Fat Bee's Garden

[FatBeeFarm]

I had such a good day yesterday I thought I'll start my own glog here too. This was the onion and garlic harvest for the year, now all racked up and curing for a few weeks. I grew Talon, Blush and Alisa Craig.

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I also had a great day for harvesting tomatoes. This is the haul for Saturday on the kitchen table. Thank goodness @MissS told me how to juice them and freeze them for later. I've got way too much coming in this year.

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Also harvested a monster Yellow Brandywine that I hope tastes as good as everyone says.

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[Whwoz]

Love that onion drying rack @FatBeeFarm . How wide apart are the slats please.

[MissS]

Glogs are a great way to keep a visual record of what you have done from year to year. It helps you to remember what worked or not.

You have a great harvest there. I love your drying table. We all need one.

Blending the tomatoes in summer is a life saver for me. I'm glad that you found the tip useful. I also see a BLT in your near future. That's a very nice start to your season.

[FatBeeFarm]

Love that onion drying rack @FatBeeFarm . How wide apart are the slats please.

I went with 3/4" spacing but some of my really thick onion necks were tough to get through. I was worried about the garlic falling through, but I think 7/8" or even one inch would be best if you're going to have big onions drying there and the garlic shouldn't fall through at that spacing. .

[JayneR13]

Lovely! Absolutely lovely! Thanks for posting. We can all learn from each other.

[FatBeeFarm]

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First time saving tomato seeds today. I've saved pepper seeds for years (and probably shouldn't have because I didn't keep them from cross-polljnating), I've saved eggplant seeds and they didn't germinate, so I'm hoping the third attempt is the charm. I'm following MissS instructions from the Seed Saving section of the forum. Wish me luck!

[MissS]

@FatBeeFarmJust a heads up. They do get to smelling rather bad, so you may want to move them to your garage. Do not shake or stir them.

[FatBeeFarm]

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Decided I needed to harvest some eggplant today. Got one Matrosik, two Annina, two Orient Express, three Ping Tung, one Kamo, and two Saitama Ao

[MissS]

Wow, that's a lot of eggplant you have. You have two of my favorites too. Matrosic and Kamo. Let us know how you like the others!

[AKgardener]

Amazing nice haul

[FatBeeFarm]

Wow, that's a lot of eggplant you have. You have two of my favorites too. Matrosic and Kamo. Let us know how you like the others!

Matrosik and Kamo were my two favorites this year too, but I haven't tried the Saitama yet. I did try Orient Express, Ping Tung, Annina, Traviata, Mitoyo, and Thanos and they were all great, but Matrosik and Kamo seemed especially delicious. I'll give an EOY update when the season's finished too in case flavor changes over time.

[Ken4230]

Sees saving.jpgFirst time saving tomato seeds today. I've saved pepper seeds for years (and probably shouldn't have because I didn't keep them from cross-polljnating), I've saved eggplant seeds and they didn't germinate, so I'm hoping the third attempt is the charm. I'm following MissS instructions from the Seed Saving section of the forum. Wish me luck!

@MissS was right, fermenting tomato seeds can be a little pungent. Just transferred BBF5 and BrandyFred to wide mouth quart jars,
both started in pint jars on 7-27, so they were really ripe. Just looking at all the mold, they probably would take the breath of someone who can smell. Since Covid, I can't smell much of anything. looks like close to a hundred seeds in each, pretty impressive for single tomatoes.

As long as the cross pollination of the peppers doesn't interfere with the crunchiness of the nadapenos, I can live with that.

[FatBeeFarm]

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Six very pretty tomatoes from yesterday. A squirrel had nibbled on the Blood Moon a tiny bit but not too bad; I still ate it and saved seeds from it. Had to set out a bucket trap overnight for that squirrel though as it nibbled half a dozen tomatoes. The squirrel problem is solved as of this morning. Hate to do it, but I work too hard for these maters.

The Dr. Wyche's was 1.66 pounds, pretty hefty. The Tie Dye Heart is the most beautiful tomato of the year, hands down. The photo doesn't do it justice, not even a little bit. The red is an incredible vivid red and the green and yellow streaks really pop against it. The green streaks have a very metallic sheen and the overall look is amazing. I wish the photo showed it more clearly.

No taste test yet, I'm still working on eating them

[JayneR13]

Yup, the fermentation method is a bit pungent! It's worth it though. You'll only have to buy seeds if there's something you really want to try. I also send seeds to my local seed library.

May I suggest not letting them sit for too long though. The seeds will sprout. I find 5-7 days fermenting is plenty, then I spread them out to dry. Paper plates, coffee filters, whatever you have will work. And of course be sure to label them just as you've done with your jars.