October 2009

In the Trial Garden: Tomato Trial and Cover Crops
- by Lindsay Del Carlo, Trial Garden Manager

As our weather gets cooler, we are enjoying the last of this season’s tomatoes. Of all the many varieties in the Trial Garden this summer, our favorite is "Isis Candy", a disease-resistant heirloom whose vigorous vines bear large clusters of bi-color fruits, slightly bigger than cherry tomatoes in size. The fruits have a bright orange skin with a red heart, and outstanding plum-like, sweet, rich flavor - mmmm! We plan to have a small organic grower produce enough Isis Candy seed in the 2010 growing season so we can begin to offer it to customers in 2011. 

We have been enjoying them in Greek Salad with fresh cucumbers, ripe bell peppers and feta cheese dressing with lots of good olive oil, a splash of red wine vinegar, freshly cracked black pepper, and a big handful of deep green parsley or chives.

This is the time of the gardening season when we cleanup and prepare the raised beds we are not using for late-season fall crops for the cold season ahead. Cover crops are a wonderful way to protect soil over the winter while adding beneficial nutrients and organic matter. We will be planting a mixture of oat grass, vetch, bell beans and peas. The thick roots of the oat grass hold on to the soil and protect it from erosion from the winter rains. The vetch, beans and peas help by gathering nitrogen into their roots, which greatly benefits the soil.