No time for tomatoes this year. Hi Ho Hi Ho, It’s off to work we go!
How To Cook Collard Greens – The Easy Way
It’s About Time
To cook up some Collard Greens. Mmm Mmm Mmm.
‘Twas the Night Before Freezing…
When all around the house
The irrigation was disconnected
From all the faucet spouts
The Best Fried Okra – Quick and Easy
So you’re telling me there’s a chance
Will we get a watermelon after all?
Seed ‘n Cotyledons
The Arugula is coming up fast. It’s perfect in Rachel Ray’s Orange-Balsamic Glazed Chicken recipe. Great with Honey Mustard too.
Before & After
The winter garden of greens was planted last Thursday: Collards, Spinach, Mesclun, Bibb Lettuce, and Arugula.
Weekend Musical Interlude
Lord Got Touchdown Jesus on Saturday night. Sic ’em!
Got Basil?
Pesto Thyme!
Nice Melons
We have 4 more cantaloupes on the trellises. We lost a few while traveling and some we didn’t see in the vines. The hail also wiped out our first seedlings, which put us behind. But overall they’ve been a decent producer, and we’ll take quality over quantity any day.
The watermelons on the other hand, another bust. We’ve tried Crimson Sweet, Sweet Scarlet Hybrid, and this year, Jubilee. We had one that was looking good, but succumbed to blossom end rot. Any ideas y’all?
Sierra Gold
After two seasons with no luck, we finally found our cantaloupe variety. We picked 2 too early, but here is our second beauty. Mmm Mmm.
Clemson Spineless
For years “Clemsoning” was associated with epic failure, but that all changed last year. One thing that hasn’t is the way this variety of okra loves the Texas sun, and we just spotted our first little baby. Fried okra in a few weeks. Yum! Yum!
Hot ‘n Spicy
Started these Jalapeño and Cayenne peppers from seed early July and they were slow to take off after we transplanted them in early August. But first frost isn’t expected until mid November, so they’ve got time to get fired up.
Chasing The Great Eclipse: An American Road Trip
Check out our adventure here
Sun Bites Dog
Charlie and Elvis’s favorite thing in the world is going for a ride, but eclipse chasing is a thrill like no other.
The Great Gasp
It sounded as if the Streets were running –
And then the Streets stood still –
Eclipse – was all we could see at the Window,
And Awe – was all we could feel –
-Emily Dickinson
Weekend Musical Interlude
Well folks we’re Eclipse Bound and Down, and there’s just no better song for loadin’ up and truckin’ than our favorite cousin Jerry Reed’s. We’ve got the youngins, the dogs, the glasses, and the Baader filter for the telescope, all headed for clear skies somewhere in that 70 mile band of totality. Maybe to an astral plane.
That’s All Folks
The final 11.5 pounds. That’s Five Hundred Thirty Eight Point Four on the season and all she wrote. Grow Big Y’all!
Makin’ Weigh
Another seventeen point niner and it’s time to clear the deck. The weather has been incredibly mild this spring and summer, as we’ve never seen so many tomatoes this late in July.
Not Too Shabby
This will be the last good batch we’ll see this year. A few more are still ripening on the vine, but we won’t see another 23.3 pound box like this, which pushes us over a quarter ton. Lord have mercy!
Take one down…Pass it around…
99 Quarts of Tomatoes in Jars
Science!
DGD
Mother Lode
Just another 84.9 pounds. That takes us to 485.7, and we should get another 15 before it’s all said and done. Quarter ton or bust!
Smoke ’em if you got ’em
Gettin’ ready for the 4th.
Bustin’ 400
That’s another 19.3 pounds, taking us beyond 400 this spring. Still a few more baskets to go. Grow Big!
It’s Gettin’ Hot Y’all
Another 21.7 pounds.
Fifty More Quarts
Whew!
Weekend Musical Interlude
Beans, Greens, Potatoes, Tomatoes!
Climbing The Ladder
We picked 28.6 lbs of tomatoes and 9 ears of corn today, and had to whip out the ladder to get to the Cherries. That takes us up to 334.9 pounds, which humbly, is only about the size of an offensive lineman. We’ve definitely peaked, but we should see at least fifty more pounds from these plants.
How To Make Brunswick Stew
How To Can Tomatoes – The Easy Way
Silver Queen
We picked our first corn today, 8 ears, along with 43.41 lbs of tomatoes. Yee Haw!
Tomatoes and Drones
It was a very sunny day so the footage is a bit washed out, but still gives a cool scenic perspective on where we garden. A big shout out and thank you to our neighbors for shooting it. Maybe we can bribe them with some more ‘maters…and try part deux.
The Red Sea
Holy Moses!
Alien Invasion
These Celebrities look like human embryos.
Pushin’ Fifty
Yep we sure are, and so did tonight’s pickings. This is the peak spring batch weighing in at a hefty 48.63 lbs, and taking the harvest total to 219.58 lbs. Now that’s some tomatoes, y’all.
Bright Sunshiny Day
Summertime and the pool is calling. This is the second biggest batch so far weighing in at 37.14 lbs, minus of course all those Super Sweets Tracey ate while pickin’ ’em.
Six and a half gallons
That’s 26 quarts to you and me, and that’s how many we canned yesterday. We also picked another 21.75 pounds. We’ve got some weeding to do before we give you a quick video tour, we’re doing a taste test tonight, and a good friend and fellow gardener is taking some drone footage this weekend, so please stay tuned.
Desperately Seeking 1.0
Maybe Warhol was right that everyone gets their 15 minutes of fame, but for now, this Celebrity is truly a star.
Better Boy’s are Bigger Boy’s
At least this one is. Wow!
Say goodbye to double digits.
The rain brought needed relief, but also, quite a bit of leaf blight. We trimmed off what we could to try and stop the spreading, but it’s just the nature of the game. We’ll be pulling up these plants in about six weeks, so we’re not worried about aesthetics now. The plants are about 10 feet tall and still putting on fruit.
Cherry Delight!
All 6.9 lbs of them.
Ding Ding Ding!
The new heavyweight champion of the backyard is…Big Beef. Weighing in at .78 lbs!
Note the pock marks from our April hail.
Lights, Camera, Action!
This is a video of the May 25th harvest. We planned to pick another big batch today but we had some heavy rains, which were sorely needed. It was the fourth driest May on record here in N. Texas, and May is our wettest month.
It’s best to let the tomato leaves dry to avoid causing or spreading blight, so we’ll wait until tomorrow. Until then, let us know what you think in the comments.
Seabreeze – Lord Got Tomatoes
We’ve seen Seabreeze at the Rainbow Inn on Eleuthera many times, and every time was special. We’ve also had the pleasure of running into him at some of his secret hangouts around the island, and buying him a beer. He is one of a kind, a Bahamian national treasure. So let’s kick this YouTube channel off with our good buddy, and inspiration…
Break out the Mason Jars
It’s time to start canning after 27.41 lbs today. Three Celebrities weighed in at .692, .724, and.716 pounds. The first “how to” video will be on canning, the easy way.
Silver Queen Silk
Guessing Dr Seabreeze’s father didn’t raise corn, but good Lord we do, and it’s starting to silk. It’s the best example of photosynthesis in action. You can almost see the sun splitting the C02, releasing the oxygen, and leaving all that carbon fiber in the stalks. And you just can’t beat the irony of a corn field in the city.
Super Sweet 100s
All in a row
Three-Quarter-Pounder
Big Beef for the win.
We’re gonna need a bigger box
Not quite yet, but 22.24 lbs wasn’t too shabby today. Video of the harvest is in progress. Grow big y’all.
Bon Appétit
We heard him tweeting as he flew out of sight, “best ‘maters on the planet, y’all, and to all a good night.”
At least the little twitter has taste.
Accuracy is underrated
This Boboai Digital Scale just arrived and lo and behold less than half of the tomatoes pictured before were over 8 pounds. And that didn’t include the very conservative estimate of 3 to 4 pounds of cherry tomatoes we’ve picked so far. Therefore, we’re hereby making the executive decision to bump up the harvest counter to 20lbs. We will start recording to 2 decimal places tomorrow.
Also just spotted the Little Brown Thrasher dining on the two beauties we left for him on the potting table. We almost got a picture, dangit! Camera is on the tripod if he comes back. Here birdy birdy…
Sunblaster Micro Grow Light Garden
We haven’t found a better way to grow herbs in the window sill than with the Sunblaster Micro Grow Light Garden. We bought two from Gardner’s Supply.
What we like most is that the 12 inch full spectrum fluorescent bulbs are replaceable. When the LED models burn out, you’re hosed. Believe us, we’ve learned the hard way.
We also like the fact they are thin and long (7 x 18 inches), so they will fit on the window sill and can hold three 5 X 5 inch pots in each, giving us room for Parsley, Sage, Thyme, Oregano, Cilantro, and Basil.
We’ll do a more extensive review when we get the vids going.
Little Brown Thrasher!
Rascal! We caught that brave little bird eating one of these nice plump red ones and tried to shoo him away. We even put it in the yard for him to enjoy. But no, he was a persistent little cuss and had the audacity to go after another! Don’t get greedy now you little brown thrasher.
So today we went ahead and picked everything that was orange and brought them inside to ripen. You’ve got to protect the goods. An assortment of Super Sweet’s, Early Girl’s, Big Beef’s, and the first Better Boy’s.
Maters!
Here was yesterday’s take of Early Girl’s, Big Beef’s and Super Sweet 100’s. We estimate about 4 pounds. Before this we had about 4 pounds of Early Girls and Super Sweet’s. We ordered a digital scale today.
Welcome!
Hey y’all! Welcome to Lord Got Tomatoes.
We started this thing for a couple of reasons. Primarily it’s for sharing “How To” videos and gardening tips and tricks. We’ve learned a thousand times more from YouTube videos than we ever did in the classroom, and it’s just time to give back to the community. Secondly, we just want to somehow share all this juicy sweet goodness growing in our backyard! Our kids said the other day that “It was just a matter of time before you started showing what you are doing back there.”
Here in north Texas, we have a unique, and some say impossible climate for growing these red wonders. Our summers are scorching hot! When it gets above 90-95 degrees toward the end of June, tomato blooms dry up and drop off. And forget the heat tolerant varieties, they aren’t worth the cost of water for a bunch of foliage and only one or two fruits. It’s just too hot, often double digit days-in-a-row above 100. So the trick is to get the tomatoes in early, by mid-March, so you’re done harvesting by mid-July.
But guess what this unique climate also offers us…a second growing season! A Fall Garden! At the end of this month, we’re going to start another batch of these bad boys to plant at the end of July. They’ll grow strong stalks and height in the dog days of August, but when that cool fall breeze hits early September, they’ll start putting out those pretty yellow blooms and Lord have mercy we’ll have home grown tomatoes on Thanksgiving Day!
Herbs, cantaloupe, and watermelon are all in to grow throughout the summer. We’re going to try some heirloom tomato varieties in the Fall Garden, along with some pole beans, okra, and peppers, and we’ll put in a second batch of corn. We’ll be canning and cooking and starting from seed, so please pull up a chair and make yourself at home.
Wait, did we mention the third growing season? The Winter Garden with salad and collard greens? Stay Tuned.
Hello world!
Well let’s kick this off with Feynman explaining this whole gardening thing…like a boss.
Lord Got Tomatoes 