Black, Brown and Blue Tomatoes for 2017

There are some pretty interesting tomatoes in this category. Blues are newcomers to the tomato scene and breeders have been busy adding blues to whites, as well as yellow, green and red tomatoes. Oh and more. It will be interesting to see what comes next. Black and brown have always been staple tomatoes known for their rich smoky flavour. Here is what I am growing this year, with additional ones found on my preorder list on my website.

Indigo Apple
Amazon Chocolate
African Brown
Amethyst Jewel

Bosque Bumblebee
Black Ethiopian
Black Cherry
Black Krim
Black Prince
Blue Beauty
Blueberries
Black Seaman
Black Plum
Brazilian Beauty
Black Brown Boar
Brown Flesh
Black Pear
Black Truffle
Brown Berry
Black Icicle
Brad's Black Heart
Blue Green Zebra

Black
Black Moor
Black Apple
Black from Tula
Cascade Lava
Cinnamon Pear
Chocolate Cherry
Cuban Black
Chocolate
Cherry Brownies
Clackamas Blueberry
Cafe Bule
Cappuccino
Dark Galaxy
Dark Italian
Debarao
Fahrenheit Blues
Indigo Rose
Great White Blues
Japanese Black Trifle
Mr Brown
Kumato
Joffre
Nyagous
Ozark Sunset
Osu Blue
Primary Colors
Plum Black

Paul Robeson
Sara Black
Tendence Bleu
Sandy's Chocolate Cherry

"Not a tomato" Ruby

Bicolour Tomatoes 2017

Again this year it is tomato varieties galore. While there still are lots of people that request a good red tomato, lots more people are venturing into some of the more interesting and colourful varieties.

With all the new breeding work being done with open pollinated varieties, there are some pretty incredible looking and tasting ones out there and they fall under my category "Bicolour".
     
The Bumblebee line, the Tigers and the Darby's include some very special ones indeed. These are the ones that you will find at my farm on "Tomato Days", being on May 20 at 8 am. Please note I have tried to plant loads of the ones that are the most popular, like Pineapple. I have tons. Figuratively. I hope it is enough. Some other varieties are more limited, but there are so many to choose from and you are going to get a great tomato. Additionally, there are some great bicolours on my preorder list on my website.

Here we go!

Aviuri
AAA Sweet Solano
Arkansas Marvel
Ananas Noire
Black and Brown Boar
Bicolor Cherry
Blush

Black Zebra
Big Orange Stripe
Big Rainbow
Beauty King
Beauty Queen
Blonde Boar
Black Vernissage
Big Zebra
BTR E38
Cassidy's Folly
Captain Lucky
Copia
Chocolate Stripes
Caytana
Darby Pink Yellow Stripe
Darby Red Green Stripe
Darby Yellow Green Stripe

Dino Eggs Green
Flame
Hillbilly,
Hillbilly Potato Leaf
Gold Medal
Green Sausage
Green Tiger
Green Zebra
Isis Candy Cherry

Little Lucky
Mammoth German Gold
Mary Robinson
Mr Stripey
Marvel Striped
Marz Yellow Red Stripe
Old German
Northern Lights
Oaxacan Jewel
Orange Russian 117
Plum Tigress
Polish Pastel
Pink Bumblebee
Purple Bumblebee
Pink Fuzzy Boar
Pink Tiger
Pineapple
Berkeley Tie Dye Pink
Peppermint
Pippy's Piedmont Pear Plus
Pixie Striped
Pastel Sleeve
RoughwoodGolden Tiger
Red Zebra
Red Belly
Ruby Gold
Red Furry Hog
Striped Black Cherry
Sweet Carneros Pink
Speckled Roman
Sunrise Bumblebee
Striped Roman Yellow
Striped Red Furry Hog
Striped Cavern

Tonnelet
T2
T4
T5
Tigerella
Turkish Monastery
Tuxhorn
Tiger Paw
Virginia Sweets
Violet Jasper
Velue Striee
Yellow Tiger Stripe
Williams Striped

Percy

2017 Sweet/ Hot Peppers and Eggplants

May is just around the corner and of course that means my annual "Tomato Days" sale is as well.
This year the long weekend begins on May20th, and that is when I begin selling my reasonably large assortment of plants. And yes, I have been busy. There are thousands of plants.
I began in February seeding the peppers and eggplants, following up with weeks of seeding tomatoes and an assortment of other enticing items. I continue to seed and transplant, water and protect the seedlings from extremes of weather, both heat and cold. This time of year is generally a bit of both and the fluctuations can be drastic.

But the plants are looking good. So let me begin by outlining some of what you may find here when you come out to my small farm May 20th and on. Remember there are some things I have lots of, like my best selling varieties, others it may be far fewer plants of that type. And some things sell fast.

There will be lots available that I do not list on my blog. Oh yes, but here I go. Ground cherries, Cape Gooseberries, sweet potatoes, basils, parsley, kales, lettuces, chards, zucchini, squash, melons....lots more too!

Sweet Pepper Varieties

California Wonder
King of the North
Kari Baby Cheese
Purple Beauty
Jimmy Nardello
Sweet Chocolate
Buran
Feher Ozon Paprika
White Bell
Orange Bell
Garden Sunshine
Thompsons Squash pepper
Sweet Pimento
Mini Chocolate Bell
Mini Yellow Bell
Mini red Bell
Marconi Red
Hot Pepper Varieties
Fish,
Filus Blue
Tricolor Variegated
Aji Limo
Biquinho Red
Carolina Reaper
Brown Bhut Jolokia
Chocolate Naga Brain
Chinese 5 Color
Bulgarian Carrot
Black Scorpion Tongue
White Ghost
Bhut Jolokia
Padron
Mustard Habanero
Maul's Red Hot
Red Habanero
7 Pod Brain Strain
Tabasco
Royal Black
Rooster Spur
Bellingrath Gardens
Biquinho Yello
Joe's Round
Hot Cherry
White Bullet Habanero
Matchbox
Serrano
Jalapeno
Peach Habanero
New Mex 6

Eggplants

Rosa Bianca
Thai Lavender Frog Egg
Shooting Star
Black Beauty
Ping Tung Long
Slim Jim
Finger Fruit White
Casper
Kermit
Green Beauty Long
Aswad
Prosperosa

CSA Week 18 and Guest Post -Mangels

Things are winding down here, but there's still so much to be done and lots of food in the garden. Despite what appeared to be a heavy frost Monday night, most things survived, except the new beans that were coming along so well. But nothing ventured nothing gained. I was late getting them in the ground.
Tuesdays baskets contained carrots, sugar beets,  a stir fry blend (arugula, tatsoi, mustard greens, chard), sweet peppers, malabar spinach, leaf celery and likely something else I can't remember.
Last week when I send out a note asking folks if they wanted to try the mangels, I knew Monique would be a taker, bless her soul. And even more she wrote a blog post about her adventures in mangels. So if you took mangels as well, here are a few ideas for you.

Mangels, not just food for cattle!

Long known as cattle food for farmers, mangels have been around since the 1800.  Mainly used to feed farm animals as it grows well and stores well.  But it is not just good for farmers, it is deliciously sweet and remains fairly tender even when large. Stores well if kept from freezing and you can eat the greens too!

Linda asked me last week if I wanted to bring some home and try some, so I said why not.  She told me it’s like a beet but not as strong as a red beet.  I tried to find the nutrition facts on mangals during my research but there wasn’t much available online because they say they are not that popular enough to eat.  But I did find out while researching mangels, that you can cook them and freeze them in a vacuumed sealed bag for up to 2 years or in a Ziploc bag for 6-8 months.

So I thought what can I make with these mangels?  

I love using my slow cooker because you can put anything in it to cook and walk away.  So I did some research and found that lots of people cooked their beets in the slow cooker with foil but I am not a huge fan of using foil so I decided I was going to try without.  I put two cups of water in the bottom of my slow cooker with some salt, cleaned the mangels really good to remove all the dirt and cut the tops and bottom off.  I placed two mangels in the slow cooker because that’s all I could fit, set it for 4 hours on high and then left to run errands.  When I returned they were done and ready.  I let them cool a bit so I could handle them while I removed the skin, which was super easy, then I let them cool completely to room temperature.  I decided to make a mangel hummus with some of them and I froze my hummus in small containers so I can use later.  I still had a lot of mangel left so I searched on pinterest and found a chocolate beet cake recipe and substituted the beets for mangels, it was moist and super delicious.  

I hope you enjoy the mangel hummus and find other great ways to cook and eat mangels.

Enjoy!

Mangel Hummus

• 2 cups cooked mangels
• 1 can chick peas (drained and rinse)
• 3 tbsp tahini
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp water
• 1-2 garlic gloves
• ½ tsp salt
• Pepper to taste

Place mangels and chick peas in food processor and pulse to combine. Add in the rest of the ingredients and process the mixture for a full 2-3 minutes or until the hummus is super creamy, stopping to scrape down the side of the bowl.  Serve with veggies!