2013 Gardening Thread (Read 239 times)

Daves_Not_Here


    Wow, that is a massive tractor. You must have more of a farm than a garden.  We have a 28 HP Kubota, best investment we ever made, although I don't use it in the garden.  

    Thanks, and as for the gardens, We have 9 sizable raised beds but we intend on making more. Our property is on a hill but we have some level ground way out back. We also have a lot of pine and manzanita that needs clearing (for fire and access), so the tractor is going to be primarily used to "terraform" the property in order to create more usable land. I also intend upon building some outbuildings (workshop and drying shed) that I'll be able to use the tractor on. All in all, it'll get put to use and I no longer have to shell out big bucks for rentals. Renting a tractor of this size up here goes for about $300/day and an additional $50/day for the trailer.


    Menace to Sobriety

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3bapr4Jos0

       

       

       

      Gonna be vastly expanding my gardens next year with my new "used" toy....

       

      I have so very much needed one of these for years...I finally own one. Smile

      Janie, today I quit my job. And then I told my boss to go f*** himself, and then I blackmailed him for almost sixty thousand dollars. Pass the asparagus.

        I just started experimenting with the garden this year in the new house, just put in one raised bed. I think we have room for three and some space for blueberry bushes and raspberries (I think I missed my chance for raspberry canes this year)

         

        I'm in Atlantic Canada, so I'm really jealous of that consistent warm weather you guys have down in the US. We basically have the same weather as Maine maybe a bit warmer and more humid/ it can get very rainy Seattle style. Anyhow, Tomatos are on the vine but won't ripen, we had a pretty cool night here its 56F right now in the morning so my next Internet stop maybe pickled green tomato recipes... I did have nice peas, and really successful green beans, the endamame are still growing. Lettuce and arugula love it here, next year I'll try spinach as well. Radishes did well but no one was interested in more than one radish meal (they are good roasted) we have Lots of kale and I put in beets for the fall a  week ago.

         

        We are  also going to trim our huge rhododendron to move next spring so we can consider house expansion in a couple of years. I would like to slowly replace the front lawn with more of an English style garden.

         

        Happy Saturday A

        Recalculating...

         


        flatland mountaineer

          my pinto bean field approximately one week out from harvest.

          Pods

          The whole world said I shoulda used red but it looked good to Charlene in John Deere Green!!

          Support Ethanol, drink the best, burn the rest.

          Run for fun? What the hell kind of recreation is that?  quote from Back to the Fut III


          Feeling the growl again

            Wow, those get done early.

             

            On the tail end of things here as well.  Sweet corn almost done (had ripe constantly since 3rd week of July, nailed it this year).  Still have to dig potatoes.   A few green beans still going, 80 quarts later.  A few watermelons.  Crazy tomatoes.  Just pears and persimmons left in the orchard, pulled the last of the apples and started them on the way to being wine yesterday.  Got 23 gallons of white wine, 10 of red, and 6 of peach going so far.

             

            my pinto bean field approximately one week out from harvest.

            Pods

            "If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does.  There's your pep talk for today.  Go Run." -- Slo_Hand

             

            I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills

             

            NikoRosa


            Funky Kicks 2019

              I harvested my peppers a couple days ago, bell peppers and a few different kinds of hot peppers.  We had a near frost last week, and I gave up on anything turning red.  So my sriracha will be green this year!

              Leah, mother of dogs

                 Tomatoes.  Meh.  Plenty of fruit on them but they just don't want to ripen.  I am going to blame the wet weather that we have had this summer.

                 

                 

                Mr Finn (and others)

                 

                I didn't plant this year due to all sorts of stupid issues, but last year, I was having the same problem with the tomatoes.

                 

                LOTS and lots of green ones.  So, mid-September, I picked them all.  Every one.  And put them in a brown paper grocery store bag, wrapped the lid up (so, essentially, any gasses they would emit were contained, more on that later) put them on the counter, and waited.  I checked them every few days.  NOT in the sun.

                 

                And they all ripened.  Come early October, I had so many tomatoes I had to invent things to do for them.  The majority of them became sauce and soup.

                 

                Now, on to the gasses.  Ripening tomatoes emit ethylene, a gas.  This gas will cause the other tomatoes to ripen as well.  I have heard (but have not tried) that other fruits (like bananas) will do this as well.  People will put a super ripe banana in the bag.

                 

                But, anyway, I digress...the grocery bag/tomato experiment was a huge success.  I almost had too many.

                Jeff


                Feeling the growl again

                  Ethylene is pretty standard for ripening just about any fruit.  The one thing it does not do is add flavor.  A lot of store bought fruits (especially tomatoes) are rather tasteless because they fill up a warehouse with green ones and then flood it with ethylene to ripen them.  So they end up red but without much flavor.

                   

                  I have a ton of tomatoes and can't seem to give them away.  But I'm so burned out on preserving stuff...and tomatoes are pretty labor-intensive...I'm not sure they will go to any good use.

                   

                  Mr Finn (and others)

                   

                  I didn't plant this year due to all sorts of stupid issues, but last year, I was having the same problem with the tomatoes.

                   

                  LOTS and lots of green ones.  So, mid-September, I picked them all.  Every one.  And put them in a brown paper grocery store bag, wrapped the lid up (so, essentially, any gasses they would emit were contained, more on that later) put them on the counter, and waited.  I checked them every few days.  NOT in the sun.

                   

                  And they all ripened.  Come early October, I had so many tomatoes I had to invent things to do for them.  The majority of them became sauce and soup.

                   

                  Now, on to the gasses.  Ripening tomatoes emit ethylene, a gas.  This gas will cause the other tomatoes to ripen as well.  I have heard (but have not tried) that other fruits (like bananas) will do this as well.  People will put a super ripe banana in the bag.

                   

                  But, anyway, I digress...the grocery bag/tomato experiment was a huge success.  I almost had too many.

                  "If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does.  There's your pep talk for today.  Go Run." -- Slo_Hand

                   

                  I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills

                   


                  Prince of Fatness

                    LOTS and lots of green ones.  So, mid-September, I picked them all.  Every one.  And put them in a brown paper grocery store bag, wrapped the lid up (so, essentially, any gasses they would emit were contained, more on that later) put them on the counter, and waited.  I checked them every few days.  NOT in the sun.

                     

                    I will give this a shot, thanks.  I will probably pull the plants up soon since they are starting to develop wilt.  Some fruit has ripened but not much.  I am tempted to not even bother with tomatoes next year.

                     

                    The pumpkins on the other hand are going nuts and about have taken over the whole garden.  Some are the size of a basketball.  They have not ripened yet tho.

                    Not at it at all. 


                    Feeling the growl again

                       

                      I will give this a shot, thanks.  I will probably pull the plants up soon since they are starting to develop wilt.  Some fruit has ripened but not much.  I am tempted to not even bother with tomatoes next year.

                       

                      The pumpkins on the other hand are going nuts and about have taken over the whole garden.  Some are the size of a basketball.  They have not ripened yet tho.

                       

                      I think I need to plant my pumpkins later next year.  The vines are already died back (were a week or more ago) and I'm about to pull the pumpkins up on the porch to keep them from rotting before Halloween.

                      "If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does.  There's your pep talk for today.  Go Run." -- Slo_Hand

                       

                      I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills

                       

                      Daves_Not_Here


                        Grilled up the first harvest of eggplant last night for dinner. Awesome stuff. Lotsa of tomatoes in the garden this year, but still not ripening up yet. We planted kinda late though and we still have quite a bit of warm weather forecast so not too terribly concerned at the moment. Besides...I too am not terribly enthused about canning all the tomatoes either.


                        Oh roo roooo!

                          I have a ton of tomatoes and can't seem to give them away.  But I'm so burned out on preserving stuff...and tomatoes are pretty labor-intensive...I'm not sure they will go to any good use.

                           

                          Do you have a large enough freezer to freeze some?  I am scarred for life from having to can all sorts of stuff as a kid growing up on a farm and the memories of a hot, steamy kitchen in hot, steamy weather and scalding the damn tomatoes and peeling them and the acid making your arms itch...no thanks!  BUT--I have done these 2 things when a bonanza of tomatoes came my way and they worked OK for me:

                          1)  I just cut the tomatoes into chunks and freeze in ziploc bags.  I toss them into chili, spaghetti sauce, etc., and make sure that I allow enough time for the water to cook off a bit.

                          2)  I have made "lazy tomato sauce" by filling my slow cooker w/chunked tomatoes and just keeping that baby cooking for days on end w/the lid slightly askew to let the water cook off.  As it cooks down, I keep adding more and more tomatoes.  When it's full and cooked to where I want it, I put 2 C into a ziploc and freeze.

                           

                          Of course, these methods are only good if you don't mind seeds and skins in your sauce/chili/etc., which I don't.  I suppose you could put the sauce thru a Foley food mill or similar if you wanted to.


                          Feeling the growl again

                            Interesting thought.  I could freeze a few bags for slow cooker use (I have a huge freezer but need to keep space open every fall for meat).

                             

                            You peeled for canning??? Yeesh.  Too much work.  I sqeeze out juice/seeds, then dump them in boiling water until the skin loosens and they mush up a bit.  Then I dump them into a food mill, drain the water, and run them through.  The PIA step is then putting them on the stove and reducing for an hour or more.  The acid in them is also hard on pots, I ruined one the last time when it stripped the coating.

                             

                            Do you have a large enough freezer to freeze some?  I am scarred for life from having to can all sorts of stuff as a kid growing up on a farm and the memories of a hot, steamy kitchen in hot, steamy weather and scalding the damn tomatoes and peeling them and the acid making your arms itch...no thanks!  BUT--I have done these 2 things when a bonanza of tomatoes came my way and they worked OK for me:

                            1)  I just cut the tomatoes into chunks and freeze in ziploc bags.  I toss them into chili, spaghetti sauce, etc., and make sure that I allow enough time for the water to cook off a bit.

                            2)  I have made "lazy tomato sauce" by filling my slow cooker w/chunked tomatoes and just keeping that baby cooking for days on end w/the lid slightly askew to let the water cook off.  As it cooks down, I keep adding more and more tomatoes.  When it's full and cooked to where I want it, I put 2 C into a ziploc and freeze.

                             

                            Of course, these methods are only good if you don't mind seeds and skins in your sauce/chili/etc., which I don't.  I suppose you could put the sauce thru a Foley food mill or similar if you wanted to.

                            "If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does.  There's your pep talk for today.  Go Run." -- Slo_Hand

                             

                            I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills

                             

                              We're getting lots of jalapeños now. They're small, though.....too much trouble to make poppers out of them. We eat them on lots of stuff, but we still can't eat them fast enough. Today I looked up how to make refrigerator pickled jalapeños. Super easy. We'll know in a week or so if they're any good.

                              NikoRosa


                              Funky Kicks 2019

                                We're getting lots of jalapeños now. They're small, though.....too much trouble to make poppers out of them. We eat them on lots of stuff, but we still can't eat them fast enough. Today I looked up how to make refrigerator pickled jalapeños. Super easy. We'll know in a week or so if they're any good.

                                 

                                Google the recipe "Cowboy Candy". It's basically candied hot peppers.  Sweet and hot and absolutely delicious.

                                Leah, mother of dogs