# My garden is still producing.



## Ruth n Jersey (Oct 12, 2019)

Today was a beautiful fall day. I decided to start cleaning out my garden. I dug six pounds of potatoes and found a couple of tomatoes hidden in the old vines. This was a very good year for my garden.


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## Kaila (Oct 12, 2019)

I know that those fresh dug potatoes smell great from the ground, as is, and they are so much more flavorful after cooking, than any from the grocery stores!
Great photo!

Do you eat those fried green tomatoes, or do you ripen them in brown paper?


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## applecruncher (Oct 12, 2019)

I'll take the tomatoes! and a couple potatoes


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## Kaila (Oct 12, 2019)

And the coupons?


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## Ruth n Jersey (Oct 12, 2019)

Kaila said:


> I know that those fresh dug potatoes smell great from the ground, as is, and they are so much more flavorful after cooking, than any from the grocery stores!
> Great photo!
> 
> Do you eat those fried green tomatoes, or do you ripen them in brown paper?


I'm going to cook the smaller potatoes tomorrow night for dinner with pot roast and peas and harden off the rest. I'll fry up the tomatoes also. Might as well go all the way.


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## Seeker (Oct 13, 2019)

We just picked the last two bell peppers...

Our garden didn't do well this year though..Deer and raccoons got in the corn. Tomatoes had a disease..

Looking forward to next season.


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## Capt Lightning (Oct 13, 2019)

Our tomato plants are still producing, although I don't think there will be many more.  It was a great year for our garden too.   We had a good crop of potatoes, the leeks, celery and kale are doing fantastically too.  A mixed story on the soft fruit - strawberries didn't do so well, but loads of gooseberries.  We also had the first crop of apples ( the trees aren't very old) and a great crop of crab apples that we used to make jelly.  (not sure if that is also the US word - in the UK, jam is made with whole fruit, jelly is made with the juice)


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## Ruth n Jersey (Oct 13, 2019)

Capt Lightning said:


> Our tomato plants are still producing, although I don't think there will be many more.  It was a great year for our garden too.   We had a good crop of potatoes, the leeks, celery and kale are doing fantastically too.  A mixed story on the soft fruit - strawberries didn't do so well, but loads of gooseberries.  We also had the first crop of apples ( the trees aren't very old) and a great crop of crab apples that we used to make jelly.  (not sure if that is also the US word - in the UK, jam is made with whole fruit, jelly is made with the juice)


Yes that is how our jam and jelly is made also. Then there is a thing called conserve. I think that has nuts and any other item you want to throw in the jar as well. I never liked it. I even found some fruit skins mixed in. I don't grow strawberries anymore but they didn't do well at the local farms either. To much rain and dampness this year.


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## RadishRose (Oct 13, 2019)

Capt Lightning said:


> *crab apples*


Same here Capt.


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## Pete (Oct 13, 2019)

Ruth n Jersey said:


> This was a very good year for my garden.


I so envy you Ruth... I lived in Philly for 40 years and most years had a garden till the end of September.

I was wondering because I recently lived up in Alaska for more than two decades (where they have thousand pound pumpkins and cabbage that is bigger than a lot of children because of the 20 hours of sunlight in the summer) and now in 'hot' Texas but no where in my travels here or overseas have I found tomatoes like those I found at the "farm stands" along the highway between Philly and the shore.

Those tomatoes would make your mouth water while you were slicing them. I have even tried to find a place in Jersey that would FedEx some to me but no luck.

 Ruth do they still have the same wonderful flavor or are they now like what we buy in the supermarket, mass produced and tasteless.

Enjoy your last 'taste' of summer.


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## Ruth n Jersey (Oct 13, 2019)

Pete said:


> I so envy you Ruth... I lived in Philly for 40 years and most years had a garden till the end of September.
> 
> I was wondering because I recently lived up in Alaska for more than two decades (where they have thousand pound pumpkins and cabbage that is bigger than a lot of children because of the 20 hours of sunlight in the summer) and now in 'hot' Texas but no where in my travels here or overseas have I found tomatoes like those I found at the "farm stands" along the highway between Philly and the shore.
> 
> ...


Pete they taste just as good as ever. Once in a great while we have a bad season. Last year was one of those years. They didn't produce as well as they usually do but the flavor was there.  I think that is one thing Jersey will always have are good tomatoes. I don't think they ship well. They came out with a variety a few years back called Super Sonic. They were suppose to ship better. I grew them in my garden and found out why. The skins were like rubber. I don't see them much anymore. I don't think people liked them. 
You mentioned those big veggies you have in Alaska. The hubby and I went on a cruise to Alaska a few years back and one place we stopped  had rhubarb plants as big as trees. I couldn't believe it. One stalk would make 50 pies!


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## SeaBreeze (Oct 13, 2019)

Ruth n Jersey said:


> Today was a beautiful fall day. I decided to start cleaning out my garden. I dug six pounds of potatoes and found a couple of tomatoes hidden in the old vines. This was a very good year for my garden. View attachment 78065


They're beautiful Ruth, it must feel so good to grow your own healthy foods, you really have a green thumb!


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## Keesha (Oct 13, 2019)

Very nice. There’s nothing like using your own ground produce.
Good job.


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## Pete (Oct 19, 2019)

Ruth n Jersey said:


> Pete they taste just as good as ever....
> I think that is one thing Jersey will always have are good tomatoes.


 Ruth I am glad to hear your tomatoes and those from Jersey still have the mouth watering taste, I may just have to fly back there next summer and get some. I am wondering why then the taste of Campbell's Tomato Juice has changed? I used to buy it in bulk from Sam's when I made my monthly drive into town for supplies but the taste change so much I stoped buying any tomato juce from Campbells. I did notice around the same time their factory in Camden closed so I figured they are now buying tomatoes from Mexico or some where out of the country.... I just do not understand how people do not notice the difference in taste and complaine about it.... Anyway enjoy your garden...pete


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## Kaila (Oct 19, 2019)

Pete said:


> I did notice around the same time their factory in Camden closed so I figured they are now buying tomatoes from Mexico or some where out of the country...



Perhaps they changed the recipe and include far LESS tomatoes in it?
 and other additional, possible changes, 
that leave it less flavorful, and not improved for the consumer, but cheaper for them to make it.  

I can't digest it any more, in recent years, so I haven't tasted it recently,
but I still remember how very good it was, many years ago.


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## Catlady (Nov 8, 2019)

My mother used to grow her own tomatoes, some for the table but most of them to put into jars for tomato sauce.  I still remember how good they smelled when being cut up.  The store bought ones don't smell that good and I thought it was because I'm old.  But, I think it's because they pick them while yet not ripe, to extend their shelf life.


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## GeorgiaXplant (Nov 10, 2019)

We have an enormous back yard, and it's all flowers except for the wooded side yard. My daughter usually grows a tomato plant or two in a pot on the patio. When I suggested growing vegetables, she said "That's what grocery stores are for." Ugh. So our back yard is flowers. Lots of flowers. It's okay, though, because we (usually) have mild winters and there are lots of flowers that bloom year round and lots that are well-suited to our winter climate. It means there's always something in bloom even on the dreariest winter day.


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