Gardening: (2016– )

[heidih]

Wow resiliant apple tree. I have been surprised at how the fruit trees here survived such drought with niadded water. The  big rains and poof - magic. There are even a few peaches on a little volunteer. Critters wi steal before I can harvest but encouraging.

[MaryIsobel]

1 hour ago, chromedome said:

So today's harvest was roughly 10 lbs of beans. I think it's fair to say they've hit their stride.

 

 

The greens were just a handful to go to my father-in-law, along with a bag of the beans. Not seen: another half-dozen cherry tomatoes. I'll do a proper pick of the greens again tomorrow or the next day; today I had a time constraint because many stores here still close early on Sunday and we had a couple of things we needed in town.

 

My first planting of salad greens is largely spent and my second was washed away by an ill-timed heavy rain, but my third planting is coming along nicely (those are little nursery-bought cukes on either side of 'em). There's one row of Grand Rapids lettuce, and one row of the local seed company's mesclun mix.

 

 

Our moribund apple tree is having a last hurrah, with a bumper crop of apples on board. The poor thing's been through the mill: a former owner cut away one of its main roots for reasons I'll charitably say must have sounded good at the time (???); a colony of ants has been hollowing it out assiduously for years; and of course for the past few years it's had a couple of small children using it as their monkey bars and gym set. The first pic shows how badly it's listing; the second is a closer look at the apples it's bearing. This photo doesn't do it justice, sadly. It's the most fruit I've seen on the tree in the...I dunno, 6 or 7 years I've been coming out here.

 

 

 

As recently as this spring it was still standing vertically. We have a sapling ready to plant as a replacement (at a spot where it won't shade my garden) but of course it'll be some time before it's full grown. Fortunately we have no shortage of orchards here where we can U-pick to our hearts' content.

Reminds me of our poor old Gravenstein. It's at least 60 years old and has been badly pruned more than once.An ice storm a few years ago amputated several of it's limbs. It still produces a paltry amount of apples but I have a sentimental attachment to it.

[chromedome]

Gravensteins are a local favorite here on this coast, too. Sadly none of the orchards in my area grow them, but I sometimes pick up a bag when visiting my daughter in Nova Scotia.

[lindag]

2 hours ago, chromedome said:

Gravensteins are a local favorite here on this coast, too. Sadly none of the orchards in my area grow them, but I sometimes pick up a bag when visiting my daughter in Nova Scotia.

My neighbor in Portland who was an incredible cook swore by Gravensteoms for her apple pies. They were grown locally.

[MaryIsobel]

2 hours ago, lindag said:

My neighbor in Portland who was an incredible cook swore by Gravensteoms for her apple pies. They were grown locally.

They were my mother's and now they are my favourite for pies too.

[FauxPas]

Today is National sneak some zucchini onto your neighbor's porch day. Hope all you zuke growers did the right thing, ha. 

 

https://www.kxan.com/news/august-8-is-national-sneak-some-zucchini-onto-your-neighbors-porch-day-but-why/

[rotuts]

@FauxPas 

 

when is Eggplant day ?

 

or is that EveryDay ?

[chromedome]

Damn. Nobody ever gives me free eggplant...

[Paul Bacino]

New Favorite  tomato for BLT,   was  and still am a Cherokee guy!  But this Pineapple Tomato is awesome

 

 

 

 

 

[rotuts]

@chromedome 

 

count it as a blessing.

[BeeZee]

@Paul Bacino, Purple Cherokee is my favorite, as well, what is the flavor profile of the Pineapple tomato (sweet/acidic?)

[Paul Bacino]

13 hours ago, BeeZee said:

@Paul Bacino, Purple Cherokee is my favorite, as well, what is the flavor profile of the Pineapple tomato (sweet/acidic?)

BZ

 

Yes,  the tomato has nice sweetness, good acidity and great texture ( minimal pulp )/  which is nice for sandwiches

 

Cheers  PB

[chromedome]

Harvested a first hatful of my filet beans last night, but didn't grab a picture. They were the side with dinner (nothing fancy, just butter on 'em).

[chromedome]

Another 8 pounds of green and yellow beans yesterday, plus a decent quantity of salad greens from the remnants of my first planting and my burgeoning third planting. Bread in the frame because that's where it was cooling, and I couldn't be bothered to clear one of the other flat surfaces in the vicinity to move it (I live with grandkids, things often repopulate the clearing-in-process surface during the time it takes me to drop something in the next available surface. Or,  you know... put it away. That happens too.).

 

 

The bread's a bit misshapen because I was laser-focused on the article I was writing, for once, and it over-rose while waiting for the oven.

[heidih]

Those beans look like a perfect size to be tender and sweet.

[chromedome]

Just now, heidih said:

Those beans look like a perfect size to be tender and sweet.

Yup. There's an occasional one in there that missed its moment (you never quite find 'em all, which is why I try to go no more than two days between picking) but mostly they're prime. Now that the more-delicate filet beans are hitting their stride we'll primarily be eating those, and freezing the conventional ones.

[KennethT]

For those who were following along here, now 5 out of 6 pieces of kencur that I experimentally planted have sprouted!!!  Back to front are in order of sprouting.... fingers still crossed for #6.  At the rate this stuff grows, maybe in 10 years, I can have a small kencur farm!

 

[lindag]

1 minute ago, KennethT said:

For those who were following along here, now 5 out of 6 pieces of kencur that I experimentally planted have sprouted!!!  Back to front are in order of sprouting.... fingers still crossed for #6.  At the rate this stuff grows, maybe in 10 years, I can have a small kencur farm!

 

Had to look that one up.  I'd never heard of it.

 

What is kencur used for?

 

"According to traditional medicine, Kencur are used as medicine with the purpose of reducing pain caused by rheumatism. In addition, this root also works to treat symptoms related to the gastrointestinal tract and stomach. Aromatic ginger promotes the production of bile in the body"

[KennethT]

1 hour ago, lindag said:

Had to look that one up.  I'd never heard of it.

 

What is kencur used for?

 

"According to traditional medicine, Kencur are used as medicine with the purpose of reducing pain caused by rheumatism. In addition, this root also works to treat symptoms related to the gastrointestinal tract and stomach. Aromatic ginger promotes the production of bile in the body"

 

Kencur is used in a variety of Indonesian spice pastes (called bumbu) in a similar way that you would use galangal or ginger.  So this means that it's typically ground up with a variety of other spices including shallots, garlic, chillies, turmeric, etc. One example would be here.  I actually just made this the other day for a little get together we had on our building's roof...

 

The kencur has a totally different flavor/aroma than galangal - much more floral and less piney, but still very hard to describe.  Even among Indonesians, some people love it, some dislike it and would always sub galangal.

[KennethT]

A quick update about some recent projects....

 

Actually found some decent looking grocery store mint and Thai basil, so those are now in the rooting process....

 

Also saw some good looking turmeric that I'll try to sprout.  Not that I want to grow it for the rhizome, but more for the fresh turmeric leaves which are used in a lot of Indonesian/Malaysian/Nyonya preparations and are impossible to find here.

 

I just noticed a kaffir lime that has escaped my sight.  I usually try to pinch off the flowers as I grow for the leaves but this one must have been hiding.  Since it's already gotten to this stage, I guess I'll let it go to maturity... the question is what to do with it?  The only thing I know to do with it is use the zest in making Thai curry pastes from scratch (no other country's pastes use it as far as I know) but I almost never make Thai curry pastes from scratch....  Maybe I'll just wind up giving it away.

[rotuts]

@KennethT 

 

congratulations on your sprouts from your Thailand ' bulbs '

 

what do you plan to do with it ?  if its the bulb ( a la ginger )

 

you plan to use some day , do the bulbs grow other bulbs ?

 

or for now just enjoy watching the plants grow.

 

after a while , you are going to put them to work

 

after careful thought and planning/

[KennethT]

13 minutes ago, rotuts said:

@KennethT 

 

congratulations on your sprouts from your Thailand ' bulbs '

 

what do you plan to do with it ?  if its the bulb ( a la ginger )

 

you plan to use some day , do the bulbs grow other bulbs ?

 

or for now just enjoy watching the plants grow.

 

after a while , you are going to put them to work

 

after careful thought and planning/

They're not bulbs, they're rhizomes - like ginger.  So yes, as the plant grows, the rhizome will extend, making more rhizome.  If you think of a big clump of ginger from the grocery store, it kind of looks like a hand - each finger is new growth with one piece of it being the original "seed".

[rotuts]

KennethT  

 

thank you for understanding the point of my mumbo-jumbo

 

as I hope y0u get to use the plant some day

 

are you able to harvest part of a rhizome , keeping the original growing

 

or do you replant the rhizome again

 

or just replant parts of the original rhizome , getting more potential plants.

[KennethT]

2 hours ago, rotuts said:

KennethT  

 

thank you for understanding the point of my mumbo-jumbo

 

as I hope y0u get to use the plant some day

 

are you able to harvest part of a rhizome , keeping the original growing

 

or do you replant the rhizome again

 

or just replant parts of the original rhizome , getting more potential plants.

I haven't grown any rhizome myself yet, but supposedly you can do either - harvest the whole thing and save a seed piece to replant or just break a piece of the rhizome off and let the rest keep growing.

[chromedome]

Garden the past few days has been more of the same, with a few more pounds each of beans and greens going into the freezer. Today was a landmark, though, because our bed of winecap mushrooms (Stropharia rugosoannulata) is finally in full flush:

 

I haven't weighed them yet, but I'll update the post later (ETA: They weighed in at 1.526 kg, or just over 3 1/2 pounds). Also got the very first zucchini of the year this afternoon, though there are (surprise!) many more waiting in the wings.

 

My bell peppers are coming along nicely (don't worry, they won't be harvested until ripe and red):

 

 

Finally, a sequel of sorts. You'll recall seeing the photos of Senior Sea Kayaker's garlic hung up to cure, and mine spread on repurposed bread trays for the same purpose. Here's the pic from immediately post-harvest, with today's photo beneath:

 

 

The curing process is partly about letting the bulbs dry, so their skins can assume the proper paper-like, protective texture, but it's also about the bulbs cannibalizing the nutrients left in the stems and leaves. That maximizes the storage of sugars for next year's growth, and incidentally also maximizes flavor for human consumption.

I dug over the garlic beds earlier, put down corrugated to subdue the weeds, and covered the cardboard with new topsoil. Now that a little spate of rain has ended, I'm going to head out and replant them in spinach and kale. I've had poor success with spinach in spring, here (the weather's too uncertain) so I'm hoping that an autumn planting will work for me. Warm weather for germination and early growth, then cool weather when it might otherwise bolt. It sounds good, anyway, and worked last year with cauliflower.

Edited August 15, 2023 by chromedome (log)