Tales from Easement Acres
Owing to the combination of revised gardening techniques and tons of rain, my prize tomato for the year turned out to not be the usual first fruit the vine sets. The brandwine churned out many others, and one of particular note exceeded my premature title-granting. This, as it turns out, is the prize tomato of 2026:
20.1 oz! Much bigger indeed.
Here’s the recap:
So while still not the record, it came much closer.
–Simon
I said I wouldn’t post any more generic garden porn pics, but I can’t help it. The rain, temperature, and my modified gardening strategies this year are producing a bumper crop. It must be documented! Standby for tomato pics:
Sooo many tomatoes, and this isn’t even the latest set of pics. Already we have made gazpacho, marinara bolognese, and lasagna. And more processing still needs doing! Pork belly is in the fridge, curing for BLTs next weekend. I love tomatoes.
That is all.
–Simon
It’s a sad year for prize tomatoes. What should have been the flagship brandywine ended up stunted from a heatwave that hit while I was in Wisconsin and unable to attend to its needs. Here’s a recap of prior champions:
This year? A paltry 10.8 oz:
And to rub salt in the wound…
Blossom end rot!
This nefarious condition arises when a tomato fruit receives insufficient calcium during its growth. My soil is not deficient in this micronutrient, as my tests have confirmed. In my case, it’s simply another consequence of hot weather fluctuations. Sudden heat spells interfere with nutrient uptake. I lost a few tomatoes, but the plants always stabilize and recover. It just happened to coincide with the prize tomato’s development. Inconvenient timing.
This is not the year of the prize tomato, but it is looking like the year of tomato quantity. I made some strategy and soil amendment changes this year that are showing much promise. Photos of harvests forthcoming.
–Simon
A momentary pause in drama gives me an excuse to post garden pics. Nice, peaceful garden pics. No drama here.
I do enjoy the transition from June to July. The gardens show promise of harvests to come, before the plants begin to turn ratty.
–Simon
Southwest Ohio is naturally a woodland. Suburbia fights this for what I gather are a few reasons: 1) Trees make mowing more difficult, 2) Tall canopy trees don’t make much in the way of pretty flowers, 3) Homeowners are paranoid about falling branches, 4) Trees interfere with utilities, 5) Trees create yard waste. 6) Trees shade out grass. Etc., etc….
But they’re a natural aesthetic and blocker of the merciless summertime UV death rays! So I will continue working with nature for the perks, instead of focusing on the negatives. I also want to expand the hosta patch, and that requires more shade. So I present to you, the Japanese maple:
Okay, maybe it’s not a true native, but neither are the honeysuckle. It’ll work. I speak for the trees, dammit!
–Simon