OmahaJB's 2010 Garden Journal

[OmahaJB]

Picked pretty darn near the rest of the tomatoes before the high winds and rain hit yesterday. Well, actually picked them Monday and the storm hit Tuesday to be exact. Left a couple on the Pink Girl hybrid and a couple others on other plants, along with some peppers that are just starting to ripen. So either these tomatoes will ripen on the shelf or I'll have my first taste of fried green tomatoes this week.

Finally had the Stump x Guido ripen up for me. Good tasting tomato. Interesting taste for sure. It was between 2-3 ounces, pink, and it's tough to describe the taste, but I'll try. Cut the tomato in half, spooned out all the seeds from one half and the juice ended up going with the seeds into the bottom of a yogurt cup. Without seeds and juice that half of the tomato had a nice sweet taste. Only took out a few seeds from the other half of the tomato so when I ate it the juice affected the taste and it had a much fuller flavor. Guess I could describe it as well-balanced. Just wish it had been about 10 ounces larger. Maybe in the F2 if I get REAL lucky. Although the odds of it retaining the good flavor are remote, as I found out from my 'Not Emma Pink'. Speaking of which I have a green one sitting on the counter wanting to ripen up for me. Decent sized too, about 10 ounces I'm guessing.

No frost here yet but we are expecting temps down into the mid 30's Thursday and Friday nights. Will clean up the garden probably Saturday if not before and plant a few cloves of garlic just to keep it going.

I did see a couple of Alpine strawberries starting to grow on Monday. They taste good but are tiny little things. Still nice having them. Something different from the norm, for me anyway.

My instincts are telling me to start thinking about buying seeds for next year, but my brain kicks in and reminds me I really don't have anywhere to start them. Quite a fix I've gotten myself into. Terrible, just terrible....

Ok green tomatoes: Pink Girl, Black Cherries, and 'Not Emma Pink'. Time to ripen up...it's harvest time! And I'm tired of waiting for ya!

Hope you all had a great year growing your favorites. And may next year be even better!

Jeff

[Tormato]

Jeff,

You're not done, yet. I can't let you off that easy. You need to find a place in the garden to bury the "Browns picking #1 in next years draft".

Gary

[OmahaJB]

Gary,

Guess you didn't see the Browns whip the defending Super Bowl champs in their house last Sunday??? Huh, Gary??? Although I will say picking high in the draft wont be as painful as it has in recent years if a new CBA is reached in time. Even if it isn't the rookie contracts will be put on hold most likely. Browns may be looking for a QB if they draft high and Colt McCoy doesn't do well enough the rest of this season. Andrew Luck from Stanford may wind up being the only QB worth drafting with the top pick. Much to be determined regarding 2011 rookie QB prospects and draft order. My guess is the Browns will end up with about the same number of wins as last year (5) and out of luck, Andrew Luck that is!

Browns desperately need help at S and WR above all else. Even hard-hitting S TJ Ward is more of a 5th LB type than a true S. His coverage skills are not great or even very good, despite being a great tackler and hitter. S Abram Elam doesn't fit Rob Ryan's style of 3-4 defense well, and S Mike Adams isn't physically gifted enough to make a difference back there despite having the experience and smarts for the position. And rookie S Larry Asante remains on the practice squad due to inability to cover well. Good tackler though.

Browns have played teams tough holding leads in the 4th quarter in all but one game I believe. And that was against the very 'disliked' Squealers.

Bye week so no Browns football. But will have to do the garden cleanup Saturday before the ground starts to freeze which isn't far off.

Jeff