One of my favorite things about summer is the abundance of fresh organic tomatos, basil, and oregano that I'm able to grow. Last year's harvest was ok, but traveling for part of the summer and asking my neighbors to take care of the plants in my absence meant that I didn’t get to enjoy most of the fruits of my labor! That, coupled with my hasty assembly of a drip irrigation system without taking the time to test it before leaving town resulted in waterlogged plants. Some were able to recover and produce abundant harvests after some weeks of babying, but others never did.

This year I resolved to not only plant more tomatos, but to make each plant produce an abundant harvest. To do this, I am doing two things. One involves using fish fertilizer – fish emulsion – in the early stages of leafy growth. Fish emulsion is made from fish waste and by-products. It has a pungent smell but adds nutrients (especially nitrogen) and enzymes, feeds microbes in the soil, and helps improve soil structure.

The second involves adding Dr. Jimz Chicken Soup for the Soil every 2 weeks. This organic fertilizer, made from compost, contains a broad range of nutrients and trace minerals that improve the ability of the soil and plant roots to absorb it. Dr. Jimz’s claim to fame is that this fertilizer helped him grow a 13-foot tall tomato plant (named “Ruby”) which has produced over 764 tomatos in her lifetime. I first began using this product last year and continue to be impressed with the results in my garden. I’m amazed at how fast my tomato plants have been growing this year and can’t wait to pick those first fruits!

One other practice that can improve your tomatos is to plant basil in the pots alongside them. Although there is no hard scientific evidence, many gardeners (including myself) swear that companion planting with basil makes your tomatos sweeter and juicier than ever! Used effectively, companion planting can multiply your harvest several times over. There are a number of reasons for that, some of which I have outlined in a previous blog post.

The tomato harvest sauce below was made with ingredients from last year's container garden. This year I have tomatos growing in pots on my deck, in the greenhouse in pots, and in one of my raised beds. With any luck, I’ll be eating, canning, and giving away lots of tomotos this summer and fall.

This harvest tomato sauce is one of my favorite harvest recipes because of the smoky flavor that comes from adding sweet Hungarian paprika and ground cumin, two of my favorite spices.

Prep time: 10 minutes

Tools and/or vessels needed: food processor

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups tomatoes

1/2 cup fresh basil

1/4 cup fresh oregano

2 cloves garlic

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp ground cumin or ½ tsp cumin seeds (sautée seeds in olive oil first)

1 1/2 tsp Hungarian paprika

salt and pepper to taste

Process:

blend everything in a food processor for 1 minute and it's ready to go! It will keep in the fridge for a week, or you can make larger batches and freeze.

Use for pasta, pizza, and everything else you would normally use tomato sauce in!

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