The tomatoes have started rolling in. I harvested a bowl of Stupice and Cherry Romas this morning and it looks like my Amish Paste will be the next to start ripening. Keep in mind they are all inderterminate plants though so they will produce until the frost offs them. I am going to have so many Cherry Romas, so it is a good thing they dry well, and taste fantastic too. Michael and I are a little underwhelmed by the flavor of the Stupice though (still better then anything from the supermarket) so I do not think that variety will be making a comeback next year.

I have had to rip out my two hybrid romas and giant valentine. The romas never really flourished and every tomato has blossom end rot, and then all the hybrids got late blight (so much for hybrid resistance.) I am glad that I decided to put them in a different bed. I would cry if my heirlooms succumbed to blight, though I continue to watch them all very carefully. I give no quarter to diseased plants. My garden gave me a pleasant surprise while pulling out my spent bush bean plants this morning though, a flourishing Genovese Basil plant hidden behind them and under one of the tomatoes. Yum! Firms up my decision to grow my basil in a container next year though. I know they are a companion plant to tomatoes but I have been having a hard time getting to them for harvest (and apparently I loose them too!)

Elsewhere in the garden, my ground cherries seem to be doing fantastic. They were right beside my blighted tomatoes but don’t seem effected by it thus far. My pumpkins are… Well, I am dealing with the little pumpkin vine that could, at least it use to be the smallest one, now it is the longest, 12 feet I think? Not that it is doing anything more productive then that, it has not set one fruit. I am actually having a terrible time getting my pumpkins to set fruit. I have one baseball sized pumpkin and three plants. I hand pollinated some of the flowers so we will see if that helps, a few fruit seem to be growing now. Where are all the pollinators this year? Seriously, between my neighbor and I, we have enough flowers to attract them and neither of us have seen much of anything beyond the occasional mason or bumblebee. I haven’t seen any butterflies either. Maybe my eight-foot sunflower will send up a pollen-available flag, the head is starting to develop. Bloom my pretty, bloom!

My Seed Savers Exchange order arrived yesterday. It is about 8 weeks to the first frost date right now and I am starting my Ragged Jack Kale indoors this morning. It will be transplant just before the first frost date as per the instructions (it is hardy to -10°F.) Ragged Jack is more commonly called Russian or Red Russian Kale by the way, I just like Ragged Jack better, reminds me of my Grandpa Jack. He loved the color red and the cold. Not that he liked leafy veggies, I believe he referred to them as rabbit food… He would have found the tribute amusing though.