Since my last post, lots has happened at the Bowdoin Organic Garden (as can be expected in over a month!). We suffered the early-August deluge, measuring 6.2" of rain in a 23 hour period on August 7-8. At the main garden plot, which is clay soil, we had 6-8" of standing water in the field and couldn’t set foot in it for three days. The campus garden plots, being sandy soil, didn’t suffer as badly but still kept us indoor-bound.

Since clay soil takes about a week to dry out enough to work, we had
to make some major adjustments in order to get the fall greens planted.
We had been reserving a portion of that field seeded with buckwheat to
plant the fall greens, but the time to plant was quickly approaching,
and the soil was still too wet. So we switched them to the campus
garden, which we were able to work a full week before the big field.
Greens in the ground, we just had to pray for cooperative weather. We
got it, as it remained dry for the next few weeks, and we even had to
start irrigating again. Out at the big field, we put our fall cabbage
and broccoli transplants in the section we had reserved for greens.

The main purpose of this post is to celebrate the onslaught of
tomatoes we’re having at the garden! We have 600 row feet planted with
7 varieties (Peacevine, Black, and Matt’s Wild cherries, Striped
German, Crimson Sprinter, Rose de Berne and Cosmonaut Volkov
heirloom/slicing). All are coming on strong right now. I’ve been
delivering around 400 pounds of perfect tomatoes to the dining halls
the last couple of weeks. Since my summer intern just started back in
classes, I’ve been making three loaded cart trips between the field and
campus on harvest days. The benefit to me of so many tomatoes, is that
I get to keep or give away the slightly less-than-perfect ones, which
has forced me to get creative. I’ve been making tomato jam, my new
favorite condiment (recipe at end of post).

We are in the midst of our peak harvest season, with all the
exciting fall vegetables still to come. Delicatas are harvested and
curing in the greenhouse along with the pie pumpkins, onions are pulled
and drying, peppers are turning red, cabbage and broccoli is growing
strong in the field, fennel is filling out and we’ve started harvesting
it, parsnips, carrots, beets, rutabagas and turnips are getting fat,
and fall kale and chard is getting big. We’re hurting for greens right
now because of inconsistent germination and uncooperative weather, but
we’ll have lettuce, arugula, 3 mustards, baby chard and kale, spinach
and beet greens in another couple of weeks.

That’s all for now! I hope everyone is enjoying the end of summer and fruitful harvests.

Tomato Jam Recipe:
1½ – 2 lbs of tomatoes (paste or low-juice heirlooms), cored and chopped
½ – 3/4 cup sugar
Jalapeno to taste
pinch cloves
½ teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon cumin or ground coriander
1-2 Tablespoons peeled and roughly chopped ginger
1-2 Tablespoons lime juice
2 teaspoons salt

Combine
everything in a large, heavy-bottom skillet. Put on medium-low heat and
simmer for about 2 hours, until thick consistency is reached. Cool and eat, or
process like canning jam.

Katherine Creswell manages the Bowdoin College Organic Garden.