Search results

  1. stepstephens2

    Cherokee Purple - Normal size?

    Ok, spaghetti sauce it is then. :)
  2. stepstephens2

    Cherokee Purple - Normal size?

    The Black Krim are on my list that I want to do. Luckily, I also grew some Black from Tula which have been medium in a uniform shape and great tasting... they just haven't been producing that many tomatoes. I originally picked the Cherokee Purple because so many people have raved about it to...
  3. stepstephens2

    Cherokee Purple - Normal size?

    Thanks... The splitting is driving me crazy. This year I'm getting little tomato friends living inside about 1/2 of everything that splits. It's made me afraid to even cut into anything that looks like might even be thinking about splitting. :sick
  4. stepstephens2

    Cherokee Purple - Normal size?

    I planted a few Cherokee Purple Tomatoes that I started from seed this year. When I bought the seed it didn't say that they got really big... but I keep getting tomatoes whose average size is pictured below. I have to pick them before they get completely ripe because they start to split. Is...
  5. stepstephens2

    2011 TEG Giant Pumpkin Contest - JOIN US BY AUGUST 1ST!!

    SCG- The plan was to enter it into the fair... or enter the Guiness Book for the largest cabbage rolls ever made. :D
  6. stepstephens2

    2011 TEG Giant Pumpkin Contest - JOIN US BY AUGUST 1ST!!

    The pumpkin with the stretchmarks went from the first picture to the second picture in 9 days. The stretchmarks are those light zig zag lines running down the sides of it (the lighting makes it hard to see.) It is now 28" around and 12" tall... so softball to beachball in 9 days! And here...
  7. stepstephens2

    2011 TEG Giant Pumpkin Contest - JOIN US BY AUGUST 1ST!!

    SCG- What breed of chicken is that? She's super cute! :) My chickens break into my garden too. Fortunately they don't have a taste for pumpkins. I had to build a small fence around my giant cabbage (it's supposed to be able to get up to 60 lbs.) but they just stuck their heads through like...
  8. stepstephens2

    Tomatillos - update, very prolific fruit!

    Here's a recipe for canning roasted green tomatillo salsa: 5 1/2 cup husked, washed, fire-roasted, and chopped tomatillos 1 cup chopped onion I cup chopped peppers (I used 1/4 serranos and 3/4 Hungarian yellow- and I did not seed, I like it spicy) 3 cloves garlic, minced finely 1/2 cup white...
  9. stepstephens2

    Mr. stripey and Aunt Ruby are not cooperating.

    Mr. Stripey, did you say? Last year I bought a Mr. Stripey and he grew to gigantic proportions- and gave me 4 tomatoes!:gig When things weren't happening with the plant the way they were with the others (Early Girls & Black Princes- which gave me tons of tomatoes) I dug around a bit online for...
  10. stepstephens2

    2011 TEG Giant Pumpkin Contest - JOIN US BY AUGUST 1ST!!

    Here's an update on the my pumpkins. First off, my pumpkin patch is trying to take over everything. So, I've been trying to go through the patch and figure out what pumpkins are growing on which vines. From there I weeded out the slower growing ones off the vines. If they were big enough...
  11. stepstephens2

    Big Recipe Plan

    I think this is an excellent idea! I think that gardening has just become a very popular trend these last couple of years... now that so many people have started doing it they will begin thinking about the next step and preserving what they grew. There really aren't that many books out there...
  12. stepstephens2

    What's wrong with these tomatoes? :-(

    I'm not sure if I just quoted this right, but digits ask your farmer friend why we need that kind of water... It was 105 outside today! :( The Central Valley was mostly desert before the agriculture got started. The soil is very fertile, but it takes a lot of water to keep anything alive here.
  13. stepstephens2

    July 4th Cake..

    Are those strawberries & blueberries? :D Looks good!
  14. stepstephens2

    Fire-Roasted Tomatillo Salsa

    Ok, making green salsa is about 1000% times easier than doing red! No blanching, peeling, and seeding of tomatoes... I simply husked, washed, and roasted the suckers on the bbq to blacken them a bit. I used my food processor for everything except the garlic. My husband LOVES this on tacos...
  15. stepstephens2

    2011 TEG Giant Pumpkin Contest - JOIN US BY AUGUST 1ST!!

    lesa- I sincerely hope that my husband never sees that show, as I write this we have 7 market umbrellas scattered around the backyard! :gig The man can not go to a hardware store without picking up some sort of shade covering. He finished putting up a new back patio roll out shade 2 days ago...
  16. stepstephens2

    2011 TEG Giant Pumpkin Contest - JOIN US BY AUGUST 1ST!!

    SCG- What if you throw some Superthrive on your pumpkin plant? I've never tried the trick with pumpkins, but I've had some other plants that it not only forced out new blossoms- it also made them produce fruits double time. Also (and this will show what kind of research I've done on growing...
  17. stepstephens2

    2011 TEG Giant Pumpkin Contest - JOIN US BY AUGUST 1ST!!

    Lesa's also looks extremely well behaved. I'm envious! :cool: My pumpkins have become such a messy jungle that I can't even figure out which ones are growing on what vine... which is going to make it pretty hard to thin them out to one pumpkin per vine.
  18. stepstephens2

    Look! I have artichokes!

    :thumbsup
  19. stepstephens2

    Look! I have artichokes!

    Yep, that is a mutant tomato. The plant came from a pack of seed I got on Amazon for 30 cents.
  20. stepstephens2

    Look! I have artichokes!

    Thanks for the nice comments! I have to say I cheated a bit on these... I bought them (there's another plant that's out of the picture) from Fresno Ag when they were about 4" tall, so I didn't grow them from seed like most the other things in my garden. The gophers took out every baby...
Top