Stars of the Garden 2024 – Part 2

I hope you enjoyed reading the first part of my annual garden review, and I’m back again today with the second part. Let’s start with tomatoes, which are a favorite crop here and with many other gardeners too. The weather seemed to be favorable for them here in 2024, despite the dry conditions for much of the summer. Too much rain as they ripen can lead to rotting of the fruit, and that wasn’t much of a problem for us here. I harvested just under 100 pounds of them total this year, which is plenty for our needs. I planted less of them than last year, when I got 186 pounds and they kept me busy with processing. As always, I trialed several new varieties, and my wife and I enjoyed several tastings with the new ones compared to our favorites.

Benevento tomatoes

Harvest Moon, Hot Streak, Strawberry Fields and Marmalade Skies were four tomato varieties I trialed this year. I compared Hot Streak to longtime favorite Benevento and new favorite Purple Zebra. My wife and I both agreed Hot Streak was as good as if not better than the Benevento. The Purple Zebra is hard to beat for flavor though, in my opinion.

left to right: Hot Streak, Purple Zebra and Benevento tomatoes

We sampled Hot Streak, Harvest Moon and Chef’s Choice Orange another day for lunch. All were tasty, and there was no clear favorite between me and my wife. I think all three will be in the garden plan for 2025.

tomato tasting

The jury is still out on Strawberry Fields, but since 2024 was a challenging year here for tomatoes I might give it another shot next year. I’m just not sure it is an improvement over the other red slicing tomatoes I grow, including Better Boy, Damsel and Garden Treasure. As for Marmalade Skies, it was disappointing, and made smallish fruits that weren’t particularly tasty. Of course, your results might be different, but I don’t plan to grow it here next year.

Strawberry Fields tomatoes

It was also a great year for the hot peppers I grew. Aji Colorado is a thin-walled pepper great for drying and grinding into powder. It has a sweet heat that’s a bit hotter than a jalapeno. My plants did great this year, and one potted plant kept going until almost November. As such, I have plenty of dried peppers now for turning into chile powder. It was not a good for the sweet peppers though, and the plants struggled to make peppers all season long.

Aji Colorado peppers

I love Sugar Rush Peach for making into hot sauce, but in some years it has been a shy yielder for me here. Not this year though! I had one overwintered plant I set out in the vegetable garden, and it was loaded with peppers all summer long. In all I got more than five pounds of ripe peppers from that one plant – which is a lot of hot peppers! One new pepper I trialed is Aji Dedo de Moca Yellow. I grew it in a big pot, and it was super prolific! The medium-hot peppers make a tasty hot sauce. and I plan to grow it again next year and give it a spot in-ground in the main vegetable garden area. Aji Rico is one of my favorite peppers for making into hot sauce, and to pickle. This 2017 AAS Winner is always productive for me here. Mad Hatter is another AAS Winner I grew, and while it’s not as productive for me as Aji Rico, the fruits are very tasty and have a mild heat level.

assorted hot peppers

Aji Rico and Mad Hatter peppers

It was about an average year for the squashes here. I trialed Butterfingers yellow squash. It produced well, but I don’t think it is nearly as tasty as Tempest, which is my favorite yellow summer squash. We got plenty of the summer types, and I discovered a new favorite treatment for zucchini.

summer squashes

Butterfingers squash

To prepare the zucchini, I sliced it thinly using a mandoline slicer. Then I spritzed the slices with olive oil and sprinkled them with salt. I spread them out on a foil lined baking sheet, and baked them in a 400°F oven for about 10 minutes. Then I sprinkled the tops with grated parmesan cheese and put the pan back in the oven for a few minutes until the cheese had melted. It makes for a tasty and fairly quick treatment to add to our lineup of summer squash recipes.

zucchini with parmesan

I also freeze a lot of the summer squashes for later use. I blanch them in boiling water for three minutes, then drain and spread out on a pan to put in the freezer. We use the frozen squash in soups, and the zucchini is good when added to a fruit smoothie.

frozen zucchini

It was a terrible year for the sweet potatoes here. Our spotty summer rainfall wasn’t enough, and I did a poor job of keeping them irrigated. I dug a total of 33 pounds of them in all. While that may sound like a lot, in 2023 I dug over 75 pounds of them from the same number and varieties of plants. We will have enough to eat, and hopefully enough to make slips for next year’s crop.

Murasaki and Beauregard sweet potatoes

Purple sweet potatoes

I’ll close on a more positive note. It was a stellar year for the greenhouse cucumbers. I harvested 25 pounds of them during the summer months, which was plenty enough for our needs. Itachi, Corinto and Nokya are three of my favorites for greenhouse growing, and they did quite well for me.

L to R: Itachi, Corinto and Nokya cucumbers

Itachi cucumber

I hope you have enjoyed this review of some of the things we grew here in 2024. I’ll be back soon with more adventures from HA, including my plans for the garden in 2025 and a peek at some of the AAS Winners.