Gardening: 2013–2015

[FauxPas]

Thanks, TFTC! 

 

I ordered more eggplant seeds, the variety that really grows well in a pot. I may gift most of the plants I grow but will keep at least one to give another go at eating them! 

 

Did you ever try just lightly coating with flour and frying? Do you like eggplant parm? Parm can be made from broiled or grilled eggplant with no other added fat except the cheese. I also like eggplant just grilled as part of a grilled veggie sub with some cheese.

 

Just throwing out some ideas here, but yes the plant, and especially the short-lived flowers are very beautiful:

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=eggplant+flowers&espv=2&biw=1097&bih=546&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0CCgQ7AlqFQoTCL3MpL73-McCFQmQDQodDG8Fag#tbm=isch&q=eggplant+growing

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=eggplant+flowers&espv=2&biw=1097&bih=546&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0CCgQ7AlqFQoTCPKT7-r3-McCFQjRgAodZbMOaQ

[Okanagancook]

This is the last of it except some arugula and parsley. Baby zucks, Ambrosia apples from our two trees, cayenne pepper and cherry tomatoes with a couple of romas.  Now what to do with all those jalapeños?  Most of them are small.  I froze almost all of them.

[Shelby]

Nice pickage!

 

My jalapeños never get big.  They are always like yours.  I like to pickle a jar or two if I have a lot of them.  Pickled jalapeños are super good on pizza

[FauxPas]

This is the last of it except some arugula and parsley. Baby zucks, Ambrosia apples from our two trees, cayenne pepper and cherry tomatoes with a couple of romas.  Now what to do with all those jalapeños?  Most of them are small.  I froze almost all of them.

 

 

Do you ever make hot sauces with your jalapenos? 

[Okanagancook]

I have made pickled jalapeños last year and still have a couple of jars...not a big pickle fan but Shelby's idea for pizza sounds good.

I also have jalapeño hot sauce from last year still plus a squeeze bottle of peach-habanero sauce in the fridge. Sheesh, we cannot seem to consume enough. I also have jalapeño paste in the freezer. Maybe I will set the peppers out by the mail boxes and someone will take them

[Shelby]

I have made pickled jalapeños last year and still have a couple of jars...not a big pickle fan but Shelby's idea for pizza sounds good.

I also have jalapeño hot sauce from last year still plus a squeeze bottle of peach-habanero sauce in the fridge. Sheesh, we cannot seem to consume enough. I also have jalapeño paste in the freezer. Maybe I will set the peppers out by the mail boxes and someone will take them

My husband has been asking me to make jalapeño jelly.  You know that appetizer from...the 80's???  70's??  Block of cream cheese and pour the jelly over it.  Serve with crackers.  Good stuff.

[blue_dolphin]

My husband has been asking me to make jalapeño jelly.  You know that appetizer from...the 80's???  70's??  Block of cream cheese and pour the jelly over it.  Serve with crackers.  Good stuff.

 

That's exactly where I was going with my peach and jalapeño jam, although since I live in So Cal, I had to serve a little pot of jam with some goat cheese instead! 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Today I was most doubly blessed.  A friend came by and treated me to a lovely lunch (sautéed crab cakes, chips, and slaw).  Plus she carted away a big bag of tomatoes and all the okra I could pick.

[Okanagancook]

kayb, good luck with the asparagus.  It is a difficult plant to get growing.  They don't like to be moved; seeds are hard to get going and the rhizomes are equally difficult to get established.  It grows wild here or at least it used to be everywhere because the tree fruit farmers used over head watering on their trees.  With the advent of herbicides and the transforming of orchards to vineyards with drip irrigation, the asparagus is sparse.  In fact, if you know where a wild patch is growing, you don't tell anyone!  I know of a couple of patches that I visit each spring and we have small patch on our property.  We bought four small plants last year and only one has survived.  So, good luck and don't be disappointed.   It's not you.

[Smithy]

We also keep very quiet about the patches of wild asparagus in our area. Our neighbors, who are diligent gardeners, are ectatic that their asparagus is thriving; I think it took 2 years of care before they harvested a few stalks. Now it flourishes. As I recall they began with a careful and deep bed preparation, and used liberal amounts of compost and uncomposted manure. It can be done, but as Okanagancook notes it ain't easy.

[TicTac]

Re: Jalapeño surplus -

 

Roast them, peel, de-seed - get yourself a good large mortar and pestle, find high quality grape seed oil, add a chunk of rough sea salt, and pound to a paste, add further oil - jar - freeze or refrigerate - frozen it will last for 6-10 months easily, in the fridge, 2-3.

 

I find it far superior to simply frozen ones.

[hummingbirdkiss]

I want to catch up on my garden conversation but the pig, my animals are so much a part of gardening and cooking to me I  cannot talk about one with out the other ..but since i was miscasting I am not sure how to dialog  about this appropriately but  I will try one more time and if it doesn't work out I will just move along no hard feelings

 

 it is all tied into one world for me my garden, cooking and eating …one does not end where another starts 

 

Bacon is going to be bacon in about 6 months right now Bacon is my rototiller , my composting machine, and a fertilizer spreader all one one and no one claimed or even had any idea there was a pig anywhere so he is  mine and living the life of a suburban pig in a  garden.  

 

all of a sudden with just the addition of this little beast my yard fridge and freezer are cleared out of anything I wasn't going to eat myself 

 

I have cleaned all my beds and he goes in right after and has now plowed up my garlic and fava bean beds for next months planting… I get why farmers love pigs! Wow they are one do it yourself machine and the end result ? Well nose to tail eating of something I raised on garden refuse?  is no problem for me. 

win win win and he walked in the yard?

 

so that is the story and hope it follows the rules as well as provides the info folks with a little peek and advice if you want and plowed  clean yard ???? 

 

I have plenty of the white bean seeds I mentioned in an earlier post ..actually I have lots of culinary seeds if anyone wants to trade seeds? hope I am allowed to offer seeds to trade but during the winter it is as much fun planning and trading seeds for me as gardening is itself .. has EG ever had a seed trade thread for culinary heirloom seeds I wonder 

 

Right now we are eating and drying a lot of meaty sweet pumpkins …3 inches of super flavorful meat on them this year and pockets of seeds that were so easy to take out they are a "keeper" for sure 

 

 popcorn I finally can pop my own corn! that was crazy I and up to six ears on the  big corn plants and such pretty colors …I have never tried home grown popcorn i hope it pops ..if not it will make good corn bread 

 

happy fall gardening!  is anyone still planting?  ..other than the fava and garlic I am done until President's Day ..letting the animals have the beds then covering them for the winter 

 

 

next week we squeeze cider that is always fun fun fun 

 

cider ..I have to leave it on the counter for 4 days to get the sparkle does anyone else do that? 

something about cider 

 

I love autumn 

[ElainaA]

 

Although much of my garden is finishing for the year, the fall raspberries are just coming in- prolifically. I already have made raspberry /cherry jam, raspberry sauce and have a quart of raspberry puree in the freezer - all from the summer crop. So these are just for eating.

 

I have planted leeks for many years but this year, for the first time, several have sprouted what look just like garlic scapes and now are flowering:

 

 

 

The flowers start out purple but get lighter in color as they open. The fully open ones are almost white.

I usually leave leeks in the ground until after the first (or second) frost. However the ones that are sprouting and flowering are also very hard - so I think the rest come out this week.

 

Like hummingbirdkiss  I still have to plant garlic. Unlike her, I still have all the beds to clean up. My least favorite part of gardening. My compost is already overflowing. I think I need a pig. 

Edited September 27, 2015 by ElainaA (log)

[FauxPas]

Gardening or foraging? Hazelnuts from our yard, we have four mature hazelnut trees. The previous owners planted them and they produce quite a few nuts. But this year the deer got a few and the raccoon (plural) got a few. And right now we have a group of lovely blue jays (Steller's jays here in BC, our provincial bird) who have been hanging out in the trees. I love the jays so much and they love the younger nuts that are still on the trees, so I'm not going to shake the trees or anything. I'm also going to leave some nuts on the ground for them because I enjoy watching them and don't mind helping them stock up for winter.  

 

Cracking these is like shelling peas - a disproportionate number ended up in my mouth. Ha. Still, I usually have a few to use in a salad or dessert.

 

 

 

[hummingbirdkiss]

FauxPas the PNW is the land of milk and honey as far as I am concerned I could give a shit about the weather the bounty to be foraged and grown here is mind blowing to me ..but you have to have mossy toes  …I have hazelnuts all around my greenbelt but I never get that many at one time the pine squirrels always beat me! the nuts wild and planted go crazy here and produce but it is a fight and the struggle is real ..I always loose 

 

 

sunflowers were spectacular I forgot about the bees! the sunflowers all produced pizza sized seed platters and I know it was because of the bees! … ..my grandkids sit with the ripe green sunflowers  in their laps eating the seeds out of the flowers green and tossing the petals to the ducks ..  hard work and insanity pays off in seeing them like my own kids demolishing sunflowers in the purest of forms and then the cycle that lead up to it 

 

if you do not want to mess with  seeding sunflowers and want the benefits make the green seeds into milk but putting the whole thing in the blender  like you do with almond milk and then strain it 

 

I have eaten the heads like artichoke hearts but the seeds are my delicious reward so I rarely eat the heads ..half for me half for the birds and that bastard pine squirrel 

Edited September 27, 2015 by hummingbirdkiss (log)

[Okanagancook]

We had the discussion about okra.  Check out It's a Chef's Life, Season 3, Episode 5 It's a Prickly Business...all about okra,  Here is the link:  http://video.pbs.org/video/2365546844/

[ElainaA]

I harvested one of the cardoon plants today. They had been wrapped in burlap for 6 weeks to blanch the stalks.

 

 

This is what the stalks looked like before cleaning. They had to be peeled and boiled to make them tender enough to eat. I breaded and fried this batch - we really liked them. They do taste like their relative, artichokes. I have 2 more plants to harvest so I will experiment with different preparations.

Edited October 6, 2015 by ElainaA (log)

[Okanagancook]

I have not had the opportunity of purchasing or eating cardoons so new to me. They look nice and I like the flavour of artichokes. Looked them up on wiki. Do you use them as noted below?

"Cardoon leaf stalks, which look like large celery stalks, can be served steamed or braised, and have an artichoke-like flavour. They are harvested in winter and spring, being best just before the plant flowers.[13] In the Abruzzi region of Italy, Christmas lunch is traditionally started with a soup of cardoon cooked in chicken broth with little meatballs (lamb or, more rarely, beef), sometimes with the further addition of egg (which scrambles in the hot soup – called stracciatella) or fried chopped liver and heart.[citation needed]

The cardoon stalks are considered a delicacy in Spain, particularly in the northern region of Navarre, where they are grown in large quantities.[17] Only the innermost, white stalks are considered edible, a reason for which in Spain cardoons are usually cultivated by protecting the leaf stalks from the sunlight, often by burying them underground; thus, cardoon plantations in Spain are often formed by characteristic earth mounds surrounding each plant, the earth covering the stalks.[18] In Spain, cardoons are typically cooked by first boiling the stalks to soften them, and then adding simple sauces such as almond sauce or small amounts of jamón; they are sometimes combined with clams, artichokes, or beans as well."

[ElainaA]

I have not had the opportunity of purchasing or eating cardoons so new to me. They look nice and I like the flavour of artichokes. Looked them up on wiki. Do you use them as noted below?

"Cardoon leaf stalks, which look like large celery stalks, can be served steamed or braised, and have an artichoke-like flavour. They are harvested in winter and spring, being best just before the plant flowers.[13] In the Abruzzi region of Italy, Christmas lunch is traditionally started with a soup of cardoon cooked in chicken broth with little meatballs (lamb or, more rarely, beef), sometimes with the further addition of egg (which scrambles in the hot soup – called stracciatella) or fried chopped liver and heart.[citation needed]

The cardoon stalks are considered a delicacy in Spain, particularly in the northern region of Navarre, where they are grown in large quantities.[17] Only the innermost, white stalks are considered edible, a reason for which in Spain cardoons are usually cultivated by protecting the leaf stalks from the sunlight, often by burying them underground; thus, cardoon plantations in Spain are often formed by characteristic earth mounds surrounding each plant, the earth covering the stalks.[18] In Spain, cardoons are typically cooked by first boiling the stalks to soften them, and then adding simple sauces such as almond sauce or small amounts of jamón; they are sometimes combined with clams, artichokes, or beans as well."

 

This is the first time I have grown or cooked cardoon so I am experimenting. I used to see them in a local market occasionally but they haven't shown up for years now. I did blanch them for about 6 weeks before harvest but I did so by wrapping the plants in burlap rather than burying them - given the nature of our soil, more rock than soil, that seemed too challenging. As in your paragraph on Spanish use of them, I did boil them before frying them. I googled "cardoon recipes" and found a (to me) surprising number of recipes. I have 2 more plants so I'll try a couple of others - I think a gratin and a recipe for cardoon sautéed with honey and pine nuts. The soup sounds interesting too. I've read that cardoon is a main ingredient in bagna cauda so i may try that. 

I try to find something new to grow each year even if it is just a new variety. This was the year of cardoon and sunset runner beans - both successful. I have had some distinct failures in the past. 

[hummingbirdkiss]

//

wonderful air fresheners ! it has started raining and the quince are about 2 lbs a piece so they are falling off my tree and very dangerous right now ..OUCH!!! so I have to ripen them indoors …I make quince paste and quince tea and put them in Persian food dishes a lot ..the smell is so good I feel like I am in some kind of tropical paradise instead of on the Puget Sound watching a pig dig to China in the pouring rain …my back yard right now …I really hope Bacon loves quince the tree is loaded and the food bank will not take them….I could sell them to the Korean mkt I guess they bought some last year from me 

[Kerry Beal]

Yummm - quince flavoured bacon!

[Shelby]

Gardening or foraging? Hazelnuts from our yard, we have four mature hazelnut trees. The previous owners planted them and they produce quite a few nuts. But this year the deer got a few and the raccoon (plural) got a few. And right now we have a group of lovely blue jays (Steller's jays here in BC, our provincial bird) who have been hanging out in the trees. I love the jays so much and they love the younger nuts that are still on the trees, so I'm not going to shake the trees or anything. I'm also going to leave some nuts on the ground for them because I enjoy watching them and don't mind helping them stock up for winter.  

 

Cracking these is like shelling peas - a disproportionate number ended up in my mouth. Ha. Still, I usually have a few to use in a salad or dessert.

 

IMGP5332.JPG

I swear I wrote you a long post regarding these beautiful nuts and now I'm seeing it's not here.  I must have dreamed it lol.  Anyway, those nuts are great.  How fun to be able to walk right out and pick them!  I'd use them in my fall decorating too.....put them around a candle.....

 

I harvested one of the cardoon plants today. They had been wrapped in burlap for 6 weeks to blanch the stalks.

 

DSC00322.jpg

 

This is what the stalks looked like before cleaning. They had to be peeled and boiled to make them tender enough to eat. I breaded and fried this batch - we really liked them. They do taste like their relative, artichokes. I have 2 more plants to harvest so I will experiment with different preparations.

Interesting!  I love artichokes.  I love that you try to plant new things each year.  I need to be more adventurous.

[Smithy]

Lucky you! I would love to have access to ripe quince again. Years ago I was given ripe quince and ripe loquats by neighbors. Both were wonderful, and I've never been able to find either (worth buying) in a grocery store. Out here in Minnesota I think the quince must be picked well before they're ready, because they never cook up to anything worthwhile.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Just now, in the late afternoon sun, I brought in the last of this year's green tomatoes.  Enjoyed a couple of passing strawberries on the way.

 

Strangely the okra are still producing.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

We've had some frosts so the gardening has slowed down.  This evening I brought in just one okra pod, along with two little green tomatoes.

 

Late lunch today was picked okra.