Gardening: (2016– )

[Kerry Beal]

5 minutes ago, haresfur said:

I could use some help with herb identification.

 

I planted some micro-herbs that came with my covid-lockdown meal from Masons of Bendigo, reported here. The green shiso survived a few replantings and ended up in a wine barrel, happily re-seeding itself while the lemon balm didn't survive, or so I thought. 

 

This spring's crop is coming along well, but when I picked some it smelled very lemony. Hmm. I don't remember that before, but maybe it is because there is fresh growth. So now I don't know if I have shiso or lemon balm. Maybe some lemon balm was quietly lurking with the shiso ready to mount a coup. Unfortunately I ripped volunteer shiso out of another pot so I can't compare to that.

 

Can anyone tell me what this is?

 

Looks like lemon balm to me!

[KennethT]

9 hours ago, haresfur said:

I could use some help with herb identification.

 

I planted some micro-herbs that came with my covid-lockdown meal from Masons of Bendigo, reported here. The green shiso survived a few replantings and ended up in a wine barrel, happily re-seeding itself while the lemon balm didn't survive, or so I thought. 

 

This spring's crop is coming along well, but when I picked some it smelled very lemony. Hmm. I don't remember that before, but maybe it is because there is fresh growth. So now I don't know if I have shiso or lemon balm. Maybe some lemon balm was quietly lurking with the shiso ready to mount a coup. Unfortunately I ripped volunteer shiso out of another pot so I can't compare to that.

 

Can anyone tell me what this is?

 

Looks like mint.

[donk79]

11 hours ago, haresfur said:

I could use some help with herb identification.

 

I planted some micro-herbs that came with my covid-lockdown meal from Masons of Bendigo, reported here. The green shiso survived a few replantings and ended up in a wine barrel, happily re-seeding itself while the lemon balm didn't survive, or so I thought. 

 

This spring's crop is coming along well, but when I picked some it smelled very lemony. Hmm. I don't remember that before, but maybe it is because there is fresh growth. So now I don't know if I have shiso or lemon balm. Maybe some lemon balm was quietly lurking with the shiso ready to mount a coup. Unfortunately I ripped volunteer shiso out of another pot so I can't compare to that.

 

Can anyone tell me what this is?

 

Looks very much like my lemon balm which has been self seeding for five years!

[haresfur]

Guess I'm going to have to buy some shiso plants or seeds. Thanks everyone. 

[Senior Sea Kayaker]

I usually start my indoor herbs at the beginning of Sept. until the end of the month. Everything from seed.

 

Dill and Flat Leaf Parsley:

 

 

Chives and Basil:

 

Chives and Cilantro:

 

Chives and Chervil:

 

Something new this year: mushroom kits (which I have plans once the spawn medium is exhausted: inoculating logs and bags of wood chips).

Maitake and Blue Oyster:

Edited October 12, 2022 by Senior Sea Kayaker (log)

[lemniscate]

On 10/12/2022 at 4:24 AM, Senior Sea Kayaker said:

I usually start my indoor herbs at the beginning of Sept. until the end of the month. Everything from seed.

 

Dill and Flat Leaf Parsley:

 

 

Chives and Basil:

 

Chives and Cilantro:

 

Chives and Chervil:

 

Something new this year: mushroom kits (which I have plans once the spawn medium is exhausted: inoculating logs and bags of wood chips).

Maitake and Blue Oyster:

 

Natural light or do you use a supplemental LED?  

[Senior Sea Kayaker]

31 minutes ago, lemniscate said:

 

Natural light or do you use a supplemental LED?  

 

Natural light. Two on a south facing window and two on an east facing window so I will have direct sunlight. I've done this in the past with zero direct sunlight from October to April and still had good results.

 

[gulfporter]

https://forums.egullet.org/topic/153876-gardening-2016–/?do=findComment&comment=2359359

 

This is a 3 1/2 week update to my post above.  The plant is starting to bloom from the bottom up.  My gardener says that in Veracruz (where he is from) they call it an elefante (je je).  He does not think it will die after the bloom.  Vamos a ver. 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 15, 2022 by gulfporter (log)

[Nancy in Pátzcuaro]

I think I've seen posts about using fiber pots rather than clay pots on this forum but didn't pay attention to them--until my sister gave me 6 large ones. I don't have room for all 6, so I plan to give away 3 or 4 to friends, with the warning that it will require a lot of soil to fill them. (Possibly this is why my sister isn't using them.) Around here, finding good dirt is difficult, so most of us make up a mix of bagged potting soil from Home Depot, tierra de encino (forest floor sweepings), a little sand, and compost if we have it (I do). These are large enough to accommodate 2 tomato plants, a whole seed packet of bush beans, several peppers, and all the lettuce, spinach, etc., one could want. They have handles but I imagine they're pretty heavy once they're filled, so moving them from place to place seeking the sun seems out of the question.

 

So what advice do those of you who use these pots have for a novice user? I understand that the roots grow to fill the entire vessel, but does that mean they need more water than clay or even plastic? What should I watch out for? Do they finally wear out or develop holes on the bottom?

 

I'm looking forward to starting tomato and pepper/chile seeds in December to plant out in late January, having finally realized that utilizing the dry season--late October through May--is better than watching the plants slowly rot during the rainy season. The coldest time of the year is late December and most of January. The weather warms consistently around the end of January and there's full sun every day. I should have plenty of time to harvest before the serious rain shows up in June.

 

Thanks for your advice. I'm off to start some salad burnet.

[KennethT]

They will need to be watered more frequently than clay or plastic. I grow hydroponically with coco coir and the rule of thumb in watering with that is to water once you get to the midway point between the saturation point and wilt point by weight. So you just lift it up once in a while and give it a feel. The watering frequency is more dependent on plant type - some plants like citrus like their roots to dry out a bit before watering so I'll take it a little further. It also depends on soil type and how free draining it is.

 

I've been using them for years and have never had a problem with holes or anything.

[haresfur]

fucking earwigs!

[Kerry Beal]

 

 

 

 

Frost for the last couple of nights - so I went out and picked everything on my two plants. 

 

Trying to decide my best option for ripening as I'm not really in the mood to make green tomato pickle. 

 

Cardboard boxes with newspaper?

 

 

[TicTac]

@Kerry Beal - as long as they are enclosed together so the ethylene they emit stimulates ripening, you are fine.  A bannana peel or apple will help speed things up.

 

Or fried green tomato chutney!

[Kerry Beal]

Get the green tomato chutney - never heard of fried green tomato chutney. Got a recipe?

 

 

[TicTac]

I like to pan fry 1/4" thick cut in olive oil with a chili pepper or two depending on heat preference.  Med-high flipping regularly till a caramelized golden brown and near breaking apart transpires. 

 

Towards the end of the cook you can add whatever alliums you prefer to caramelize as well. 

 

Now the fun part - you can take it whichever direction you want as far as flavour goes.  I have done a number of iterations.  KISS is just puree the contents of the pan, along with some acid, be it lemon juice or some vinegar of your choosing.  Herbs are also welcome, be it independent or a mix of cilantro, dill, rosemary etc -

 

Is a great pasta sauce base, pizza base, crust dip, salad dressing, and the list goes on!

 

Freezes well too.

[Paul Bacino]

Green tomato Chow Chow --  I take mine in and cover with towels checking,  for EWzzzz and they get discarded,  your version looks close to getting there

 

[DianaB]

22 hours ago, Kerry Beal said:

 

 

 

 

Frost for the last couple of nights - so I went out and picked everything on my two plants. 

 

Trying to decide my best option for ripening as I'm not really in the mood to make green tomato pickle. 

 

Cardboard boxes with newspaper?

 

 

In the past we have enclosed tomatoes very similar to yours with a banana or 2 in a paper bag.  They have ripened well (I am not a fan of green tomatoes so happy to wait for the necessary time for ripeness).  
 

This year we had a really bad storm a couple of weeks back and this brought down many of the not yet ripe outside growing tomatoes.  I didn’t have any bananas so I just brought them into the kitchen, wiped them dry and set them aside on plates around the kitchen.  They have ripened fine without any additional fruit to give off ethylene.  This has been a happy surprise since I don’t like over ripe bananas, or tomatoes with a banana element to their flavour.

 

Won’t be growing this variety next year, we need something that ripens sooner in the season, that said I am delighted to have found that (to me) giant tomatoes will ripen eventually on or off the plant.  San Marzanos in the unheated greenhouse continue to ripen, most are now sauce or dehydrated.  Again not sure that we will grow these next year.  So sad that our tried and tested favourite variety appears to have been pulled from the market.  Research in attempt to locate the creator of that hybrid continues.  

[Nancy in Pátzcuaro]

1 hour ago, DianaB said:

..  Research in attempt to locate the creator of that hybrid continues.  

Which hybrid is that? The current Early Girl is nothing like the old variety, so apparently it's been "improved." How was yours?

[DianaB]

9 hours ago, Nancy in Pátzcuaro said:

Which hybrid is that? The current Early Girl is nothing like the old variety, so apparently it's been "improved." How was yours?

We grew a variety called Ferline F1 for years, seeds couldn’t be found last year and on one gardening forum I read that the license holder (or whatever the correct term is called) had withdrawn them from the market.  I guess that it is possible to find out who, or which company, developed the hybrid and I hope that they might have a replacement to suggest.  One of those things that I need to get around to…. 

[Nancy in Pátzcuaro]

A hybrid I'm very fond of is Juliet. A huge producer of small Roma-like tomatoes with marvelous flavor. An heirloom I used to grow but can no longer find, was called Gardener's Delight. There are people who say it's the same as Sweet 100, but I disagree. Gardener's Delight was a "salad" sized tomato with balanced flavor--not too sweet, in other words. It was a very big plant, which gave it room to produce like mad.

[DianaB]

On 10/26/2022 at 3:28 PM, Nancy in Pátzcuaro said:

A hybrid I'm very fond of is Juliet. A huge producer of small Roma-like tomatoes with marvelous flavor. An heirloom I used to grow but can no longer find, was called Gardener's Delight. There are people who say it's the same as Sweet 100, but I disagree. Gardener's Delight was a "salad" sized tomato with balanced flavor--not too sweet, in other words. It was a very big plant, which gave it room to produce like mad.

Gardener’s Delight were the first tomatoes I grew, seeds are still readily available in the U.K. and to my knowledge they have not changed.  Send me a P M if you want to try these again.

 

Compared with Ferline Gardener’s Delight are smaller and not quite as tasty but these things are very personal. I’m sure that we will find the right variety for us eventually, just annoying that we were there and now we start again…

[gulfporter]

On 10/15/2022 at 1:16 PM, gulfporter said:

https://forums.egullet.org/topic/153876-gardening-2016–/?do=findComment&comment=2359359

 

This is a 3 1/2 week update to my post above.  The plant is starting to bloom from the bottom up.  My gardener says that in Veracruz (where he is from) they call it an elefante (je je).  He does not think it will die after the bloom.  Vamos a ver. 

 

 

 

 

 

Update....we were away for 2 weeks and this is state of agave now.  I can see the base leaves yellowing, as it gives up all its strength for the bloom.  Which is about to hit the pool.  

[lemniscate]

The yearly harvest where I willingly drive myself crazy.   First batch of the lowest hanging fruit done.

[rotuts]

@lemniscate 

 

are those those

 

pomegranates ?

 

do you have a tree ?

 

a pic ?

 

the P is something I might

 

have paid more attention to 

 

back then.

 

in the Bay Area 

 

where I lived , perhaps a week or so later

 

than The Berkeley Bowl 

 

( and outstanding place , back then 

 

never figured out what to do w them.

 

P syrup 

 

you bet .

[Smithy]

@lemniscate i too am curious about the pomegranates. At first I thought you were showing dried slices, but now I think I'm looking at seeded slices...is that how you process them? What do you do with the seeds then?