Gardening: 2013–2015

[hummingbirdkiss]

we have baby deer with spots and bunnies every freaking place..my Khaki Campbells discovered "out" now and are completely free ranging …the chickens are rogue and I still have a garden full of fruits and vegetables it is amazing and for this very second we have a nice balance of wildlife. My bees have filled the hive with comb (I have a top bar hive this is the first year) …Grapes are LOADED I will be making basement wine for sure this year ..I

 

picking grapes green right now to make pickled baby grapes..salted all the nasturtium seeds to make enough for a year, 

I have to start picking the plums and blackberries both are coming in very quickly in this hot weather 

 

garlic harvest was early and I am enjoying what it is like to harvest garlic in dry weather! Usually I have keep a close eye they rot so fast here but it is so dry they are hanging to cure now 120 heads 

 

I am shutting down my beds as I think I mentioned because we are a mess in the northwest right now water wise …but I am going to load it up with compost and all the secret recipes and next year I am going to triple the garlic crop. 

 

potatoes are almost ready and so are the Korean zucchini I am actually able to grow chiles this year and I ate a jalepeno yesterday it was really good! unheard of for me 

 

so much to say about gardening and I love reading everyones posts 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I made it outside in time to bring in an humungous cucumber for dinner, right before the fireworks and rain.  I also noticed a number of baby okra that are going to need attention very soon.

[Shelby]

The tomatoes have officially grown taller than my 5' self.

 

 

They are loaded this year.  Crossing fingers that we will have tons of these lovely guys in a few weeks.

 

 

Silver Queen corn is on!  

 

 

A baby watermelon.  I don't think he's too happy.  We got over 2" of rain yesterday.  Hopefully we're coming into a dryer spell.

 

[Shel_B]

Can anyone tell me what this vegetable is?  Toots grew it in her garden box but, alas, doesn't remember what it is.  I've not seen anything like this before.  Thanks!

 

 

 

 

 

[AlaMoi]

looks like kohlrabi - good stuff. 

 

bit like lima beans tho - there's be thems that love it and thems that hate it.

[Shelby]

Looks like a kohlrabi to me.

[heidih]

And a nice young one -  makes a lovely salad julienned and tossed with a lemony dressing. Also in half-moons or batons with an herbal yogurt dip

Edited July 11, 2015 by heidih (log)

[Shel_B]

And a nice young one -  makes a lovely salad julienned and tossed with a lemony dressing. Also in half-moons or batons with an herbal yogurt dip

 

Are you suggesting to eat it raw?  Are the leaves edible ... they seem very hard and chewy, so I'd think they'd need to be cooked a while, maybe like collards? 

 

I've used kohlrabi before, but didn't get the veg with leaves as it had already been trimmed.  I used it in a soup.

[heidih]

I have never used the leaves. With a little guy (as yours appears to be) yes- raw - peeled

 

ETA: peeled

Edited July 11, 2015 by heidih (log)

[Shel_B]

I have never used the leaves. With a little guy (as yours appears to be) yes- raw - peeled

 

ETA: peeled

 

Is this considered a "little guy?"

 

[heidih]

To me it is a young most likely tender one.  I like Ottolenghi's recipes so  here is another idea http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/jul/10/kohlrabi-recipes-yotam-ottolenghi-salad-curry-kimchi-fried

[Shel_B]

To me it is a young most likely tender one.  I like Ottolenghi's recipes so  here is another idea http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/jul/10/kohlrabi-recipes-yotam-ottolenghi-salad-curry-kimchi-fried

 

Thanks so much.  You've been most helpful.

[FauxPas]

Previous threads on how to prepare kohlrabi include:

 

http://forums.egullet.org/topic/144258-kohlrabi/?hl=%2Bkohlrabi

 

http://forums.egullet.org/topic/103289-kohlrabi/?hl=%2Bkohlrabi

 

You can cut a bit off and try it (the inside bit, not the outside peel). If it tastes good to you raw, think about using it in a salad. If not, check out cooked recipes. 

Edited July 11, 2015 by FauxPas (log)

[Shel_B]

And a nice young one -  makes a lovely salad julienned and tossed with a lemony dressing. Also in half-moons or batons with an herbal yogurt dip

 

I made matchsticks and dressed them with lemon and olive oil, a little S&P.  Very nice ... time now to start experimenting.  Gotta read some of the other suggestions, too.

[Okanagancook]

Today's haul.  Dug up most of our potatoes.  Those big tomatoes are Cherokee Purples.  First time I have grown them.  Saw a whole show on them with It's a Chef's Life.  They are very juicy and for us they are not getting blossom end rot like some of the varieties I have been growing in the past, early girl comes to mind

[haresfur]

I still can't get used to the gardening seasons here, either you have water or you have sun. Some things do ok in winter. My bottle crop seems to be doing well  :

 

 

 

We have had quite a few hard frosts so far this winter and I'm trying to get some asparagus going. The bottles are to provide frost protection. I put shade cloth over when they call for frost and when I remember. I have a few other seedlings in pots under shelter. I also bought a small raised bed at Aldi that has a plastic greenhouse. I set it up as a wicking bed as an experiment. I have lettuce and rocket sprouting in it and it has a shelf for my French tarragon and an artichoke pup in pots. I also have some chokes growing out and they seem to be doing ok with the frost.

[Okanagancook]

haresfur:  The raised bed looks like it is fabricated out of metal.  Is it aluminum?  that is brilliant.  We made our initial raised beds out of regular two by eights that I painted twice but after 8 years they started to rot.  Now we are using some kinda treated wood that is ok for growing veggies.  Not sure what it is called as my DH did the purchasing.  We have a large bed that needs replacing so this metal may be the way to go.  How are they attached at the corners if you don't mind explaining.

Asparagus is difficult to get going.  We planted four seedlings last year and only one made it.  We have a stand of wild asparagus that does well if one ignores it :-)

cheers,

[ElainaA]

Sigh. Whatever ate most of my beets last year came back for more.

Most of the golden beets are gone and many of the red ones. I suspect voles and can't see any way to stop them. The usual advice is a 1/4" wire mesh fence 12" above ground level and 6-10" below. Since our land is basically all rock that is really impossible. I think I lost this battle. I'll pull most of the small beets tomorrow. At least the greens are fine.

Elaina

[Okanagancook]

Well, that's very disappointing!  I have to opposite problem.  I have bugs in my leaves but the roots are good.  They seem to be bigger this year for some reason.

[haresfur]

haresfur:  The raised bed looks like it is fabricated out of metal.  Is it aluminum?  that is brilliant.  We made our initial raised beds out of regular two by eights that I painted twice but after 8 years they started to rot.  Now we are using some kinda treated wood that is ok for growing veggies.  Not sure what it is called as my DH did the purchasing.  We have a large bed that needs replacing so this metal may be the way to go.  How are they attached at the corners if you don't mind explaining.

Asparagus is difficult to get going.  We planted four seedlings last year and only one made it.  We have a stand of wild asparagus that does well if one ignores it :-)

cheers,

 

Its galvanized steel. I have another that is larger and deeper out of colour-bond steel. They screw together with metal screws or bolts. Some  water tank manufacturers will make welded ones. Our soils here are crap so building up a raised bed makes a lot of sense because you can build in a lot of organic matter. And raised beds help keep the rabbits out. A lot of people make them out of wood though. Eucalyptus wood is pretty rot resistant. I'm not sure how long the metal will last. Our soils are acidic and saline.

 

I know asparagus is tough once it is established so I hope I get some going. It is really expensive here.

[Okanagancook]

Thanks.  Need to investigate what's available here.  Good luck with the asparagus.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I was at the grocery store this evening.  They had good looking local tomatoes, and they were on sale.  I purchased a few pounds.

 

When I got home I went out to harvest the day's okra and noticed my tomatoes had finally decided to turn red.

[gfweb]

I was at the grocery store this evening.  They had good looking local tomatoes, and they were on sale.  I purchased a few pounds.

 

When I got home I went out to harvest the day's okra and noticed my tomatoes had finally decided to turn red.

 

How are you doing with your landlord and the garden?

[Franci]

 The bottles are to provide frost protection.

 

Great idea, I'm going to steal it!

 

This was instead our raised bed idea. We had some bricks in the garden left by the landlady and we stacked 2 rounds of them to get a pretty decent height but we didn't want to mortar them because we don't know how long we are going to be in this house. So I had the idea of wrapping the outside with plastic wrap. It has been holding for almost a year now.

This is a picture from last week, too bad I didn't get a photo of the zucchini trombetta (or courgette trompette).

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

How are you doing with your landlord and the garden?

 

Thanks for asking.  I'm waiting for something to happen.  But it is upsetting.

 

Meanwhile the store bought tomatoes were mealy and not that great.  Though I have had worse.  Campari tomatoes are much better.