0 2009-08-27T22:23:07-07:00 false I've been holding a few Chiogga beets in the ground until I wanted them -- they picked up the same strong throat-burning bitter oxalic acid flavor that swiss chard gets as it matures -- so I can't eat them raw. Now I know. I'll try cooking the last couple. This is my first time growing beets. I have decided that I REALLY like my beets best when they are cooked anyway, so I think I won't plant a whole square of Chiogga again. They taste great after cooking, but not only do you lose the pretty pink and white rings when cooking, you lose most of the color and they are a sort of an unattractive pasty color. Now I know. I got the first Blanche a Collet Verte carrot out of the ground, about 10 inches long and still slender, no more than an inch around. It grew straight down until it hit the bottom of my raised bed at about 5 inches, took a little jog to one side, then grew down a few more inches (probably to the point where the rototiller had worked the soil, then made another jog. I unfortunately ate it in the same salad as the oxalic-acid beet. Nothing in that salad actually tasted really good, so I will have to wait for the next one I pull to report on flavor. Also pulled up a couple of the Touchon de Long carrots, which were just a few inches long. Some of the "Baby" carrots I planted in another square were much longer. Somehow I was expecting, well, a LONG carrot. Especially after how long they've been the the ground. Big brandywine, a smaller brandywine, a handful of the red figs, and another handful of Sun Golds. The first Sungolds this year and I am DEFINTITELY planting this one again next year. Very sweet and tangy explosion of tomato flavor in a very small orange package. In my experience, as much as I like them, cherry tomatoes have a distinctive "this a cherry tomato" flavor -- and the Sungolds DON'T have it. I can't describe it. Maybe it's from having more skin-flavor per bite than the big ones. But cherry tomatoes and big ones just taste different. And these don't taste like cherry tomatoes to me. I REALLY like them. 3 false 67580 false false false Entry 2009-08-27T04:00:00-07:00 DMY Public 2009-08-27T22:24:49-07:00 1435 Sunny 63 F