Gardening: 2016 (midyear)

[HungryChris]

Tomatoes picked this morning. I think I'll have a tomato sandwich for breakfast.

HC

Edited August 3, 2016 by HungryChris (log)

[dcarch]

Something is very strange this year!

Tomatoes are huuuuge! Wonder what is going on?

 

dcarch

 

Ugly, but big

 

 

Looks like 2.5 lbs, still growing.

[Shelby]

Awesome!!!!  The ugly ones taste the best 

[Martin Fisher]

1 hour ago, dcarch said:

Something is very strange this year!

Tomatoes are huuuuge! Wonder what is going on?

 

dcarch

 

Ugly, but big

 

 

Looks like 2.5 lbs, still growing.

2

 

Interesting!

The top one looks like it's possibly the result of 'fused blossoms' — the bottom one just looks real big! 

 

[Okanagancook]

10 hours ago, Thanks for the Crepes said:

 

Could it be this one?

Yup, that is it.  thanks

 

[Toliver]

2 hours ago, dcarch said:

Something is very strange this year!

Tomatoes are huuuuge! Wonder what is going on?

Do you happen to live near Homer Simpson's Springfield nuclear power plant?  

[Okanagancook]

7 hours ago, ElainaA said:

I've made that sauce and really like it - and Marcella Hazan is one of my all time cooking gurus. My favorite tomato based pasta sauce is one with roasted peppers and roasted garlic. I make big batches and freeze it in quarts every year. The recipe is from the Harvest forum on GardenWeb. Let me know if you would like to have it.

Yes please.  I like the idea of some roasted peppers/garlic.

cheers

[Okanagancook]

dcarch is right, it is a strange year.  My tomatoes are ugly too, even the Early Girls who are normally very symmetrical.  My cucumber plants are tiny, barely 10 inches heigh and I lost three of them early on.  They just went brown and died.  My New Zealand spinach plants are in suspended animation, nothing growing.  And even the zucchini plants are small with a lot of little zucchinis going yellow and soft on the plant.

[ElainaA]

56 minutes ago, Okanagancook said:

Yes please.  I like the idea of some roasted peppers/garlic.

 

This recipe makes about 3 quarts. I make the whole recipe to freeze (because of the peppers and low acid level it is not safe for canning unless you have a pressure canner). I also sometimes make 1/4 recipe which makes about 3 cups. I have thought of adding ground beef or sausage but it doesn't really need it - it is delicious as is. The recipe was posted on the Harvest forum on GardenWeb.

Roasted Garlic Pasta Sauce.pdf

[HungryChris]

Finally dug up the three zucchini plants and sugar snaps, took down the fence to get the rototiller in, pulled up all the weeds, tilled and planted Swiss chard, lettuce and beets for greens. It's always a matter of luck at this point, but you have to go for it, no?

 

 

Here is the second zucchini wave building and the shishito peppers:

HC

 

[HungryChris]

Okay, so that last picture of the second wave of the zucchini bothered me so much, that I had to go back out and address the crab grass before I could eat breakfast.

HC

[dcarch]

51 minutes ago, HungryChris said:

----------- that I had to go back out and address the crab grass before I could eat breakfast.

HC

 

 

I am not that concerned about weeds. I don't think they effect crops much.

This year's weeds will become next year's compost after rototilted.

 

dcarch

[cyalexa]

Does anyone have experience with tomatillos? I'm growing them for the first time this year. They are small but prolific and I am wondering if I can freeze them whole like tomatoes. My other new to me this year crop is lemongrass. I haven't harvested any yet but think I may soon.  

[sartoric]

Our first tomatoes, I think one will be thinly sliced onto some hot buttered toast...

 

[HungryChris]

This mornings pickage. The cow manure compost that I bought, spread and tilled in, in May has been paying off. I hope to double down for next season.

HC

[Shelby]

Beautiful, Chris!

[Shelby]

Had to test the Silver Queen last night.  It's almost done.  Still good enough to snarf down.  The one with the smut was mine   

 

 

[rotuts]

does the Smut taste any different as it matures  i.e. gets gray ?

[Shelby]

13 minutes ago, rotuts said:

does the Smut taste any different as it matures  i.e. gets gray ?

Yes, it does.  The new/white ones taste just like sweet corn and are crisp.  I eat them raw.  The darker ones are more like a mushroom.  They more absorb other flavors that you cook them with.

[DianaB]

2 hours ago, Shelby said:

Yes, it does.  The new/white ones taste just like sweet corn and are crisp.  I eat them raw.  The darker ones are more like a mushroom.  They more absorb other flavors that you cook them with.

 

I've never grown corn and certainly never seen Smut before.  Would you mind sharing how it develops? Is it a fungal parasitic type thing?  I'm guessing it doesn't ruin the corn however it originates?  

 

ETA As as I hit post I realised I should have Googled first!  Apologies...

Edited August 8, 2016 by DianaB (log)

[Shelby]

3 minutes ago, DianaB said:

 

I've never grown corn and certainly never seen Smut before.  Would you mind sharing how it develops? Is it a fungal parasitic type thing?  I'm guessing it doesn't ruin the corn however it originates?  

 

ETA As as I hit post I realised I should have Googled first!  Apologies...

 

This link describes what it is.  If you google huitlacoche you will get some information, too. 

 

If you scroll down on this link from a thread here on EG, you will see my first foray into smut last year 

 

I never knew what it was, except it grossed me out when I'd walk in the field corn and see these mutated ears hanging down.  Farmers hate it when this happens.  The guys that farm our place would freak if I ever told them that we eat it off of our sweet corn lol.

[DianaB]

Thanks for the links Shelby, my learning for today!  

[IowaDee]

I just rechecked and Amazon is selling Goya brand huitlacoche for under ten bucks.  I first had it as an omelet filling and once past the shock of it, liked it.  Farmers' around here call it corn smut and would never, ever think about putting it in their mouths.  More for me

[Shelby]

16 minutes ago, IowaDee said:

I just rechecked and Amazon is selling Goya brand huitlacoche for under ten bucks.  I first had it as an omelet filling and once past the shock of it, liked it.  Farmers' around here call it corn smut and would never, ever think about putting it in their mouths.  More for me

Yup, here too. 

 

I have to wait until the dark of night to go get mine.....(kidding)  but I don't think I'll ever tell them that I eat it lol.

[Jacksoup]

Here's the last of the plum-palooza.  $2 dollar bill for scale.  If you're on my Christmas list, you're going to get plum

chutney.