Talking Tomatoes

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Episode Transcript

(00:17):
Good morning, everybody. Welcome.I'm Ron Wilson and you are in the
garden here on news Radio six tenWTVN eight two one WTVN eight hundred and
six ten wtv and talking about yardeningon this first yes Saturday in the month
of May. I hope you hada great Cinco de Mayo. We got
to run for the roses today.We'll talk a little bit more about that

(00:38):
a little bit later on in theshow, and of course we'll get the
Buggy Joe Boggs picks. I don'tknow why we do that. We both
give you our picks and neither oneof us are very good at it.
But anyway, we'll go through thatas well. Before we get to Buggy
Joe, I want to thank everybodyat Derby Creek out of the Creek last
weekend. We had a great timea Jeff Turnbull and Missus Turnbull and a
whole staff doing a great job.Of course, the big game email the

(01:00):
week this week was what was thename of that tomato that they grow at
Derby Creek that you know, theJeff likes and Jeff doesn't like tomatoes,
but he likes salsa. What isthe tomato it's called ramapo ramapo and as
far as I know, you canonly get ramapo at the creek, and

(01:21):
that would be Derby Creek. Sosee Jeff Turnbull about getting yourself a ramapo
or two if you're into sauces andthings like that. Um, good story
behind the plant. But anyway,his family's been planting those for years and
as far as I know, Ithink he's only went around here that grows
him. So there you go.But it's ramapo. That was the big
question of the week. Speaking ofbig questions, it's time for the Buggy

(01:44):
Joe Boggs Report. That would bemister Joe Boggs. Since the Professor Commercial
Ortic Care, they house University Extension, Most You Department of Events Apology post
your boy for the Most You Extensionwebsite is bigle bygl dot OSU dot du.
Good morning, sir, Good morning. What a day. I mean
May. Things are really starting toroll now. The temperatures are coming up

(02:06):
right, yeah you know it.When those you get the daytime and nighttime
temps starting to warm up, thingshave well, they've just begun and they
have begun. Everything is starting tohappen now, including planting by the moon,
right, are you going to bedoing that? I grew up that
way, right, I mean,do you plant by the signs? Well,

(02:30):
I grew up with that was mygrandfather's key. I mean he would
wait using the you know, theold Farmer's almanac right to see the different
phases of the moon. And uhyeah, we would. We would never
plant unless it was at the rightphase. And of course you know now
it's the things have changed, right, You just plant when you can.

(02:53):
Well, in our case, that'sa lot of boils down to when I
have a chance, I'll get outthere and get those planets. I'm glad
you brought up because in our secondhalf today, we're gonna talk to Sarah
Hall, who wrote a book calledSewn in the Stars Planting by the Signs,
and she takes a look at that, and what opt to pass this
book along to you, Joe,because I think you would enjoy it,
is that she interviews about twenty fivedifferent families in Kentucky and the Appalachian area

(03:20):
who've always gardened by the signs,and you know she gets their opinion because
I don't think she explained to mesomething was done in Germany that was as
close as scientific research as you canget as far as seeing if this really
does work or not. But whenyou read the stories that these folks tell,
and you can listen to their storieson her website as well. But

(03:42):
when you read the stories that theytell, they even talk about something.
You know, I for some reason, somebody was in the hospital and I
couldn't plant that week, and wecame back and planted two weeks later,
never got a crop, they neverfruited, did whatever. So they all
have their stories to prove that,you know, when they did it opposite
of what they normally do, didn'tturn out very well. So good read
it kind of catches you up,and you're right, Planting by the signs

(04:04):
has been around for centuries and centuries. My grandparents did it, my great
grandparents did it. My parents notso much. I think they knew a
little bit about it, but andI don't know anything about it. And
that's it's always intrigued me reading foryou, And it's more than just the
planting, because you know your yourparents, grandparents. You know you butchered
a hog or you you know,when you put the crowding right, Yeah,

(04:27):
when you put the crowd in ain a crock pot. There are
also signs that you look went byfor doing that type of thing. Put
in fence posts in the ground.Go figure you didn't do it on the
right side, they would start tolean over two years or something. Well,
my signs though, I plant bysigns. It's a posted note from
my wife saying plant this today.I know what kind of signs you,

(04:49):
Joe? Can you plant these today? Oh? Yeah, that's perfect.
Sorry, No, it's not canyou, it's you will you just do
this? I mean there's no canyou, but you know it, it
is you know what, you knowwhat. I'm sorry, but I gotta
say this. You know what Ifind told my wife don't say can you

(05:10):
or will you? Or could you? Just tell me to do it?
Yeah, that's somebody said, no, what do you? We'll just do
it anyway. Yeah. I dorealize that it started out as a perceived
choice, right, but its oryou know this. I will have to

(05:31):
get my hands on that book.That sounds very fascinating because it is.
I mean, as I said,my grandfather, I mean that was his
gardening religion. You know he didn'tdo you know, we would have we
would have potatoes sitting around you know, waiting to be put in the ground,
you know, cut, you know, to put into the ground.
And it's just waiting and waiting.Tomato plants just sitting and I'm watering them,

(05:54):
waiting and it's uh, and ofcourse sometimes it would be a little
frustrating. Of course, we're talkingdown in West Virginia, and and the
gardens we had, they're you know, thankfully had very good soil. But
you know, I would watch thesoil dry out and think, yeah,
well now the perfect time. No, no, the you know, the
phase of the moon's just not right, and uh, and it would go

(06:17):
in, you know, within thosewindows. And and of course, you
know, we all have anecdotal youknow, stories we can tell. I
will I will say though that thatthe gardens always produced. Well, we've
just almost had failures now, right, And and it really had nothing to

(06:38):
do with his with his help,let me just put it that way.
But it was kind of okay,ahead, Yeah, it was fun growing,
It was fun growing up that wayeverything, and yeah, well and
it also kind of gave you afurther I mean, we paid attention to

(06:59):
the moon, we paid attention todifferent things that were occurring, and uh,
and so it did you know.It did sort of bring in,
you know, astronomy. It sortof did bring in looking up and and
reminded me as I was growing upthat you know, our ancestors, you
know, really paid close attention tothe sky, right I mean, and

(07:21):
so it did. There was aconnector there that I always found fascinating.
Whether there was any you know,any real scientific evidence behind it, which
I don't know. I mean,like you say, there's a year saying
of a study in Germany or something. But at the end of the day,
it was still just fun. Youknow. It was still one of

(07:42):
those things that sort of connected itto your ancestors. And and uh,
I did not ever dare say tomy grandfather, well you know there's no
scientific evidence. I mean, thatwould never have gone. What did you
say, Joey. I didn't sayanything. I just mumbling, just mumbling

(08:07):
as usual. Well, you know. And the other the thing is that
she does in this book is it'sit's not only by the stars, you
know, you you got to lookat the astrological and the astronomy, you
know, you gotta look at thezodiac signs and put all that stuff together.
And that's what the Farmer's Almanac wasall about it was and again,
you know I had a telescope,you know, got a telescope with my

(08:30):
uh yeah, I know we werethen that would have been a really good
telescope because the nearest neighbors were overa couple of of ridge tops, you
know, a mile away. Sobut you know, it did, It
did seriously kind of caused me tostart looking up and uh and and I've

(08:52):
always looked back as well. Youknow, I didn't go that route obviously,
but uh, it was it wasa connector just say that I that
I will always be thankful for.But you know, this is the time
of year though, I have tosay. The juices, the gardening juices
are flowing, aren't they. Youknow, I've already put some tomatoes in

(09:13):
the ground, I realized, thinkinga bit of a risk. Yes,
I did. I planted some tomatoesyesterday and one and one was an heirloom.
Probably can't guess the name of it, West Virginia. No, he'll
Billy airloom tomatoes. Oh Hellbilly,he'll Billy Kilbolly has been around forever.

(09:37):
Oh yes, since late eighteen hundreds, yeah, eighteen eighties, I think
is when and it does have itsits roots apparently in West Virginia, which
is kind of interesting. But no, I didn't know anything about it.
But I will say this, afterlooking at the tomatoes and you know,
looking at pictures and reading about him, I'm almost certain that we probably had

(10:01):
those. We had a pretty goodsized garden and a lot of different tomato
varieties because so my mom and grandmotherthey all can tomatoes, and so we
used tomatoes for they had you know, we had special tomatoes, you know,
for you know, making sauces andthat sort of thing. And now
I will say that I did notgrow up with roma tomatoes, and that's

(10:22):
that they came on a little bitlater in terms of availability and recognition,
right, I mean that wasn't somethingthat But because of all that, yeah,
there are quite a few varieties.And speaking of varieties, I think
we probably have a break, right, I'm looking at my probably probably so.
Yeah, but you know what hillbuildiesout there. I had a listener

(10:43):
into our show many years ago,I said, I got an airloom that
we've been passing along. Come overto my house. I want to show
it to you. And they're hugetomatoes and an old heirloom and they called
them Dolly Partons. Oh really,And that's all I'm gonna say, because
we're gonna take a break. Yeah, okay, here in the Garden with
Ron Wilson on news Radio six tenWTBN. By the way, Joe Ell

(11:16):
is playing this for you. Sheneeds one of your favorite songs. I'm
sorry, I'm up dancing around.I knew you were. I told her
you would be. I need toget back. I said, you're gonna
have to keep playing it for awhile because he'd be on the nightstand right
now dancing around it. Circles.Go ahead, start singing. Talking with

(11:39):
Bucky Joe Boggs just part two JoeBoggs OSU Extension of Course byg L DOTSU
dot e. You we're talking hillbilly tomatoes. Pretty nice tomato, by
the way, it's kind of it'scolorful, solid. Yeah, I'm gonna
be finding out because yeah, thatwas just happened where we were buying tomatoes.

(12:01):
I saw that tag, and Ithought, well, that is just
fitting. That's just something that yep, I think it would be the only
thing better might be like a tomato, like a Derby tomato. I mean,
I think that that would, yes, because you know we're very often
even if it could be a littlerisky planting in early May, and there

(12:22):
are some other things that happened inearly May. I don't know what that
is. Well you know, yeah, well you know if you had one
called Forte, you would be rottingout in the garden right now because it
got scratched. That's right, that'sright. But I'd like to do verifying
on these different horses that could beridding carnates and let's see what happens.

(12:45):
Right, you're raising a lot ofcane right now. Well that's just because
where I'm on a hit show.Oh my god, that's enough. I
can't run. Can it get thisthing any later in the evening? I
think it's running at six fifty sevenor something. I know, you a

(13:05):
break now, flash lights on thehorses heads. It will have a headlight.
Yeah, they have a hanging aroundyou know too. You see that
on their hands from the bob bobbingup down as a running flashlight going up
and down. I think we shouldI think we should make that make that
suggestion that could that could add somesome spice to it. But now am

(13:30):
I wrong? It used to besomewhere around lunch or thereafter, right,
I mean in the afternoon maybe,well, it was late afternoon because I
would usually put it on the TVat the Garden Center so everybody could see
it run. And then it seemedlike you just got another half an hour
later, another half an hour later, and now you know, your clothes
gone home, and then you sitout and watch the race. So I

(13:52):
don't know. I don't get thesix I think so well, and by
this evening, I mean, youknow all the mint and jewelips people won't
even know. Right well, Ithink about this. You know, those
gates open up this morning at seveno'clock probably, and you're gonna be there
waiting for that race twelve hours fromnow. I don't even know what it's

(14:13):
going to look like by that time. The show, the crowd. I
thought it was bad enough the timeI thought. I think I went one
time. I think I wasn't sure. Um, I think I was there,
but it was crazy. I can'timagine mint juelips are served in a

(14:35):
three day period. It's gonna looklike a grateful Dead concert. Let's be
honest, bad news, I tellyou. So, everybody's waiting with bated
breath because we don't have Larry Larsonhere anymore to run us through the Kentucky
Derby. So let me know,Joe, give me your top three picks.

(14:58):
Top three, Well, I gottalead off a tap at Trice.
And and there's a very good reason. I have a picture. I know,
I bet we have a Gainesway farmin uh in Lexington. Outside of
Lexington, I should say that's thehome of Tappa and tap It ran in

(15:18):
the Kentucky Derby in two thousand andfour. Tap It remains the all time
leading North American sire by its progenythat have the highest number of earnings of
all the other horses in North America. So I think stud fees something like
one hundred and eighty four thousand,something along those lines. And so that's

(15:43):
that's the name tapp at Trice becausethat's a tap at Trice is sire.
So I have a picture of Tappa, And as soon as I saw that
name, I thought, I don'tcare if it's fifty to one, one
hundred to one. I think that'sgoing to be. And of course that's
how we do it, right,you know, whenever you and I pick,

(16:03):
we know that we've just doomed thepoor horse and the john. Right.
Well, you remember I did picka couple of years ago. We
did have the winner, actually youdid. I do remember that, and
I think that race my horse.It was like a day later. Yeah,
it kind of exited the third gateon the right. It was first
turn. So tap, I haveto say, that's a and then I

(16:32):
just have a raise Cain. It'sthirty seven to one, but I just
have to say, raise Cain forthe obvious reasons. You know that,
you know, so that's kind ofmy that's the book ends, you might
say. And I have to say, you know, in the middle,
I'm sort of I'm sort of backand forth. I'm still back and forth

(16:52):
a little bit um because I alsorecognize that that that two of these three
horses that we pick are gonna getscratched, right, I mean we're dooming
them. So my middle of theroad, even though it's a little bit,
it's apparently the odds are not quiteuh, it's just a titch under

(17:15):
his hit show. I have wehave to pick hit show, right,
I'm on a hit show. Really, where's that? Well? That well,
I think, I mean it's ahit show, except that it becomes
a hit after a thirty. It'sa hit show when you're after thirty.

(17:37):
What time it is? Yeah,I know, I know I'm a hit
show when you're on it. That'sit. Well, I picked tap At
Trice as my favorite, and youknow what, with the odds now with
forte out, that may be theI didn't look this morning, he may
be the favorite. But I alsopicked tap At Trice for the fact that
I knew his father and I didn'tknow him, but I anyway, Yeah,

(17:57):
my second picks two Fills. Idon't know, and I like two
Fills. I actually read up ontwo Fills. I think this horse could
have a good shot. And thenmy long shot with Johnny valen Squez is
a reincarnate. I think that horseis a fifty one, but I think
he's got a shot at it.Of course, you think the folks from

(18:18):
Raising Canes is voting on Raised Canetoday. Well, yeah, and of
course there's that connection. The veryfirst time that we ever eight there was
in Lexington, Lexington, Kentucky,visiting the horse part. You took me
there. I knew nothing about it, and of course it started a terrible
habit, right, I mean,that's a horrible habit. You can't,

(18:41):
you can't. He just won.But it's gonna be gonna be very interesting.
I mean, there's been some badnews this week. We know that,
and you know this is such atradition. But of course, on
the other hand, you know thatbad news isn't new, is it.
I mean we're talking animals and thingshappen and and so on. It's just
unfortunate. But I just saw thisthis morning. This is the one hundred

(19:07):
and forty ninths running of the KentuckyDerby next year, one hundred and fiftieth.
That is just incredible when you thinkabout something we might have to just
go to that. You know,not it's not at seven in the morning,
but yes, we might have tolook into something like you have to
look into that, find the gatethat's unguarded. You know that's been all

(19:33):
right, we got we gotta cutit off, buggy Joe Boggs. Everybody
stay tuned next Saturday and we'll seewhere our choices came in. Probably seventeen
fifteen and ten engraving in the infield. It's still in the enfield. Trying
to track him down to get himout of there. Have a great weekend
and we will talk to you nextSaturday. You have a great week take

(19:56):
care of bye bye all right,buggy Joe Bogs and getting the website byg
L DOTSU dot edu. We'll takea break, we come back. Phone
lines are open for you. Eighttwo one WTVN eight hundred and six ten
WTVN. He're on news radio sixten WTVN RON. I'm doing very well.
I hope you are too. Iam sir, thank you. I

(20:17):
have a question or a request foryour audience. We have my wife and
I have been looking for this tomatoand we're from the north end of Columbus,
so we've checked from you know,the whole North end, even up
into the Oakland Park up here inDelaware, and we can't find this tomato.
It's called Arkansas Traveler, and Iam wondering if anybody has seen you

(20:45):
know a company who has them towhere we can go buy them. You
want the plan, you don't wantto mess with a c dre Yes,
we want the plant, Okay,I think so, I think I may
appreciated if they would call in andlet you know so. And I'll be
listening so that we can go downand get some, all right. I

(21:08):
think I may know of a couple. I need to check with them,
though they've grown them in the past, and I won't be able to check
today, but I will. I'mwriting myself a note here for next Saturday.
I would be able to let youknow the couple that I would know
of. But if anybody else knowsanywhere in Columbus, Arkansas, Traveler,
it been around long time. It'san old heirloom. Ye, very tasty

(21:30):
tomato. And if you want,let me back to your your operator there,
and I can give them my phonenumber or email address. Yeah,
do that with it. Give theemail to Ella and she'll take care of
that. Did you try did youtray Circa Plants? No, I have
not, and I don't know ifBrandon's. He grows a lot of different
airlooms. But check with Circa Plants. And I think it's circa Plants dot

(21:55):
Com or Circa dot com, oneof those U they're in H think they're
in Logan Logan, Okay, butthey do a lot of heirlooms. But
did you check with them? Didyou try Baker's Acres? No, all
right, Baker's Acres, she doesa ton of heirlooms. I think she
does more airlooms that she does hybrids. Okay, I'll check with those there,

(22:18):
but I'll give you your operator themy email address to think. Okay,
sounds good. Appreciate the call,and again looking for Arkansas Traveler if
you've seen anybody out there with thatone so far. I used to get
less from everybody so I could tryto figure out who was growing wide as
far as the airlooms and the hybridsand all of that. But I don't

(22:38):
have those anymore. A lot oftimes you go on their website and they
get a print out as well.But I know Baker's acres. He used
to do a ton of them atSarka Plants Brandon they heat and trying to
think they they may have that,because that's Arkansas Travelers shouldn't be that hard
to find. It's been around fora long time and a lot of people
grow it. You know, whenI do get a lot of times we're

(23:00):
out and about folks who are askingabout tomatoes, and of course now we're
getting into it, and everybody alwayswants to know, you know, what
is it a tomato? Dick andtomato George? What are their selections,
what do they recommend? And lastweek Tomato Dick called from Florida, coming
back up and he's going to havehis produce stand open again this year.
And everybody was I can't believe.In emails, I gotta saying, oh,
we're so happy they know that TomatoDick is going to be doing this

(23:21):
tomatoes again. Giant Esque that wasthe other one. Everybody kept saying,
what is the one he was talkingabout? Giant Esque And I'm not too
sure how many people grow giant esque? He does, and he asked,
and I think somebody growing for him. But that's his tomato. It's a
it's a nice sliced tomato, verytasty, very high in production. But
I'll get the question sometimes folks tocome up and say, hey, I

(23:42):
need a tomato that you know isjust really a city. It just gives
me that real acid tomato flavor.I think the guy a couple of weeks
ago said gives me canker sores.You know, that's so acid that you
know, it's just that old fashionedtomato bite. And what's interesting about that?

(24:04):
And this comes up all the time, but if you look at the
acidity in tomatoes, all right,is a general rule the acidity in tomatoes.
The pH levels run about four threeto a low five on all tomatoes,
and most of them are in theload of mid fours, so they're
all really close in the amount ofacid that's inside all of those tomatoes.

(24:30):
So tomatoes in general can be veryclose in their pH range, within a
point or so of each other,so they all have that acidity level that's
there. But what means, youknow, makes the tomatoes seem more acidic
in flavor versus sweet in flavor isthe sugar content. So the more sugar

(24:52):
or the sweeter the tomato, themore it masks over the acidity of the
tomato. Now, there are sometomatoes that are highly recommended for canning that
you don't have to use anything tolower the pH or whatever because they are
on that lowest of the charts ofpH levels. But um, you know
that that's out there all the time. But it's it's the sugar that makes

(25:15):
them mass over, makes them seemnot as a city. In general,
heirloom tomatoes are typically higher in thepH sweeter, so they seemed a lot
less a city. Red tomatoes.Black purple tomatoes tend to have a higher
a city level usually not a suiteat the top of the list that every

(25:37):
whole lists I could go through asone of the most a city in quotation
marks tomatoes out there is Rutgers PurpleCalibash was number two, but Rutgers Purple
Calibash hard to find. Rutgers isout there, and it didn't mention Rama.
Yes it did mention Ramapo being onthat list as well, but they

(25:57):
were lower down the list. ButRutgers was at the top for that acidic
tomato flavor long Keeper, Green,Zebra, boxcar, Willie Celebrity, which
is an oldie beefsteak, and oldieRoma, San Marzano, Cherokee, Purple,
Ramapo, Druis Bop, the Genovas, and Creole, which is the

(26:22):
official tomato of Louisiana all ranked reallylow on the acidity charts, So those
are your more acid of tomatoes,and then you get into the oranges and
yellows. They're typically much sweeter,not so much acid. Quick break,
we come back, Carol, You'recoming up next. After the top of
the hour, We're gonna talk withSarah Hall. She's the author of the
book Sewn in the Stars, Plantingby the signs Here in the Garden with

(26:47):
Ron Wilson on news Radio six tenWTVN, you'r ABC six. First Warning
weather from meteorologist Mike Joyce. Sunshinetoday, high of seventy seven, mostly
clear, overnight low fifty six andsome rain tomorrow morning. A high on
Sunday of seventy five. Weather poweredby the Basement Doctor. It's sixty four
now in Dublin and sixty five atyour severe weather station, News Radio six
ten WTBN. So have you beenout the shop tomatoes yet? If you

(27:17):
have, have you seen Arkansas travelersout there? If you know of a
place that grows him, let usknow. You can just call in and
tell Ella. She'll pass it along. I think I'm pretty sure a couple
of couple of places that might haveit. I think Baker's Creek, Baker's
Aakers, I mean, is thefirst when it comes to my mind.
But yeah, if you know,let us know and we'll pass that along
to Pete needs those Arkansas travelers.Carol, good morning, you're in the

(27:41):
garden with Ron Wilson. Hi,Hi, I have a question. I've
been looking everywhere for ed AMMI plant. Do you have any idea where I
could find those wow, ed ammaplants. No ed amma seeds, yes,

(28:02):
I think that. Can you findthe seeds? Well, I think
I can order them online, butI never have luck with seeds. Okay,
I prefer plants, and I knowabout three years ago I was able
to get from at a mammai plants. I believe we either got them at
traders or loads. But they're sohard to find anymore. Well, I

(28:26):
think the reason being is and youknow what's interesting is we're growing more things.
I say we in the retail industrygrowing more like that are crops that
are direct so like at a mamma, which is truly put it in the
ground and should come up in aboutfive or six seven days and then it
takes up. I think those areabout seventy five eighty days to produce.
But and it's like, you know, you can put two seeds of that

(28:47):
in a little pack and grow oneor two plants, which really aren't going
to do a whole lot of good. You need several plants for two ninety
nine or three ninety nine, orwe sell them by the seed packs.
And that may be the issue withfolks growing at a mamma is the fact
that some folks look at it andsay, well, I've only got two
plants in the air for three nineof the three bucks, I'll just buy

(29:07):
the pack of seeds. And thatcan be an issue sometimes down the road.
So I don't know of anyone thatdid the plants by themselves and packs.
I just know the seeds and theywhen you're having a hard time growing
them. I mean, did theycome up the German at have you put
them in the ground or just not? I mean I had the plants and

(29:32):
it produced, you know at amamma. It was great. It was
fun going out and picking them.And then you know, I mean not
a whole lot, but but Idid twice in a row in one year.
I had a pretty good harvest.But from from seed or from plants,
these are all plants. Yeah,so you yeah, you know,

(29:53):
I mean, check back with straighters. You never know. Again, I
look at I try to look atfolks that do some really unusual thing.
Baker's Acres does some really unusual things. She's very good about doing that,
so I would check with her.I mean I call all around. I
mean Dill's Um. I didn't seeany of Darby Creek. I was there
last week, but you know youagain, call around. But I don't

(30:15):
know of anyone to growing it thatI know are consistent growers of growing the
plants available to you by packs.I've just just always done them by direct.
So from seed okay, and Bakersis the one that double one right
now. Baker's Acres is out nearall on your way out to Newark.
Oh gotcha? Okay, really coolplace to visit. It's small, but

(30:38):
they have a lot of stuff.They're really cool place to visit. Okay,
I'll remember that. Well, thankyou for your time. Oh you're
welcome. Good talking to you.Ed a mommy. We were just conversing
whether or not that's a we likethat or not? But I do with
a little salt on it. Quickbreak, we come back. Sarah Hall's
our Guests coming up next. Herbook is called Sown in the Stars,
Planning by the Signs Here in theGarden with Ron Wilson on News You six ten WTV