2025/2026 Gardening Thread!

Looks like the makings for some eggplant parm and a salad!! :blush:

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Adding that the two ingredients in this recipe that I hadn’t used before but seemed to work well were red wine (duh!) and unsweetened cocoa! I used fresh herbs because I also have an abundance of those.

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I took a cooking class in Italy and the chef told us that it is the tomato seeds that cause the sauce to be bitter, so there is no need to add sugar if you remove the seeds. Just a suggestion!

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Possibly very true! Am I gong to take the time to do that? Personally, no! :tomato:

Our tomatoes have exploded with fruit! This year I planted 3 new to me varieties. I’m a bit disappointed in Siberia which is supposed to be early. The fruit started ripening at the same time as the other varieties. Sasha’ Altai is not orange, as advertised, but light red (I also have Altai - a different variety from the seeds I saved, and that turned out orange as the parent plant). The third variety, Cascade Blue is quite something (pic below)! The plants quickly produced round, almost black fruit that took a long time to ripen. It was hard to see when it was ripe: the green undertones turned reddish. Very tasty!

Siberia is quite prolific:

Cascade Blue: weird looking but very tasty.

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They look beautiful. My tomato plants don’t look anything like that.
I try to grow in containers since I have a bad gopher problem and clay soil. Any suggestions for starting with healthy soil and do you fertilize. I’ve just been buying bags for container gardens but I’m at a loss as to how to take the plants to a level where they look like @BunsenBurner.
I’ve had the best luck with cherry yellow tomatoes for some reason. Both the teardrop and round yellows have given me a decent amount of success. The teardrop plant is done and looks pathetic.

Depending on the size of your pot, they can get root bound quickly and basically be more root than soil. And they will dry out faster. If I remember correctly @BunsenBurner BEAUTIFUL tomatoes are in pots but quite large pots.

@BunsenBurner how to the cascade blue variety taste?

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You are correct that my garden is all in pots on our deck aka deck garden :slight_smile: ! I bought a bunch of white containers (white to prevent them from getting too hot in the sun) and plant one tomato plant per pot. I discovered that these tomato cages fit perfectly into the pots, so I use and reuse them. When the growing season is over, I dispose of the plants and about 1/3 of the soil, so add fresh in the spring.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000OWENCK

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B078PHCM99

It was $$ initially during the pandemic when everyone was desperate to do something at home, but it was worth it because the containers and cages are still going strong.

We installed drip irrigation and water the deck garden regularly, once a day around 8 pm. The soil is Miracle Gro container plant soil.
To feed the plants, I use a generous shake of the Shake N Feed fertilizer granules when I plant and periodically throughout the growing season. Whenever I make hard boiled eggs, I use the water in the garden to provide some extra calcium to the plants. I also use veggie garden soluble fertilizer and water with that solution once every couple of weeks when the plants get large.

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Cascade Blue tastes like Black Krim but so much easier to chop because the fruit is perfectly rounded.

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If you get a chance, perhaps you can send a photo of the inside of a Cascade Blue after you slice it open? I am curious to see what the meat looks like.

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You might consider trying some of the dwarf varieties that are offered by Victory Seeds (assuming that you start your plants from seed). The ones that I have tried are the right size for large containers.

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Good recommendation,
@gandalf78 ! The Siberia tomato is quite compact for container growing. Some heirlooms can get too gigantic (looking at you, Black Krim :laughing:).

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Will do!

Here it is!

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:face_savoring_food:!!! Looks juicy and yum

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Omg, so many veggies to consume!

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Really, all so beautiful! Good output!

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The eggplants did very well this year, especially the white ones. I already made a giant batch of caponata… my husband enjoyed it and is waiting for more!

Sounds delicious! Plus so pretty to look at and I bet good to eat.

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