My (shadecloth) veggie patch harvest: part 2

The other vegetable we harvested from the shadecloth veggie patch was tomatoes.  Lots and lots of tomatoes. Over 20 kgs of ripe tomatoes, and I left loads of green ones on the vines.

All the companion planting of sweet basil, rocket and marigolds resulted in no visible pest damage on any of my tomato plants.  The rocket got a little pock-marked (small holes eaten in the leaves), the basil seems fine, the marigolds are flowering wildly and the enclosed shadecloth veggie house kept the rest of the pests at bay.

Unfortunately, the potato which made a surprise appearance in the veggie hut, and which I (stupidly and stubbornly) left in situ, turned the closest tomato plant black - very nasty.  So - what they say is correct.  Tomatoes and potatoes are not good companions... :)

Just some of the tomatoes I harvested in the
20lt cooler box.  The green ones were were
accidentally knocked off their vines - ah, well,
they'll ripen nicely on the kitchen windowsill :)

I harvested huge, meaty heirloom beefsteak tomatoes.  Cocktail sized red and yellow ones.  And large oval ones and round ones...



Firts off though, RMan and I had an Aubergine Parmesan on Saturday evening.  It's really simple to make.


All you need is a ripe aubergine, some tomatoes, a few basil leaves and some grated Parmesan cheese.  Simply slice the aubergine length ways (stalk to tip) making roughly 4 - 6 slices (depending on how large your aubergine is) and sprinkle with salt to draw out the bitterness.  Set aside whilst you prepare the tomatoes.


Wash and cut up some tomatoes.  Place them, together with a tablespoon of water, in a pan on the stove to cook, adding some salt, freshly ground black pepper and chopped basil towards the end.  As soon as the tomato juice has reduced right down, remove the pan from the stove.  (You can also do this step in your solar oven - just omit the water.)

Tomato and basil mixture

Rinse the salt off the aubergines and brushing with a little olive oil, grill on both sides until brown.

Aubergine + reduced tomatoes and
basil + grated Parmesan
= deliciousness

Place the tomato "sauce" on top of the aubergines, sprinkle liberally with Parmesan cheese and place under the grill until the cheese is brown.  Serve and enjoy :)



This last Tuesday I spent preserving the tomatoes which I had brought back from the farm.

Using the solar oven to preserve
whole cocktail tomatoes for winter

Using Lynda Brown's "The Preserving Book", and my solar oven, I bottled whole cocktail tomatoes, and I also made up a batch of tomato soup.

Whole solar preserved tomatoes and tomato soup

For the soup, I initially washed, chopped and boiled the tomatoes in my 10lt pot on my small gas stove with 100ml of water.  (There were just too many tomatoes to fit inside my largest pot in my solar oven.)  When they were nice and pulpy I pushed the lot through a sieve and I filled clean, warm preserving jars with the juice, and then placed them in my solar oven.  3 hours later - presto!  The lids are firmly attached to the jars, and once they are cool, they can take their place on my pantry shelves :)

Tomato soup

I also did two loads of solar dried tomatoes.

Solar dried whole tomatoes

Two layers this time...

I nicked some of the 10lt pot full of tomatoes to make tomato ketchup.  All I did was add the tomatoes, vinegar, sugar, and spice and boil until the liquid was sufficiently reduced and it was as thick as double cream.  Again, warm sterilized bottles were filled with piping hot sauce and quickly sealed.  Then they are stored in the fridge.

Tomato Ketchup

With the last of this harvest, I made , and bottled, some tomato sauce for pasta in the solar oven.

Tomatoes cooking in the solar oven prior to
being placed (in portions) in the freezer

Providing that the locals don't totally strip the loads of green tomatoes I left on the vines, I am probably going to be doing this all over again next month...



I can't wait :)


Finally, I want to share a tip I discovered (by accident) for supporting tomatoes.  I have nylon string supports attached to the upper "roof" and "side wall" wooden cross beams.  Tying that nylon to the base of the plant to anchor it, all I did was very gently and carefully "twist" (wrap / entwine) the pliable top of the plant round the nylon string. It could easily be achieved in your tomato garden if you "planted" two sturdy upright poles with a cross bar fixed to the top, and "strings" which hang down towards your tomato plants.

Tomato plant twisted round the
string for support

It works a real treat :)  And there'll be no fiddly support strings that cut into my tomato stems, nor will I have to undo the lot at the end of the season.