The Gardening 2014 Thread - I just spent 2 hours in a garden center.

[kathyfromcanada]

 
Here is the correct recipe for the compost, at least for our tumbler.....I had it way, way wrong above, it's not in bushels!

70 gallons of fresh grass clippings and/or kitchen waste (7-1/2 bushels)

14 gallons of sawdust and/or shredded dead leaves (1-1/2 bushels)

And 1 bushel is approximately equal to two 5-gallon pails

If you think you need it, add 8 ounces of blood meal to the mix; it's acts as an activator. 

Kathy, alfalfa meal also works well as a compost activator, if blood meal is not available.

Rick worked on putting our old compost bin back together this afternoon. While he worked on that, I did some clipping around trees and clipped off all the spent flowers from the hosta. Did some dead-heading, too.

Someday I will learn not to walk up to the garden without my produce basket. I roasted Roma tomatoes for one quart of roasted chunky tomato sauce for the freezer. While the tomatoes were roasting, I put some new tomatoes in the basement (they weren't quite ripe yet, but if I don't take them while they're ripening, then they'll get root rot or they'll split in half) to finish ripening. And chopped two quarts of green peppers for the freezer. Took one zucchini and two yellow squash today, too.

The lima beans have pods, but the bean aren't completely filled out yet. Some of our Brussels sprouts plants have some nice-looking sprouts, but they're not ready to be taken yet. We will be picking corn, probably Monday or Tuesday night; that may be it then for the corn. The corn that we re-planted is coming along, but I don't know if we'll get any ears. And the butternuts look just lovely! 

 

Thanks Pam.

 

[MoochNNoodles]

I've had a lot of my tomatoes splitting this year.  I've started pulling them earlier!  Some still have marks on them.  I'm not sure what thats all about but I haven't taken the time to look it up either.  I'm not sure if I will do the tomatoes in buckets again next year.  It seems like we've had better plants in the garden.  My "self seeded" one in the garden is looking pretty good!  I'm waiting on some nice size tomatoes to ripen!  The tomato plants I picked out this year were labeled as good for containers; but they grow small tomatoes.  I haven't had a toasted tomato mayo sandwich yet this year!

I'm still picking plenty of banana peppers.  My bells took a break but they are producing now.  Nothing is ready just yet.  I put up a good number of them in the freezer last week.  It felt like I spent a couple hours chopping all the peppers!  The snacker pepper plant is finally producing more too!  Those have been really nice to put in salads.  I've just chopped off the top and cleaned out the inside and sliced into little rings.  They are bite size and really just great in salads!

Other than those; my garden is pretty well spent.  I need to do some weeding and pull some things that are done too.  

I had a really nice, large marigold plant that had self seeded from last year  The other day I went out and it looks like something just stepped on it?  It's split at the base!  So strange!  It almost looks like a tree that was struck by lightning.

 

[Winchester]

Something probably did step on your marigold....either that or it got so top-heavy that it split; I've had marigolds do that. 

20 ears of corn, really nice ears. I think there might be ten ears or so up there yet, then that will probably be it for the corn. Better than last year, considering we got nothing last year! I blanched them and put them in the freezer on the cobs. They will be nice this winter when we're hungry for corn on the cob. Rick and I chopped another quart of peppers and I froze a quart of broccoli. (And took 3 yellow squash and another zucchini....we are getting tired of squash now!)

The tomatoes are really starting to ripen now. I think I'll be able to roast more tomatoes on Sunday. And I'd like to make tomato powder again this year....that stuff really adds a tomato-ey punch to sauces and stews. 

Lima bean pods still aren't filling out that much. We figure that whatever we get in limas will probably feed us two meals. We only planted one packet of seeds and all the plants did come up. But til you get done podding them and such, there's not much there. Still, it's something different.

 

[pushylady]

Although I don't have a vege garden, I have been inspired by this thread to buy market-fresh zucchini & other vegetables and freeze them for various uses.
Round here, sweet corn is only just starting to come in. Each year I buy dozens from the locally famous market up the road and freeze lots (off the cob) for winter. So good in the middle of winter - nothing like what you can buy then!

 

[MoochNNoodles]

 
Something probably did step on your marigold....either that or it got so top-heavy that it split; I've had marigolds do that. 

It was a pretty huge plant.  With my yard being fenced my options for stepping on it are bunnies, the neighbors cats and my kids.  Or perhaps if the hose fell on it while I was watering?  I don't recall that happening though.  

I think my garlic has disappeared.  I need to do some weeding; but I didn't see the tops like I had a few weeks ago. I've been pretty negligent with watering and weeding.  I guess my mind has been on other things. 

I'm missing my cucumbers.  I didn't get to make all the pickles I had wanted to.  My Grandfather in the past has suggested just buying from a farm stand and putting that up.  My MIL does this with peaches and pole beans I know.  It doesn't look like that's possible this year; but maybe in the future.  

 

[Winchester]

I may do that next year with cucumbers. Last year, I managed to do a few pints of various pickles, but then the vines died. This year, about 3 weeks after planting, every single cuke plant disappeared. Gone. Completely. I didn't bother planting any more and may just buy them next year for pickling.

Beans? I don't have to  buy beans. We can grow green beans in our garden like there's no tomorrow. Tons and tons (and tons) of green beans. We don't do pole beans, just the regular little bush beans and they produce plenty for us.

I did buy peaches. And I plan to buy a couple nice heads of cabbage to make freezer cabbage, which is just a type of pickled cabbage that you can freeze. I like to have a little sour something when I have some creamy for supper. If I make chicken and noodles or beef pot pie or a chicken pie, that's when I'll serve a bit of pickled cabbage to go with it.

The tomatoes are coming, the tomatoes are coming! 

 I'll be roasting Roma tomatoes tomorrow morning for roasted chunky tomato sauce for the freezer. I may have to do two batches at one time as we've got a ton of tomatoes to pick tonight. Time to get the dehydrator out....I'm going to dehydrate some skins, too, for powder tomorrow.

Composting update.....I think we may let this batch go another week. We got down below 60 degrees a few nights and the compost dried out a couple days. We'd water it, but it would soak it right up. There's still some heat going on; yesterday's temp was almost to 130 degrees, so that's good.

Pushylady, we freeze corn both off the cob and on the cob. I don't freeze much on the cob, simply because of freezer space, but when there's snow on the ground, a nice ear of corn is just delicious! 

 

[MoochNNoodles]

Pickled cabbage....

I was getting a lot of beans out of my garden and I froze a few bags; but for some reason my kids are not enjoying them when i cook them!  I usually cut them into bite size pieces and boil so they are tender.  They'll eat them when I buy them frozen (sometimes grudgingly) and canned (not my fav) but it seems the texture on the outside is different.  I try to grab them before they swell.  I don't know what the deal is.  My grandfather always did old fashion pole beans and would saute them in garlic and olive oil.  I think the kids would eat that!  If not; their loss would be my gain! 

I was just thinking; I have lost my cukes while in the garden every year these last 3 years.  I wonder if I could put them in a large planter. The kind with a trellis up the back for them to climb.  I need to get soil samples and send them off to the lab.  I have the bags; i just need to do it.  

 

[Draco]

I can't wait till I join this thread officially! I now have two small plots of land to garden in.

Well, did get a mum- does that count?? Lol

 

[tammat]

I've been reading this thread. All those veggies sound wonderful. It's still cold here so. Just haven't been interested in my garden until a few days ago. I did some weeding and I'm now in the middle of spreading sheep manure. Today the kids and I planted a white magnolia (yulan). It's in the middle of a new garden bed that I started after Ruben died. It's his memorial garden and the tree is his tree. The kids will carve his name in it when it's big enough. The soil was very poor so I've taken time to improve it before I started planting. When I dug for the tree today it was noticeably better.

 

[Winchester]

 
Pickled cabbage....

I was getting a lot of beans out of my garden and I froze a few bags; but for some reason my kids are not enjoying them when i cook them!  I usually cut them into bite size pieces and boil so they are tender.  They'll eat them when I buy them frozen (sometimes grudgingly) and canned (not my fav) but it seems the texture on the outside is different.  I try to grab them before they swell.  I don't know what the deal is.  My grandfather always did old fashion pole beans and would saute them in garlic and olive oil.  I think the kids would eat that!  If not; their loss would be my gain! 

I was just thinking; I have lost my cukes while in the garden every year these last 3 years.  I wonder if I could put them in a large planter. The kind with a trellis up the back for them to climb.  I need to get soil samples and send them off to the lab.  I have the bags; i just need to do it.  

Here you go, in case you're interested. I like to make this and freeze it. It comes in handy when you need something a little sour, but you don't have to go through all that hassle all the time. I make enough to see me through for a while and for my sister, too.  She loves the stuff.

MOM'S FREEZER CABBAGE                          

1 large head green cabbage              

2 large green peppers, chopped                   

2 teaspoons salt                                 

1 cup vinegar

1/4 cup water

2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon celery seed

Shred cabbage, then sprinkle salt over and let stand one hour. Add green pepper to cabbage mixture and set aside. Combine vinegar, water, sugar, and celery seed. Heat to boiling; boil and stir one minute. Cool to lukewarm, then pour over cabbage and peppers. Place in freezer containers and freeze.

Here's something you might be interested in....I'll give it to you, so you can take a gander at it. The Chow Chow recipe comes from Betty Groff's cookbooks. She used to own Groff's Restaurant in Mount Joy, PA. The food was wonderful! She always served a dish of Cracker Pudding and a small slice of her chocolate cake to her patrons as soon as they sat down at the table; she thought they were so good you needed to eat them while you weren't too full. We would go down to Groff's for special occasions: birthdays, for example. We always took Rick's mom with us; she loved the place. Sadly, they no longer are in business, which is a real shame. The food was truly wonderful and their wines were simply superb. Her signature dish was Chicken Stoltfus, which is basically a rich creamed chicken in patty shells. Rick's father loves that dish, so I make it for him for his birthday dinner. Anyway, here's her Chow Chow recipe; I make it every fall, largely from our garden as much as I can.

CHOW CHOW

2 cups canned great northern beans, drained                                                         
2 cups canned red kidney beans, drained                                                    

2 cups fresh or frozen lima beans                                                    
2 cups fresh or frozen green beans, cut into 1-inch pieces                        
2 cups fresh or frozen yellow wax beans, cut into 1-inch pieces                            
2 cups fresh or frozen cauliflower buds                              
2 cups coarsely chopped cabbage                                                    
2 cups sliced or chopped cucumbers

2 cups coarsely chopped celery

2 cups coarsely chopped red bell peppers

2 cups coarsely chopped green bell peppers

2 cups sliced carrots

2 cups fresh or frozen corn kernels

2 cups white pearl onions, or chopped yellow onions

Syrup
5 cups sugar                                                                                       
2½ cups cider vinegar                                                                       
1½ cups water                                                                                               
2 tablespoons mustard seed

1 tablespoon celery seed

1 teaspoon turmeric
           

Cook each fresh vegetable separately in a saucepan, covering with water and boiling only enough to make the vegetables tender, not mushy. Do not cook the canned or frozen vegetables.

Place in layers in a large pan in whatever order you prefer. Gently mix with your hands, or a very large pierced spoon, being careful not to break the vegetables, or the Chow Chow may become mushy. Drain the vegetables well.

Pour off all liquid before spooning vegetables into sterilized jars, filling within one inch of the neck of each jar. Pour in Syrup to fill jars to neck. Makes 6 quarts or 12 pints.

To make the Syrup:
           

Combine all ingredients in a large kettle and bring to a boil, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Ladle the syrup over the vegetables. Seal jars with lids and covers and process in the water bath canner for 12 minutes, timing from the moment the water comes to a full boil.

Note: If you prefer a tarter Syrup, decrease the amount of sugar by 1 to 1½ cups. Taste to ensure sweetness.  I use a pressure canner for this recipe.

We snap the tips of our green and wax beans. Some we'll snap into thirds, but sometimes we like to keep whole because they are prettier if we have guests for dinner or for Christmas or Thanksgiving. I only cook them to the crisp-tender stage because I don't like them tender. With fresh beans, before I freeze them, I'll blanch enough whole beans for dinner, but then serve them with a bit of dressing to dip the beans into. I know my grandkids do not really like cooked green beans, but will gobble them down if I serve them whole and just barely blanched with a little bit of salad dressing (something with not a lot of calories); they like a bit of crunch. I also saute them in garlic and olive oil. They're really good that way! I don't care how they eat them, as long as they eat them.

We should start a Canning and Preserving thread in the Recipe Exchange!

 

[Winchester]

Draco, mums count! 

 

 In fact, we are looking for some mums for our front garden!

Tammat, how pretty for your Ruben. I love magnolia trees. Our neighbors have one planted in their front yard. 

 

[MoochNNoodles]

 
Draco, mums count! 

 

 In fact, we are looking for some mums for our front garden!

Walmart had mums out when I drove by. 

 It's still August for a few more days!! 

Thanks for the recipes Pam!  I'm getting those printed off for my recipe binders!!  I need a canning section for that now! 

 

[Winchester]

You're welcome! I started a Canning and Preserving thread in the Recipes Exchange, so we don't lose our recipes for this stuff.

We were at a local grocery store on Saturday and they had nice mums 2 for $9, a good price. But they were all yellow, no other colors. We'll keep looking. I don't mind yellow, but I love purple mums. Purple and white would be pretty, I think.

Rick worked up in the garden yesterday. He came down late afternoon and told me there were peppers to be picked. I said, "But I JUST picked peppers on Friday!" Well, I did, but there were more. And more tomatoes. And one zucchini. Tons of broccoli again. The lima bean pods are almost ready, I think....some of them are nice and plump. I'm excited about getting lima beans! 

 

[MoochNNoodles]

An old co-worker of mine used to make "lima bean pot pie" for us once or twice a winter.  it was more of a dumpling type recipe I think...sooo good.  She told us she would never give out the recipe.  I was ok with that while we worked together; but now years later I want it so bad!!

 

[Winchester]

Lima beans with dumplings actually sounds pretty good! I'd eat it. Then again, I eat stewed tomatoes with dumplings, something I wouldn't touch as a child.

We started on our second compost batch tonight. The first batch we put up in the garden where we tore out some cornstalks. In order to get some green grass, we push-mowed part of the yard with a bagger. I raked out a bunch of dead leaves from under pine trees, then ran them through with the mower, too. I also added 1/2 pound of blood meal to this mix....we'll see how it goes.

We just now came in the house and are getting ready to grab showers. Rick told me tonight that these 12-hour days are starting to wear thin. I agree with him. 8 hours of work, followed by a good 4 hours of working outside....well, we're pooped tonight.

I think I'll be roasting a couple pans of Romas tomorrow night. There's a bunch of them ready now.

 

[kathyfromcanada]

How do you keep the racoons out of the corn?? I planted it several years ago and as soon as it was close to picking, the ********

racoons got it all!

 

[Winchester]

 
How do you keep the racoons out of the corn?? I planted it several years ago and as soon as it was close to picking, the ********

racoons got it all!

Did you read my gardening posts from last year? When the bloody raccoons got into the corn patch and rolled in the stalks? And they took every single ear of corn? And we got nothing? I thought Rick was going to have a stroke, he was that furious. He even put bird netting up in the corn patch. To no avail. He was mad. Steam coming out the ears mad. Did I mention we got nothing??? 

 Not even one blasted ear??

This year, he put up an 8-foot fence around the corn, tomatoes, squash and peppers. It worked out very well, although we think some of that was because we had enough rain that the moisture kept everything green around here. Our yard never died off this year and there was plenty for the wildlife to eat, including the bloody coons. Either that or the raccoons didn't fixate on our garden this year and went elsewhere.

Seriously, you should have seen Rick last year. Furious does not even begin to cover it. And if you leave out all the cussing he did, he never said one word! 

 

[kathyfromcanada]

Sorry Pam didn't see the previous post on the corn problem. That's what it would take here as well. the air was blue here too!

 

[MoochNNoodles]

Ya'll have me scared to try growing corn!  My neighbor's cats and dogs may help keep some critters away; but I don't know about raccoons. 

I pulled my carrots yesterday.  Some were pretty small but others look great. Not too big, not too small. The tops were breaking the soil and I was outside with the kids so I just started pulling them.  I just need to get them put up now.  I was too exhausted last night and out all day today.  They smell great too.  Last year I waited too long and they got HUGE and things started eating at them.  I need to give the whole garden a good weeding right now.  I did some yesterday but my sunglasses kept falling off my face and I was hot.  I went and got back in the kiddie pool with my kids!  Or my feet did anyway. 

 

[bbdoll22]

Winchester
How do you ripen your tomatoes after you pick them? Do you leave the stems on ?