Welcome to NakedTomatoes

All about tomatoes, heirloom and home grown.
With a bit extra thrown in about Brugs and bread, growing and baking, and other semi-relevant thoughts. And maybe a few recipes.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Frosty is ready...

What? Thinking Frosty the snowman and Santa already? Snow will do that to you.



But I'm talking about Frosty Pink, one of my brugs. Her seed pods are finally ready, and I've harvested at least 50 nice fresh seeds. I've promised some seeds to friends. This year, I also have a noid white with a huge seed pod, and another noid pink with a pod as well. So if anyone is looking to experiment a bit, I am offering for free, packets of 5 brug seeds. The only thing I ask in return, is that you keep me updated on the babies' progress if possible. These are a labour of love, and a love of experimenting. There is absolutely no guarantee on the color these babies will turn out to be, and most likely they will not flower until the third year, which makes them a long term commitment. The noid white babies will probably be white. Frosty Pink is a roll of the dice. I didn't pollinate these myself, so I don't know who is the other parent. Frosty was in the brug bed (how appropriate!) when she got knocked up, so it could be the Candida, the other pink, or even self-pollination (I won't go there!) I'm not sure if Frosty is self pollinating, I'd have to look that up.

So if anyone would like some seeds, either from Frosty or the others, or a mix, they are yours for the asking. I also have cuttings, but would rather not mail them out unless you ask really really nice and pay the postage. Seeds are just so much easier, and I don't mind covering the postage for them. Anyone in Aylmer/Ottawa area is more than welcome to come and pick up a few cuttings.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Garden chores for a rainy day...

This morning was spent finally, finally, organizing my tomato seeds. Peeling the little seeds off of the paper towels wads that I had thrown into an old coffee tin to keep together until said organizing day. I did manage to save quite a few varieties this year, despite the not so great growing season. I never did bag any of the flowers, so chances are some of them may have gotten crossed. I guess I'll find out next year when I grow them out. If I do trade seeds with anyone, or send seeds, I'll be sure to mention that fact, so other growers will know what they are getting.

Seed list 2008

Box Car Willie
Prudens Purple
Purple Cherokee
Kellogs Breakfast
Black Cherry
Silvery Fir Tree
Jaune Flamme
Bloody Butcher
Meg's Orange Cherry (a Galina X, F2)
Galina's
Japanese Black Trifele
Canabec Rose
Rhoades
Green Zebra
Orange LSL ( a mislabeled or crossed tomato, LongShelfLife it wasn't, but amazingly good)
Vova Yellow
Zigan
Santalina F2
Black Pear

There are a few that seem to have disappeared into the void somewhere. I don't know what happened to Mortgage Lifter, Eva's Purple Ball (I know I saved seeds from it!), Black From Tula, Black Krim (wait, did I even grow that? or just that I wanted to?) note to self: keep better notes!!! As for Hillbilly, Pineapple, Gold Medal, Carbon, Omar's Lebanese, just don't even go there. I have no idea what happened to them.

I still have many seeds left from all the trades I made this year, and lots of saved seed from last year, and some seeds from the Great Tomato Growers,
wonderful people who started me off on my obsessive heirloom tomato journey. They have an incredible variety of tomato seed, and are very generous. I encourage everyone to check out their blog, and follow the links to their lists of tomatoes.

Overall, I am slightly more organized this year. And now that winter is coming, I can't wait to start gardening again. Figures.

I have been waiting for a good oportunity to do a final yard cleanup, and to winterize my roses. I have a few bags of hay to pile up around them this year. I want to finish cleaning up the brug bed and dig in a lot of horse manure to overwinter. I need to plant some garlic that I got this fall from my mom, who bought it from Mennonites at a farmer's market. I hope it's not too late, but I have a feeling I may be really behind with that. I've never grown garlic before, but I love to cook with it, and tend to use a lot so I thought it would be worth a try. Any help there would be appreciated!!

One final note, please contact me if you are interested in any seeds. I am always glad to share them.