JolaRocknRolla

probably the only place where i can easily find my yearly tomato plan lists.

So i haven't put together the lineup for this year, but i'm thinking about last year's list and editing out a few that were just "ok" and putting in some high yielders. I'll be honest, this year i'm going for production not novelty, prices are painful and since i already have the seeds and soil and don't really need to invest anything more in the garden it will be cost effective for us.

Grape/cherry tomatoes: "Egg Yolk" a big fat yellow cherry, never cracks and is pretty meaty for a grape type, really good mid-summer when others are flagging. "black cherry" very reliable in my garden, probably the best tasting. and finally "Sungold" and orange small cherry tomato, cracks after rain but is both the earliest and latest you will have in the garden w/ great sweet flavor and super big yields.

old favorites: "Jersey devil" paste type, not much yield but what you do get is super meaty and heavy and large with very few seeds. "Thorburn's Terra-cotta" a mid-large orange/brown and very tasty, grew it last year with good results. "White Tomesol" really nice yields and flavor for a white, it sets well in the hot weather for us. "Black Beauty" a true black tomato, mid-size with good production. "Paul Robeson" takes forever to grow, you get very few fruits but they are a good size and it's the most yummy of the big tomatoes to my taste-buds. "Pineapple" big, showy red/gold bicolor with a great taste. "Crimson Carmello" a French medium sized tomato w/ great production. "Watermelon Beefsteak" yes another big beefsteak.

OFF the list: "Brad's Atomic" crazy grape-shaped bicolor that sometimes throws plum-shapes - very unstable but tasty and looks amazing. last year we just didn't get enough of them though - they are neat to look and and tasty enough but the other small fruited types win out ... Dutchman & Bloody butcher beefsteaks.

So with 3 off the list i'll be replacing them with "Big Zak" for a late season beefsteak, and probably 2 basic hybrids: Early Girl and Big Boy (or an Italian paste possibly).

The Greenstalk will be lettuce and onion and nappa cabbage only.
2 kales (lucinato) is plenty in the ground along with the thai eggplants (4)
green-beans in pots.
peppers will be in the ground, 1 habanero, several jalapeno, a poblano and maybe an ancho. 2-3 Jimmy Nardello frying peppers.
3 Italian basil plants.
3 kinds of zucchini in buckets.
2 kinds of cucumbers along trellis.
hopefully the rhubarb and fig survive the winter, new zealand spinach self-sown.

in pots (seasonal) oregano, thyme, peas, radishes, parsley

Hanging planters: Nasturtium (mini), orange and cream.
ornamental: snapdragon, cerinthe

And i have baked my final cookie of the christmas season. The list:

Shortbread cookies (decorated/iced), gingerbread cookie cut-outs (decorated), snickerdoodles, pecan and toffee chip cookies, pecan snowballs, layered fudge, olive-oil soft cookies with peanut-butter and chocolate chips, Italian sugar-dusted almond cookies, lime "drops", linzer cookies, peanut-butter cookies, and sugar-plums!

So there was recently a fun type of "getting to know you" post on Mastodon about the kinds of game consoles you used over the years (all of the major ones lol, but we never owned a Game Cube). And it got me to thinking about the first game that ever developed a CHOKE-HOLD on me which was Tutankham for the Atari. And it wasn't even a really good game but i was absolutely obsessed with all things Egyptian - like there is a concept of a "horse girl" and i think i was a version of that only with Ancient Egypt. If that's an archetype then i fit it :)

Getting my (adult) brother a huge Lego castle set has been the absolute highlight of my early "black friday" Christmas shopping experience. Oh. also finding out that when you get your husband that "Feck Off you Fecking Gobshite" Father Ted memorial coffee mug that the company will put that on the international label as "Fecking Gobshite" >___

::sings:: (with apologies to Deniece Williams)

My kitty, he don't meow back
He ain't got much to say
But he loves me, loves me, loves me
I know that he loves me anyway
And maybe he don't act fine
But I don't really mind
'Cause when he purrrrs in my ear
I just wanna cheer

Let's hear it for the cat
Let's give the cat a hand
Let's hear it for my kitty
You know you gotta understand
Oh, you know his name is Romeo
and he's my lovin' one-cat show
Oh, whoa-oa-oa
Let's hear it for the cat!

My kitty is not house-trained
Litter’s a mysteryyyyy
But he loves me, loves me, loves me
And he’s getting better with the pee
And maybe he sings off key
But that's alright by me, yeah
'Cause what he does, he does so well
Makes me wanna yell

Let's hear it for the cat
Ah, let's give the cat a hand
Let's hear it for my kitty
You know you gotta understand
Oh, you know his name is Romeo
And he's my lovin' one-cat show
Oh, whoa-oa-oa
Let's hear it for the cat!

I honestly haven't seen either movie in a smooth decade, but i do recall that Hackers was directly responsible for the worst haircut i ever managed to give myself (in the middle of the night).

(also update - i finally found my poblano seeds in w/ the tomatoes where they should not have been - ugh)

Grape/cherry tomatoes: "Egg Yolk" a big fat yellow cherry, never cracks and is pretty meaty for a grape type, really good mid-summer when others are flagging. "Brad's Atomic" crazy grape-shaped bicolor that sometimes throws plum-shapes - very unstable but tasty and looks amazing. "black cherry" very reliable in my garden, probably the best tasting. and finally "Sungold" and orange small cherry tomato, cracks after rain but is both the earliest and latest you will have in the garden w/ great sweet flavor and super big yields.

old favorites: "Jersey devil" paste type, not much yield but what you do get is super meaty and heavy and large with very few seeds - this is the only paste i'm growing this year. "Thorburn's Terra-cotta" a mid-large orange/brown and very tasty, grew it last year with good results. "White Tomesol" really nice yields and flavor for a white, it sets well in the hot weather for us. "Black Beauty" a true black tomato, mid-size with good production. "Paul Robeson" takes forever to grow, you get very few fruits but they are a good size and it's the most yummy of the big tomatoes to my taste-buds. "Pineapple" big, showy red/gold bicolor with a great taste. "Crimson Carmello" a French medium sized tomato w/ great production. and "Bloody butcher" a good big tasty red, a bit basic and it's a "backup" in case any of the others die.

NEW in the garden: "Dutchman's" a pink beefsteak, "Watermelon Beefsteak" yes another big beefsteak.

So i have to brag about this - our compost that we worked on all last year. It's fucking AMAZING. K did the first turn of the year and we got what would have been maybe 2 bag's worth and top-dressed the areas of our yard we use for vegetables. We actually have quite a lot more mature compost still in the bin but the weekend wasn't enough to work it all in (and now it's snowing, lol). but i just have to say the compost looks and feels INCREDIBLE. rich, loose, dark, loamy and smells clean. I have a plan for including some bone-meal in the mix next year but other than that i'm proud and satisfied.

We planted our crocus bulbs (the ones we harvested our saffron from) so hopefully the return of the snow won't hurt them too badly, they had started to sprout. idk, despite the snow it's actually not terribly cold. 10/10 ready for spring though. I'll be starting my kale and chard indoors this weekend and i think the peppers next weekend, then the tomatoes.

and it's all "Слава Україні!" :D

Love you guys, lol.

So as a person born in Poland this has been REALLY nerve-wracking for me honestly. I'm one quarter Ukranian (my mom's dad was a Ukie, but we don't really have any connection to that side of the family). As of today it sounds like Poland has taken in about a million refugees, mostly women and children. Such a huge influx in what is really a pretty small country and such a FAST influx is really straining Poland to breaking though and i'm very concerned.

And honestly, i'm also sorry for the Russian soldiers that were told this was going to be a training exercise and now are doing all this shit, dying and killing ... I have to believe nobody wants this shit. And a lot can get much worse, so sorry about being a bit doom and gloom but WHEW.

EDIT: om my mood icons are back??

It's snowing out tonight, and everything is windy and cold and white. Beneath the snow though, the earth is working. the microbes, the leaves decomposing, the seeds freezing their protective coating off so it can break and let the water and sun in when it comes. The Earth is doing her shadow-work .... the hard growth where everything looks the bleakest but where the REAL preparation happens. The gestation before birth, the earth is busier than she looks, underneath everything. This is the time holding the greatest potential, my fellow-gardeners ... before the seeds are planted, when only plans are being made. this is when the magic starts, the true beginning of the growing season that will culminate in harvest. Don't waste it. "Men who look on nature, and their fellow-men, and cry that all is dark and gloomy, are in the right; but the sombre colours are reflections from their own jaundiced eyes and hearts. The real hues are delicate, and need a clearer vision." -Charles Dickens