How to Pickle Green Tomatoes

Do you love tomatoes and just can't imagine letting any go to waste? If you have had a productive year growing tomatoes the end of the season can feel a little depressing once you realize that those green tomatoes growing on the vine and getting larger, while the summer days are getting shorter. And there isn't much of a chance of them ripening before it's too late. So what do you do? Of course, fried green tomatoes are a must, but I'm here to tell you about the goodness of pickled green tomatoes.

Pickled Green Tomatoes Recipe

2-3 pounds of green tomatoes
2 garlic cloves
1 jalapeno pepper, sliced
2 cups of water
2 cups apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons of kosher salt
2 tablespoons of brown sugar
4 tablespoons of bourbon (optional)
1 tablespoon of whole black peppercorns
2 star anise seed pods
1 1/2 tablespoons of turmeric
1/4 teaspoon of fennel seeds

Take your green tomatoes and quarter them. To make things easier, I used a quart-sized canning jar for the pickling process, but you can split them into medium sized jars if needed. Next add your two sliced garlic cloves, sliced jalapeno pepper, fennel seeds, and four tablespoons of bourbon.

In your saucepan, combine the water, apple cider vinegar, kosher salt, whole black peppercorns, star anise seed pods, and turmeric. Bring to a simmer until all of the sugar is dissolved and remove from from heat. Pour your brine into the jar with the green tomatoes.

Let cool, close lid and place in the fridge for at least three days to allow the tomatoes to fully pickle. They will keep in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. Serve with cheeses, cold cuts, in salads, or just enjoy a tasty, crunchy, pickled tomato.

Do you often have green tomatoes at the end of the season, or do all of your ripen during summer?

Organic Garden Fertilizer Update-Dave Thompson's Organic Healthy Grow

Are you the kind of gardener that doesn't think too much about what kind of fertilizer you use in your garden? I have to admit I used to be that kind of gardener. I would buy whatever was cheapest, and at one point even used a popular fertilizer made by a chemical giant. Yes, I am ashamed of my past. But I think now that I've been doing this for a few years I know better, so I do better. If you haven't read the first post on Dave Thompson's Organic Healthy Grow fertilizer, please do so you can compare the results so far. This is Part II of the experiment and trial of this organic fertilizer.

Earlier in the spring I was contacted by a representative of Dave Thompson's Organic Healthy Grow, and asked if I would be interested in trying some of their organic garden fertilizers and soil amendments. So we came to an agreement where I would be contracted to try the fertilizer and write about my experiences. I chose the all-purpose fertilizer because I knew I would be tending one of the plots at the community garden that we use to grow food for the food pantry, but I didn't know what I would be growing this year.

The fertilizer arrived and I had to put it to use and start my trialing of the product. And I have to say that I'm pretty impressed with the results in the community garden. Compare the photo above with the photo from Part I of this experiment. In Part I, I amended the raised bed with compost from the garden and then I added the all-purpose garden fertilizer I received from Dave Thompson's Organic Healthy Grow to half of the bed. Then I planted the tomato seedlings in the half that had been amended with fertilizer.

Here is what the raised bed looks like from the other side. Notice a difference? This side of the garden bed isn't as green or lush as the other side. This is the half of the raised bed that I didn't fertilize with the Organic Healthy Grow fertilizer. The plants look pitiful. The other day when I was talking with another member of the community garden about my experiment, she pointed out that even the weeds on the side that had been fertilized were doing better than the weeds in the unfertilized half. And this is after I had just weeded the bed the prior week.

What the photographs above doesn't really show you is just how much healthier the plants with the Healthy Grow fertilizer look up-close. The photo above is one of the plants that didn't get fertilized with Healthy Grow. Yellowing on the edges of tomato plants can mean several things. From sunburn to nutritional deficiencies to not being watered enough.

Now compare the photo of the tomato plant above to this tomato plant that is growing on the side of the raised bed I amended with Organic Healthy Grow. The plant is much bigger, fuller, and greener. There are no signs of distress or nutritional deficiencies. I have been diligent about watering all the plants in this bed equally and making sure they get a deep watering down at the roots.

Another example of the plants doing better in the half that was fertilized is in the amount of flowers being produced. I already have several tomato fruits growing in the half that was fertilized, and plenty more flowers on this side too.

If I had to do the experiment all over again, I would have chosen the tomato fertilizer produced by Dave Thompson's Organic Healthy Grow. Because if the results are this good with just the all-purpose fertilizer, then they must be even better with the fertilizer designed for tomatoes. Yes, there's a difference. Fertilizers made for tomatoes provide the nutrients needed to produce blossoms and produce fruits, and help prevent many of the common tomato problems we encounter. Like this blog? Please visit the links for Dave Thompson's Organic Healthy Grow and see where you can buy their products near you.

Do you use a fertilizer designed for tomatoes, or do you use an all purpose fertilizer?

Tomato Hornworms and Parasitic Wasps

After squirrels and deer, the tomato hornworm may be the bane of a tomato grower's existence. Fortunately, tomato hornworms and parasitic wasps go together like tomatoes and basil. Finding a tomato hornworm in your garden is not the end of the world if you catch them early, and if you employ natural gardening techniques, they garden is brought into balance by bracondid wasps.

Saving tomato seeds? Isolate Tomato Flowers for True Seeds

If you're growing a particularly great heirloom tomato in your garden, chances are you will want to grow that tomato again, or maybe even share your tomato seeds with gardening friends and family. Saving tomato seeds is easy, but there is one step that you, as a new seed saver, may not know you should take. Make sure you isolate tomato flowers for true seeds.  

Rooting Tomato Cuttings

Propagating plants in the garden is easy, and a cheap way to get free plants for your garden. Most of us only propagate ornamental plants, but edible plants, like tomatoes, can easily be rooted to make more plants. Rooting tomato cuttings is easy, and you're employing parts of your tomato plant that you would just toss if you are in the habit of pruning tomato plants.

When to Plant Tomatoes in Chicago

Often called the "gateway drug" into gardening, there are few plants that pull someone into gardening like tomatoes do. In Chicago, I've noticed that people who would never call themselves gardeners always seem to make room for one or two tomato plants in their yards, decks, porches and patios. The trick with growing tomatoes here is knowing when to plant tomatoes in Chicago.

'Indigo Rose' Tomato: Another Blue Garden Tomato

If you're a regular reader of this blog you may remember that last year I grew some 'OSU Blue' tomatoes in my container garden. This year I'm growing 'Indigo Rose' tomatoes. 'Indigo Rose' is another blue tomato by the same plant tomato breeders at OSU. You should read the post on 'OSU Blue' if you want to know the history of the tomato and what causes this unique blue color in the tomato fruits.

Blossom-end Rot is What's Wrong with Your Tomato Plant

About this time of year I started getting the same question from new gardeners. In particular, new gardeners who are growing their own tomatoes for the first time start to panic when they notice a brown spot start to develop on the bottom of their tomato fruits. "What's wrong with my tomato plant" they all ask after noticing a small,brown spot beginning to form on a tomato fruit. It's blossom-end rot.

#TomatoBomb Louisiana

OSU Blue Tomato

Over the winter Colleen from In the Garden Online offered me OSU Blue tomato seeds. Having never heard of this tomato variety and seeing how cool the fruits looked I figured I’d give them a try. Yes, there is a blue tomato and it is as unusual a tomato as you imagine and will see below. My first experience with these tomatoes was trying to get the seeds to germinate, a task that seemed so daunting I was about to throw them away before I noticed the seeds had sprouted. This blue tomato was developed by Jim Myers, OSU's Baggett Frazier professor of vegetable breeding and graduate students Carl M. Jones and Peter Mes. The first thing you should understand about the OSU Blue tomato is that it wasn't developed using genetic engineering, but using traditional plant breeding techniques.

Garden helper holding OSU Blue Tomatoes.

How To Save Tomato Seeds

Saving seeds from tomatoes is really easy and kind of fun. The process of how to save tomato seeds for next year is not very complicated, but it does involve a couple of steps. Why would you want to save tomato seeds when you can buy tomato plant starts and tomatoes at the local grocery store and farmers market? Simple, really. When you save seeds from a tomato you have grown, you are helping preserve the genetic diversity of tomatoes, and selecting for characteristics that make a tomato better.  To save tomato seeds all you need is an heirloom tomato, a container, a jar in this case, and a few days.