Gardening: 2016 (midyear)

[Shelby]

Thanks, Anna.  

 

I realize that I sound super negative.  Sigh.  It's just so much work to have it all ruined.

 

Bright side is the peas are ok.  Might go see if there are enough for dinner before it gets too hot.

 

We planted --for like the 4th time lol--more squash yesterday.  The existing ones got whipped around pretty good but...for what they went through, they don't look too bad.

 

And, Ronnie had 4 more tomato plants in the greenhouse so we planted those, too.  

 

I weeded and sevin dusted everything yesterday.  Then it stormed again in the middle of the night.  I'm sure it rained just enough to knock all the sevin dust off lol.

[Deryn]

Shelby - I am SO very sorry to hear about all this. Thank gosh that you and yours are safe though.

 

Summer is just about to start - I am sure that even if all is apparently lost now, there is still time to start again and bring in a bumper crop before fall despite this setback. I do hope those corn plants are resilient after all though. In any event, I have no doubt that even if you have replant everything, in no time you will be well ahead of me here in the far northeast. But, take a few deep breaths ... YOU are ok and that is what is most important.

[Deryn]

1 hour ago, KennethT said:

Indoor strawberry experiment, Phase 1:

Otherwise known as "how to turn your living room/dining room into a small farm"....

 

Looking forward to further installments re this experiment. Since our growing season is so short where I live, my own intentions are to do exactly the same - create an indoor 'farm' for my year round dining pleasure. Fresh homegrown strawberries in January sound wonderful.

[KennethT]

@Shelby I echo the others in how sorry I am to hear about this.  But you're right - if the root systems are intact (and not drowned), it is definitely possible for the plants to survive - although they will be significantly delayed - so you may have problems just because harvest time may be too late.  A few years ago, I did an experiment with my tomato plant - it had grown huge and took over a whole corner of the apartment, and I cut it all down, but kept the system running - a few days later,a new header popped out of the "soil" and started a new tomato plant... sometimes, life finds a way.  I'm glad no one was hurt.

[KennethT]

Phase 1.1 complete!  Using about a half-can of pvc glue, it appears that all my joints look solid - I'll let it cure for a day or two, then check for leaks...  Unfortunately, the apartment now smells like a nail polish factory, and I'm more than a little light headed!!!

[ElainaA]

@Shelby  I am so sorry!! I'm away for awhile and disaster strikes! I can't imagine how you are dealing with this. I lost all my tomatoes and peppers to hail a few years ago - but that was late in the summer so there was no recovery (I admit to crying.) - you may be luckier both with time to replant and perhaps for some plant to recover. As I said in a post above - gardeners are at war with nature more often than in tune with nature. 

[Shelby]

Just now, ElainaA said:

@Shelby  I am so sorry!! I'm away for awhile and disaster strikes! I can't imagine how you are dealing with this. I lost all my tomatoes and peppers to hail a few years ago - but that was late in the summer so there was no recovery (I admit to crying.) - you may be luckier both with time to replant and perhaps for some plant to recover. As I said in a post above - gardeners are at war with nature more often than in tune with nature. 

Thank you Elaina--and Kenneth and Deryn and Anna for commiserating with me.

 

Oh, yes, I stood in the middle of the garden Thurs. morning and sobbed.  A small pity party for one ensued lol.

 

I'm debating planting--yet again--tomato plants if I can find any....but really most of me wants to just let the ones that are out there try to make it. If they do they do, if they don't they don't.

 

I think I am going to order more Silver Queen I don't think it's too late to plant a bit more.

[Martin Fisher]

2 hours ago, Shelby said:

I've missed you guys!  We have been internet-less since Wednesday late afternoon.  The heat index was 110 F that day and a whopper of a storm built on top of us.  It rained 5-7 inches in ONE hour here.  60 mph winds steady with super high gusts.  A funnel was spotted just west of my house but we weren't able to see it.  It hailed for a good HOUR or more.  Pea to quarter size hail.   Irrigation was blown over (not mine thank GOD).  The storm blew so hard that it caused water to get into the eaves of the house and flood the front room which is where all of my internet equipment is kept.  Yeah.  Fried it.

 

I got up at daylight the next morning to survey the damage.  I took pictures of the "garden" but it's just too depressing to post.  All of the tomato plants were stripped.  Cukes ripped out of the ground.  My beautiful Silver Queen corn flattened.  On and on and on.  So, I went out yesterday and spent hours gently lifting plants out of the mud, removing all damaged leaves etc.  The internet says that if plants have even just one leaf left that they can sometimes recover.  I've never ever had such terrible damage.  The weeds, however, remained unscathed. 

 

As I peer out the window this morning the corn actually looks better.  It's beginning to stand up again.....we will see.

 

I still have 22 acres of wheat yet to cut.  Remains to be seen whether the hail knocked the kernels out out or not.  My field corn was stripped but not laying down like a lot of folks' are around.

 

I usually get at least one tomato around the 4th of July.  Not this year.

 

Ugh!!! Sorry to hear that! 

 

[Tere]

Glad you are safe, Shelby.

[djyee100]

Shelby, I'm so sorry about your gardening disaster, glad you and yours are OK.

　

If your garden was flattened, I would expect other gardens in your area were too. Maybe your supplier will bring in more tomato plants, etc., for you?

[Okanagancook]

 Shelby, to reiterate, glad you are safe.  Chin up.  It is early enough in your growing season to still get some kinda modified crop out of your veggie patch of love.

[Wayne]

5 hours ago, KennethT said:

Indoor strawberry experiment, Phase 1:

Otherwise known as "how to turn your living room/dining room into a small farm"....

 

Really enjoy following your posts.

I'd nominate you for an Horticulture McGyver Award.

 

 

[Wayne]

5 hours ago, Shelby said:

I've missed you guys!  We have been internet-less since Wednesday late afternoon.  The heat index was 110 F that day and a whopper of a storm built on top of us.  It rained 5-7 inches in ONE hour here.  60 mph winds steady with super high gusts.  A funnel was spotted just west of my house but we weren't able to see it.  It hailed for a good HOUR or more.  Pea to quarter size hail.   Irrigation was blown over (not mine thank GOD).  The storm blew so hard that it caused water to get into the eaves of the house and flood the front room which is where all of my internet equipment is kept.  Yeah.  Fried it.

 

I got up at daylight the next morning to survey the damage.  I took pictures of the "garden" but it's just too depressing to post.  All of the tomato plants were stripped.  Cukes ripped out of the ground.  My beautiful Silver Queen corn flattened.  On and on and on.  So, I went out yesterday and spent hours gently lifting plants out of the mud, removing all damaged leaves etc.  The internet says that if plants have even just one leaf left that they can sometimes recover.  I've never ever had such terrible damage.  The weeds, however, remained unscathed. 

 

As I peer out the window this morning the corn actually looks better.  It's beginning to stand up again.....we will see.

 

I still have 22 acres of wheat yet to cut.  Remains to be seen whether the hail knocked the kernels out out or not.  My field corn was stripped but not laying down like a lot of folks' are around.

 

I usually get at least one tomato around the 4th of July.  Not this year.

 

Sorry about your losses. It still may be early enough in the season to recover for a later harvest.

The main thing is that everyone is safe.

 

[sartoric]

I'm also so sorry to hear about your garden @Shelby, I hope you can salvage a meal or two from the ruins.

[DianaB]

I was feeling most depressed reading this topic and seeing all of the wonderful gardens you have, full of crops ready or almost ready to eat, then I got to @Shelby's report and realised my own difficulties are trivial, in fact not even difficulties in the scheme of things.  Shelby, I've read your posts throughout this thread and seen all the work you have put into your garden, alongside creating the fantastic meals that you post elsewhere on the forum. I really do hope that you manage to recover at least some of your produce this year.

 

Here our gardens are well behind most of yours, in part because of our geographic position but also this year because the weather has been dreadful for a long time (most of 2016).  We are still running the heating in the house because it is so cold, especially at night.

 

Our space is tiny but as there are only two of us that doesn't cause a problem.  We are now eating our own salads, tomatoes still in the greenhouse but in flower.  Physalis also in flower but again still under glass, they need to be moved out so that chillies can take their place.  We have parsnips in for the first time.  Butternut squash germinated but too small to go in the ground yet.  We had decided to forego courgettes this year since much of last year's crop is still in the freezer but a neighbour gave us a plant so that is also in the ground.  One plant will be more than enough for us.

 

The olive tree made it through the winter under glass and is growing well outside, joined by a miniature cherry this year.  

 

I had had hoped we would be eating our own asparagus this year but not a chance.  Elsewhere in England I've not been able to keep up with the amount of spears one crown produced but this garden is odd, it produces some things really well but others that are often difficult to contain just won't take.  I have grown asparagus from seed in the past without difficulty, not here though.

 

Parsnips:

 

Strawberries, thornless blackberry, raspberry and rosemary:

 

Supposed to be a kiwi fruit.  Grows well but never any sign of a flower.  It was described as a plant suitable for pot growing without need of a partner.  We live in hope but it looks nice anyway.

 

 

[Wayne]

 

This morning's haul: various romaine lettuces, kale and collards, white onions, various herbs (sage, rosemary, parlsey and thyme) as well as a bulb of last season's garlic and a large haul of garlic scapes.

 

 

I'll be pickling the scapes soon. I've already got two lactoferments going so this wil be a hot water bath canning.

The rest is all going into Father's Day dinner.

 

 

[Shelby]

Thanks everyone.  Just got inside from a garden inspection.  I see a tiny new leaf coming out on an eggplant so that's a good sign, right?  Have to get up early tomorrow so I'll do some weeding then.

 

I ordered more corn, some okra and 6 tomato plants yesterday.  

 

It stormed again in the late afternoon.  Sigh.  Nothing like the big storm, but still more rain.  My plants are like "ok ok enough water already".

 

Beautiful stuff Diana and Wayne.  So lush looking.

 

[JohnT]

4 minutes ago, Shelby said:

Thanks everyone.  Just got inside from a garden inspection.  I see a tiny new leaf coming out on an eggplant so that's a good sign, right?  Have to get up early tomorrow so I'll do some weeding then.

 

I ordered more corn, some okra and 6 tomato plants yesterday.  

 

It stormed again in the late afternoon.  Sigh.  Nothing like the big storm, but still more rain.  My plants are like "ok ok enough water already".

 

Beautiful stuff Diana and Wayne.  So lush looking.

 

Sorry to hear about your storm damage - we are in winter in the southerly point of Africa and are having our second day of much needed soft, soaking rain. A quick question — what do you do with okra? It is not something we get here but I have eaten (or attempted to eat) it twice, once in Grenada and once in Ft Lauderdale. Both times I nearly vomited due to its mouthfeel and texture! Am I alone or is it just not properly prepared?

[Okanagancook]

Earliest garlic harvest ever!  It has been wet the last couple of days but with sun in the forecast for all of next week I shall hang my garlic up outside in our covered dog run tomorrow.  It will get nice breezes without the hot sun, just a little morning sun.  The bulbs aren't as big this year and we are thinking it is because they grew so fast. Oh well, better than the store bought stuff and way cheaper than the farmers market garlic.

 

[Shelby]

1 hour ago, JohnT said:

Sorry to hear about your storm damage - we are in winter in the southerly point of Africa and are having our second day of much needed soft, soaking rain. A quick question — what do you do with okra? It is not something we get here but I have eaten (or attempted to eat) it twice, once in Grenada and once in Ft Lauderdale. Both times I nearly vomited due to its mouthfeel and texture! Am I alone or is it just not properly prepared?

A lot of people don't really care for okra but I do think it's a lot about how it's prepared.

 

My husband used to hate the stuff until I fried some one day in a cornmeal type batter.  He also tolerates it in gumbo.  I love it all ways.  Stewed tomatoes from the garden with okra yummmm.

[DianaB]

3 hours ago, Okanagancook said:

Earliest garlic harvest ever!  It has been wet the last couple of days but with sun in the forecast for all of next week I shall hang my garlic up outside in our covered dog run tomorrow.  It will get nice breezes without the hot sun, just a little morning sun.  The bulbs aren't as big this year and we are thinking it is because they grew so fast. Oh well, better than the store bought stuff and way cheaper than the farmers market garlic.

 

 

Very impressive garlic crop.  My husband planted a couple of rows last autumn, I was less than enthusiastic, friends in France had not been lucky with their attempts, they produced small bulbs with miniature cloves all but impossible to peel.  Anyway our plants have grown well, still growing in fact.  Can you advise at what stage they should be pulled?

 

Many thanks. 

[djyee100]

4 hours ago, JohnT said:

A quick question — what do you do with okra? It is not something we get here but I have eaten (or attempted to eat) it twice, once in Grenada and once in Ft Lauderdale. Both times I nearly vomited due to its mouthfeel and texture! Am I alone or is it just not properly prepared?

 

It's all in the cooking method. Okra reduces to slime with wet cooking methods. I stick to dry cooking, preferably high heat methods like frying and sauté.

 

It's helpful to dry the okra as much as possible before you cook it. I rinse the okra, then air-dry it on a kitchen towel. I've even dried each okra individually with a dishtowel when I was in a hurry. In a stirfry with gravy, I cut off the cap and keep the pod whole. The starchy interior in contact with liquid makes okra slimy, so keep that in mind when you're cooking.

 

I've posted recipes and cooking tips about okra elsewhere on EGullet.

 

Indian recipes, my post 10/11/13,

https://forums.egullet.org/topic/11909-okra/?page=5

 

Thai recipe, my post 10/21/08,

https://forums.egullet.org/topic/144036-thai-cooking-at-home-2007-%E2%80%93-2012/?page=13

 

Once I learned how to cook okra, I really love it.

 

Edited June 19, 2016 by djyee100 (log)

[JohnT]

Thanks djyee100, I will go and read your links! They say "Third time lucky", so once I source some okra, I will follow your instructions and see how it turns out. The problem here is to find okra, which I have never seen at any supplier of vegetables.

[djyee100]

43 minutes ago, JohnT said:

The problem here is to find okra, which I have never seen at any supplier of vegetables.

 

That's ironic since the okra plant is African in origin, probably West African. It can be grown in a Mediterranean climate like yours and mine. Okra is readily found in markets here. Do you have a garden? You could try growing some.

[kayb]

@Shelby -- Oh, no! I am SO sorry! But thank God you and your house are (mostly) OK. We're hearing we're going to get a bad summer as far as heat and drought goes -- hit 100 for the first time a day or so ago. 

 

I almost hate to post this in light of your recent bad luck but -- first squash and zucchini.

 

 

I MAY have my first tomato this week, beyond the cherry ones. My yellow cherry tomato is bearing prolifically; my red grape tomato, biggest plant in the garden, is lagging behind. Romas haven't started turning yet.