberian iris are a good plant to share, and seem to multiply even faster than bearded 
iris! 

I've got some blue and yellow Siberian iris in my yard, as well.

Siberian iris have smaller, more delicate blooms than the bearded iris, and are native to northern Asia and central and eastern Europe. They are very hardy and tough plants! 

Iris week - the oldies but goodies

These are early bloomers in my yard. 

They are a little more old-fashioned looking than the larger blooms that will come later.

 These golden brown iris are a little wind blown.

classic two toned 

these are an older variety, blue in color, but grape scented. 

Iris week begins with the minis!

Iris week is here again! Today I'd like to show a few of the mini's, or dwarf iris:

This is a nice two toned purple and blue number. 

Purple mini

the blues are one of my favorites! 

Musings at Wal-mart

The stars aligned for me today. I was at Wal-mart. I had my camera in my purse (thanks again, Em!). And, I had to use the bathroom. I appreciate a clean bathroom, and one that smells clean, as well. Some time ago my local W-mart 'redecorated' their bathrooms. I don't know why. So- here is one of those 'new' plastic de-cals on the wall. Looks good. NBD* (no big deal, right?) 

Not content with this simple style statement, they added inspirational messages:

 I'd have been ok with something that said, " throw your towels in the garbage can" or "don't be a slob" 

but the person that was hired to decorate THIS Wal-mart bathroom had other ideas: "Life is about making memories." Admittedly, the sign is stylin'. Love the font. but... hmm. odd message for the bathroom, I'd say.

 This is the one that really cracks me up, though: "Love is the beauty of the soul"???? whaaa?

That doesn't really make any sense. I am imagining the manufacturer just decided to use the words: 'love,' 'beauty,' and 'soul' to make a nice looking sign. We could mix it up and it would make just as much sense. Try it with me, now:

"Beauty is the soul of love"... "Love is the soul of beauty?" .. you get the idea. Give me a few of your less meaningful sayings. Maybe we can sell them to Wal-mart!!! 

"Mystery Squash" - are you ready for your mystery squash?

Maybe the heat is doing funny things to my brain, but I've been watching a volunteer squash plant grow and develop for a month or so,  now. What will it be? Will it be worth the time and effort? 

The tune that advertised a popular game when I was young (I know!) came to my mind: "Mystery squash, am I ready for my mystery squash?" 

Maybe  I should have ripped it out and thrown it in the compost pile when I first saw it sprout? I'm hoping it's not a dud!  It's growing very fast, and has almost covered my Cherokee Purple Tomato plant. 

Hmm.......... time will tell.

.Maybe it's a pumpkin? Let me know if you have a guess. 

Top o' the morning!

I don't know that quilting will ever be a great hobby of mine.

Yesterday I shared my 'oops' moment. I realized I should've used a quilting frame or embroidery frame to hold the quilt and border tight.

But who wants to tear everything apart and start over? Not me!

I did tear out the 'stitch in the ditch' basting stitches, and then opened up the bottom of the piece and stuffed in some batting.

I also used embroidery thread to 'tie' my quilt.

It is still not perfect, but much less lumpy looking. I'll take it for a first effort!

Still have to fix the stick and hanging tabs. They are too red neck even for me.

And next time I'll put my mini quilt in a frame of some sort. Next time?

Yes, I think I'll try again. :)

Crocus in March -hurrah!

I thought about the fact that this is the 15th, and thus, Garden Blogger's bloom day.

I had little hope that I had anything blooming yet.

I have been out, raking up the pine needles (there seem to be SO MANY this year!)

We stack the needles on one of our walking paths. And, then I noticed (look on the left, up the path) that we really DID have flowers already! Every year spring is such a wonderful surprise.

Although it shouldn't be a surprise. I see last year in March, my crocuses were blooming.

Saint Patrick's day decorations, or will the luck o' the Irish hold?

I bought some small remnants with shamrocks on them several years ago and then didn't know what to do with them. It didn't seem right to make a bag out of them. Finally I decided to try to make a wall hanging. This seemed like a small enough project that I just might be able to finish it.

Step one, find some fabrics in my stash that would look good with the two shamrock fabrics.

A shamrock template off of the internet was easy enough, and then..........

cutting out the squares and sewing them together went along very quickly.

I appliquéd the shamrock and added tabs............

Things started going wonky when I put the border on and then the backing, though.

You can see from this picture that the squares are not flat and tight. bah.

I hung it up for a few days to think about what to do next. I didn't want to take the whole thing apart again. (I'd already tried to make it look smooth by sewing basting stitches across the quilted pieces. I'll show you what I did to fix it tomorrow.

Snow day in March

We got about 5 inches of snow last night

not much fun to drive in, but beautiful to look at!

I love how lacey these snow covered branches look.

Another Flicker sighting

I saw the flicker again!

This time it looks like he/she is wondering where the tree went -

we lost the tree in a bad windstorm in December.

Here's a great shot of its wings. I wish I remembered if the bird was taking off or landing.

Fall Flicker ?

From my kitchen window, I've been enjoying the color of the Virginia creeper.

Then I heard some rustling, and saw a bird eating the berries....

I'm guessing it's a flicker of some type. But I don't know a lot about birds!

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday -check it out!