Swiss Chard

Greetings fellow organic gardening enthusiasts!  I’m taking a break from the arbor/Sicilian zucchini drama this week to discuss other garden news like the uprising of the brussel sprouts. I didn’t think it was possible but they have somehow gotten even larger and leafier since I last mentioned it. The brussel sprouts have completely taken over the poor unsuspecting basil and I fear that we will need to mediate the upcoming turf wars. On the bright side, I have red tomatoes! Yes, slowly (and I do mean at a snail’s pace), the tomatoes are turning red. With the amount of sun and extremely hot weather we have had this summer in Southern Ontario it confounds me. I have no idea why they are taking so long – over the course of a week they barely turn from dark green to a slightly lighter dark green. At this rate my tomatoes should be red in or around November.

Also, I have planted the largest cherry tomatoes on record. I thought I was growing little cherry tomatoes as I do every year, but the labeling skills at the nursery left much to be desired and my cherry tomatoes are the size of plums. That’s right, plums. They are very sweet though and are the perfect topping to a pizza with a little tomato sauce, fresh basil (from the garden) and a smattering of mozzarella cheese so I’m not complaining. There is nothing like picking something out of your garden and then eating it right away.  Unfortunately that’s not happening as much as I would like this season but I digress.

I was given an heirloom tomato plant, and was excited to see what became of it as the seeds were apparently very old. This plant has grown to an impressive four and half feet tall and it is leafy, full and I prune it lovingly. Do you know that all this tender love and care has yielded me? One tomato! That right, one tomato is all it has grown.  Now that I have picked that one tomato, it has grown two flowers so there is still hope.  Maybe it’ll decide to give me another tomato before frost comes. 

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