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

[MoochNNoodles]

The sun came out this afternoon and I noticed a whole row of mushrooms under one of the neighbor's trees; just next to where they are big in my yard.  So I went out to take a picture (of course) and man....they are everywhere!!  I think we are expecting more rain soon; so they may keep growing!  

This is the largest one in my yard:

yard mushroom.JPG

• MoochNNoodles
• Oct 12, 2014

 

[Winchester]

Holy cow, they're big! I love mushrooms, but can never figure out which ones are poisonous. I think they're so pretty.

When we were getting ready to build our house, we needed a place to rent for about six months or so. We walked into this one house and when we went into the bathroom, there was a little mushroom growing next to the bathtub! I looked at the realtor and she got pretty flustered. We did not rent that house. 

 

[MoochNNoodles]

 
Holy cow, they're big! I love mushrooms, but can never figure out which ones are poisonous. I think they're so pretty.

When we were getting ready to build our house, we needed a place to rent for about six months or so. We walked into this one house and when we went into the bathroom, there was a little mushroom growing next to the bathtub! I looked at the realtor and she got pretty flustered. We did not rent that house. 

Ooooh I could not have stayed there either!!  WOW!!!  

I need to get out there and take another picture to compare.  We had a lot of rain so it may have grown again!  It's actually been so damp and humid the pumpkins we took the kids to pick last week have started to rot already!  They were gorgeous too!! 

  I just read about a bleach bath thing you can do that helps; but it's a little too late for that. 

I was thinking; I need a TCS gnome to stand next to those mushrooms! 

 

[Winchester]

Gardening 2014 is officially finished; there's nothing in the veggie garden, other than the strawberries and the asparagus. Got the last of the green peppers in the freezer this morning and tore out the plants. We need to burn the dried vegetation, then till so that we can plant rye grass for the winter and I don't think we're going to get it all done. The fences and stakes have to be taken down, too. I'm still not done clipping flowers. 

 

[pat]

I just harvested more green bell peppers, poblanos and jalapeno peppers, have leeks that I am pulling as I cook with them, and picked a few errant elderberries and strawberries this past weekend.
 

Our largest of 2 fast-maturing, mini-cantelopes did mature in time, we picked it yesterday.  Divine.

I need to get busy with taking down the tomato and pepper plants, finishing trimming the lavender bed.

 

[di and bob]

It's such a shame, I spend all summer trying to get things to grow, and now I'm ripping them out by the roots and they are still alive! But I've got so many flower beds I have GOT to get started so I don't have so much to do in the spring. Our garden was a big success, tomatoes 6 foot tall and almost a pound a piece, beautiful! Everything grew wonderfully, we finally got enough rain and a little cooler summer! The only thing that didn't grow was my pumpkins, the squash bugs were just horrible, next year I am going to declare war early. We just spread about 3 inches of aged manure over the garden and tilled it along with lots of grass and leaves, the soil is getting better!

 

[MoochNNoodles]

I still have peppers but we had a freeze or near freeze last night so they may be done for now.  I can't see clear enough from the house.  There are tomatoes still on the vine in the pots on my patio; but most have big splits in them.  I kept busy today inside and didn't even make it to the grocery store.  I think I will be cleaning the garden and my pots up toward the end of the week.  

 

[MoochNNoodles]

Look what I just picked! Ive totally ignored the garden. My husband was doing yard work yesterday and said he saw a pepper the size of his hand. He wasnt kidding!!

image.jpg

• MoochNNoodles
• Oct 26, 2014

I should weigh that one!! I picked 2 other big ones and close to a dozen ripe snacker size peppers. There are DOZENS of banana peppers out there. Most don't look good to pick though. More of all 3 varieties are still growing. There are flowers on my tomato plants too! Geepers!!

 

[Winchester]

That is one beautiful pepper! 

 

[AbbysMom]

This won't be a popular post, but I am SO over the garden. I am thrilled, thrilled to be cutting back everything. I will be happy not to see another pear or tomato for a long time. :anon:

 

[denice]

That's the way we always felt about the garden when I was growing up.  I lived on a farm and there was always a large garden.  Lot's of fresh produce along with a lot of canning and freezing.  The canning was done in a house with no air conditioning during hot Kansas summers, we were glad when it was done as well.  We always did it all again the next year and I especially always looked forward to the watermelons.

 

[MoochNNoodles]

Oh I'm ready to be done.  That's why I've ignored what is out there!  

I have to admit; I did not take full advantage of all I grew.  I did test out the Bread & Butter pickles I made and they were good!  I haven't tested my pickled banana peppers yet.  I think one thing I've found hard is just the prep time in slicing and dicing everything.  My freezer does have veggies I put up; but it's so full I can't get much extra in right now.  I would probably have done better making pickles if I could have done it all in one batch.  It's a lot of work for 5 jars here 8 there.  

 

[bbdoll22]

I'm still getting tomatoes. I pick them when they get a blush and then ripen indoors. I'm afraid they won't ripen outside as we have had frost and the nights are in the 30 or 40's.

 

[mani]

This arrived in the mail today... over 4 kilos (9 pounds) of my brother's freshly picked garlic!!!  I did say I wanted some to make infused oil, but 4 kilos!!

garlic.jpg

• mani
• Nov 20, 2014

 

[pushylady]

Oh gosh I wish I could have some of that fresh garlic mani ! Maybe not 4 kg mind you...
Best garlic I ever had came fresh out of a friend's garden. Just can't beat fresh and local like that.
How about you learn to braid it? You could sell it!

 

[mani]

Trouble is not all is in it's original state..  he broke a lot up into cloves to fit as much as he could in.

 

[Winchester]

I completely agree about being so over the garden this year. I'm glad it's done and put down for the season. Don't get me wrong, I'm thankful for the food that it produced and I do enjoy taking care of it, but it needed to be over. I actually breathed a sigh of relief when we took the fencing down and rolled it up. Whew! Over! Rick laughed at me, but that's how I felt.

And canning is a lot of work, especially when you don't get much at one time for your work. 5 jars here, 8 jars there. That's a hassle! 

 But once it's done, I feel better for doing it. And then, all you need to do is grab a jar and open it and that's the easy part.

Mani, I would take some of that garlic in a heartbeat! I can smell the roasted garlic from here! I love roasted garlic; it has such a robust taste. I mix some roasted, mashed garlic with butter to spread on fresh bread slices. 

http://www.vegkitchen.com/tips/preserving-garlic/ has ways to preserve garlic and garlic-infused oil. 

Ever have Pickled Garlic? I'd try it!   http://allrecipes.com/recipe/pickled-garlic/   

 

[mani]

I just made enough garlic oil to last a week (I've read so much about botulism, I'm completely freaked out!)

I will definitely do that pickling recipe, @Winchester - that looks fabulous and easy.  And I'm thinking the garlic salt would go down well too.

You've done it again - the recipe whiz-kid.

 

[Winchester]

I think you're OK, Mani, as long as you keep your oil in the fridge. It will cloud up in the fridge, but it's still OK. I know, the botulism thing freaks me out, too. That's actually why it took me so long to try canning....botulism fears. 

Thanks! 

 

ETA: I'd try the salt, too! In fact, now I'm curious about it.