Column: Verlys Huntley, Notes from the Garden

Although each year has some unique weather patterns, this year has truly been unusual. We had a cool, wet spring, delaying planting for farmers and causing even perennial things like rhubarb and asparagus to be about two weeks behind normal. This delay has pretty much followed through the whole year, with even apples being almost two weeks behind on ripening. Then on July 15 we had a heavy rain of anywhere between 6 and 8 inches in our area, and had flooding in areas where we had never had a problem before. Even part of our driveway was under water, which was the first time that had happened in the 46 years we have lived here.

Then we had a dry spell with no rain for about five weeks, and this combined with very high temperatures (high 90s and even over 100 degrees) caused some real stress to both gardens and field crops. And wouldn’t you know, now we have had an earlier than normal frost! So really, with the two-week delay caused by cool spring temperatures, and the frost about two weeks earlier than normal, we have lost about a month of our growing season this year.

Farmers market update

Weather conditions this year may have caused a somewhat slower start for the market this spring, but in recent weeks, our market has really been going well. We have had a lot of vendors, a wonderful variety of nice produce, and other local products; and different activities at the market, including doing more product sampling and food demonstrations. Mary Ellen Johnson has been a wonderful market volunteer and is using some of our market produce to do some sampling, and even has recipes for what she prepares. We have had a website this year at www.albertleafarmersmarket.com, where you can find out out a lot about your local market, including a listing of our vendors and information about them. We also now are on Facebook, and you can “friend” us there. And most recently, with the assistance of a grant provided to the Minnesota Farmers Market Association, we have been able to get a wireless scanner so we can accept EBT/SNAP cards at the market as well as debit and credit cards. And even more exciting, Minnesota Blue Cross Blue Shield is funding a Market Bucks program, which matches the first $5 in EBT benefits you use at the market each market day. This means all EBT recipients can get an extra $10 a week in free food by coming to our market both from 4 to 6 p.m. Wednesdays and 9 a.m. to noon on Saturdays. What a wonderful way for Blue Cross Blue Shield to help provide some of our lower income families a means of improving their diets, thereby also improving their health.

As usual, we have a meal provided each Wednesday by a local nonprofit group. We have a drawing for a nice basket of produce each Wednesday. Sign up next to the Red Barn. And the coffee pot is always there for coffee and treats on Saturday morning. Also look for our recipe rack and get our latest produce recipes. Join your friends for fun at the market!

And I want to put in good word for the Lakeview Lions, who are having a “Great Eye Glass Round-Up” in the hospital’s east parking lot, directly west of our market lot from 9 to 11:30 a.m. Oct. 1. You can drive through and drop off old eye glasses and hearing aids. Please help them reach their goal of 1,000 eye glasses.

Produce of the week: Tomatoes

Because of weather conditions this year, getting good ripe tomatoes has been a problem for many people. I have numerous calls and questions about tomatoes not ripening this year. I personally had a problem earlier with tomatoes cracking on the top. Even though the tomatoes were very large, they had a lot of cracking on the tops as they ripened, causing them to spoil quickly. This was undoubtedly caused by the lack of rain. Although I did put down soaker hoses, I apparently did not get them down soon enough. The green tomatoes that started to form when it was dry, started to grow more quickly after I began watering, and the outside skin of the tomato cracks when the tomato then starts expanding in size. Another problem came about during the extremely hot weather. Although tomatoes are a warm weather crop, when the temperature both day and night stays too hot, the blossoms will abort instead of forming fruit. This is also true of some other things such as pumpkins, and perhaps cucumbers and squash, and probably even soybeans if they are blooming during extremely hot weather.

Then when the weather cools down somewhat, the blossoms will again pollinate properly and form fruit. However, in the case of the tomatoes, some of those tomatoes were formed much later than normal, and we now have a lot of green fruit. Cooler fall temperatures also delay the ripening process, and the early frost was certainly not what we needed. Because temperatures varied from about 27 degrees to closer to 33 degrees, your tomatoes may or may not have survived that frost. But if you covered them, they are probably still fine. Several weeks back, I did prune my tomato plants in an attempt to help ripen the tomatoes on the plants. Because the variety I grow is an indeterminate variety (which means it continues to grow and bloom throughout the season), my plants were well over 6 feet tall, with lots of new growth and blossoms. I removed all this, leaving only those tomatoes which I felt had a chance of reaching maturity. Not sure how much this helped, but it certainly doesn’t hurt anything, and probably does help. My tomatoes survived that first frost, but we do need some warm weather now to ripen them. Although you can pick the tomatoes green and let them ripen inside, they do not quite have the flavor of those naturally ripened in the sun. These green tomatoes will ripen more quickly if you put a few ripe apples in with them, and even wrapping or covering with newspapers may help.

Because of the good supply of green tomatoes, here are a few recipes from www.allrecipes.com. My mother made a green tomato mincemeat recipe, which was very good, but makes a huge amount. If you want this recipe, contact me.

Recipes

Green tomato cake

4 cups chopped green tomatoes

l tablespoon salt

1/2 cup butter

2 cups white sugar

2 eggs

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Place chopped tomatoes in a bowl with l tablespoon salt. Let stand 10 minutes. Place in a colander and rinse with cold water and drain. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and grease and flour a 9-by-13 inch pan. Cream butter and sugar and then add eggs, beating until creamy. Sift flour, cinnamon, baking soda, nutmeg, cinnamon and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Add raisins and nuts to dry ingredients and add this to creamed mixture. Mix well. Dough will be stiff. Add tomatoes and mix again. Pour into greased pan. Bake 40 to 45 minutes in preheated oven, or until it tests done.

Best fried green tomatoes

4 large green tomatoes

2 eggs

1/2 cup mlk

1 cup flour

1/2 cup cornmeal

1/2 cup breadcrumbs

2 teaspoon coarse kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

About 1 quart vegetable oil for frying

Slice tomatoes 1/2 inch thick, discarding the ends. Whisk together eggs and milk. Put flour on plate. Mix cornmeal, bread crumbs and salt and pepper on another plate. Dip tomatoes into flour to coat, then dip in milk and egg mixture. Dredge in bread crumbs to completely coat. Fry in skillet in 1/2 inch of hot oil over medium heat. Do not crowd tomatoes; they should not touch each other. When browned, flip over and fry on other side. Remove and drain on paper towels.

Green tomato relish

24 large green tomatoes

3 red bell peppers, halved and seeded

3 green bell peppers, halved and seeded

12 large onions

3 tablespoons celery seed

3 tablespoons mustard seed

1 tablespoon salt

5 cups white sugar

2 cups cider vinegar

In grinder or food processor, coarsely grind tomatoes, peppers and onions. Put this mixture in larger colander or strainer, lined with cheesecloth and let drain one hour. In large non-aluminum stockpot, combine this mixture with remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil and simmer over low heat for five minutes, stirring frequently.

Put this mixture in sterilized pint or quart jars, screwing on lids, and then process in hot water bath for 30 minutes.

See you all at the market!

Verlys Huntley is a master gardener and the president of the Albert Lea Farmers Market.