Hello gardening friends! I'm a bit late in sharing my garden journal for the month, but I had to prioritize a little hysterectomy recovery over getting on the computer. Luckily after just over a week filled with lots of rest and recovery, I'm feeling good enough to ease back into some computer work again. Recovery has had some challenges (mostly being patient with the process), but I am so very much looking forward to the benefits ahead that it was absolutely worth the surgery!
Back to the fun stuff--tomatoes! We've had a great season with a number of our garden goodies, but this has got to be the best tomato season we've had in years. Last year we had some solid cherry tomato harvests. This year we got big ones, too!
As usual it seemed to take forever to see any of the sea of green to start turning red. Perhaps due to the weather, perhaps dumb luck, but somehow we avoided the plague of hornworms that we usually have to contend with eating our harvests. We did see a few handfuls, but nothing compared to normal. This allowed us to actually let some of these big beauties start to ripen on the vine. A few were a full pound in weight!
My favorite were the Cherokee Purple (shown above). We have grown these before, but again, this was a record year for those coveted beauties. So juicy and full of fresh tomato flavor, I have saved most of these to eat unadulterated in their natural form.
The other larger varieties were a new Bread and Salt tomato, which were the ones that often got really huge! They were delicious, however they seemed to start to go soft a lot quicker than other varieties. Still a great producer that we would plant again. The other ones we had were from volunteer plants, so I'm not sure of the variety. They gave us quite a haul for just popping up from compost, though!
The cherry tomatoes were a solid investment of space, as always. Lots of different varieties that have produced for a solid month. They've definitely slowed down in the dog days of summer, but we'll see if the heartier looking plants bounce back next month if we leave a few of them to grow like last year.
From left to right:
Sungold Select
Green Doctors
Volunteer Plant
Sunrise Bumble Bee
Black Cherry
Given our good harvest, I've been using them A LOT in cooking!
The cherry tomatoes are easy to toss right into salads, but they also made a gorgeous vegan tart. A little herbed cashew cheese spread over phyllo crust. Lots of sliced cherry tomatoes, a sprinkle of flaky salt and basil. Summer perfection!
A chunky salsa was another no-brainer. I don't think I even ate any of this first batch because 
Finally, a tomato bisque made out of roasted tomatoes, onion, and squash came out so creamy and rich when blended with cooked red lentils and coconut milk. Roasting the veggies first was absolutely the way to go. Worth heating up the kitchen for the end result! A bit of purple basil from the garden didn't hurt.
Tomato season is coming to an end soon, but we'll enjoy our harvest as long as it lasts! I did also dehydrate some of the cherry tomatoes to extend that season just a little bit longer.
Of course I can't help but sign off with a last look at the other top producer--the epic Candy Roasters! We've gotten 55 pounds off of three vines. Luckily these babies will last for a while, so I have time to work my way through them and share plenty, as well!
I hope everyone else has had a great month or two in the garden! I'm hoping I'll recover quickly enough to start planning the next season of gardening, but for now I'll enjoy the fruits of our labor as I ease back into kitchen time and the regular routine.
Happy growing (and eating)!
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