Gardening: (2016– )

[heidih]

I think it will like the wine barrel. I've had to battle terra cotta at landscape jobs - lovely pots from Italy but the plants often unhappy. Course we have hard water and the mineral build up was intense.. 

[KennethT]

I used terracotta pots years ago and never had much success with them - and we have very soft water!  I tried growing citrus in them, even drilling extra drainage holes and making the soil more than 1/2 cedar shavings - I still got root rot quickly.  I grow pretty much exclusively in fabric pots now and I'm not looking back!

[haresfur]

Interesting, I have done pretty well with terracotta. Although my grass trees haven't grown into tree form and are just low spiky bushes at ten years old. They are committed to the pots because the roots are extremely fragile and don't transplant well. The pot the tree was in wasn't as porous as some because I made it out of a terracotta with sand clay body and fired it to a slightly higher temperature to make it frost proof. But it still has some porosity, unlike the glazed pots. Weirdly, I haven't had great luck with my raised beds. That may be mostly due to the earwigs.

[TicTac]

Little garden update 

 

cukes are producing tons of flowers but yet to see any fruit…hope that’s just temporary 

 

Root pouch test is going well- tomatoes are about 1” at the stalk and producing lots of baby fruit 

 

cant recall the name of this tree but love the flowers….

 

[donk79]

1 hour ago, TicTac said:

 

cant recall the name of this tree but love the flowers...

 

Catalpa?

[TicTac]

16 hours ago, donk79 said:

Catalpa?

Northern Catalpa - you got it.  Thanks for the reminder.

 

Love the leaves as well, great for mulch!

 

 

[Shelby]

I think we're going to have a bumper crop of potatoes this year.  The plants aren't dead yet (meaning they are not ready to dig) but potatoes are popping out of the ground!

 

Pulling onions every day.  Lots of cucumbers.  Hoping to get enough jalapeños to pickle a batch and can them.  I sent Ronnie down to the field for some grape leaves.  Starting a crock of pickles this afternoon.

 

 

[heidih]

@Shelby how do you utilize the young grape leaves? I so miss my vines.

[Shelby]

15 minutes ago, heidih said:

@Shelby how do you utilize the young grape leaves? I so miss my vines.

Should have explained that better.  I put them in the bottom and on the top of my crock that I brine my pickles in.  Supposedly helps keep them crisp.

[FauxPas]

There's a garden that I drive by quite often and it just amazes me. Year after year, there is a perfectly organized bed there with militarily precise planting lines. I wonder if they even have to weed, as the weeds are likely too scared to make an appearance. These photos don't even do it justice. They have another section also. It's tricky to get a good photo as it's along a narrow rural road with nowhere to pull over. I have never have a garden like this one. My gardens tended to be somewhat chaotic and over-planted. 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

[heidih]

@FauxPas that is an attractively tidy and lush looking garden. I am more towards the Ruth Stout side https://www.homestead.org/gardening/ruth-stout-no-dig-duchess/

[rotuts]

#FauxPas 

 

Wow !

 

Id enjoy knowing what they are growing.

[Shelby]

That is beautiful!

[Annie_H]

Wow, what a garden. ^

On 6/24/2022 at 10:06 AM, Shelby said:

Pulling onions every day.  Lots of cucumbers.  Hoping to get enough jalapeños to pickle a batch and can them.  I sent Ronnie down to the field for some grape leaves.  Starting a crock of pickles this afternoon.

Nice harvest. Much earlier harvest than here. I blanch, stack, and freeze my grape leaves in food saver bags. I stuff them in the fall.

I did get a surprise early flush of zucchini flowers starting last week. I've never had flowers for the 4th of July. Though I did start some seed indoors early. Last year my first zucchini flower meal was end of July. 

 

[Annie_H]

Last week I started some more seed hoping for a fall crop, or at least flowers. 

Interesting plant is the green bush variety. Very compact. The flowers are triplets. Three clustered at the end of each stem. 

 

 

[FauxPas]

9 hours ago, rotuts said:

#FauxPas 

 

Wow !

 

Id enjoy knowing what they are growing.

 

yeah, I'd like to know also. Peas on the right side there along with what looks like beans. But beans should be a lot further along than that unless they had something else growing there first. It was a really late season here because we had an unusually cool Spring and a lot of rain, but that garden was still producing quite early. It's active through Spring, Summer and Fall so they definitely do succession planting. I can't really identify what some of the plants are. Sorry! I would have expected tomatoes, but I think they have a separate bed for them. 

[Nancy in Pátzcuaro]

13 hours ago, Annie_H said:

Wow, what a garden. ^

Nice harvest. Much earlier harvest than here. I blanch, stack, and freeze my grape leaves in food saver bags. I stuff them in the fall.

I did get a surprise early flush of zucchini flowers starting last week. I've never had flowers for the 4th of July. Though I did start some seed indoors early. Last year my first zucchini flower meal was end of July. 

 

How do you prepare the squash blossoms? They're a staple here, and I'm always on the lookout for new preparations. Recently we had comida at a friend's house, and his housekeeper prepared them as a first course. Stuffed with not much cheese, which I think was Oaxacan, and gently heated, just enough to melt the cheese but not cause the flowers to totally collapse. Served with a righteous salsa. I knew better than to ask for the recipe. His housekeeper does not share her recipes, though she's good natured about saying no. Many people have tried to steal her from our friend because she's such a good cook. She's been with our friend for many years.

[Annie_H]

13 hours ago, Nancy in Pátzcuaro said:

How do you prepare the squash blossoms?

Our favorite, especially with the first flush, is simply an egg then dredged in cornmeal flour/panko pulsed in a spice grinder. Just the bottom and into a med hot buttered cast iron. Stuffed side up--goat cheese/yogurt/herbs. Crispy bottoms, creamy top side. 

A half dozen other ways if I have just 5-6 I add more eggs for an omelet, or Edna Lewis's corm muffin recipe poured around and into to the oven for a corn pancake. I went back a few years and saw a frittata with sliced zucchini and garden tomatoes. Topped with parm but I always stuff them. 

 

[gfweb]

I have an alleged Early Girl that is growing like  a mother.  I'm pruning and trying to get light to the rest of the garden.

 

Meanwhile in the shade by the driveway a rosebay rhododendron has bloomed...Every July 4th!

 

 

[Annie_H]

The egg in the pan above was just a last minute use of the dredging egg not wanting to waste it. Being the first of the season we ate them standing in the kitchen. Could not wait. Last night I added more egg and we actually sat down a couple hours before dinner. Late brunch?

Or an early appetizer. 

Harvested another dozen this morning I planned to crack a few whole eggs in the pan and have over toast with avocado. But I'm prepping other things. They keep really well if picked early morning and stored in the fridge with a slightly damp paper towel under and over, then covered. 3-4 days easy. 

If you don't garden and see them at the farmers market, get them in the fridge asap. They will perk up stored properly. 

[Nancy in Pátzcuaro]

Thank you for those wonderful ideas. I've shredded them and put them in an omelet with a bit of cheese, but I really like the egg-panko treatment. And of course the corn pancake too. 

 

 

[Shelby]

Dug about 20 lbs of potatoes the last few days.

 

 

 

Should have about that much more to come.

[Paul Bacino]

Two Gooseberry Bushes

 

 

 

Asparagus and red Raspberry and Blackberry

 

 

Tators and Rhubarb 

 

 

Pan Veiw Tomatoes/broccoli/broccolini/eggplant /pepper/ tomatoes/  garlic patch

 

[Shelby]

1 minute ago, Paul Bacino said:

Two Gooseberry Bushes

 

 

 

Asparagus and red Raspberry and Blackberry

 

 

Tators and Rhubarb 

 

 

Pan Veiw Tomatoes/broccoli/broccolini/eggplant /pepper/ tomatoes/  garlic patch

 

Gorgeous!!!

I love gooseberries.

[Paul Bacino]

Harvested this 10" beauty..last night