Tomato plants

[logovo]

Even after being at it for a few years, it's so weird to be gardening. Growing up it was something my mother did and I resented the gardens we had at home (horrible soil that she worked so hard on to get anything growing) because they were the reasons we could not have pets. But now in my own home I have all these plant things, a combination of Mr. Logovo's love of growing his own veggies and my fixation on all things food.

This year we have 7 tomato plants looking mighty healthy, still a month off from giving fruit, some eggplants, cucumbers, strawberries, chiles, onions, leftover beets from winter (whatever you can call winter in San Diego) and different herbs. I have yet to figure out what to do with the amounts of tarragon I accidently grew in scary amounts - dressings and what else? Mint and basil I know what dot with (mojitos! salads! pesto!) and plan to grow cilantro again. Cilantro has been a weird plant in how it only likes my garden if it's grown from seeds. Little cilantro starter plants always die on me, I have no idea why.

Reading another of the "scary food books" I keep buying, this one called The End of Food by Paul Roberts. One more reminder to myself to cut down on our meat consumption. It's just so easy and satisfying to eat meat, but the amounts of meat we eat in this country (and back home in Mexico) are insane.

Comments

[runpunkrun]

You can always get some bottles, fill them with tarragon and white wine vinegar, let them sit for a while, and then, voila, tarragon vinegar! Good for salad dressings, chicken, fish.

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Tarragon-Vinegar

Thank you :D

[logovo]

Oh, excellent!!! Thank you, I've been looking at this tarragon -well- bush now, wondering what I could possibly do with it before it gets past it's prime.

[laurashapiro]

Tarragon! I wish mine would grow. It looks sad and unloved.

It's great with all sorts of spring vegetables: beans, peas, carrots, etc. It makes a subtle pesto and is wonderful with chicken and in cream sauces and soups.

I'm envious of your summer crops. We have a bunch of tomato plants but they still look very small and pathetic.

[logovo]

Tarragon pesto? Definitely have to look that up, I certainly have enough of it for more than a few batches!

We've lucked out on the garden, because we have raised beds which get enough sunlight, and can fix up the soil each year. Now we just need to remember to water at the right time and later on not to replant tomatoes on the same bed for 2 years. I read that beans might be a good option as the next crop :)

[laurashapiro]

You're already thinking about crop rotations! We are so not there yet. It's all new to us. But we have books and things. (:

[logovo]

We had a really good crop of tomatoes last year, but we overplanted and at the end it was sort of a mess. Then we realized that we couldn't use the soil for tomatoes again this year and had to come up with a bit of a plan. It's all kind of haphazard, sorry to say. I'm a reluctant gardener and more something that we do as a couple, but now I have the a short list of plant families handy so that we don't end up with bad tomatoes. Because at the end of the day? It's all about the tomatoes ;)

[laurashapiro]

Totally with you: it's all about the tomatoes.

Hmm. I need a tomato icon.