The Yellow Farmhouse Garden

I don’t have to tell you we’ve had more rain than usual this gardening season in southeastern Michigan. Some locations, like my garden, have had significantly more rain than the official reporting stations because of localized heavy down pours. Don’t be surprised if you see a higher proportion of misshapen tomatoes in your garden this year be cause of this.

If you’ve grown tomatoes for any length of time, I’m sure you’ve picked your share of distorted tomatoes.

You may remember from your high school biology class that a tomato develops from the female parts of  a flower — the ovary and ovule. Under good weather conditions the tiny, newly formed tomato grows and matures normally. But when the weather doesn’t cooperate, tomatoes can develop a number of different problems.

Tomato flowers on ‘Stupice’ heirloom variety.

Tomatoes that have distorted areas with rough, brown edges are called “catfaced”. Although they are safe to eat, they don’t look very attractive. Catfacing is most often caused by flower petals sticking to the ovary just as the tomato begins to form. Rainy, damp weather keeps the petals from drying completely and separating from the rest of the flower.

“Zippering” is another related condition caused by damp weather. The symptom is, a long, rough, thin brown scar running longitudinally — north pole to south pole — on the skin of a tomato. It’s caused by the anther, the male part of the flower, adhering to the young fruit as it grows.

Sometimes an open locule forms along with zippering. A locule is a chamber inside the ovule that produces the fruit part of the tomato. An open locule is also called an “open hole”. It shows up as a dry, brown hole or depression on surface of the tomato.

Those over-sized, distorted tomatoes that look like two or more tomatoes merged into one, are also caused by poor weather during flower development.

Some varieties are more prone to these disorders than others — the “Beefsteak” varieties being one common example.

I should stop here and mention “blossom end rot”. It is not related in any way to these disorders but is caused by inefficient movement of calcium inside the tomato. That is a discussion for another blog.

Distorted tomatoes can also be caused by high soil nitrogen, excessive plant pruning, exposure to herbicides and tomatoes rubbing against one another.

As the weather straightens out, tomatoes forming later in the season will have fewer catfacing and zippering symptoms at maturity.

Bob

Our recent frosts have put an end to all of the warm season vegetable crops like tomatoes, peppers and squash.

The cool weather crops on the other hand are still hanging in there, even though the colder temperatures have slowed down their growth rate.

The flavor of leafy vegetables, like lettuce, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, kale and the like, is enhanced by light to moderate frosts. Root crops like carrots, and especially parsnips, sweeten up after exposure to cold temperatures.

Light frosts enhance lettuce flavor. Be aware that wintry temperatures will eventually kill them.

The mechanism behind this phenomenon involves plant carbohydrates. Starches and sugars are different types of carbohydrates that are present in plants. When the plant is exposed to cold temperatures the starches get converted into various sugars that sweetens the flavor. This is the main reason why you should never keep potatoes in the refrigerator, it is the starches that give potatoes their distinct flavor.

Lettuce, cabbage and kale will eventually winter kill as the  season progresses. It takes quite a bit to kill Brussels sprouts, they can survive well into November getting more flavorful with each frost but they too will eventually freeze and die back.

Bob

One major task in my garden this week was planting seeds for a winter crop of produce.

I have a small, unheated greenhouse — sometimes called a high tunnel — that I built last year out of salvaged parts. That’s where I sowed my seeds. In our climate, most winters are too harsh for winter crops to survive without some kind of protection.

In years past I’ve harvested winter produce from simple homemade cold frames made from window sash, low plastic covered tunnels and other kinds of structures. The secrete is to make sure the structure gets adequate sunlight and that it is air tight to keep frigid winter drafts from freezing the plants.

I was able to plant the entire floor area of my greenhouse with spinach, winter onions, radishes, beets and a couple of different types of lettuce — all cool weather vegetables. The seeds were left over from my spring crop.

Part of the greenhouse planting

I’ve tried setting out transplants late in the season, they just don’t seem to be as hardy as plants grown from seed in place.

When the really cold weather hits, those plants will hardly grow at all, even when protected inside a structure. By sowing seeds now, the plants will have plenty of time to get to a usable size before they go into hibernation. Once they are established they will become accustomed to the falling temperatures and will be more likely to survive.

Time is running short for those who want to try growing produce for winter harvest.

Bob