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Posted: 6/9/2014 1:49:32 PM EDT
[#1]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
The seed pods will be light brown and dry. Leave them on to long they will open up and spill the seeds. Quote HistoryQuoted:
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Be careful when harvesting the mustard seeds. I dropped some and still have volunteers from two falls ago. 
Thanks for the heads up. How can I tell when they are ready to harvest? The seed pods will be light brown and dry. Leave them on to long they will open up and spill the seeds. I can work with that. Thanks Dimmu! |
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Posted: 6/11/2014 11:53:22 AM EDT
[#2]
Summer is officially underway - I found the first giant zucchini that somehow always managed to avoid detection.
 He is going to my Mom's to meet a tragic fate as a stuffed zucchini. He is 17 inches long and a decent 2lbs, 14oz. Anyone else gotten their first over-sized produce yet for the year?
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Posted: 6/12/2014 2:34:53 PM EDT
[#3]
Garden output so far this summer: 30lbs, 12oz (mostly zucchini and onions)
On that note, the zucchini pancakes I tried last night weren't bad: 2 med grated zucchini, lightly dusted with salt and drained for 30 minutes or so 8 tbsp flour 1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp salt 1/2 tsp pepper 4 tbsp Parmesan cheese 2 xl eggs, beaten Mix together; fry like a pancake. Serve with butter and salt. |
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Posted: 6/20/2014 6:49:24 PM EDT
[#4]
Well, the garden glut has begun - I pulled 11lbs of zucchini out of the garden from a 4ft X 6ft planting just today. Which was about par for the days this week. The summer squash is starting to ramp up and the yellow pole beans are starting to produce. Just the blackberries today came in at about 1/3 gallon.
I see cobbler in my future. And maybe stuffed zucchini. And some pan-fried beans with garlic and bacon. Summer is good. Soon the fresh tomatoes and cucumber will add to the mix and it will be on! -So far this year, a little over 71 lbs of produce. Nowhere near what a large garden would produce, but for 5 4ft X 16ft beds not too bad. It should really start to ramp up once the tomatoes and cucumbers get going. 
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Posted: 7/10/2014 9:57:19 AM EDT
[#5]
The garden has been busy, but mostly all the same stuff so I hadn't updated here in a while (also I am running out of space on photobucket). I have been mostly harvesting every other day, getting something about like this (yesterday's harvest):
Next year I will plant less zucchini and more green beans. So far I have pulled 143lbs of produce out of my raised bed gardens this summer. Even with about 1/3 of it being zucchini, I am relatively pleased with the output. This fall I will add a second cattle-panel trellis to increase the sun area I can grab, so we will see how it goes. Even with only 1 of the blackberry blocks being old enough to produce well I am already at 5 gallons of frozen berries, and maybe another gallon never made it to the freezer. I have high hopes for the 4 blocks I added this year, although they both grew so thickly I had to choose between asparagus and blackberries, and the berries won. :( Hopefully I can find somewhere else to put some asparagus, since it is really good fresh, but the productivity of the blackberries just beat it out. |
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Posted: 7/10/2014 10:59:13 AM EDT
[#6]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
The garden has been busy, but mostly all the same stuff so I hadn't updated here in a while (also I am running out of space on photobucket). I have been mostly harvesting every other day, getting something about like this (yesterday's harvest): <a href="http://s1367.photobucket.com/user/ratling87/media/garden_posting_zps0b2e61a0.jpg.html" target="_blank">http://i1367.photobucket.com/albums/r791/ratling87/garden_posting_zps0b2e61a0.jpg</a> Next year I will plant less zucchini and more green beans. So far I have pulled 143lbs of produce out of my raised bed gardens this summer. Even with about 1/3 of it being zucchini, I am relatively pleased with the output. This fall I will add a second cattle-panel trellis to increase the sun area I can grab, so we will see how it goes. Even with only 1 of the blackberry blocks being old enough to produce well I am already at 5 gallons of frozen berries, and maybe another gallon never made it to the freezer. I have high hopes for the 4 blocks I added this year, although they both grew so thickly I had to choose between asparagus and blackberries, and the berries won. :( Hopefully I can find somewhere else to put some asparagus, since it is really good fresh, but the productivity of the blackberries just beat it out. Good looking harvest. |
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Posted: 7/10/2014 11:07:12 AM EDT
[#7]
Thanks!
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Posted: 7/14/2014 10:02:08 AM EDT
[#8]
The garden has been going fairly well. The summer squash and zucchini look like they are just starting to succumb to vine borers, but they lasted a LOT longer than last year and yielded more than 50lbs of produce so I am counting that as a win. I planted more than I wanted thinking I would lose some early and now I am swimming in the silly things. The right hand side empty spot I planted in parsnips about a month ago and nothing has happened. I need to re-plant with something else but I haven't decided what yet. The rest of that bed is brussel sprouts (as an experiment) and peppers and herbs.
On the other side are the aforementioned zucchini and summer squash, and a bunch of sweet potatoes. 
These end beds are green beans (blue lake), cucumbers (mixed) and tomatilla on the right. On the left are okra and tomatoes (better boy and roma). 
A mockingbird decided my green beans were an excellent nesting location. He seems to be eating the bugs on the beans, so he can stay. 
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Posted: 7/14/2014 10:10:32 AM EDT
[#9]
I know about swimming in squash that's why I only planted four plants this year.
Unluckily I didn't know my okra was going to grow so tall this year and shade them. Another lesson learned. 
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Posted: 7/14/2014 10:26:31 AM EDT
[#10]
Lessons learned so far this year:
1. Mustard takes up way to much space, and the seeds are a pain to harvest. Also, I don't like the taste of the greens at all. I won't be planting any more of this. 2. Okra is actually pretty good if you don't get it wet, and pan-fry it in butter with some seasoned salt. It's not terribly prolific per stalk so I will plant 6 ft next year instead of 4. 3. Blue lake pole beans hide until they are large and tough. Next year I am going with the yellow beans that are easier to see and harvest. 4. I really only need 2 cucumber plants even if I pickle some. If I am not going to pickle them, I really REALLY only need 2 cucumber plants. 5. For a family of 2, 2 tomato plants will cover any fresh-eating needs unless you are giving some to relatives. 5a. Unlike zucchini, there are ALWAYS folks happy to accept fresh tomatoes, so maybe 3 plants. ;) 6. Instead of 8 feet of zucchini to allow for losing some, plant 4, and start a replacement or 2 inside so you can swap out after the bugs are gone. (I am testing this theory on the far end of bed 2 right now) 7. Less zucchini, more pole beans is usually a good bet. 8. Butternut squash is a nice addition to stored stuff, but finishes early, so I need to have a plan for what is going in that bed for the second half of the summer, AND be willing to plant the replacement mid-July. :P 9. Fresh tomatoes beat the hell out of store-bought, but for processed tomatoes I can get the canned puree for so cheap it's not worth my time. I'm glad I know HOW to can the silly things, but I don't plan on bothering any more unless I have to. 10. Fresh blackberries are addictive, and the plants grow like weeds - my kind of produce. 11. Gardening isn't something you learn how to do; it's something you keep learning how to do. *On the zucchini note; I am really tempted to get a couple of neighborhood kids and a lightweight plastic ball and see how well 3 ft zucchinis do as bats. Seriously, I went away for training and came back to 4-lb zucchinis. Zucchini ball, anyone? Anyone have any lessons learned to add to this year's compilation? |
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Posted: 7/14/2014 11:09:32 AM EDT
[#11]
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11. Gardening isn't something you learn how to do; it's something you keep learning how to do. *On the zucchini note; I am really tempted to get a couple of neighborhood kids and a lightweight plastic ball and see how well 3 ft zucchinis do as bats. Seriously, I went away for training and came back to 4-lb zucchinis. Zucchini ball, anyone? Anyone have any lessons learned to add to this year's compilation? Try dehydrating those large zukes. Takes 14-16 hours to dehydrate, but, they do make for a healthy and filling 'cracker'. I dehydrated 15lbs of zukes. Made about a pound of chips. TRG |
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Posted: 7/14/2014 3:01:07 PM EDT
[#12]
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Try dehydrating those large zukes. Takes 14-16 hours to dehydrate, but, they do make for a healthy and filling 'cracker'. I dehydrated 15lbs of zukes. Made about a pound of chips. TRG Not a bad idea, although I am getting a little sick of zucchini, either which way. 
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Posted: 7/14/2014 3:48:12 PM EDT
[#13]
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Not a bad idea, although I am getting a little sick of zucchini, either which way.
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Quoted:
Try dehydrating those large zukes. Takes 14-16 hours to dehydrate, but, they do make for a healthy and filling 'cracker'. I dehydrated 15lbs of zukes. Made about a pound of chips. TRG Not a bad idea, although I am getting a little sick of zucchini, either which way.
Makes an excellent chow chow when ground up. I also used it in my 'mock apple pie' preserves as well. TRG |
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Posted: 8/7/2014 4:51:51 PM EDT
[#14]
Long-belated garden update: adventures in dehydrating
Well, the tomatoes are still producing like mad. I decided although the blue lakes produced well finding them before they get too large can be problematic, and when it's 90 degrees with 85% humidity and the other 15% is mosquitos, I don't want to be out there too long harvesting. I think next year I will go with the bush bean variety "mellow yellow" The test patch I had was fairly productive and the beans are easy to find. The cucumbers are winding down - I don't know if it is a lack of fertilizer, the heat, or they reached their "end of life". I had a bunch of cucumbers in the fridge but they were getting old, so I tried an experiment. So far, it worked: experimental cucumber sauce mix: peel, core and slice a bunch of cucumbers (keep track of how many) take them, plus a few mint leaves and a pinch of dill per cucumber, and toss it all in the dehydrator (if you don't have garden dill or mint, just add dried from your spice cabinet at the end) dry them until they are so dry they rattle, then processor them into a powder per 6 med cucumbers add: 1/2 tsp each salt, and garlic powder. When you want tzatziki (cucumber sauce), add 1tbsp to greek yogurt and stir. The powder should keep for many months stored properly. I have mine in a ball canning jar with the air removed via a jar sealer combined with a manual foodsaver air siphon (total cost of the siphon and sealer, 10 bucks.) Since I have so many tomatoes I am going to try dehydrating tomatoes with italian seasoning. The resulting powder should work for garnish, flavor add, or even instant tomato soup if you use enough. I love finding ways to preserve the harvest that doesn't take too much space or fill my freezer.....I wonder if I could dehydrate butternut squash and soup seasons for an instant soup too....Does anyone have any other space-saving ways to preserve the harvest (other than giving it away)? My garden out-produces my storage space on a regular basis. |
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Posted: 8/8/2014 11:32:34 PM EDT
[#15]
I have been following your posts and I love it. You did great. What would happen if you took your tomatoes aNd turned them into sundried and them bottled them in olive oil??. Also as a kid my mom bottled tomatoes in small mouth quart bottles and when she made any type of sauce that called for tomates she had hers there. The reason for her small mouth is that is the same size as the blender attachment. Just screw on and pulse to break up the tomatoes so that there were not alot of really big chuncks. Just throwing out some ideas.
Keep up the excellent thread.. mgunslinger..... |
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Posted: 8/9/2014 9:28:23 AM EDT
[#16]
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What would happen if you took your tomatoes aNd turned them into sundried and them bottled them in olive oil??. ..... Thanks Mgunslinger! I haven't tested the olive oil suggestion, but I had read (yeah, yeah, I know, read it on the internets) that they will not keep as long that way. I do keep a bunch of the dried, seasoned tomato halves in the freezer to pull out for trail food when I am camping. The savory chips make a nice change from the sweeter trail mix, and they have got to be better for you than deep-fried potatoes. |
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Posted: 8/9/2014 9:47:09 AM EDT
[#17]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Also as a kid my mom bottled tomatoes in small mouth quart bottles and when she made any type of sauce that called for tomates she had hers there. The reason for her small mouth is that is the same size as the blender attachment. Just screw on and pulse to break up the tomatoes so that there were not alot of really big chuncks. mgunslinger..... Good idea, thanks! |
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Posted: 8/9/2014 3:10:47 PM EDT
[#18]
Yesterday's harvest. The jar with the powder is the cucumber sauce mix - I used about 6 lbs of cucumbers. The red powder in the lower right is the seasoned tomato powder - I may have to put some of that in next time I make foccacia and see how it goes....
Today's was about the same, with the tomatoes coming in at 10lbs, 8oz. Once the peppers are done drying the tomatoes with Italian seasoning can go into the dehydrator. |
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Posted: 8/16/2014 3:09:47 PM EDT
[#19]
The harvest is mostly down to herbs, peppers, okra, and tons of tomatoes. Currently the garage smells like an Italian eatery with the seasoned tomatoes in the dehydrator, and the kitchen smells like herbal potpourri from thyme in the small indoor drying unit. Bed 4 that did hold cucumbers and tomatillas has been cleared, topped off, and seeded with a variety of fall goodies:
carrot-purple dragon spinach-teton hybrid beet-detroit dark red swiss chard-neon lights parsnip - all american carrot-solar yellow I hope to get a picture of what does well, and what gets eaten most. By the end of the month bed 1 will be turned as well and planted in cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, and brussel sprouts. I am going to leave bed 2's sweet potatoes in until the end of September, along with bed 3's tomatoes and okra. 3 days of tomatoes: 
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Posted: 8/31/2014 3:06:37 PM EDT
[#20]
The garden is down to providing mostly tomatoes and peppers, although the tomatoes are still cranking out almost 5 lbs/day. The sweet potatoes need to cook another few weeks, then I'll see how that goes. The main problem I had this year was lack of variety. The zucchini and summer squash came in solidly for 6 weeks or so, then died. The tomatoes didn't really start kicking until the squashes were almost dead. All in all, I have harvested 267 lbs of produce out of 4 4'x16' raised beds though. Not too bad all round. The herbs were a solid win once I learned to dry them instead of only using them when I needed them.
Next year I am going to plant less of the things I got more than I could use of (mainly tomatoes and tomatillas) and more of a variety. The trellises added space but I need to put them in the back of the beds to avoid creating too much shade, and that means a solid stretch to harvest the things planted in front of them. This fall I am going for carrots, beets, lettuce, snow peas, sugar snaps and a scattering of brassicas to see what does well. |
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Posted: 9/9/2014 10:32:49 AM EDT
[#21]
All of bed 3 and 4 have been harvested, pulled, amended with black kow compost, raked, and re-seeded for fall. I planted a swathe of different things since getting anything to take this time of year is problematic due to the hot, dry, days. We will see what happens. This means the tomatoes on the kitchen table are the last of the season, not counting all the dried and powdered specimens I put aside.
The sweet potatoes are still ruling bed 2 - they spread to fill where other things came out. When I tried to pull up the spread it was already making more sweet potatoes where it touched down so I let them be. Bed 1 is a mish-mash of carrots seeded last month, broccoli that got eaten alive by cabbage moths, and peppers that are still experiencing a last hurrah. I see cowboy candy in the near future! I think bed 1 will get parsnips and bed 2 onions and garlic once the remaining summer harvest is out. Last year the beds fell a foot or more from settling (first year they were in). I re-filled them to the top. This year I lost about 6-8 inches. I hope to eventually get down to a loss of only about 4 inches. Some loss is inevitable as I do not have room to compost the plants that get pulled and return them to the soil. The Black Kow amendment was 21$ per bed - 4 bags. I will need to fill with some garden soil as well, so maybe 40 all told per 16ft bed. The Black Kow is only a 1-2 inch layer that I rake in for added fertility each season at this point. Once I harvest the sweet potatoes I can get a good poundage guesstimate for the season. |
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Posted: 9/9/2014 10:43:27 AM EDT
[#22]
Preservation lessons learned:
Tomatoes dry great as long as you skin them in boiling water first - win! Since I don't have to watch it like I do sauce it's less active work. Ground to powder it would probably also re-hydrate into sauce just fine. Okra turns into little concrete turds in my dehydrator - I must be doing it wrong Dried zucchini chips are on next year's test agenda Dried cucumbers work best when using shreds not slices - they get really hard and the slices are difficult to grind to powder. The powder works pretty well for a dry cucumber sauce seasoning. A small dehydrator works well to dry herbs on an ongoing basis - It keeps them pruned, and makes the kitchen smell really good. My pickles are still turning out a little wilted. I am packing them in the sterilized jars, pouring the hot liquid and processing. Any suggestions from the hive for hot to get non-fermented pickles that are shelf-stable and not wibbly? I tried the pickle crisp, and I already make sure to cut off the blossom end. My butternut squash has been keeping fine in the garage since mid-July, but I am thinking of cooking, dehydrating, and powdering to see if I can make "instant soup" |
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Posted: 9/12/2014 3:05:18 PM EDT
[#23]
have you tried bozemanmt's method for making pickles? it's one of the pinned threads in this forum. the processing is what makes your pickles mushy.
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Posted: 9/13/2014 10:15:01 PM EDT
[#24]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
have you tried bozemanmt's method for making pickles? it's one of the pinned threads in this forum. the processing is what makes your pickles mushy. I haven't....I may need to try that next year and see how it goes. I got some 1/2 gallon ball jars just for pickle making, and that may be just the thing to make in them. |
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Posted: 9/14/2014 11:50:13 AM EDT
[#25]
The only thing still producing in the garden is peppers, but they are producing quite well still. So far the banana peppers and the D'ouce de Spagne (a type of sweet bell) are still cranking. The cayenne came out earlier this week when all the peppers went red at once. The carrots I planted last month are already growing fairly well, and the daikons from last week are up.
Today's pepper harvest. The colander I use for harvesting is an industrial-sized monstrosity at about 2 ft across. 
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Posted: 10/1/2014 10:55:17 AM EDT
[#26]
I thought it was time for some update pics on the garden! All of the summer planting except the peppers and sweet potatoes are out now, and I am slowly getting some fall plantings in.
Bed 1 
After an abysmal response to the brussel sprouts, broccoli and cabbage I transplanted in July, and ended up pulling in August, I now have carrots, some onions, and a few parsnips growing in that spot. Their main appeal at the time was nothing was bothering them. :) I am making an open-bottomed pvc box for spring that I will cover with mosquito screen and plunk over the spring attempt at brassicas to keep the pesky cabbage moths out. I will let the hive know how it goes. 
The other half of the bed still has peppers going pretty strong. In bed 2 the sweet potatoes took over the other half of the bed like mad. I started to cut them back when I noticed they were forming potatoes there too, so here they will stay until the first frost warning. 
Bed 3 - this is the side that took, seed-wise. The other side is pretty much empty - I will probably plant the empty side in garlic and roll with it. 
Bed 4 is a mix of whatever seeds I had left, all dumped in together to see what would grow. I start trying to plant the fall season in August and it is often too hot for anything to take, so it is catch as catch can. This has some more carrots, a few determined lettuce seedlings, beets, and a few brassicas. I also planted sugar snaps and snow peas along the trellis. I will see what happens. 
If you were following this thread you know I tried inter-planting the blackberries with some asparagus, since the asparagus is picked so much earlier. This failed since they both grow so well mid-season they choked each other out so I made an executive decision and my lovely, tasty asparagus is slowly being removed. On a positive not, all but the middle section of the bed is new this year, and growing like mad. :) Backberry cobbler, blackberry pie, blackberry jam, blackberry icecream - endless possibilities! 
...I wish I had room for 1 more bed of just asparagus! :( |
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Posted: 10/4/2014 9:46:49 PM EDT
[#27]
Well, I pulled 1/2 the sweet potato bed and will pull the other half tomorrow. So far I have 23 lbs of utter fail. I got 2 decent potatoes out of the lot. Based on the interwebs they got wireworms (funky shape and holes) AND fungus (soft spots and black color) AND too much water (long and stringy on most of them). In fact, the only thing amazing about this first crop of sweet potatoes is the utter magnitude of fail. So, for your viewing pleasure....
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Posted: 10/5/2014 7:52:28 AM EDT
[#28]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Well, I pulled 1/2 the sweet potato bed and will pull the other half tomorrow. So far I have 23 lbs of utter fail. I got 2 decent potatoes out of the lot. Based on the interwebs they got wireworms (funky shape and holes) AND fungus (soft spots and black color) AND too much water (long and stringy on most of them). In fact, the only thing amazing about this first crop of sweet potatoes is the utter magnitude of fail. So, for your viewing pleasure.... <a href="http://s1367.photobucket.com/user/ratling87/media/sweetpotatoes_zps5e925ec8.jpg.html" target="_blank">http://i1367.photobucket.com/albums/r791/ratling87/sweetpotatoes_zps5e925ec8.jpg</a> It's not as bad as you might think. Most of those potatoes, while not pretty, are edible. The nice thing about sweet potatoes is the fact that they are edible all ALL stages of growth, from stringy roots, to fat ham sized tubers. Once you wash the cracked ones, rinse and chop them ... little bacon grease and a slow simmer with some onions and bacon bits ... you'll never know they were cracked and ugly. The more pristine, with no surface blemishes can be stored. The stringy one can be sliced down the middle, sprayed with oil and oven roasted. The shoestring length ones are JUST as edible as the fatties. They make EXCELLENT 'french fries' when baked in the oven. There is nothing wrong with them. Nothing. Any that have surface damage, that will lead to rot, can be cleaned, chopped and put in a ziplock and frozen. They'll still make a nice soup this winter. You *might* have a pound or two that needs to be tossed, but, from what I can see, most of that is still perfectly usable and is ... while not perfect ... certainly not 'fail.' TRG |
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Posted: 10/5/2014 7:59:48 AM EDT
[#29]
IMHO, the stringy ones are the result of the new roots that your plants were putting down. Happy sweet potatoes make new roots. If you have too much top growth you'll get a lot of new roots (like you have).
Like peppers, don't let them get too happy with too much water, fertilizer and top growth. When they get stressed, and they feel threatened, they stop putting on new roots and begin to force feed the existing tubers to store energy for the survival of the plants. TRG |
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Posted: 10/5/2014 12:06:48 PM EDT
[#30]
I'm not sure what happened to my 3 beds of sweet potatoes this year. No tubers at all but the. Plants looked wonderful.... I m confused.
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Posted: 10/5/2014 1:42:19 PM EDT
[#31]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
I'm not sure what happened to my 3 beds of sweet potatoes this year. No tubers at all but the. Plants looked wonderful.... I m confused. Too much fertilizer? |
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Posted: 10/5/2014 9:56:31 PM EDT
[#32]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Too much fertilizer? Quote HistoryQuoted:
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I'm not sure what happened to my 3 beds of sweet potatoes this year. No tubers at all but the. Plants looked wonderful.... I m confused. Too much fertilizer? Yup. Peppers and Sweet Potatoes ... abuse them or get nothing. TRG |
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Posted: 10/6/2014 7:25:30 PM EDT
[#33]
Thanks for the sweet potato info guys! The porto rico's were the ones in the pics. I just pulled the vardeman's and they have a LOT less damage. There still IS damage, but the difference is significant. Maybe 80% of the vardemans are smooth-skinned, and much less of the black mildew on them as well. Several still got pretty stringy, but overall not bad. Next year I will go with just the vardemans and see how it goes.
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Posted: 10/11/2014 12:13:56 PM EDT
[#34]
Mid-October and the garden is still pumping out peppers! Gotta love it. The fall lettuce is getting up to size and the carrots I sowed in July are looking ready to pull.
On the processing front I've got some butternut squash in the dehydrator to see if I can get a powder out of it, and then I need to test if the powder will make good soup. I may try roasting the peppers and using them for a roasted pepper spread I saw in the Ball canning book - it sounded like my kind of sandwich spread. :) |
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Posted: 10/11/2014 4:41:04 PM EDT
[#35]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Mid-October and the garden is still pumping out peppers! Gotta love it. The fall lettuce is getting up to size and the carrots I sowed in July are looking ready to pull. On the processing front I've got some butternut squash in the dehydrator to see if I can get a powder out of it, and then I need to test if the powder will make good soup. I may try roasting the peppers and using them for a roasted pepper spread I saw in the Ball canning book - it sounded like my kind of sandwich spread. :) There is no reason to dehydrate a butternut squash. They are a hard squash. They will sit, perfectly happy, on a shelf for a year or more. Indians liked them for this reason. They are a natural SHTF foodstuff. Heirloom seeds to boot. TRG |
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Posted: 10/18/2014 1:59:20 PM EDT
[#36]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
There is no reason to dehydrate a butternut squash. They are a hard squash. They will sit, perfectly happy, on a shelf for a year or more. Indians liked them for this reason. They are a natural SHTF foodstuff. Heirloom seeds to boot. TRG Quote HistoryQuoted:
Quoted:
Mid-October and the garden is still pumping out peppers! Gotta love it. The fall lettuce is getting up to size and the carrots I sowed in July are looking ready to pull. On the processing front I've got some butternut squash in the dehydrator to see if I can get a powder out of it, and then I need to test if the powder will make good soup. I may try roasting the peppers and using them for a roasted pepper spread I saw in the Ball canning book - it sounded like my kind of sandwich spread. :) There is no reason to dehydrate a butternut squash. They are a hard squash. They will sit, perfectly happy, on a shelf for a year or more. Indians liked them for this reason. They are a natural SHTF foodstuff. Heirloom seeds to boot. TRG My main reasoning were a) to see if it could be done b) to make something otherwise cumbersome and heavy convenient and lightweight and c) Make something that currently takes an hour in the oven to become food something that can become food in 10 minutes with boiling water (say, while camping) :) On the other hand, they don't dehydrate very well. The cooked, thinly spread pulp never got brittle and instead impersonated really funny tasting roll-ups. Oh well. |
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Posted: 10/18/2014 2:03:12 PM EDT
[#37]
How goes everyone's garden? Currently I have carrots, parsnips and what is probably the last of the peppers coming in, with lettuce to follow in a week or so. My timing was off for my cole crops for the most part, but the snow peas are starting to flower, and the beets and chard are coming along well.
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Posted: 10/24/2014 8:48:09 PM EDT
[#38]
Well I pulled up the carrots, parsnips, and peppers. The carrots were more than an inch across!
 Beds 1 and 2 are now mostly lying fallow until spring. I may black plastic them to try to kill some of the pests in the soil, I am not sure yet.
In the heat of the summer I had a hard time getting anything to take; as a result the beds are a mish-mash of several plantings. Bed 3, closest to the house - the little round leaves are rhubarb - it did not grow well this summer so I am trying a suggestion I saw to treat them like a fall annual instead of a perennial and harvest the whole plant in late spring. I will see how it goes. The completely bare sections will get garlic 
More bed 3: Collards, and giant daikon radishes! 
Yet more bed 3: cabbages that got planted way too late - next year I will start them inside. In the meantime, space for more garlic! 
Bed 4 close to the house - red sails lettuce, peas, carrots, 
Bed 4 middle - beets, buttercrunch lettuce, swiss chard 
Bed 4 end - miscellaneous brassicas again planted too late, and more peas - I think these are sugar snaps. 
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Posted: 11/20/2014 11:56:16 AM EDT
[#39]
Well, I have a scattering of things still in my garden, mostly to see how they fare over the winter. It hit 22 degrees last week and everything was going like gangbusters. I am not sure how cold it got last night and the night before, but here are the results:
No notable damage at all: rhubarb onions garlic lightly damaged buttercrunch lettuce sugar snap peas snow peas collards broccoli (not sure if it will still form a head, though) heavy damage but should survive carrots beets cabbage swiss chard It's dead, Jim: daikon radish - damage to the main root, but I they still look edible so I will just harvest them. |
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Posted: 11/20/2014 12:36:12 PM EDT
[#40]
I've been busy with things other than gardening. Your winter garden makes me want to go plant!
TRG |
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Posted: 11/21/2014 10:20:03 AM EDT
[#41]
Thanks! I wish I had done more but I am mostly back to one of my favorite pass-times - planning next year!
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Posted: 11/23/2014 6:29:39 PM EDT
[#42]
So, some of the daikons were more than a foot long, and don't seem to have any blemishes, predators, etc. To me this makes them a pretty good fall crop in the garden. Next step is figuring out how to eat the little suckers.
Attempt #1 - daikon slaw I peeled them and some slightly bitter carrots I pulled from the garden a month or two ago, and ran both through a box grater on coarse. To this a dressing of equal parts mayo, sour cream, and apple cider vinegar, with generous amounts of celery seed and dill, and some salt, pepper, and just a little bit of sugar. Toss to coat. For mixed radish and otherwise bitter carrot, it tasted pretty decent. I expect by tomorrow it will have mellowed even more (I use this dressing for my coleslaw, and usually by day 2 it mellows the cabbage taste out fairly well also. Next time I might shred in a bit of kohlrabi and onion as well. Results - fairly tasty, probably better after 24 hours. It should go well with the smoked pig I pulled from the freezer for dinner tomorrow. Does anyone have a decent butternut squash soup recipe? I tried the Alton Brown one since I usually like his stuff, but it was sweet instead of savory and just not to my taste. (texture was lovely though) |
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Posted: 11/24/2014 6:28:03 PM EDT
[#43]
Mmmm.... the rewards of doing things yourself - garden cole slaw, garden sweet potato and pig we smoked this past summer. Good eats. Anyone else still eating anything out of their garden this time of year?
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Posted: 12/4/2014 5:05:59 PM EDT
[#44]
Well at a couple of weeks past the freeze I think I can safely declare winners and losers in the frost bowl. :) The broccoli lived but I doubt it will head. The snow peas and sugar snaps just decided they have had enough. They're still alive, but they're not really doing anything and look like hell. The beets, chard and carrots took a bit of a hit but are coming back up from the center of each plant just fine. The onions, rhubarb and garlic are all perfectly fine showing no obvious damage.
On another note, I am eyeball deep in garden porn trying to decide what to grow this spring. My goal this year is to have a master list for planting for the year, and order any seeds I am missing from the list in January. I usually plant one new thing each season - last summer was tomatilla (a definite repeat) and last fall was daikon. I am going with broccoli raab this spring and hopefully (If I can get tubers) oca this summer. I welcome any suggestions for new/unusual garden veggies to add to my list. Current spring plan: swiss chard beets cabbage Brussels sprouts cauliflower bok choi broccoli broccoli raab chinese cabbage broad beans snow peas sugar snaps english peas spinach lettuce collards kale kholrabi rhubarb - fall planting carried over garlic - fall planting carried over sweet peas - not edible, added for color and fragrance |
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Posted: 12/4/2014 7:43:28 PM EDT
[#45]
I want to try rutabaga. My aunt brought over some mashed rutabaga this year for Thanksgiving and it was awesome. It tasted like mashed potatoes with a hint of cauliflower. Peel the roots and use them like you would potatoes. Consider Antohi Romanian Peppers for your summer garden. I grew them this year because bells never seem to do well for me and they performed great. Let them ripen all the way for maximum sweetness.
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Posted: 12/4/2014 10:20:28 PM EDT
[#46]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
I want to try rutabaga. My aunt brought over some mashed rutabaga this year for Thanksgiving and it was awesome. It tasted like mashed potatoes with a hint of cauliflower. Peel the roots and use them like you would potatoes. Consider Antohi Romanian Peppers for your summer garden. I grew them this year because bells never seem to do well for me and they performed great. Let them ripen all the way for maximum sweetness. I am not a rutabega fan for the most part but the peppers sound interesting. Are they very hot, or more of a sweet bell type? |
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Posted: 12/4/2014 10:30:55 PM EDT
[#47]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
I am not a rutabega fan for the most part but the peppers sound interesting. Are they very hot, or more of a sweet bell type? Quote HistoryQuoted:
Quoted:
I want to try rutabaga. My aunt brought over some mashed rutabaga this year for Thanksgiving and it was awesome. It tasted like mashed potatoes with a hint of cauliflower. Peel the roots and use them like you would potatoes. Consider Antohi Romanian Peppers for your summer garden. I grew them this year because bells never seem to do well for me and they performed great. Let them ripen all the way for maximum sweetness. I am not a rutabega fan for the most part but the peppers sound interesting. Are they very hot, or more of a sweet bell type? Not hot at all. They are a sweet variety. |
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Posted: 12/5/2014 9:49:15 AM EDT
[#48]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Not hot at all. They are a sweet variety. Quote HistoryQuoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
I want to try rutabaga. My aunt brought over some mashed rutabaga this year for Thanksgiving and it was awesome. It tasted like mashed potatoes with a hint of cauliflower. Peel the roots and use them like you would potatoes. Consider Antohi Romanian Peppers for your summer garden. I grew them this year because bells never seem to do well for me and they performed great. Let them ripen all the way for maximum sweetness. I am not a rutabega fan for the most part but the peppers sound interesting. Are they very hot, or more of a sweet bell type? Not hot at all. They are a sweet variety. I may need to try those, thanks! |
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Posted: 12/5/2014 9:50:48 AM EDT
[#49]
I just got me first seed catalog for the 2015 season. It begins....
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Posted: 12/19/2014 3:58:37 PM EDT
[#50]
The garden is looking a little rough after a few cold snaps. The sugar snaps and snow peas died ugly. The swiss chard and beets keep dying back and returning and what remains looks rather zombie-ish. The cabbages are alive but looking rough, along with the lettuce and the broccoli and brussel sprouts look like they are not going to form heads at all.
On the lighter side the rhubard experiment is going well so far, the collards and kale are growing like gangbusters and the garlic looks great. Here are the 2 beds still in production (the other 2 are lying fallow with some rabbit pellets on them) 
The carrot tops look rough but I just pulled a few to have with dinner and they look great. These are a lot larger than they look in the picture, with about 8 inch roots on the longer ones. 
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