My new favorite tomato...The Black Krim ! (Photos)

[bvar22]

The Early Girls have been in for a couple of weeks, and we have had a few Rutgers and Arkansas Travelers, but yesterday we pulled our first Black Krim. It didn't look ripe, still dark green around the shoulders, but it felt ready (soft to the touch) so we picked it.


It was only natural to have a Taste Off.

This is an unusual tomato, beautiful in its novelty.
My taste buds are NOT conditioned to respond well to these colors,
but this tomato is DELICIOUS...very, very mellow.
It is large (hamburger size), meaty, and juicy.
It is also an heirloom, so we will be saving the seeds.




A good harvest of Red and Yellow Onions


The onions joined the garlic hanging in the shed to dry




The garden is doing well.




We will be adding another level to the tomato supports this week.





One of the things I LOVE about raised boxes is the ease of adding supports.

A good cordless screw driver and some long deck screws make this task a snap.



Hyacinth Moonbeam says HI ! :hi:




Nasturtiums, Pumpkin, Cantaloupes, and 2 unknown tomato plants

This is the box for volunteers that grew from the dirt pile we dumped our kitchen scraps on last year.
This box originally held the garlic that we harvested in the Spring. We decided to transfer some volunteers to this box just for fun.

We also used dirt from the kitchen scrap pile to top off our ornamental gardens, so there are volunteer cantaloupes, watermelons, and tomatoes growing all over everywhere. :)


This time of the year is magical.

[Lisa0825]

1. I am soooooo envious!!!

If I ever have 1/4 the success you have, I will be thrilled!

[amerikat]

2. That Krim looks like pomegranate

Can I get a few seeds for next season. We need a seed exchange sub forum here in gardening.

edit to add: that is a beutiful tomato and the garden looks great also.

[asdjrocky]

3. Outstanding pictures as always.

Love the way that tomato looks. And I think you answered a question of mine, I have a couple of heirloom plants and I was wondering if I could save the seeds.

The garden/farm is looking very good. The photos as always are great. I haven't done onions but I'm hoping to next year.

[Gormy Cuss]

4. Black tomatoes are my favorite.

Krims and Cherokee Purples are both delicious. Black Prince is good but smallish.
AFAIK all the black varieties have greenish shoulders when they're ripe. It is a bit hard to get used to.

edit: nice allium harvest.

[NJCher]

5. thanks for sharing your pics

They add a lot to this forum.

I am in total agreement about Black Krim. Love 'em.



Cher

[Redstone]

6. I'm drooling, right here. Here in New England, today, Mrs R and I snacked on

a few little, bitty, tiny beginnings of cucumbers. Oh, they were good, but we have another month until the full-size stuff is ready.

Redstone

[murray hill farm]

7. How do you preserve your veggies.....

for over the winter monthes? I have just a small garden, but still produce way more than I can eat during growing season. I have been canning tomatoes and just put up 12 jars of chili sauce and have been making and freezing spaghetti sauce and chili, etc. but am running out of ideas...ha! With a garden your size, I am sure you produce way more than you can eat in a growing season too. Do you can, dry? Can some items just be dried and stored such as onions and potatoes? Any ideas from anyone here would be appreciated. Thanks.

[RedEarth]

8. You might have an interest in this link

Harvest Forum

This forum covers everything you do with your bounty after you harvest, such as canning, preserving, etc, as well as the harvesting itself.

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/harvest/

Also this link mentions several books on preserving the harvest.......

PRESERVING THE HARVEST: After you grow all the veggies you need ways to store them since you can't eat them all at once. Here's a few books that are helpful in this area:

PUTTING FOOD BY by Janet Greene, Ruth Hertzberg, and Beatrice Vaughan. My copy is the 4th edition, from 1988. There may be a more current edition.

THE BIG BOOK OF PRESERVING THE HARVEST: 150 RECIPES FOR CANNING, DRYING, AND PICKLING FRUITS AND VEGETABLES by Carol Costenbader (in 1979) and revised/updated by Joanne Lamb Hayes, Storey Books, 2002. Details how to can, dry, freeze, pickle, preserve, use cold storage and even give food as gifts.

THE BALL BLUE BOOK OF PRESERVING and THE BALL COMPLETE BOOK OF HOME PRESERVATION are essential for anyone who wants to preserve food they raise. Their instructions are impeccable.



http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/okgard/msg0714330926645.html

[asdjrocky]

9. Great resources, thank you.

I've been wondering the same thing.

[hippywife]

12. I was planning on using this

internet resource:

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/

How is ya, sorta almost gonna be neighbor? LOL :hi:

[murray hill farm]

15. Yep.."sorta almost gonna be" says it. Ha!

I have my house here in Georgia listed for sale, but so far (only 2 weeks) no one has even shown enough interest to even view it. I think it will be a long haul...lots of houses for sale here. I do plan to head out to the "farm" for the month of October with my little doggies to camp out on the property, see about getting a pump on the well there and some electricity..and just generally try to get some start on preparing the place to eventually live there. I found a place in Mena that sells and delivers already built sheds...so am thinking about buying one to set up and use as a more secure camping structure than a tent..ha...and then use it later as a very cool chicken coop when I actually can build a house on the property and move there for good. My friends and family think I am nuts...no, they are sure i am nuts..hehehe. Anyway, back to the subject. Have you tried drying veggies. I know I can buy those drying trays, but am not sure how to store the dried stuff so that it would last over the winter..hate the thought of using plastic baggies. I will check out all the sites above today. Thanks all.

[bvar22]

19. Last year we froze a bunch of beans and tomatoes....

...the rest we gave away to neighbors and friends, or traded for Free Range eggs.

This year, we are going to Freeze, Can, and possibly try Drying if we can find the time. June/July issue of Countryside Magazine has a good article on Drying fruits & veggies.

There is also a Farmers Market in Mena that Sells Out by 10AM on market days, so we could do that, but I don't think the money we could make would pay for the gas for the trip to Mena.

I would rather see the emergence of a local neighborhood co-op/sharing/barter system in our area (5 mile radius) thst would allow us to combine resources to cope with the rising energy prices.


When are you coming?

On Edit: I just read the response above. October is beautiful here.
:hi:

[murray hill farm]

21. Yep....coming in October.

I have a question for ya! Did some local builder build your house? I am trying to get ideas on what to build and the names of local people who do such things....including the name of someone who I might hire to help with general clean up and fix up of the barn thing...ha...once I get there in October. I think any info and contacts I can make in advance to getting there would be a good thing. your garden is amazing as always...beautiful pics. I do canning now, but am pretty interested in learning to dry fruits and veggies too. Thanks for the leads on that info. Great idea on co-op/sharing/barter system. In a few years, I will be most interested...hopefully, anyway. It is my hope to have goats, chickens....and a great garden...but first I have to get there and get some kind of structure built to live in...I would like to have a basement built first...if that is a feasable thing to do in the area (it cannot be done where I live now....land too low)..but I miss a basement. Anyway....looking good in your garden. It really is amazing what the two of you have created in really just a short time living there.

[EstimatedProphet]

10. I've heard of that variety. I was thinking about trying it next year.

This cinches it! That's one cool-looking tomato!

[madeline_con]

11. Your garden is just beautiful!

We did a crop of tomatoes, and they've been removed. I think they got some sort of wilt. I'm baking the soil under a tarp. My tiny babies are ready to go in after I put in a calcium supplement. I bought heat tolerant seeds online from a supply company here in FL.

Our peppers are great. I'm going to try a real crop of okra. My son had bought a flat, and we got a few pods. I've read they're a tropical plant, so they should do well.

Blah blah Blah, I could go on...

This time of year really is magical! :hi:

[hippywife]

13. I hate you people!

I keed! Lovely garden as usual. I really want to take a drive over one of these days and peek around Hyacinth's domain in person but have no idea when that could happen with gas prices and critters here to care for.

I'm so excited! We're picking up 10 Buff Orpington babies this morning. They're only 2 weeks old. Gonna split them with another friends since we already do have six chickens.

[bvar22]

18. Happy Babies!

We would love to find about 6 Buff hens to join our small flock.
The Australorps we already have are Australian Orpingtons, a descendent of the European Buff Orpingtons.
I am uncertain why they are so black....they look like your birds... green and blue iradescent highlights.

Buff Orpingtons will be a great addition of color to your flock.


Our young rooster (Elvis) crowed for the first time yesterday.

[Blue Gardener]

14. Your garden is lovely

You have a green thumb!

[jillan]

16. Your garden is beautiful!

Thanks for sharing the pics ----

Now share your tips :)

[bvar22]

20. I don't think we have any real tips.

I think we are just lucky.
We are novices in our second season, though we have prepared (dreamed) for this for many years.
We are learning as we go.

This place was a garden waiting to happen when we dropped in.
The environment is pristine, the growing season is long, the water is good, the soil from the old goat/chicken barn is fertile and abundant.

We are surprised and delighted at how well things grow here.


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=246x5729

[ClayZ]

17. Beautiful! Wonderful! Bravo!

[Gato Moteado]

22. great work!!! one question.....

...you talked about saving seeds from your heirloom tomatoes for next year.

since many nightshades, like tomatoes, pollinate mostly by wind and since you seem to be growing several varieties of tomatoes in close proximity, how do you ensure that the seeds you save are not the product of cross pollination that will degrade the heirloom variety?

[bvar22]

23. You know, I hadn't thought about that.

Would the cross pollination affect this years fruit?

[Gato Moteado]

24. no, it won't affect this year's crop but it will affect next years if you use those seeds....

....but i think this will work:

select a few clusters of flowers on the desired tomato plants and before the flowers open cover them with a small piece of cheesecloth fashioned into a little bag and seal it around the branch with a rubber band. when the flowers open, gently shake the bag a few times each day and don't remove the bag until after the fruits have set. then mark the branch so you remember which fruits are the pure ones and use those for your seed collection.

do the same for heirloom peppers.

[bvar22]

25. Thanks.

We currently have a Yellow Plum planted next to a Black Krim.
That should make an interesting hybrid.

[Gato Moteado]

26. yeah, it's probably not good to cross the breeds, especially if one is a heirloom......

...with the march of monsanto trying to turn everything into a frankenstein vegetable, we need to preserve all the heirlooms. the method i posted above is how some seed collectors i know do it.....there might be better ways. maybe some DU gardeners can chime in.