Growing grapes and making wine in Bellevue
Posted in gardening, tomato wine on Jun 25th, 2007
I noticed the first flower among my gold nugget tomatoes a few days ago, and that marks another milestone on the path toward tomato wine. I took this photo on 6/21/07, and since then one or two other flowers have bloomed. These tomatoes are a lot more patient than I am. I’ve done my part. [...]
Posted in enology, tomato wine, winemaking on Jun 20th, 2007
Best of Twitter! You are 90 percent more likely to buy red wine if you buy onions & more the wine industry has learned about you: http://bit.ly/brPFFg Follow Washington Winemaker on Twitter. Different for a reason: Why I’ll make it white When most people think about tomato wine, they – ok, most people don’t think [...]
Posted in gardening, tomato wine on May 31st, 2007
I transplanted more Gold Nugget tomatoes last night, six more to what I’m calling the “east block.” That’s to distinguish them from the four in the “north block” that I transplanted on the 29th. I did it the same way: deep planting hole, pinched out the lower leaves, added a ground up antacid tablet and [...]
Posted in gardening, tomato wine on May 30th, 2007
I’ve been reading up on blossom end rot, and it turns out that there may be something to the old (I would have called it a “wive’s tale”) practice of putting some powdered antacid in the planting hole of each tomato. The rot is caused by a calcium deficiency in the fruit, and the calcium [...]
Posted in gardening, tomato wine on May 29th, 2007
Today’s the Day! Ok, I know I said that yesterday was also the day, but that was for racking the mead. Today’s the day for transplanting tomatoes. I’ve been anticipating and delaying for quite a while, but there’s some hot days (upper 70s Fahrenheit – about 25 or 26 Celsius) and warm nights (50F – [...]
Posted in gardening, tomato wine on May 25th, 2007
When I wrote about cluster thinning to improve wine grapes, it got me thinking about tomatoes. Could the same technique improve the quality of tomatoes (and wine made from them)? I always have a problem with blossom end rot on my Romas, and I think that may be clue. This rot occurs because the plant [...]
Posted in gardening, tomato wine on May 24th, 2007
I used to write software for a living, and one thorny issue never far form anyone’s mind was the release date. This was the result of changes, unexpected problems, negotiation, compromise, tests of will, overtime, threats of violence, and – ok maybe not threats of violence. Not explicit ones anyway. The point is that the [...]
Posted in gardening, tomato wine on May 17th, 2007
I’ve been looking at the 10-day forecast for clues on when to transplant my tomatoes. I wrote about the balancing act between trying to get them in the ground as soon as possible, so they can start spreading their roots in the soil right away, and keeping them from cold overnight lows that will hold [...]
Posted in gardening, tomato wine on May 11th, 2007
I’m making tomato wine this year, and for me that starts with growing tomatoes from seed. I transplant them into the garden when it gets warm enough, meaning overnight lows of 50 Fahrenheit or higher. The latest forecast is for lows in the mid 40′s for the next 10 days, though, so I should delay [...]
Posted in gardening, tomato wine on May 4th, 2007
For my tomato wine, I’m growing Gold Nuggets. They’re cherry tomatoes that turn yellow-orange when ripe; here’s how they looked on 4/24/07. In the ten days it took to expose the roll of film, process and digitize it, the seedling have grown from less than two inches to over four inches tall; maybe I need [...]