September 2008

Celebrating Tomatoes

Freshly picked, home grown tomatoes beat anything you can buy, and gardeners are blessed with a glorious cornucopia of colors, sizes and shapes to choose from. Whether you love tomatoes with real punch and a big flavor that includes a high acid to sugar balance, or a more subtle custardy, creamy smooth taste and texture or the superbly sweet taste of garden candy-like cherry tomatoes, there are varieties that will fulfill all your cravings and then some. Read this month's feature article Celebrating Tomatoes for recipes, harvesting and storing suggestions.

In the Trial Garden

Recipe of the Month:
Baked Stuffed Tomatoes

One of Renee's favorite ways to enjoy her biggest, juiciest tomatoes as a main course. This delicious recipe and the Dill Pickle recipe are previews from our new cookbook coming out next spring.

Last Call for our Fifth Annual
Photo Contest

All entries will receive a complimentary packet of seeds, so don't delay! Deadline for entries is September 30. Contest Details

Our photographer Karen at work

We've grown a fabulous trial of many different varieties of the tallest sunflowers to be sure that our Sunzilla and Titan are the tallest and most beautiful -- and they are. Trial garden managers Lindsay and Mila had to borrow a extra tall orchard ladder to measure all these giants. Renee is growing several plants of our pickling cuke Endeavor so she can put up her Grandma Alice's Kosher Dill Pickles to share with friends. The pole bean trial just completed included two big winners: pole yellow filet beans from France and a lovely combo of heirloom purple pole beans and streaked "Rattlesnake" pods. We will introduce both in 2010.

Our flower beds are full of new varieties of different colored dwarf cosmos from Holland, and we have just removed their first big flush of spent blossoms to see how well they will re-bloom. Renee is having a hard time deciding between rusty red and cheerful yellow rubeckias, but adding our new chocolate flower and climbing golden nasturtiums will be an easy call!

We made delicious Mint Juleps for our Labor Day picnic using the new mint grown from seed we are trialing as a container herb. This seed came from our favorite Italian supplier and has been in his family for several generations. Renee had never before seen a mint that came true from seed, but we are delighted with this one and we will certainly will be introducing it in the future.

Renee' s Garden Sweet Peas

Renee in the News:

The HGTV Channel's gardening show "Gardening by the Yard" will be airing two more segments filmed at our trial garden beginning September 7 nationwide. Look for Renee in the segments in "Vertical Challenge" about annual climbing vines and "Second Season Crops" about veggies to grow for late summer and fall.

Bill Sidnam, of the San Diego Union Tribune, featured our Sweet Peas as his
Plant of the Month

Come Visit Often!
Please visit our website www.reneesgarden.com to view all of our monthly feature articles and varieties. Ordering is quick, easy and secure. We look forward to hearing from you.

Best Wishes,

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