Adding a photo-heavy post here full of 2021’s successes, before I finalize my goals and new experiments for 2022!
A second chance at heirloom tomatoes!
All of my large tomatoes at home caught some kind of bacterial wilt early in the summer, so I was down to only cherry tomatoes at home. I started these Kellogg’s Breakfast tomato seeds pretty late—first week of June or so—and they got rolling at the end of August! Hornworms absolutely descended on these. I picked off 8 over the span of 10 minutes on 1 visit (after thinking that deer had gotten into the field! There were so many leaves missing from the tops of the tomato plants). I brought a bunch of still-green tomatoes home with me that day in case I wasn’t going to be able to stay on top of the bugs and was going any chance at slicing tomatoes. The green tomatoes felt a little hollow so I thought it was a long shot, but they got hefty and golden inside!
Black Mt. Watermelon delivered on flavor
Black-eyed peas —more than just a cover crop
Rattlesnake beans, for fresh and dried use
Pulling out the black-eyed peas to prep for winter rye. We worked around the sorghum stalks so the grains could finish maturing.
Bean-picking date night
Plates loaded with drying black eyed peas, rattlesnake beans and cowpeas. Looking pretty glorious alongside zinnias and tulsi basil!
Meanwhile, in our raised beds at home:
The year of the tomatillo! Before roasting…
…and after roasting, ready for blending into salsa verde!
Our other big dinner staples were cherry tomatoes and edamame
The broccoli seeds I started failed, but these seedlings I bought and put in this fall matured right close to New Year’s, just ahead of some hard frosts