Gardening: 2016 (midyear)

Thanks for the Crepes · August 20, 2016

Now, while a sweet tomato ice cream might not appeal, I just thought of a savory tomato sorbet with basil. What do y'all think about that one?

shain · August 20, 2016

Garden update. The peak of summer is behind us, and I'm preparing for fall.

There are still many tomatoes to pick up, and I'm keeping seeds from the best vines for next summer.

I noticed a caper plant growing near an old building during an evening walk. Iv'e followed it for a couple of months until the fruits had ripen (I was unsuccessful in propagating it from a cutting). The first few seeds had sprouted this weekend.

The huge arugula bush is spreading all over the gardens. Iv'e chosen 3 lucky seedlings and transplanted them.

Cow peas.

A small pineapple plant, grown from the top of a fruit I bought a month ago. It's quite full of vigor.

Last year the rain has damaged the olives flowers all over the country, but this year there is plenty of fruit. I'll let them fully ripe with the intention of salt curing the olives.

There are also huge amount of carob pods hanging around. I'm going to toast and ground this batch into powder, for later use.

A sea daffodil, which is flowering despite being planted by a wall and reviving only the afternoon sun. Iv'e sown this plant many years ago, and it is only flowering for the last few years. I should keep the seeds and spread them to a more sunny place.

And talking about keeping seeds, it seems I have a surplus of lupine seeds. The garden is going to be very purple this winter.

ElainaA · August 20, 2016

@shain Great garden. I love seeing how gardens differ based on geography - you have so many plants that would never grow in my climate. I will admit to long-growing-season envy. Are all your lupine purple? They are one of my favorite flowers and I love the way they reseed themselves. I have yellow, white and pink as well as purple here.

Also, is your olive tree as ancient as it appears?

shain · August 20, 2016

On 8/20/2016 at 12:28 PM, ElainaA said:

@shain Great garden. I love seeing how gardens differ based on geography - you have so many plants that would never grow in my climate. I will admit to long-growing-season envy. Are all your lupine purple? They are one of my favorite flowers and I love the way they reseed themselves. I have yellow, white and pink as well as purple here.

Also, is your olive tree as ancient as it appears?

Expand

Thank you Elaina. My lupines are blueish-purple they are all "Lupinus pilosu" (In Hebrew we call them "mountain lupine"), and probably derived from a wild plant many years ago.

My olive tree looks older then it really is, he was planted about 25-30 years ago, so give or take, it's about 35 years old.
There are also plant's that I'll probably never be able to grow: apples, berries, cherries, to name a few.

ElainaA · August 20, 2016

As usual, my best "crop" are the volunteer morning glories - self-seeded descendants of 4 plants I put in many years ago. In a good year they climb all over the arch above the gate. This year is so dry they might not make it.

And the tomatoes keep on coming - the majority are still green. This is 2 day's harvest. Some will become faux- V8 juice this afternoon, some of the cherries will be slow roasted tomato sauce for dinner and I'll probably can another batch tomorrow.

HungryChris · August 21, 2016

The first of what I hope to be a big Shishito pepper crop. They are also known as "old man peppers" and "lion head peppers". Once the nights turn a little cooler, I think they will start pounding them out.

HC

Edited August 21, 2016 by HungryChris (log)

dcarch · August 21, 2016

On 8/20/2016 at 3:46 PM, ElainaA said:

As usual, my best "crop" are the volunteer morning glories - self-seeded descendants of 4 plants I put in many years ago. In a good year they climb all over the arch above the gate. This year is so dry they might not make it.

Expand

Some Morning Glory leaves are edible.

dcarch

ElainaA · August 21, 2016

On 8/21/2016 at 3:05 PM, dcarch said:

Some Morning Glory leaves are edible.

dcarch

Expand

From Wikipedia (and therefore of course not 100% reliable): "The seeds of many species of morning glory contain ergoline alkaloids such as the psychedelic ergonovine and ergine (LSA). Seeds of Ipomoea tricolor and Turbina corymbosa (syn. R. corymbosa) are used as psychedelics. The seeds of morning glory can produce a similar effect to LSD when taken in large doses."

Is this the "edible" you were referring to?

I assume you were really referring to the varieties also called 'water spinach' - banned in most of the US as a 'noxious weed'. There are many different varieties of morning glory - I'm not really sure what mine is after all these years.

dcarch · August 21, 2016

On 8/21/2016 at 4:22 PM, ElainaA said:

From Wikipedia (and therefore of course not 100% reliable): "The seeds of many species of morning glory contain ergoline alkaloids such as the psychedelic ergonovine and ergine (LSA). Seeds of Ipomoea tricolor and Turbina corymbosa (syn. R. corymbosa) are used as psychedelics. The seeds of morning glory can produce a similar effect to LSD when taken in large doses."

Is this the "edible" you were referring to?

I assume you were really referring to the varieties also called 'water spinach' - banned in most of the US as a 'noxious weed'. There are many different varieties of morning glory - I'm not really sure what mine is after all these years.

Expand

No. I was only talking about leaves of some varieties. Not seeds.

Also, Morning Glory and sweet potatoes are in the same family. Sweet potato leaves are a common vegetable for Asians and are sold in many Asian stores.

dcarch

Tere · August 21, 2016

On 8/20/2016 at 10:57 AM, Thanks for the Crepes said:

Now, while a sweet tomato ice cream might not appeal, I just thought of a savory tomato sorbet with basil. What do y'all think about that one?

Expand

That would work I think. I had a quite savoury dessert years ago at the Bilderberg Garden Hotel in Amsterdam that involved a tomato and black olive sorbet. Both were good. That was also the meal that introduced me to how delicious properly cooked fresh pasta is.

Tere · August 21, 2016

It's too soggy for pictures but the garden is still giving. Mum and stepdad visited today and she took an enormous bunch of cornflowers home with her. My next door neighbour dropped by and left with broad beans and runner beans. Broad beans with the roast last night, today we had cod wrapped in spinach beet and parsley from the garden baked in parma ham, courgette from the garden with olive oil, lemon zest, the juice of the lemon and lots of salt and pepper (a revelation), and plenty of runner beans.

The blackberries aren't technically part of the veggy garden but they are coming. So are my lingonberries! I've harvested the nasturtiums as a small green and black caterpillar (cabbage white?) had descended. Luckily they don't like the seeds, which I am going to pickle as poor man's capers. Sunflowers are coming. Cornichons also harvested as they were less successful apart from a mutant one which is 5 inches long! I also have a few raspberries and gooseberries which is great for a first year crop We have masses of tomato flowers but only a couple of green fruits at the mo. We will see if they ripen. If not, tomato chutney I guess?

I see picking french beans and runner beans for the freezer in my future

Okanagancook · August 21, 2016

Lots of green beans and tomatoes coming in now. I've been making onions, garlic, tomatoes and green beans for the freezer. Never made them before, they are delicious.

**djyee100** · August 21, 2016

On 8/21/2016 at 7:10 PM, Tere said:

...masses of tomato flowers but only a couple of green fruits at the mo. We will see if they ripen. If not, tomato chutney I guess?

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Consider Green Tomato Jam. I tasted this jam at one of Rosetta Costantino's cooking classes. I thought it was delicious, but I haven't cooked it because I don't grow tomatoes.

Rosetta served the jam in a tart. She spread the jam in an unbaked tart shell and covered it with a lattice crust, then baked it.

Recipe for the jam online. In the version I have, the recipe calls for 2.5 lbs of green tomatoes, 2 cups sugar, grated peel of one lemon, 1/3 cup lemon juice.

http://www.food.com/recipe/green-tomato-jam-marmellata-di-pomodori-verdi-493663

Tere · August 21, 2016

ooh, looks interesting! Thanks

Thanks for the Crepes · August 22, 2016

On 8/21/2016 at 4:22 PM, ElainaA said:

I assume you were really referring to the varieties also called 'water spinach' - banned in most of the US as a 'noxious weed'. There are many different varieties of morning glory - I'm not really sure what mine is after all these years.

Expand

I think it was @Tere who grew water spinach this year, and said her husband banned it from the garden for subsequent years. I was unable to confirm this on a search.

Could whoever grew this plant this season expand on why it was banned please?

And yeah, @ElainaA, it doesn't sound worth the risk to try eating your morning glories, although they are very beautiful.

Tere · August 22, 2016

I grew tree spinach this year (http://www.seedaholic.com/spinach-mexican-tree-spinach.html). It was banned from the garden for being too "furry" to eat, more furry than spinach, not because of any poisonous or invasive quality. Shame, as the shoots really are an impressive pink

huiray · August 22, 2016

On 8/21/2016 at 3:05 PM, dcarch said:

Some Morning Glory leaves are edible.

dcarch

Expand

On 8/21/2016 at 4:22 PM, ElainaA said:

From Wikipedia (and therefore of course not 100% reliable): "The seeds of many species of morning glory contain ergoline alkaloids such as the psychedelic ergonovine and ergine (LSA). Seeds of Ipomoea tricolor and Turbina corymbosa (syn. R. corymbosa) are used as psychedelics. The seeds of morning glory can produce a similar effect to LSD when taken in large doses."

Is this the "edible" you were referring to?

I assume you were really referring to the varieties also called 'water spinach' - banned in most of the US as a 'noxious weed'. There are many different varieties of morning glory - I'm not really sure what mine is after all these years.

Expand

On 8/21/2016 at 6:17 PM, dcarch said:

No. I was only talking about leaves of some varieties. Not seeds.

Also, Morning Glory and sweet potatoes are in the same family. Sweet potato leaves are a common vegetable for Asians and are sold in many Asian stores.

dcarch

Expand

On 8/22/2016 at 7:15 AM, Thanks for the Crepes said:

I think it was @Tere who grew water spinach this year, and said her husband banned it from the garden for subsequent years. I was unable to confirm this on a search.

Could whoever grew this plant this season expand on why it was banned please?

And yeah, @ElainaA, it doesn't sound worth the risk to try eating your morning glories, although they are very beautiful.

Expand

See here.

ETA: And yes, I (and many others) have posted many, many dishes with kangkong (= water morning glory) as the main ingredient, I on the various dining/meal threads in particular.

Edited August 22, 2016 by huiray (log)

IndyRob · August 22, 2016

Grapevines: I ordered 8 vines online this spring and I got 8 vine sticks with bare roots wrapped in wet newspaper. Not without pessimism, I planted them all with varying care, and to my surprise, all 8 sprung to life and have thrived. The ones with the best light exposure are now taller than me.

However, in the last month I've noticed a change in growth. Rather than continuing to grow large leaves, they seem to have shifted into a mode where they're trying to spread out by producing a lot of little parsley sized leaves at their ends. I'd like to interpret this as the vines finding their limits and feel like I should prune them all off to encourage more root growth.

Would this be the correct course of action?

Okanagancook · August 23, 2016

On 8/22/2016 at 10:08 PM, IndyRob said:

Grapevines: I ordered 8 vines online this spring and I got 8 vine sticks with bare roots wrapped in wet newspaper. Not without pessimism, I planted them all with varying care, and to my surprise, all 8 sprung to life and have thrived. The ones with the best light exposure are now taller than me.

However, in the last month I've noticed a change in growth. Rather than continuing to grow large leaves, they seem to have shifted into a mode where they're trying to spread out by producing a lot of little parsley sized leaves at their ends. I'd like to interpret this as the vines finding their limits and feel like I should prune them all off to encourage more root growth.

Would this be the correct course of action?

Expand

My DH says, with proper hydration you get three to four fingers space between leaves. Less than that they would be dry and they need more water especially for new plants.

Bhukhhad · August 23, 2016

Tftc

Once again, a big thank-you for telling me about this gardening section!

These are my opo squash. I grow them every summer along with zuchhini and yellow squash. Also some serano or thai chilies and beans. This year I also grew amaranth and butternut squash. Will post more pics soon.

In winter I grow radish carrots and I try to grow more squash varieties if I can.

**Shelby** · August 23, 2016

Those be some big squash!

Bhukhhad · August 23, 2016

Hahahaha yes, these are huge. Like the big watermelon they are mostly water. Very good for you

i harvest them a little over their time too I must admit, because I love seeing them grow so big. When we were kids we used to play Mahabharata roles with these squashes. The Opo Squash looks like a big Mace and the Mace was the weapon for Hanuman the simian character in Mahabharata. I taught my son and all his friends the same while reading them all these stories in their summer holidays.

Bhukhhad · August 23, 2016

Ok so here are the rest of the pictures for my veggies right now:

More Opo

Zuchhini

Amaranth

Fennel

Butternut Squash

Lemon Cucumber (its delicious)

Oregano

and Mint

Thanks for being interested. All of you.

i have overdone the fennel planting this year and it is attracting honey bees. They start so early in the morning I can barely work on the weeding. And as I got bitten twice this summer I am wary of the bees now. But the fennel has come into seed and my favorite little birds come to eat it. I dont have the heart to cut it away now.

Bhukhhad

Edited August 23, 2016 by Bhukhhad (log)

Tere · August 23, 2016

Couple of recent pickings from the garden, Some of the courgette got made into a pseudo ratatouille I'm about to post on the dinner thread, some got baked with lemon zest and olive oil for a family dinner at the weekend.

Bhukhhad · August 23, 2016

Tere

These are beautiful courgettes. I have only found dark green zuchhini, not these. They look so pretty.

Maybe this winter I will plant a whole bunch of colorful gourds and squashes.

What are those blue flowers? Asters? Are they edible? Very pretty. And the swiss chard has only red stems of do you have the rainbow chard variety?

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