Home Grown Tomatoes

For years this quote was over my kitchen door leading out to the garden. Sadly I had to take it down a couple of years ago to repaint the wall, but its in the plan to replace it. It is an essential life truth.

Is there a difference between home grown tomatoes and store bought tomatoes?
Oh My! YES! The taste of a homegrown tomato is UNlike anything else this world has to offer. And a store bought tomato tastes nothing like it, even when grocer’s says they are “vine ripened” . . . . Let’s talk about “vine ripened” for a minute: what it is and what it is not. Ostensibly, that term should be clear right? It means ripened-on-the-vine. . . . Right? Allowing fruits to ripen on the plant before harvesting ensures the completion of its growing cycle, implying that all of nature’s nutrition is intact. But don’t be fooled; when you see a sign that says “vine ripened” with tomatoes that are together on a small branch. The whole truth is that those tomatoes ripened while still attached to that little branch. No one says that branch was on the plant or that the plant was still in the ground at the time they ripened, so yesssss, okay – by definition I guess we cannot dispute it, but by its truest definition – NO! They are NOT necessarily ripened on the plant. I hate when I see that term, because if we believe everything we read we’ll fall for the implication that THESE tomatoes are somehow better than other tomatoes we see on the shelf without the ‘sign’. I seriously doubt it. In most cases, the only difference is that little branch – those 4 or 5 tomatoes that are clustered together. And No, in most circumstances they were not ripened ON a plant which was still living.

In central Alberta even in our home gardens, it is not possible for all of our tomatoes to ripen on the plant before the season is over, so we pick the last of them green, allowing them to ripen in their own time. It’s the best we can do with approaching winter. Tomatoes naturally produce their own ethylene gas which causes them to slowly redden as they ripen at their own pace – even once they’re picked. This of course takes time. To speed up the process of ripening, many companies lock immature green tomatoes in an ethylene-filled chamber. This seems like a good solution on the surface, but it merely forces them to turn red, not affecting the “ripening” process enough. The result is that yes, they may be red, but they never had the chance to develop flavour – which is usually a natural companion to ripening AND an indicator of nutritional value. If like me, you have to pick some of your tomatoes not quite red or still green, allow them to ripen in their own time, the way nature designed. You will be richly rewarded by the homegrown tomato-taste, and its associated nutritional value.

Okay, thank you for the chance to rant a little – on one of my pet peeves. I’ll set that aside for now.

“A tomato may be a fruit, but it is a singular fruit. A savory fruit. A fruit that has ambitions far beyond the ambitions of other fruits.” – E. Lockhart

Several years ago I decided to put more effort into eating IN THE SEASON. The concept is encouraged by a directive in what I consider ‘scripture’. “All wholesome herbs God hath ordained for the constitution, nature and use of man – Every herb in the season thereof, and every fruit in the season thereof . . . .” 1 This is good counsel indeed, especially since we understand now that nutritional value begins to dissipate in the hour after harvest. The fresher the produce, the more nutrition it contains, so eating it in the season we are guaranteed to have the best that nature can offer. Keeping that tomato for months in it’s “fresh” state, gives us the outward impression that it is nutritional, but in actual fact it is impossible. In my opinion, we use the word “fresh” too loosely in this context.

Based on tomato retail sales, the average North American eats almost 30 pounds of tomatoes a year. If you like pizza or spaghetti, you probably eat more. If you like salsa, you probably eat even more. If you don’t like tomatoes, then I’m pretty sure I ate enough to make up for you. But what about those of us who grow and preserve our own? How would stats ever reflect that? I’m pretty sure no statistician keeps track of how many plants I grow (this year, 28 plants), or the fact that we eat FRESH tomatoes every single day from mid July through till the last one gets eaten in late November. I do not ever buy tomatoes from the produce department because they are almost always supremely disappointing. So based on sales of ‘fresh’ tomatoes, I wouldn’t even be counted, but make no mistake – our household consumes a LOT of tomatoes.

Let’s get it over with and off the table. Yes tomatoes are really ‘fruits’, and yes we eat them as vegetables. Why? Simply because their natural ‘sugar’ content is much less than other fruits, making it more suitable to be used in a salad or main dish rather than a dessert. In fact, because the seeds are inside (like a blueberry, gooseberry, currant or grape) the tomato is actually a ‘berry’. It doesn’t make any difference, we’re still gonna eat tomatoes as vegetables – but it is interesting.

where do tomatoes come from?

Tomatoes originated in South America where the indigenous people cultivated them to use in their cooking. Not surprisingly, it was the Spanish who brought them to Europe and ultimately to the rest of the world. Within a short time, they became very popular in Spain, and were distributed throughout the Spanish colonies in the New World, including the Caribbean, and Central America, even as far away as the Philippines. They grow easily in warm climates so it was an easy fruit to adopt, and it literally changed the way the world ate.

In Europe it took a little longer, as they were regarded with suspicion for a number of reasons. They were identified as part of the nightshade family, and though the fruit was edible, it was well understood that the plant itself was dangerous; that was hard for many to get over. As well, wealthy Europeans often ate off pewter plates. Pewter being a metal alloy includes tin, copper, sometimes lead, and sometimes silver. The acid in tomatoes reacts with many metals and lead poisoning could result when lead is present. It’s not the tomato’s fault, but the chemical reaction with tomato acid and the pewter dishware would definitely come to everyone’s attention. Consequently, in England and her colonies tomatoes were considered ‘unfit’ to eat. In fact in most of Europe (even Italy) for almost a century, tomatoes were grown primarily as an exotic ornamental plant in flower gardens. Ironically, the poorer people ate off wooden plates or pottery, so that chemical reaction would never have been an issue for the more common folk. Who could have guessed, that simply using clay dishes would make tomatoes wonderful, while using pewter dishes could make them deadly?

The plant’s ability to adapt and even to mutate, creating new and different varieties contributed to its spread throughout the warmer European countries. Still, it took a very long time for the fruit as a ‘food’, to gain favour among the general European population. Even in areas where the climate was perfect for growing them, the fact that they grew naturally along the ground suggested ‘low status’. Funny how people can be that way. Still it was a beautiful fruit, and for the rich, it became a tabletop decoration – not eaten, just enjoyed esthetically. Although tomatoes were embraced sooner in Spain and Portugal, it took nearly two hundred years before they were incorporated solidly into the bigger Mediterranean cuisine. But it was the invention of pizza in Naples, Italy in the late 19th century, that endeared tomatoes to Italians. By then, fears surrounding them had begun to fade, and tomatoes had grown immensely popular in America.

In the east, it was a very different story. From the Philippines (under Spanish colonialism), tomatoes spread to southeast Asian and then to the entire Asian continent. It was brought to India by Portuguese explorers and exploded in popularity as it was perfectly suited to the climate. Today, China is the highest consumer of tomatoes in the world, and India is second, but the sheer population of those two countries (being the most populace in the world) would account for that. Per capita, one might expect Italy to score the highest for consumption because we all have pizza, spaghetti, lasagna in mind, but in actual fact – Egypt, Turkey, Iran and Uzbekistan are all ahead of Italy. Yes, tomatoes play a big role in Mediterranean cuisine, but evidently they are pretty crucial in the cuisine of the Middle East as well. But the big surprise is the third highest consumer – the United States.
1. China
2. India
3. United States

and Now?

Tomatoes are the king of ‘versatility’, present in almost all cuisines. They can be used in soups and noodle dishes – like in China; curries – like in India; pasta dishes like in Italy; salads, grilled, gazpacho, and various stews in Europe and the Mediterranean; stewed – like in the Middle East; salsas – like in South and Central America; goulash in Eastern Europe – and an amazing cross over of all the above in our global adaptation to different cuisines. EVERYONE eats tomatoes.

Highly cultivated the world over – even in Russia and Scandinavia, tomatoes are one of the most popular backyard garden vegetables in North America. In northern climates like our own, they must be started indoors to extend the season long enough to make them viable, but that is not a problem when every commercial greenhouse grows thousands of them.

The varieties are endless, but there are essentially two distinct types of tomatoes: determinate and indeterminate. It’s easy to remember which is which because a ‘determinate‘ tomato is one that has a finite or ‘determined‘ size, and amount of fruit. It is a smaller plant, ‘determined‘ to grow to a ‘pre-determined’ height, with all its fruit coming on in a short amount of time – perfect for a climate like ours with a short growing season. Because of this, it is considered an annual even in its native land. It grows easily in a pot, or within the confines of a tomato cage, so for those who need something easily contained, it’s your best option.

An INdeterminate tomato on the other hand, will grow and grow and grow, continuing to produce new fruit until the winter kills it. In its native land or in warmer climates, it could grow for years, and left to its own it will be a trailing plant, continuing to grow along the ground. Everywhere the stem touches the ground is a potential spot for the plant to grow new roots, conceivably having innumerable new independent plants all along the trail. I have no idea how long it could grow, or how it would eventually die in its native Central and South America. In a temperate climate (with distinct seasonal changes) like our own, it is the winter that kills it, but during the growing season it never stops reaching to new heights.

are tomatoes good for you?

almost 2 1/2 pounds this tomato will be dinner tomorrow after a made a loaf of sourdough bread for it. It deserves a thick slice of toasted sourdough and some fresh pesto mayo. A September treat.
These Romanian Giants are the best tasting tomatoes I’ve every grown.

YES! In a word, they sure are! Tomatoes are nutrient-rich powerhouses, packed with vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. Their secret ingredient is the antioxidant LYCOPENE, to which we owe the beautiful strong red colour. They reduce the risk of heart disease and cancer, improve eye health, digestive health, and the risk of osteoporosis. In the kitchen in they offer immense versatility and flavour.

* Fresh (as in uncooked) tomatoes are rich in vitamin C – a powerful antioxidant which is important for skin, bones, and connective tissue. It also promotes healing and helps the body absorb iron.
* Fresh tomatoes are rich in Potassium – needed to build proteins in the body, including muscle.
* Fresh tomatoes are rich in Vitamin K – required for blood to clot.

Like most fruits and vegetables, it is preferable to eat tomatoes FRESH, straight out of the garden to get the best nutrition and benefit. But that doesn’t mean that eating tomatoes grilled, fried, roasted, sauced, dried or juiced aren’t wonderfully good for us too. One of the best things about tomatoes is their versatility in adapting easily to an infinite number of different cooking styles, and using them in their many forms and styles opens up their full range of nutritional benefits.

There’s a very good reason they’re so popular in dishes ranging from Greek Salad to Thai Curry to Italian pasta to Mexican Pico de Gallo to toasted tomato sandwiches. Tomatoes have a unique flavour that isn’t found in any other vegetable. They are acidic, but less sour than other acidic fruits. That acid causes the colour to remain bright, but also contributes to the texture of the dish it is in, including acting as a tenderizer.

That’s at least — in part — why so many cultural cuisines such as Italian, Mexican, Middle Eastern etc rely on tomatoes in such a wide array of dishes.  Foods like pasta and pizza sauces, stews, and casseroles rely on tomatoes. Because North American cuisine is made up of dishes and flavours from numerous immigrant cultures, it is no wonder we find ourselves reaching for tomatoes so often in the kitchen. 

Growing

In North America, we generally plant tomato plants outside after all danger of frost is over. Starting seedlings indoors months in advance, is a must in Alberta, and if we cannot personally do so, not to worry – every greenhouse has a huge assortment to pick from. In Alberta, plan to plant them indoors by mid to late March at the latest. If you plant in February, they’ll be bigger, but sometimes that gets difficult to handle in the house.
Expect to put them outside mid to late May, after all danger of frost has passed. You can grow them well into September in a typical year, but be prepared to cover up on cold nights, or to pick in a hurry if a cold front settles in.

Tomatoes love sun so pick the sunniest spot in your garden for them. Conventional wisdom suggests that crops be rotated every year, and for most vegetables I do that, but my one exception is tomatoes. In small backyard gardens its not always practical to change locations, and in mine, if they’re to have the sunniest spot, I am limited in my options. Growing in the same SPOT is not the same as growing in the same SOIL. My garden is set up for tomatoes to be in one spot, with a semi permanent trellis to tie them to. For this reason, my attention to soil amendment is important. Adding new compost and other organic matter every spring replenishes the soil’s fertility, and is my best line of defense against pests and disease.  Rotating faithfully without taking proper care of your soil is only half the job.

When I plant a new tomato plant, I dig a DEEP hole – deep enough to bury all but the top 6 inches of the plant if possible. I put a raw egg in the bottom of the hole, crack it with my trowel and place the plant in the hole, laying it slightly if necessary to get as much of the stem below the surface as I can. This gives the plant a stronger base especially if your stem has gotten a little spindly before transplanting outdoors. If you look closely at the stem of a tomato plant (from the main stem to the little stems at the very end of each branch), you’ll notice thousands of little ‘hairs’ called “trichomes’. These have a distinctive ‘smell’ which is repugnant to pests, and their texture makes it difficult for ants and other insects to climb. You’ll also notice numerous small bumps or nodules along the lower stem – among the trichomes. These are potential root starts which will grow roots if that part of the plant touches soil. Burying the stem will allow all these little nodules to develop into roots, strengthening the base of plant. The broken egg adds protein to nourish the new plant as it grows, and calcium as the shell breaks down – which is an important nutrient for tomatoes.

Throughout the growing season, adding crushed egg shells to the base of your tomatoes adds the “promise of future calcium”. Calcium is important and egg shells take an entire season to break down, so its a long term commitment. Sprinkling egg shells will deter soft bodied pests like slugs and cutworms and will eventually breakdown to add calcium, so plan to add them often and throughout the growing time. Mulching with dry grass or compost around the base of your plants will keep water from evaporating too quickly and will add nutrients as it breaks down.

Tomatoes are a vine, but unlike other vines they don’t naturally climb up. They want to trail. Gardeners want them growing up to keep free air flow and to make best use of ground space. Stake them and tie frequently as they grow, securing them. I trim all lower leaves as the plant grows, at least for the lower 6-8 inches. As the plant grows and I can spare the room, I prune the lower leaves higher – as high as 18 inches. This prevents water from splashing on the leaves (which may cause decay and introduce disease), and allows light penetration and free air flow making for a healthier environment.

The tomato usually has a single main stem, but every branch has the potential of having a new stem grow out of its ‘elbow’, creating many other stems and directions for the plant to take. These additional stems are rarely suitable for staking purposes, so clip them out when you can. If your plant was allowed to grow for years and take over your garden, you might want to leave many of those sub stems on, but because of our shortened season, it is advisable to reduce them – encouraging the plant to put more energy into fruiting rather than building an empire.

Indeterminate tomato plants can easily grow 8-10 feet high, even in an Alberta summer. About the end of July, I begin topping mine off – pruning the growth that comes from the top, encouraging growth on the existing plant. By mid August I begin pruning all branches without fruit and the ends of the branches with fruit – reducing the energy going to green growth and redirecting it to existing fruit.

I plant a few cherry type tomatoes that will start producing early, ripening by mid July for early eating, and then bigger tomatoes for later eating and eventual harvest. That way I stretch the season of eating tomatoes out as long as I can.

Harvesting when they’re ripe

almost, but not quite ready. Give it another few days. These tomatoes are about 2 pounds each. Romanian Giants. As most heritage types, they’re not the prettiest tomatoes on the block, but definitely the most delicious I’ve ever grown. I’m committed to them.

Most of my earlier tomatoes are picked purely for eating out of hand or to add to garden salads. When the bigger ones start ripening and you’re picking to slice for a sandwich, look for firm texture and that beautiful red colour we all love. When the numbers increase and you can harvest more, then roast, grill or fry them to use as building blocks for pasta, soup, pizza, or to use as simple sides next to your favorite entrees. Two of our favourite ways to eat fresh tomatoes are on a toasted sandwich with pesto mayo, and in a fresh tomato bruschetta on focaccia or sour dough bread. Fresh tomato soup is a dish I wait all year for. For months not a single day goes by that tomatoes are not a major part of our meals. We’ve waited all year long for this season and I will not waste it.

When your tomatoes are ripening faster than you can use them – happy day. That’s when you look for ways to preserve the excess: can them in quarts or pints, make salsa to eat fresh or can, make roasted tomato sauce, freeze them whole to buy yourself some time, or freeze your roasted tomatoes, dry roast them in your oven with garlic, oil and a few herbs (my version of ‘sundried tomatoes’), or even dehydrate them in slices to use for tomato powder if you have enough.

Store at room temperature – in the kitchen – where you can see them and constantly pick out the ripe ones to use. They retain they’re distinctive acid-base flavour at room temperature. Never ever, ever store them in the refrigerator unless they’re ripening too fast and you intend to cook them right away anyway. Refrigerating them wrecks the taste of tomatoes and softens the texture. Once they’ve been refrigerated they’re only good for cooking.

On the other hand, a cut tomato must be refrigerated. Some say that storing it cut side down and wrapped in plastic is the best way, but time if of the essence. A day or two at most is all you can expect it to stay good.

Harvesting when they’re green

At the end of the season, covering your tomatoes with a big sheet for the night, is good protection for a short term frost. And its worth it, if there’s promise of another week or two of warm September weather. But if you have to do that every night, its time to give up and concede that summer is over. Get some big boxes out there and pick your tomatoes. Pull the plants out and turn upside down to see all the potential harvestable tomatoes. Twist and pull them off the stem and gently lay in the box. I separate the partially ripe ones so that I can keep a closer eye on them. Store them at room temperature.

Don’t waste anything: I prune the smaller branches off the main woody stalks and mow them up to add to our end-of-season compost. The big stalks I put in the city compost as they’ll take too long to decay in my little garden set up.

Saving seed

When you have a heritage tomato you’re in love with, do yourself a favour and save its seed for planting next late winter or early spring. Easy to do in a fully ripe tomato: simply use a spoon to scoop out some seed. Rinse in a fine sieve to get rid of additional pulp and lay the seed on a piece of paper towel in a single layer. Allow seeds to fully dry out on the paper towel, then roll it up, label the type and year with a black felt pen and store in in plastic or paper bag with your other seeds. That’s it. It really is that simple.
When you’re ready to plant, gently remove the seed from the paper towel. If it doesn’t want to come off, no problem – just bury the piece of paper with the seed. It will germinate just fine.

Preserving tomatoes

CANNING: See my post Stocking Up: Food Preserving – Canning 101 for suggestions on canning tomatoes. Specifics: Blanching is important to help you peel them. The time table for canning tomatoes in a hot water bath is 35 minutes for a pint, 45 minutes for a quart. Use 1 teaspoon salt in a quart and 1/2 teaspoon in a pint. I also use 1 tablespoon lemon juice for quarts and 1/2 tablespoon for pints to up the acid level just a little. A friend told me this year that she adds coarsely ground peppercorns to her canned tomatoes which I think is a wonderful idea. I plan to do that. Might be my new thing.

FREEZING: When I freeze tomatoes I’m usually in a hurry – so I don’t prep them at all. I just put them whole in a freezer bag and try to lay them flat in the freezer till they freeze. I label them with a date of course, and I try to use them that first winter to free up freezer space and because freezing has a shorter shelf life than we might imagine.

tomato slices on a dehydrator rack

DEHYDRATING: is not my first choice for preserving tomatoes, and I would only use it as a method if I had lots to spare. Slice fresh ripe tomatoes, remove excess water and seeds, lay slices flat on your dehydrator racks. I try to keep the temperature around 110 degrees. It will take a good 24 hours+ to dry fully. When they’re crisp enough that you can break in half, they’re done. Store in a glass container out of the light. Use in soups or chilies. Or put them into the blender to powder them. Use the powder in place of tomato paste in any recipe.

yes its true I could make my own tomato powder, but its hard to beat the quality of Thrive Life products, so since I rarely have a harvest big enough to justify dehydrating, this is the tomato powder I choose to use. With a 25 year shelf life, its the perfect addition to my long term food storage.

This post is too long to add tomato recipes, so I’ll create another post for my favourite recipes. I’d love to hear some of yours too.

Homegrown tomatoes are my favourite garden crop. I hope you’ll grow them and discover the value of them and how easy it is to add them to your life. I’d love to hear your comments and your experiences with tomatoes.

Warmly,

Cindy Suelzle

footnotes

  1. Doctrine and Covenants 89:10,11 ↩︎

Tomato Powder will make your kitchen a happier place

Tomatoes are nature’s most potent source of lycopene. What IS lycopene and why do we care? Lycopene is a powerful antioxidant with many health benefits, including sun protection, improved heart health as in lower risk of stroke and heart disease, as well as a lower risk of certain types of cancer. It is most effective when consumed in the form of lycopene-rich foods like tomatoes and other red or pink fruits. Studies indicate that lycopene reduces bad cholesterol (LDL) while increasing good cholesterol (HDL) levels. This balance is important because high cholesterol develops fatty deposits in our blood vessels, which can clot and lead to a heart attack or stroke. Remember, RED foods are good for the heart.

it is difficult to think anything but positive thoughts while eating a homegrown tomato

And now, you’ve got all that natural tomato goodness in a concentrated form right in your pantry! I know right? Who could have imagined that now you can:
STOP buying those little 6 oz cans of tomato paste that you never use all of anyway
STOP buying canned tomato sauce (in all their varieties)
STOP buying tomato juice
Because you’ve got all three of these wonderful foods right here in powdered form (just add water). And its a lot more nutritious because it hasn’t gone through the high temperatures of canning (which only retains 40% at best of the nutritional value). Tomato Powder is a super useful food to have on hand in the kitchen at all times. I can’t speak to all tomato powders, but Thrive Life Tomato Powder has a strong, clear tomato taste, like you just picked a ripe tomato out of your garden! It’s got all that wonderful natural tomato acid, because . . . . . . guess what? The ingredient (yes, that’s singular) is: TOMATOES. That’s it. The only thing in the can – is tomatoes. No salt, sugar, colours, flavour enhancers, or other additives of any kind. You can add your own salt to taste. Or not. You do you.

Making your own TOMATO POWDER

drying your own tomatoes for tomato powder

Making your own tomato powder is pretty straight forward. A little investment in the time department, but easy, and if you’ve got an excess of garden tomatoes, its a great use for them. Best practice is in a dehydrator, but you can dry in a slow oven, and if you live in a hot dry climate, you can dry them in the sun. I don’t – so that’s all I’ve got to say about THAT.

The meatier type of tomatoes is preferable, as they have less water and less seeds – like Romas. Simply slice and lay evenly in your dehydrator. All dehydrators might be different, but select a low setting and expect it to take a full day and night. How long exactly, depends on too many factors to estimate with any precision. Factors like: type of tomatoes you are using, and how much water they contain, how thick you sliced them, even the weather – is it cold and rainy, or hot and dry?

You’ll want to continue to dry them until they are brittle. Ensuring that you have removed all the moisture is critical to give you a good product in the end. Use a food processor or blender to grind the tomatoes into a fine powder. It may be helpful to break the tomato slices into smaller pieces as you add to the blender. You can sift the powder through a sieve to separate the larger pieces, which you can put back into the blender.

Store in an airtight container in a cool, dry place. Nothing lasts forever, so plan to use it up in a year (or two at the most). Nutrition will diminish over time of course. Having it be VERY dry in the beginning is key to it staying dry, and it STAYING dry is key to longer shelf life. Keep it well sealed, as it will want to absorb the moisture from the air.

Thrive Life TOMATO POWDER

Thrive Life Tomato Powder is just that – tomatoes powdered. You would use it the same way and store it the same way as homemade tomato powder. Its just a LOT easier.

to take a closer look click the link

10 WAYS TO USE TOMATO POWDER

1. Tomato paste
ratio 1:1-2
1/4 cup tomato powder + 1/4 cup water = tomato paste
start with the lesser amount of water, and then add a tablespoon more at a time to reach the consistency you prefer

2. Tomato sauce
ratio 1:4
1/4 c. tomato powder + 1 cup of water = 1 cup tomato sauce

3. Tomato juice
ratio 1:8-10
1 T. tomato powder + 1/2 cup (8-10 T.) water
optional: add your choice of seasoning ie: onion powder, sugar, salt, pepper, to taste

4. Spaghetti sauce
ratio 1:4

or use your own Mediterranean seasoning mix: any combination of oregano,
thyme basil, rosemary, garlic, onion,

5. Pizza sauce
ratio 1:3

or use your own Mediterranean seasoning mix: any combination of oregano,
thyme basil, rosemary, garlic, onion,


6. Cream of Tomato Soup
ration 1:16
Prepare a roux from 1/4 cup butter and 1/4 cup flour over low to med. heat
Add 1/4 cup tomato powder – whisk in
Add 1 T. chicken bouillon – whisk in
Slowly stir in 4 cups of milk, whisking all along to prevent lumps from forming.
Simmer over low heat, whisking to combine well, heat thoroughly and thicken slightly. Add more liquid if needed.
*optional: I like to rub some Freeze dried chopped onions through a sieve to create onion powder. Nice addition to the soup.
*optional: add 1 tablespoon of Italian or Greek blend of herbs, or your own combination of oregano, thyme and basil.
*optional: add another tablespoon or two of tomato powder if you want it richer

Thrive Life Tomato Powder label

7. Ketchup
1 cup tomato powder and 3 +1/2 cups water
1/3 cup honey or brown sugar
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1 t. onion powder or 2 T Freeze Dried chopped onion crushed to make onion powder
1/2 t garlic powder or 1 T Freeze Dried garlic crushed to make garlic powder
1 t salt + 1/2 t pepper
1/2 t dry mustard
pinch of allspice and a pinch of cloves
Combine all, and simmer over low heat stirring frequently to prevent scorching – till reduced to desired consistency. Expect it to take 30-45 minutes depending on your preference of thickness. Pour into jar and refrigerate. Expect 2 pint jars. Best to let it sit a day to allow flavours to fully blend.

8. Barbecue sauce
1/2 cup tomato powder
1 cup water
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 T. apple cider vinegar
1 T Worcestershire sauce
1 T soy sauce
1 T mustard
1 clove garlic, minced
2 T FD chopped onion
1/4 t Cayenne pepper (or your favourite dash of hot) or NOT
Salt & pepper to taste
Mix all ingredients in large saucepan, heat over low and stir 15 or so minutes till slightly thickened. Stir frequently to prevent scorching.

9. to add that beautiful rich ‘tomato’ zest concentrated
To any tomato based soup, stew, chili or pot roast – add a tablespoon or two of tomato powder just because YOU CAN! You’ll be surprised at how it richens things up.

10. As a garnish
Sprinkle tomato powder  over top potato salad, deviled eggs, hummus, even a lettuce and tomato salad. Be creative.

I’d love to hear your experiences with Tomato Powder, and your suggestions for recipes, please comment below.

If you want to see more tips like these, recipes and updates on Thrive Life Specials and promotion, click here – to sign up for my monthly Thrive Life newsletter.

Warmly,

Cindy

planning next year’s garden

(while this one is still fresh in your mind)

I have a simple rule that I apply to everything I ‘did’. Whether its my garden, an event that I was involved in, or a class that I taught – doesn’t matter, it pretty much always applies. At the end of whatever it is, I ask myself these THREE Questions (and answer them of course).
1. What went well? What was I pleased with?
2. What could have been better? What could I have improved on?
3. What did I learn? In my opinion, the most important.

All three questions are very important, and must be asked in order. It is very easy to get down on yourself when something didn’t go right. None of us seem to be short on negative self talk, if the season (or event) was disappointing. Its easy to get discouraged and give up if we focus on the bad, on the things that didn’t work out. So DON’T!

What went well? There is always something that was good. Think about it, and WRITE DOWN the answers. A fruit or vegetable that grew well – a new skill that came in handy – a new hack that paid off – etc. Write down everything that was good about this year’s garden.

For my 2021 garden: What went well?

* Kale. I grew great kale. The year before was the first time I planted kale and I only planted 6 plants, but it encouraged me to plant again, this time I planted double that amount, and some variation. I planted them in three or four different spots, I picked from the plants all summer long, and well into October when I finally harvested the last of it. I used fresh kale in salads, omelettes and scrambled eggs, soups, casseroles, chopped in sandwiches, and smoothies. I tried kale chips in the oven for the first time, and was wowed. Repeated that several times, using less oil each time lol. I dehydrated the excess and ended up with two FULL 2 quart jars of dehydrated kale, crushed into them.

* Tomatoes. I had a reeeeeally good harvest of tomatoes this year. Lots of tomatoes! Mostly the Romanian Giants. For the first time, I grew tomatoes all season long IN my new green house. Eight or ten tomatoes there, four around an arbour in the first garden bed, four around an arbour in the large horse trough, and some in their usual spot on the west side of the house. And some cherry tomato in planters on the patio. Made for a LOT. I admit it – tomatoes are my thing. The backbone of my garden, the one thing I look forward to the most. Everything else exists around them.
The most successful places (in order), was the green house, garden arbour and large horse trough arbour – all in the sunniest locations. We ate fresh tomatoes pretty much all of August, September and October. We’ll have fresh tomatoes into November. I canned the excess that ripened faster than we could eat, a couple dozen quarts. I made fresh bruschetta and salsa, canning about 15 pints of salsa. I oven roasted lots of tomatoes. We had so many different types of tomato based soups.

* Cucumbers: best crop ever. Honey berries, Cherries, Raspberries, Rhubarb, Oregano.

* Compost. We reorganized our compost area since building the greenhouse, adding another large old garbage can turned upside down. Also had a mound of dried lawn trimmings in our compost area, ready to add to compost piles as needed, and use to mulch gardens. We also added to the city compost from time to time – with undesirable compost: either branches and things that take too long to break down, thistle, scraps that included oil or meat, ….. that sort of thing. It was valuable to be able to recycle these organics even though we didn’t want them ourselves.

* Greenhouse. Dan built me a new greenhouse this spring. Not very big, 8×12 – the perfect size for our needs. I dug the soil down deep on both sides, and added gravel, compost and aged horse manure to the soil. When the shelves were no longer needed, I removed them and planted tomatoes, peppers and nasturtiums in the soil.

* Soil amendment in the former spruce area. We took out two massive spruce trees a year and a half before and the following summer it was almost a dead zone. Nothing we planted did well, so we gathered our resources and came up with an amendment plan, thanks to the suggestion of our friend Scott Campbell. Aged horse manure, barley straw and early spring mowing. Became positively LUSH compared to last year.

New Discoveries

Horse trough raised beds
Hori hori knife (my new favourite tool)
Mexican Tarragon, Papalo, and Epezote

What could have been better?

Grapes. Plums. Carrots. Potatoes. Strawberries. Basil. Beans. Butternut Squash.
My planting was too condensed, and I ended up shading some things I’d rather not have.
I thought I planted bush beans, when they were in fact pole beans, and consequently they weren’t placed in the best spot. That was unfortunate. I experimented with two different ways to grow potatoes. Both were interesting and I’m glad I did it, but not that great of a yield.

What did I learn?

We’ve been growing tomatoes on the west side of the house which we knew was short on sun, but the best we had at the time. This year, the new greenhouse resolved that issue. 2021 is our last year for westside tomatoes. Next year, that partial sun/partial shade area will be best suitable for greens: lettuce and arugula, chard, kale, nasturtiums and celery.

We topped up all of our beds with aged horse manure and completely redid the entire strawberry bed, including new plants, following the recommendations of some trusted friends. I allowed too many other things to grow in it as the summer progressed: dill, poppies and sunflowers. Next year, I’m gonna limit that. We’ll deep water the strawberries right away (end of October), and cover them in leaves to tuck them in for a long winter’s sleep, and hope for better strawberries next year.

Plans for improvement next year?

Gonna rent a small inground garden plot in our community garden, to plant carrots, potatoes and maybe beets. Those root crops I just don’t seem to have sufficient room or sun for in my small garden, and if there’s one thing the community garden has a lot of, it is SUN!

Seeds for Next Year’s Garden

I ALWAYS buy seeds one year in advance. For the most part, what I plant in 2022 will be the seeds I purchased in late winter 2021, and so forth. It’s part of my personal philosophy of preparedness. There will always be an exception, something I decide to try NOW, but generally speaking, I plan at least one year ahead for gardening. I don’t ever want to have a spring when for some unforeseen reason, I am unable to get seeds. Preparedness is not just food storage.

Some of those seeds will be seeds I saved myself, especially tomato seeds from my own Romanian Giants, Nasturtiums, Poppies and Dill. Garden preparedness includes ensuring I have sufficient potting soil for next spring, as well as planting containers.

I get my seeds from assorted sources: a local seed store on the west side, one of several Canadian seed companies I order online, the odd package that catches my eye at a greenhouse or garden centre, and of course those that I propagate myself or that friends have shared. But for next year I have decided to try another Canadian seed company a friend recommended. I am looking for a company that deserves my loyalty.

Keep your plans for next year ACHIEVABLE.

Seed catalogues are full of all sorts of potential, and it’s good to try something new every year. Some thing you haven’t tried before, a new vegetable, a new type, a new way of doing things, . . . And there’s nothing wrong with trying something totally ‘out there’ from time to time, like watermelon, cantaloupe, grapes, honeyberries …. You never know what’s gonna WORK, and you very well may be surprised. Some things may simply have been fun to try, but not really worth investing too much energy down the road, not to mention the garden space that may have been better used for other vegetables. And other things may be tremendous successes. However, keep the bulk of your garden plans for the “most likely to succeed” crops. Go for the tried and true types. Ask other gardeners for their recommendations.

We’re fully expecting our Honey Crisp Apple, which we transplanted into our former spruce area two springs ago, to amaze us in 2022. It got set back when we transplanted it, and had a rough season in exceptionally poor soil, but we’ve apologized, and have done our best to make up for that rough start. I also have high hopes for our Royal Plum, which produced this year, but sparsely.

I highly recommend keeping a garden journal of sorts. Don’t fool yourself into thinking you’re gonna be a great journaler if you’ve never done well with journals before, but don’t be a defeatest either. Commit to it.
It doesn’t have to be fancy or expensive, just a simple notebook will suffice – but have a book that is gonna stick around. Not just a collection of note papers.

Keeping a garden journal WILL improve your gardening experience, I promise. Why? Because you will hone your skills based on what you learned from previous seasons. It will provide you with historical information that will help you better predict future results. It will help you keep an inventory of your seeds and perennials, as well as record your harvests. It can effectively evolve into a personalized garden TEXT BOOK, and every year you add to it, it becomes more and more valuable.

What to include in your garden journal? 15 suggestions

  1. Date your entries and write down your answers to the three questions above. Every year. Trust me, you’ll be glad you did. This will be your core.
  2. A pencil sketch of your garden layout with the year clearly marked. This is more important than you might think. You will want to ensure you rotate most crop areas, avoiding using the same spot year after year for the same vegetable.
  3. A list of the plants that worked out best, and the ones that did NOT.
  4. Dated sources for specific plants: greenhouses, nurseries or garden centres, seed companies, friends or neighbours.
  5. Planting times, ready times, harvest times. Maybe even a few recipes you discovered.
  6. Be more specific about times: dates you started seeds indoor, dates you transplanted them, and dates you planted seeds directly into the garden. Germination times. All these are things you THINK you’re gonna remember. Yeah right, you won’t. The information will come in handy for future years.
  7. Soil tests, soil amendments and subsequent assessments of that soil.
  8. Any problems with pests, diseases or other issues
  9. Approximate dates of harvests and the type of yield you got. I don’t have the patience to weigh, measure or count, but I know some do that. I think that’s great. Just not for me.
  10. Weather. I know right? But seriously, every year is unique, and not every season is good for every crop. So record your assessment on the weather trends by recording details, and make note of what crops are doing better than others. For instance, I have noticed that in our part of the city, we seem to be have less violence in the weather. The worst seems to go around us. I have also noted that other areas seem to get a frost quicker than we do, perhaps owing to our number of nearby trees creating a minor microclimate. You’ll be more likely to make note of weather patterns if you’re writing them down.
  11. New changes and experiments. How else are you gonna track what works?
  12. Suggestions, recommendations, and even recipes shared by other gardeners. I know, again with the recipes.
  13. Expenses: how much spent in greenhouses and garden centres, seed catalogues, garden paraphernalia, new builds, maintenance of raised beds etc, cold frames, lattices etc
  14. Hacks, suggestions, inspiration and ideas. Using your garden journal as the place to make quick notes about what they are, or where to find them, is the best way to keep them all in one spot for easy reference later
  15. Personal reflections, inspiration and musings . . . . . after all, it IS a journal. It is part of you. It is a record of yourself.

What plans do you have for your garden next season?

Warmly,

Cindy Suelzle