Posted on 07/28/2017 8:47:10 PM PDT by greeneyes
The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds.
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Yukon gold baby roasters cooked and basted in melted butter, olive oil, thyme, rosemary, garlic, ginger .... sounds like the most scrumptious potato dish ever.
What’s edible: The damn roots?
No I didn’t lift while the back was hurting, and due to scheduling issues, I had missed a couple of weeks - it was in the second week of “missing” that the back issues started, so the only thing different was that I was NOT exercising with weights, and the other thing I figured out was that I didn’t have all the kitchen mats down since a couple needed to be replaced.
So I’m trying to remember to move those mats that are left where ever I am standing. One thing that I do that could be a cause is sit at the computer, and probably more than I should. So I have switched chairs to see if that helps.
The weight lifting was advised to help fight the osteoporosis that was brought on by tumors on two of the parathyroid glands which went undiagnosed for 20 years and 12 doctors - I finally figured it out, and referred myself to an endocrinologist who confirmed the diagnosis, and later the surgeon, who told me I wouldn’t have lasted much longer.
Not sure which of the measures are doing the most good right now, but there is a definite improvement from 2 days ago. But I’ve had a long term issue with one of my thighs and the Drs. have been less than helpful.
The first time I described it, and said I’m not sure what it is. The Dr. said well knowing what it is - the easy part - what to do about it is another story - no advice, no telling me what it likely is nada.
Since it only happened if I was on my feet for a 2 or 3 hrs and quit when I sat down, I just started making sure to not be on my feet without a rest.
Gradually, the time that I can stand has shrunk to about 30 minutes, and there is not total relief from sitting, and I have started having tingling in the feet. Current Dr. said I have no idea what that tingling is - try taking some sub lingual B12. The leg is likely a pinched nerve, and I can give you an Rx for an anti depressant that has an off-label use for issues such as this.
No thanks - that stuff raises your incidence of strokes! Now he says you likely have neuropathy, but has no thoughts of how to improve or what to do about it, other than pain management while the body goes down hill. We don’t have health care in the country-we have disease management.
Well, anyway, thanks for the concern - I believe in nutrition, and helping the body heal, but I also think it helps to figure out a cause, and it seems that Drs. just want to give you a pill, and those things don’t fix the problem and they all have side effects, so like you said, I just try to noodle around and figure it out.
I would never consider back surgery - unless fractured in an auto accident or something. About 80% of back surgeries don’t really help.
It was delicious.
Panamenos are marvelous gardenes, but with a catch; ONLY regarding plants with which they are familiar. Turmeric is Asisn, so, translated from the Spanish, fuhgeddaboudit.
BTW, you can probably grow your own ginger (turmeric is a diffrent proposition). Pick the warmest spot in your garden, when things get cool, cover the plot with hay/straw. Lots of sun, please, and keep it moist (NOT SOGGY!) Ginger, like turmeric, is a rhyzome, so check with Shaw's Garden in STL on when to bury it.
You should be able to buy rhyzomes from any good plant centre. They WILL try (at least they do here) to rip you off on rhyzomes; I just tell the bleeps that I grow herbs they've never heard of, and I'll pay you a buck apiece (the dollar IS the currency here), and if they even hesitate, I walk out .... I've had a couple of them follow me out the door--they know a buck apiece is fair.
Anyway, ginger and turmeric are the easiest plants to grow that I've ever tried in a warm climate. Just plant 'em and forget 'em unless things start to get dry. Do call Shaw's Garden for tips in Missouri.
No micro-planer? No problem. A fine wood file works very well. Just keep it dry. Blenders? MAYBE. Very sharp blades only. Trying to cut up turmeric with a knife, even a sharp one, is a hobby only for folks in the gulag on a 20-year sentence (try it, you'll see!)
Bonus: ginger blooms attract some species of butterflies. Don't know about turmeric; my plants haven't bloomed yet.
Yes the rhizisomes are the edible part, but they are very difficult to grind, so that is why it’s generally sold already ground up. Getting it from an Indian Market would likely be the best way of getting fresh I guess.
Many studies have been done that show good results for helping with many issues. Those studies used supplements - not the spice itself. The main ingredient that helps appears to be the curcumin.
Tumeric turns every thing yellow. It’s one of the ingredients in Mustard too IIRC. I have thought about getting capsules, and making my own supplements from spices, but haven’t seriously pursued that - more like a passing thought.LOL
Well, I was thinking about maybe trying to grow some ginger, but hadn’t got around to checking out the requirements to see if it would grow in Mo.
Since most Tumeric is grown in the areas similar in climate to India, I didn’t think it would be something to try here. I like to take the capsules, since the spice dyes every thing yellow.
taters look great....
Now, would you like some fresh turmeric? You're quite welcome, but you'll have to make a trip to STL (sorry).
Doc —
Just so you know, many plants have rhysomes rather than roots, and the rhyzome is almost always edible. You can make a tasty soup with ginger leaves, and I’m told the flowers are edible, too. Same thing, basically, with turmeric.
FReegards,
SAJ
When you mentioned neuropathy, it came to mind I was diagnosed with that — legs feet were losing feeling.
I returned to dr a few times when !!! he made a suggestion.
Which worked. No pills. It took some time, weeks to months to recover all feeling back to normal.
He said sometimes it depends how one sleeps to cut off circulation. Well, had indeed changed the bed situation and made sense. I try now not to sleep flat on back but to be a little one side or the other !
[Q: Can you do sit-ups? If yes, ok. else will explain.
My sister in Minnesota gardens quite a bit. She has indoor grow lights to get the plants thru the winter and has had the police stop by to see what she was growing....
For outdoors she built a couple of cages out of 2 x 2 and 1 x 2 lumber with wire fencing to keep out the squirrels and other animals as they like her tomatoes and other edibles.
Also....
I work at the computer most of the day. Very important to be comfortable when at a desk. No more aches and pains after I made some changes.
I lowered my desk to a height of 28” so my arms rest evenly when sitting on my chair. My chair has adjustable arm rests and back support. See below. I use 2 mouse pads to rest my arms and elbows on and a 3rd one for the mouse. I have the mousepads on a thin cotton placemat so when using the mouse and resting my arm I can easily slide them around and the desk does not get scuffed.
I bought this chair when it was on sale at $98 w/tax earlier this year. Best chair. The seat can tilt downward at an angle, maybe 5 degrees. Now my legs no longer have the circulation cut off. The product description says no tilt but it does tilt. I was at Office Depot and tried it out before buying (on sale)
It has a back that is also adjustable and the seat can slide back and forth from the back support. I added a thin memory foam cushion as the seat is a little thin for me.
Set of 2 for $18. I use one in my Honda car and another on my work chair.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06VV3WZFV/ref=twister_B06VV3Z8D4?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
I also laid down several rubber mats then added a soft rug from Target on top to rest my feet on. It is about 4” high.
Cut these in 2 pieces. You can also get some wood and build a platform then throw a rug on it.
https://www.amazon.com/Genuine-Joe-Anti-Fatigue-Beveled-3-Feet/dp/B000EFK9KM
Realspace® MFTC 200 Multifunction Ergonomic Super Task Chair, Black Item # 493876
http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/493876/Realspace-MFTC-200-Multifunction-Ergonomic-Super/
At work my desk height is 29” and it causes pain after a while if I rest my arms on the desk using the computer. just 1” difference is enough to cause shoulder aches and my arm is always at an angle. The company will remodel maybe later this year as they did another office building and the desks will be of adjustable height going as low as 24” and high enough to work standing up.
Hi, after my sister and I drove ninety miles to st Louis to buy fresh turmeric, I found that the Carbondale Kroger’s has started carrying fresh turmeric. We both grew some in pots last year and brought it in over the winter.
I think I have some small roots in a bag in the kitchen that have started to sprout, that I could send if you would like. They are lots of fun to grow.
Pretty much killed off a strong tomato plant by adding some seeds to the soil from a fresh tomato.
i think that was a no-no. Not looking like he’s gonna regrown branches and leaves. Well, I’m giving him a chance.
Looks like some green tomato-corn worm(?) dead on a leaf of one on my pepper plants - being eaten by white egg-looking things - supposedly they grow to eat other bugs. Dunno.....
Already have harvested at least 27 tomatoes from my Bush Early Girl (Walmart). She has at least 30 more on her (I took one). They’re small, but they keep coming. I’ll get some bigger tomatoes off some other plants - I think. There’s about 3 going.
So far largest peppers I’ve grown - but very, very few.
Everything is jammed so close (too close) together.
Really got rained on a couple nights ago. Got some cherry tomatoes and California Peppers (small) in the garage - they can’t handle the heat....cooling off though - about 10-12 degrees.
Greeneyes .... sorry to hear of your back/leg pain. My back is very “moody” .... if I do things bent over to a certain degree or stand a long time, I’ll end up with the threat of back spasms and in the worst case, I actually get them. Occasionally, I’ll get a bit of sciatica, but it usually resolves on its own. Up until the last couple of years, I could do pretty much anything so it’s been a real mental adjustment to realize I can’t lift/carry & dig like I used to and resist the temptation to do it anyway & end up hobbling for a week.
We were/are supposed to get some major rain from a nor’easter yesterday/today. It looks like the original forecast of several inches of rain for our area is fizzling somewhat; however, we have had some showers. I spent Wed/Thur on the mower, trying to get everything mowed before the big rains and also to work on the areas around the garden raised beds (getting them under control). Wednesday was a ‘cooler’, lower humidity day (we’ve been in a spell of high nineties & high humidity) and Thursday I lucked out & it stayed mostly cloudy so despite the humidity/heat, it wasn’t too bad.
In the meanwhile, sitting on my counter top, were 3 lasagna/roaster pans full of tomatoes that needed processing and there were more on the plants that needed picking. Yesterday was my “deal with it” day. I used up almost all of the tomatoes in the pans - got 8 quarts of canned tomatoes and 7 pints of salsa. I’ll be doing another batch of salsa today & that should leave me with some tomatoes for a fresh tomato soup and a tomato sandwich or two. The plants are still loaded with green tomatoes so I’ll have plenty more to deal with. Our freezer is fairly full so I’m doing more canning instead of freezing.
What to do with the eggplants? I have two big ones (Black Beauty variety) that are about a pound and a half apiece. After doing a little research, it appears that Baba Ganoush can be frozen. I love the stuff - if I make a double batch, it will take care of the large eggplants. I have quite a few small ‘finger’ eggplants & will use them in a Chinese dish I really enjoy.
My jalapenos are not doing that great this year although it looks like I’ve got a lot of small ones coming on so maybe the crop won’t be a total bust. This morning, I’m going to a local Farmer’s Market to see if they have any. Now that I have all of my canning ‘equipment’ sitting out, I’ve got Blackberry Merlot Jelly, Jalapeno Pepper Jelly and Cranberry Apple Butter on the canning “to do” list - these items make nice birthday/Christmas gifts. Despite all the work, it really is a feeling of satisfaction to see your produce preserved for future use & of course, one of the sweetest sounds to a canner is the pop of the lids sealing ..... got to hear it 15 times yesterday! :-)
There is a parasitic wasp that lays eggs on the tomato hornworm
the hornworm feeds the wasp larva and continues with another successive generation which will feed off the hornworm.
Consider those little white larva feeding on the hornworm as future insect control for this fall and into next year.
Garden is being eaten, overrun, buzzed cut and otherwise gone via Asian beetles. Send food now we are going to starve!
Not quite that bad but almost. I have sprayed countless times and do not like to do that. We won’t eat the sprayed areas but trying to kill enough bugs so they don’t lay even more eggs for next year.
:)
Many rhizomes are edible, although quite fiberous, and can be easily ground with a micro-plane while still frozen.
A micro-plane is actually a woodworkers tool, that is re-purposed for the kitchen, similar to a rasp or a file.
The micro-plane allows the removed material to fall though the tool holes to be collected,
whereas a rasp, or file will trap the material on the tool teeth, and requires separate action for material removal/cleaning.
I imagine a micro-plane could be used on all rhizomes and fiberous root crops such as tumeric, yucca, ginger, carrot, sweet potato, etc., etc..
A worthy investment !
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