In my garden- San Marzano tomatoes

On a recent walk through my favorite of all greenhouses in the world, Harvey's in Adel, Iowa, I was browsing the tomato selection, looking for nothing in particular. Not because I needed more tomatoes but because.....well.... I was there! So long story short, I'm browsing..... passing over cherry tomatoes of numerous kinds, yellow pear tomatoes, Romas, beefsteaks, nothing really jumping out at me, mostly since I really didn't have any more space to plant something and I began to make my way back to the exit. There, snuggled up between the Mr. Stripey and Yellow Boy was the Holy Grail of Tomatoes- the San Marzano.

Now, if you are even remotely familiar with Italian cooking, tomatoes, Romas, or anything vegetable history wise, you get it. This. Is. A. Big. Deal. After all, Romas are a genetic descendant of San Marzano tomatoes, which are the standard by which all cooking tomatoes are measured! Ok, I might be exaggerating a little there but you get what I mean- this is exciting!! San Marzanos are thought to have been brought to Italy in the 1700s and grown for many, many generations.

What makes this tomato so special? Everything! It has a much thicker, meatier flesh than even a Roma tomato. It has a very small seed area and very few seeds. This means more tomato pulp per tomato. They are sweeter, making them an excellent choice for sauces, and tomato paste. They have a "bigger" tomato flavor than other tomatoes and with a thicker flesh, that means less water, less cooking down to get a nice, thick finished product. They are an heirloom tomato, obviously, if they've been around since the 1700s......and open-pollinate, so you can save your own seed for next year and get true San Marzanos again- not some weird golf-ball size tomato, like modern hybrids give you. And get this- if you want to make a TRUE Neapolitan pizza, only San Marzano tomatoes are considered acceptable- very interesting.

It's very very early in the garden season here, so you will have to stay tuned to see how my little San Marzanos grow and turn out. I have 4 perfect little plants nestled into their summer homes, now it's up to Mother Nature to do her thing. 

*photo courtesy of Wikimedia

Spring oh spring, where art thou?

The weekend has arrived! Finally! Seems like one of the longest weeks of the year. We have had a few days of tease- beautiful 60 and 70 degrees, lots of sunshine and breeze, windows-open kind of days. And............crash back to reality and snow on Sunday.  It's still early in the season, and it WON'T last very long.

Our first ever ghost chili.

I'm looking forward to getting into the dirt this year. My goal is to embrace the Little Lake House and do some major sprucing up in the yard and establish some new gardens that hopefully will be the absolute last re-do I have to go through in this house. I have plans......... but I won't rehash that. I've already told you guys.

Tiger lilies wait for the mail man

I spent quite a while last evening sorting and inventorying seeds. Holy Rubbermaid do I have seeds. It looks like I was planning ahead in the event green beans and shelling peas were to become extinct. I'd have the seeds to save the world !! I'm still looking for a farmer to help me out with the pea project but the beans I plan on planting myself. Sometimes it's not until you really sit down and LOOK at what you have that you realize just how MUCH you actually do have. 

No Italian chef has a garden without banana peppers!

I am a little lacking in the herb seed department. I have plenty of basil and parsley and probably enough regular sage to get a good supply started. It's the fun things I am missing. No red ruffles basil. No flavored thyme- just a couple packets of plain English thyme. Not a single chive seed in the bunch either. How the heck did THAT happen? I seem to have way more cilantro seed than a person should have on hand. I don't really even like the stuff- I'm TRYING to force myself to accept it and move on. 

Purple ruffles basil- so pretty in salads.

I have two, yes, count 'em, two varieties of tomato and that is it my friends. Seems kind of silly but I feel compelled to pick up more varieties!! But over the years I found I have had just as much success with transplants and I don't need to worry about nursing all these baby plants. I will start a couple for us for fresh eating but we like to go to the pick your own farm and LOAD UP on tomatoes for canning day. And peppers- that's another one...... I have so many pepper seeds- hot and sweet and everything in between! That is another plant I don't have great success with seedlings, especially the super hots. I need a greenhouse to be truly successful and that's just not in the budget.

We love cherry tomatoes!

Flower seeds? Who needs those? Except for a few, I rarely grow flowers. Sure there are some perennial lilies and a flowering shrub in my yard but in most cases, if it's not edible, I don't grow it. And certainly later in the season when it gets really hot, and doesn't rain, watering the edibles is much more important and the flowers are the first to go. Now, I do like to plant a few flowers in and among the vegetables, they help deter nibblers and look pretty and they aren't hurting anybody taking up a little space in a corner of the bed. Marigolds fit the bill perfectly. Or sunflowers- now THAT is a flower I can get behind! Literally. I'm 5'2". Some of them are 7 feet tall. Tasty seeds for the humans and the birds are a big bonus when growing sunflowers.

Zinnias add some color to the deck.

I have planned some new things for the garden this year and I think I might sneak a grapevine in there. I have the perfect crappy spot. Yes, I said crappy. Grapes thrive in crappy soil and growing conditions because they are forced to root deeply in search of water and nutrients. Some of the world's best wine grapes grow in the absolute worst conditions. I will be happy with a humble Concord or other such grape- maybe make a little jelly or jam or juice. 

Over the Garden Fence - an interview with JMs Garden

One of the really nice things about living in a rural location is our nice big yard. Lots of gardening space. And we do love to grow things. As a canner, I love to grow things that can be canned and used the rest of the year and SAFE canning practices are very important to me. That being said, many of the new hybrid vegetables, tomatoes in particular, are not as acidic as their heirloom cousins.

Growing vegetables from seed just makes sense. It's by far more economical than buying plants and you can get exactly the variety of vegetable you want to grow if you start from seed. If you are concerned about chemicals and GMOs and all the different things mass producing companies do with vegetables and seeds, you can be assured heirlooms have not been subjected to all of that.

This winter I discovered a WONDERFUL seed supplier right here in Iowa- JMs Garden. Not only are the seeds heirloom AND organic, but they are hand raised and harvested.  JMs is also a small business, which is something very important to me- supporting our local small businesses. Add reasonable priced, hand-packaged seeds, dedication to customer service AND participating in charitable organizations, such as their recent Dollar Days Sale with proceeds donated to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, and you cannot find a better supplier to buy your garden seeds from.

I had the opportunity to ask the owner, Jason, a few questions about the business, and I want to share his story with all of you. 

1. I just recently discovered your website- how long have you been in business?

We have been in business for almost a year. We started by selling our seeds and some other random things I was collecting like old coins on Ebay. Then, unfortunately around December, we had some major miscommunication with Ebay that really hurt us, so we decided to change routes. Our website was up and running in January.

2. I know you are a smaller business operating from Dubuque, Iowa. What have you found to be some of the obstacles in reaching a wider audience and gaining customers ?

Our biggest obstacle is just that – reaching a wide audience. Because we are a very small business, with absolutely zero loans or grants, we don't have too much extra money to put towards advertising as of now. It's all pretty much word of mouth from Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Youtube, articles we write, and wonderful interviews like this.

3. Do you find your location to be an issue or the abundance of online "big boys"?

Our location isn't an issue at all. With our greenhouse set up, we can literally grow anything, at any time. We just harvested some 10 pound papayas the other day, and there's 3 feet of snow on the ground. Our competition will always make more money then we do, companies like Burpee. The thing that separates us from them is truth. As I mentioned, we don't have a whole lot of funds for advertising, so we definitely don't have funds for any inorganic nonsense. The thing with the bigger companies, that most people don't realize, is that just because they may say something is organic, doesn't make it true. There is a legal loophole that I talked about in a blog post about dog food, and it holds true with seeds as well – companies like Burpee will not personally spray their seeds with “preservation” spray as I call it to make it last on the shelf longer. They have their companies that package and ship everything do it, so they don't have to mention a word about it. The toxins from these sprays grow into the fruits and vegetables we eat.

4. Many of the readers of this blog are cooks but probably just as many are not- but enjoy gardening. You have something for every level of gardener, correct? Flowers, herbs, vegetables, as well as books and other materials.

Yes. It is very important for us to be thinking of the garden and the kitchen at the same time. I've written millions of recipes over the last 12 years, and I like to share them or implement them with what we grow. We like to entice people with a recipe to grow the ingredients needed. We don't do a whole lot of flowers yet, but we will be soon.

5. I hear you have a series of eBooks coming soon. Can you tell me a little about those? 5a- I see you already offer an eBook- "Brew Your Own Beer" by Jason Meyer. Have you ever tried brewing? Thoughts?

The eBooks we are working on now is going to be a 3 part series called “From the Garden to the Kitchen”. It basically holds to my theory of including every aspect. Hundreds of tips for the garden and the kitchen, and of course some of my recipes. The “Brew Your Own Beer” eBook was really a great adventure. We brewed every single beer that you get in that recipe book. We failed, countless times, but every time we succeeded, we added the recipe. It's definitely a great option because there are so many people out there who can't find the exact beer or flavor they are looking for. With over 640 recipes in the book, you're bound to find something you like.

6. You have a lot of great information on your website. What are some highlights and must-see areas that you recommend NEW gardeners check out?

Our blog posts, for sure. Along with our articles and weekly newsletters, our blog posts show so much information. Tips, how to's, stories, or just rambling. It's where we can really just let out whatever is on our minds or whatever topic we are discussing at the office.

7. Let's say I am a new customer, and I have a new home with a wide open canvas for gardening. All I want this year is a well stocked herb garden. What are the must-haves that you would recommend?

Basil, parsley, rosemary, cilantro, and although I'm allergic to it, dill. What I do in my personal home garden is plant all of my herbs around the stem of a tomato plant. The tomato and the herbs add minerals and nutrients to the soil that benefit each other.

8. I'm sure you get asked this all the time. but how do you advise a novice gardener on starting a new garden? With so much information on the internet it's almost overload- can you think of 3 or 4 KEY things that a new gardener should do to prepare a brand new bed for gardening? and how about prepping for the second year?

We do get asked that a lot. The biggest thing to do with a new garden is to plan it. It's a good idea to draw out how you want it to look. You also need to decide exactly what you want to grow. I won't tell anyone to start off small, because I never do. You will want to test your soil; see what it's made of, how fast water drains out of it, and what the pH is. The other major part to planning a garden is placing things in the right location. I never like to grow at the bottom of a hill – that's just calling for a wash out. You also want to look at what plants you have that need full sunlight or partial shade. All very important.

9. Have you ever had a plant just totally fail on an epic scale to the point that you never wanted to try and grow it again?

We have had thousands of plants fail miserably, but we never give up. Each time we have one that fails, we take a look at what we did that could have caused it to die. We do some research, come up with a different watering or lighting schedule, different feeding of compost versus worm compost, and anything else we can come up with that will hopefully help us succeed. Right now we are actually having some issues with an old heirloom tobacco plant. We've done all the research we can, but we can't figure out why it won't grow.

10. Tell me about your culinary art background and how you bring some of that into this business-

I started cooking in a restaurant when I was 14 years old. My boss at the time was a graduate of a high priced culinary institute. He taught me quite a bit, convinced me to get a second job at a nicer restaurant, then convinced me to go to college. I worked with him all throughout high school, then in 2006 went to Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It was a 2 year program, which some people look down on, but I say this – I learned in 2 years what some took 4 years to learn, and I spent a quarter of the money doing it! Throughout college and after, I've worked in dozens of restaurants all across the state. Now with the seed business, I went into it with a big thought. We are just after the seeds. I didn't want to have all of the waste just being used as compost, we have enough of that cooking as it is. All the empty peppers, tomatoes, lettuce leaves, etc. get donated now to shelters across the city. When we move our greenhouse, we will have a professional kitchen where we can expand into canning, jams and jellies, and stuff like that.

I know where I will be buying all my heirloom seems from now on! Besides the exceptional customer service and amazingly fast shipping, the guys are awesome to work with, chat with and talk gardens with. Even if you don't live in small town Iowa YOU can help support this business be successful. Visit their website by clicking HERE and go shopping!!

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 55: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

The Big Dig

The 2014 gardening season is still a ways away for me here in the frozen wasteland known as Iowa, but my brain is hard at work planning. We have tilled up part of the yard and grew in-ground veggies not so successfully. We have had two summers of container gardening with mixed results. The extreme heat we sometimes get here makes it very difficult to keep adequate moisture in the pots. Watering two and three times a day is expensive with rural water.

So this year I am going to give straw bale gardening a try, as well as raised beds using- get this- kiddie pools! One of my neighbors has successfully raised a garden using kiddie pools for several years so.....sign me up! This project will of course mean LOTS of dirt, sweat and guaranteed- tears. Mine will not be on a rooftop and will have drainage holes (large holes) drilled in the bottom to allow for deeper root growth.

Picture courtesy of Inhabitat

This is also the time of year gardeners talk a lot about seeds and plants. I know a lot of seed savers. lots of people trade and form trade groups. The seed and garden catalogs start appearing in our mailboxes. It's more fun than Christmas if you ask me. Something that is very important to me, as a rural resident, is supporting local small businesses. There are a few greenhouses near my home that I like to visit, and one of them sells bulk seed the old fashioned way- scoop em out and weigh them.

As the deluge of catalogs rains down on me I'm almost overwhelmed at the choices. Flipping through one catalog I am trying to decide between 45 different hybrids of sweetcorn. 45!! That's a lot of comparison shopping. Tomato seeds- holy moly, there are thousands of heirlooms and hybrids, determinate, indeterminate, so many decisions. The colorful pictures suck me in and make it oh so difficult for a seed hoarder, err, I mean gardener to decide.

I recently discovered a wonderful source for heirloom, organic, non-GMO seeds. JM's Garden is a small locally-owned business in Iowa that offers a somewhat small, but always changing and growing selection of seeds as well as educational materials for gardeners. I recently ordered from them and received my order within just a couple days. I was so happy with everything. Safely packaged, clearly labeled perfect seeds- just waiting for Mother Nature to cooperate a little bit. I HIGHLY recommend giving them a visit. They often have great deals too- buy one get one, and things like that.

I also often browse the catalog from the Seed Savers' Exchange in Decorah, Iowa. They have heirloom vegetables you can't find anywhere else. Their catalog is vast and contains a lot of beautiful flowers as well.

Territorial Seed Company is another on the the biggies. They DID have the elusive Mexican Gherkins that I have been looking for and had good prices on larger quantities of seed- like peas. I want LOTS of peas !!

If you're looking for fruits Stark Brothers is the catalog to check out. They have a great selection and reasonable prices. Berries, apples, grapes, and even a few beautiful flowers make up their offerings and seemed to be geared to my gardening zone.

Of course, I also have a Burpee catalog, but I use that mostly as a checkoff list. I can find Burpee seeds at many stores, so I'm not likely to order online, an again, that goes against my preference to support a smaller, local business.