Gardening: (2016– )

[Okanagancook]

2 hours ago, KennethT said:

Sorry to hear about your issues - what happened this year?  Too hot/cold, rain?

Everyone is in the same boat around here.  It was very cool and lots of rain.  The coolness I think it what killed everything.  I mean I have pepper plants that are two inches tall that were raised in the greenhouse (as usual) and planted after the May long weekend.  The fruit set on the wine grapes isn't the greatest either which could be a good thing...less grapes....better quality.

Thanks.

[Okanagancook]

1 hour ago, TicTac said:

@Okanagancook - Do you pull the 'shoots' off your tomato plants?  Were those started from seed inside or purchased?

 

I started our tomatoes this year from seed indoors under a good LED.  Stalks are between 1-3" and each plant has well over a dozen 'maters and the grape/cherry varieties are going nuts.

 

 

Yes, I pull of the shoots and they were raised by moi as per usual.  Seeds started from seed, in the heated green house with grow lights.  Planted when they were about a foot high. 

It is the lack of heat.  My friend plants around 20 plants every summer and they are a good five feet tall with a plethora of fruit...not this year.

 

Glad to hear yours are going nuts!  

Tomato envy.😁

[Okanagancook]

28 minutes ago, dcarch said:

 

 

Yes yes! I recommend New Zealand spinach to everyone. Very tough and prolific. No problem with hot weather.

My NZS completely choke out all weeds.

 

Having NZS for dinner tonight.

 

dcarch

 

 

I grow NZS every year but the ones that spontaneously appear in the compost do the best.  I will have to address perhaps a soil issue in the four foot square boxes I use.  They are kept under a shade cloth but those plants don't get nearly as big as the compost plants.

 

I made a delicious salad with the greens today.  I love the texture of NZS.

[TicTac]

14 hours ago, Okanagancook said:

Yes, I pull of the shoots and they were raised by moi as per usual.  Seeds started from seed, in the heated green house with grow lights.  Planted when they were about a foot high. 

It is the lack of heat.  My friend plants around 20 plants every summer and they are a good five feet tall with a plethora of fruit...not this year.

 

Glad to hear yours are going nuts!  

Tomato envy.😁

 

Sorry to hear that, happy to send you some tomatoes for some of your stone fruit!!!

 

Also doing Husk Cherries this year, which are booming and the kids are just loving.  Anything sweet that one can grow where little ones can go hand to mouth, is a beautiful thing.

 

 

[lemniscate]

This year is my first try at a monsoon garden.  The season started about 2 weeks late here in the SW, but the humidity is up around 50-60% daily now and we are getting scattered infrequent storms.   Monsoon planting is an ancient practice fo the Native people of the SW.   I have some tepary beans and watermelons seeds to try.  The tepary are from Native Seeds Search but the watermelon seeds are hardware storebought and old.  I soaked them to give them a head start.  Fingers crossed.

[Paul Bacino]

Good Ole Kirby!!  keeping an Eye on the Broccoli  

 

 

 

[dcarch]

18 minutes ago, Paul Bacino said:

Good Ole Kirby!!  keeping an Eye on the Broccoli  

 

 

 

 

When I go to the stores to buy veggies, I noticed that there is not one single insect bite on anything.

That's the reason why I grow my own veggies.

 

Very good looking broccoli!

 

dcarch

 

[TicTac]

41 minutes ago, dcarch said:

 

When I go to the stores to buy veggies, I noticed that there is not one single insect bite on anything.

That's the reason why I grow my own veggies.

 

Very good looking broccoli!

 

dcarch

 

The exact same reason why I only buy organic (our farmer is very proud of his somewhat bitten produce) and subsidize what I can with what we grow ourselves.

 

[blue_dolphin]

1 hour ago, Paul Bacino said:

Good Ole Kirby!!  keeping an Eye on the Broccoli  

 

 

 

Took me a minute to spot Kirby!

[Shelby]

Smart Kirby.  Broccoli is known for it's bad behavior. 

[chromedome]

18 hours ago, TicTac said:

The exact same reason why I only buy organic (our farmer is very proud of his somewhat bitten produce) and subsidize what I can with what we grow ourselves.

 

I had a cab driver once tell me "Screw that organic stuff, I WANT my veggies sprayed. No bugs for me, thank you very much!"

 

I told him "You don't get it...the bugs are always there, the sprays just kill them so they can't crawl back out." The look on his face was priceless.

[Shelby]

Been busy in the garden as usual.  Finally getting some tomatoes that are good.  May need to can soon--or make some sauce.  Anyway, picked most of the onions and cleaned them up.  Still have a few more to go in the garden.

 

[Shelby]

Picked the rest of the onions and have started putting up corn

 

One cool thing that came out of the horrible flooding has been the amount of toads around here.  Seriously you have to look down at the ground the whole time while walking so that you don't step on one.  I just love watching them.

 

This guy is out guarding the squash

 

[lemniscate]

On 7/21/2019 at 6:41 AM, Shelby said:

No corn worms, but I did find huitlacoche 😁

 

 

@Shelby  What did you do with the corn smut/huitlacoche? 

 

 

Edited July 28, 2019 by lemniscate (log)

[Shelby]

Just now, lemniscate said:

 

@Shelby  What did do with the corn smut/huitlacoche? 

 

 

There wasn't enough to do anything with.  I washed it and ate it.  Cooks treat  --tastes like a corny mushroom.

[Shelby]

OH!  I forgot to add that I believe the corn oil mixed with the BT did an excellent job.  A couple ears showed signs of worm eatage, but just the very tippy top.  That means that the mixture worked and killed off the worm before it could keep going.  I'll definitely do this again.

[rotuts]

I used to have a nice veg garden

 

but I l always grew my basil in pots.  several different kinds , including  a stain that had very small leaves.

 

now I buy a pot or two

 

this one was nice an bushy , from MarketBasket :  $ 3.50 USD

 

then we had the Heat and Humidity :

 

 

well waters every day.  it seems a bit Sad.

 

more heat for a few days

 

Sadder still it is

[Shelby]

I don't think it looks sad at all!  Looks better than mine does.

[rotuts]

Ill just get some ' Fake Buzz ' going on social media

 

which i don't use , which might be a problem

 

" Sun Charred Basil "

 

Hot Hot Hot !

[KennethT]

@rotuts I don't think it's sad, but a plant that size can have large roots, so a larger pot might be in order...

[HungryChris]

I use basil almost every day and never had much luck growing it outdoors. I keep mine in the house, in a southeast facing window pretty much year round. About three times a year, I start a new batch under the lights in the basement.

HC

[chromedome]

Grabbed a couple of bulbs of new garlic for immediate needs...this was one I'd missed last year, so it was a clump of a half-dozen smaller bulbs. The rest I'll mostly leave in the ground to mature and get full-sized.

 

Also took a handful of bunching onions, some fresh dill, plenty of broccoli raab and radish tops, pulled a couple of watermelon radishes (a longtime favorite, my first time growing them), enough leaf lettuce and random "mesclun mix" from another bed for a couple of salads, and the usual handful of dandelions and wild sorrel.

 

I'll have the first regular broccoli by next weekend. Tomatoes, beet greens, cukes, cauliflower, brussels sprouts etc are still at least a month off. On a pleasing note, companion planting (alliums and/or marigolds around the beds of brassicas) seems to have averted a repeat of last year's cabbage worm infestation. Hopefully I don't jinx myself by uttering the words publicly.

[blue_dolphin]

On 7/8/2019 at 8:36 AM, Shelby said:

A rather meager pick this morning.  What exactly does a person do with just one okra 🙃

 

 

@Shelby, how's the okra coming along?  This morning when I was listening to Evan Kleiman's Good Food podcast she was interviewing Chris Smith, author of The Whole Okra: A Seed to Stem Celebration (the interview is available here.) When asked to name his favorite recipe in the book, he said it was the Okra Kimchi and of course, I thought of you!   I tracked down the recipe online in case you want to try it:  Okra Kimchi Recipe.  I'm especially intrigued by the idea of dehydrating the okra kimchi and using it as a seasoning - I figure you can make some of that and mail me a small packet 🙃.  What do you think?

 

Edited to add that there's a longer Chris Smith interview, this one with Margaret Roach (transcript available here), that goes into more detail about growing okra, something I'll never do but still found interesting!

Edited August 10, 2019 by blue_dolphin (log)

[Shelby]

41 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

 

@Shelby, how's the okra coming along?  This morning when I was listening to Evan Kleiman's Good Food podcast she was interviewing Chris Smith, author of The Whole Okra: A Seed to Stem Celebration (the interview is available here.) When asked to name his favorite recipe in the book, he said it was the Okra Kimchi and of course, I thought of you!   I tracked down the recipe online in case you want to try it:  Okra Kimchi Recipe.  I'm especially intrigued by the idea of dehydrating the okra kimchi and using it as a seasoning - I figure you can make some of that and mail me a small packet 🙃.  What do you think?

I think I might have to try it    I've never had kimchi--might as well start with okra!

 

They are producing more--not like a couple years ago, but enough to keep us going.

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I ripped out all my tomato plants.