dcarch

The Art of growing Chokes Yes, finally, after trying a few years in zone 6. Very encouraging, it's only the beginning of July. dcarch

1. As I said, you need to use watermelon that is not too ripe, otherwise the steaks will be too sweet and fall apart. The best is to grow your own, so you can pick them early. 2. Cut watermelon about 3/4" thick, remove rind, basic seasonings - garlic powder, pepper, and fish sauce. 3. Grill or CI pan fry till fork tender. dcarch

A favorite summer dish, grilled watermelon steaks. The problem is finding un-ripe watermelon. Ripe ones will fall apart. Watermelon and goji greens both have positive medicinal benefits. dcarch Sous vide pork loin, watermelon steaks on goji greens from the garden.

According to Dr. Carolyn Male (tomato goddess): carolyn137(z4/5 NY) Yes, I'm here and I'm going to again cut and paste what I wrote before and call your attention to the paragraph below that starts with the sentence..... the old information about BER...... b'c that's the crux of the problem. That is, you'll find some University sites and some private sites and many other sites who still maintain that the single cause of BER is lack of soil Ca++ and don't mention anything else, which is why in that paragraph I said that the old info is going to take at least another generation before the correct info is found almost everywhere. ****** Here's my cut and paste again. (With BER there is NO problem with absorption of Ca++ though the roots. The problem is maldistribution within the plant that can be induced by a number of stresses which include uneven delivery of water, too much N, growing in too rich soil, too hot, too cold, too wet, too dry you name it. As the plants mature they can better handle the streses that can induce BER so usually it goes away. The two exceptions are first, if the soil has NO Ca++ as confirmed with a soil test, and that's a rare condition, and second, if the soil is too acidic in which Case Ca++ is bound in the soil. Again, adding lime, egg shells and on and on can not and will not prevent BER b'c absorption of Ca++ thru the roots is OK. Paste tomatoes are especially susceptible to BER and I think someone in a post above mentioned that. If you go to the top of this first page and click on the FAQ link and scroll down you'll also find an article about BER in case some of you have never looked at the FAQ's And there's some darn good articles there as well, but I wouldn't pay any attention to the variety list b'c it's way out of date. The old information about BER being caused solely by lack of soil Ca++ has been shown to be wrong with research that's been done in the last 20 years or so, but it's going to take another generation before the real story gets into books, websites, magazines, etc. Most of the better websites already have the correct information. BER affects not only tomatoes, but peppers, squash, cabbage, cauliflower, etc., and it's a huge multimillion dollar problem for the industry, which is WHY all that reasearch was done. For instance, when tissues were taken from a plant that has BER fruits and was assayed for Ca++, the normal level of Ca++ was found, it just wasn't getting to the blossom end of fruits. And there's also a condition called internal BER where the fruits look fine, no evidence of BER externally, but when you cut open the fruit the inside is black Hope that helps Betsy had added at the end of my article the following, with which I agree. (So, what it comes down too is: Tums do not work, nor do egg shells, milk, and other "home remedy" treatments. Foliar spray only works in some cases. Time and good management practices work best.) So, you can believe what I wrote above, or noting what I said about wrong or incomplete information still being out there and make up your own collective minds about BER by doing as much online research as I have in the past 20 years or so. ( smile) Carolyn

Speaking of strawberries, my electric slug control (posted above) has been 100% effective. But problem now is having to eat strawberries for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and snacks in between. Give me a break!!! Please! dcarch

I am fascinated watching videos of automated machines doing all kinds of delicate food preps. To develop a robotic arm delicate enough to pick strawberries should not be a problem, I feel. I made a battery operated pollinator to pollinate tomato blossoms in my garden. Not enough bee activities in my area. Easy for a AI camera to see blossoms and a robotic pollinator to make strawberries. dcarch

I have seen massive automated greenhouses in many countries. I saw a couple of weeks ago a camera with AI capability for $270. We all know facial recognition software is very common. I can see you establish a massive greenhouse with robotic pickers equipped with AI cameras which are programmed with object recognition software to pick only ripe strawberries of standard sizes. dcarch

I don't see strawberries. ☺️ dcarch

I am wondering: That device uses electricity (1000 watts per hour). This 1000 watts per hour is additional indoor heat and moisture, which your air conditioner will need to remove using a lot more than 1000 watts of electricity. It takes a lot of material and energy to manufacture. It takes energy to transport to the store and to transport to you. It needs replaceable filters. You need to wash it once in a while. And, after the unit dies, you have to dispose the whole thing into the environment. dcarch

I have participated in many cooking competitions. It took me a long time to learn why I wasn't winning. Not many people like lamb. After that, I had won a few. with pork, chicken, & beef. I have never seen BBQ lamb cooking competitions. dcarch

The sausages were paper-thin sliced, simmered in a skillet with a 1/2 cup of water. When the 1/2 cup of water was boiled down to 1/4 cup, a lot of the fat was rendered and the nice flavor of the sausage was in the water, which was used to braise the fish. a few teaspoons of fish sauce was added to balance the sweetness of the sausage. Ginger, garlic were added. dcarch

Happy Father's Day to all! I made Striped sea bass braised in Chinese sausage fat (better than bacon fat, IMHO), snow peas from my garden. dcarch

Nice plating, all your recent meals. Thumbs up! dcarch

Sometime ago, I had business meetings at One Seaport plaza, 100 William St and and 116 John St. Every time going from the subway to the buildings, I passed by Les Halles (15 John St.). A few times had lunch and dinner with clients and friends there. dcarch

What about Whole Foods? Big discount on Prime beef? dcarch

A few hours ago, I went to Les Halles (15 John Street, NYC) with friends to see if it's still in business for lunch. dcarch

S.S.S.S - Scallops, Shrimps on Scapes, Shroom sauce. Harvested some garlic scapes from the garden. dcarch

What would you do if they send out runners? dcarch

Aim your camera to a mirror above the stove can work. No need for wireless control. dcarch

Met him, chatted with him, eaten in his restaurants many times. Why? Why? and why?!!! dcarch

You can't read? You silly, Anna already said she has no car. That means no Mercedes Benz, no Audi, no Porch, no nothing! dcarch

Looks like your soil is on the dry side. How do you keep everything watered? Do you have a well? dcarch

It there a need to prevent slime buildup? dcarch

SLUG IT OUT! Don't you hate it? You spend so much money and energy in planting your garden, then just when you are ready to harvest, come these slimy thieves to ruin everything for you. There are many popular "surefire" tricks on the internet to get rid of slugs. I have tried them all. None of them really work very well. After a lot of research, I decided to give the electric barrier a try for my strawberry patch. This method is very easy and inexpensive to implement. It has the potential of being 100% effective, 100% nontoxic long lasting and maintenance free. For the electric tape, I used self-adhesive copper tape (for stained glass work) and a 12v (old) battery for power. I expect one charge will last more than a season since it really is not powering anything. Two months later, so far so good. Have not lost one single strawberry yet. dcarch

Hope you all had a great Memorial Day holiday (USA) SV & grilled prime sirloin steak, grilled pineapple, watermelon, snow peas from the garden. dcarch .