The Modern Victory Garden

Last night after work, I zipped over to HeidiH's place in nearby Silverdale and took her up on an offer of some Shiro plums from her overabundant tree.   I was rushing to pick them up and get home because I had tomatoes waiting for me that I wanted to can that evening.   With Heidi's help, I was able to pick quite a lot of them and get on my way quite quickly.   It made for a short visit with Heidi but I did get the opportunity to do a tour of her planting beds and admire her corn patch.   Take a look at this nice bounty!    

Big thank you to HeidiH for her generosity!   I intend to use some of these tomorrow to make some plum jam.   Have not quite made up my mind what else I want to do with them beyond that.                                 

After I got home from the plum picking, I immediately set to work canning the tomatoes that had been accumulating for the past several days.   The return of  some warmer weather really accelerated the tomato ripening process.   The Stupice, Legend, Siletz, and the one and only Celebrity plant are now producing abundantly.   I also harvested the first ripe Viva Italia (sauce) tomatoes over the past few days as well.   With last night's picking added to the growing pile, I ended up with about 19 pounds to work with.   Thinking this was probably just enough for a full canner of quart jars,  I decided to do these on a week night and get them attended to while still in good shape.   The good news is - that there was not only enough for 7 quart jars, but also enough to do a small batch of salsa (4 pint jars).   The bad news is - that I did not plan on doing two canner loads of processing on a work night and with a late start at that!   It was extremely late by the time I wrapped up and laid my weary head on the pillow.   However, cooling on the kitchen counter while I slept (briefly!) were the rewards for my effort.             

Tonight I purposefully made the evening more leisurely and have chosen to ignore the plums until Saturday morning.   My evening harvest consisted of some Red Cloud potatoes ... 

... some carrots and a couple of pickling cukes that needed to come off the vine before they got too large, and another couple of pounds of ripe tomatoes which I failed to take a picture of.                              

The good news is - that the Stupice, Legend, Siletz, and Celebrity tomatoes are producing well for me.   The really bad news is - that my Viva Italia tomatoes have a clear case of blight and are going down fast.   I picked from these plants just two days ago and again last night and noticed some developing problems at that time.   But tonight it is clear that the disease is advancing rapidly and the plants are deteriorating at an alarming pace. 

(sigh)                                                                       

I should be able to salvage the fruit that has already broken color and is not sporting the watery lesions yet - but it will be a pitifully small amount.   The recent abrupt change in our weather from freakishly warm and dry, to cool and wet (practically overnight) probably has a lot to do with this.   Unfortunately, blight is an ever-present problem in the rainy coastal Pacific Northwest.   While the remaining tomatoes are producing well for me, without the sauce tomatoes there will never be enough to put up a sufficient supply of preserved tomato products.   I think my family will stage a rebellion if we go two years in a row with minimal tomatoes preserved - so I  am going to have to break down and go to the local farmers market to purchase some tomatoes to supplement mine for preserving purposes.  

I have just not had any luck with sauce tomatoes since moving to this side of the Cascades.   They tend to be mid to late maturing varieties and only early cool/tolerant varieties do well in this region.   I may have to just quit trying to grow them and limit myself to the tried and true varieties that have performed for me despite our challenging growing climate.                   

I am feeling sad about this, but everything else in the garden is doing so well that I have to keep this in perspective. It's one variety of one crop (so far).   By not dwelling on the disappointment and staying in the "thinking" gardener mode, I can consider what I might do differently to minimize this potential in the future.   Death and disease in the garden are part of the package.  I just want to keep it as minimal as possible - especially when it comes to my tomatoes!