The Garden Thread - March, 2025

March 1,2025 | Diana in WI/Greeneyes in Memoriam

[Diana in Wisconsin]

The MONTHLY Gardening Thread is a gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you.

If you have specific question about a plant/problem you are having, please remember to state the Growing Zone where you are located.

This thread is a non-political respite. No matter what, you won’t be flamed, and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked.

It is impossible to hijack the Gardening Thread. Planting, Harvest to Table Recipes, Preserving, Good Living - there is no telling where it will go - and that is part of the fun and interest. Jump in and join us! Send a Private Message to Diana in Wisconsin if you'd like to be added to/removed from our New & Improved Ping List.

NOTE: This is a once a MONTH Ping List, but we DO post to the thread all throughout the month. Links to related articles and discussions which might be of interest to Gardeners are welcomed any time.

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Diana; something that also helps to soften beans lentils and chickpeas is to add perhaps a teaspoon of baking soda per cup of dried beans. The alkalinity helps, along with several changes of soak water, to reduce the gassiness. ( A 1990s NYT Cooking editor who had problems with chickpeas and this was someone's suggestion to her to help with the gas.)

Also, avoid acids in the initial cooking of the beans or lentils. It makes them tough. Beans have a small pinhole opening in the skin that allows water in which closes in the presence of acid and delays the time required to absorb water and cook!

[Pollard]

Weird. Seed potatoes in the store a few weeks ago. Way earlier than usual iirc.

[Pollard]

Definitely works. I pressure cooked 10+ year old black beans and they were crunchy. Did it the same with added baking soda and they were soft.

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

And like you I have a lot of 10 year old black beans and green lentils! (I have to be careful in pacing their use to 2 or 3 tablespoons at a time in something like lunchtime Raman or Soba noodles or I get complaints from Mrs. and Daughter.)

[Diana in Wisconsin]

See Post 181 - more help from Pete on your, ‘bean situation.’

[Diana in Wisconsin]

I PINGED Paul to your post. :)

[Diana in Wisconsin]

They must know something that we don’t! ;)

At Jung’s we had the ‘Bare Root Room’ open at the END of March up here in Zone 5a.

Bare root trees and shrubs, roses, small fruits, taters, onions...it was my favorite time of year and where I started my illustrious career. ;)

And it was COLD in there! We had to keep everything as dormant as we could.

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Thanks Diana!

[Liz]

Double Baked Potatoes
Russets w/ a cr/cheese and blue cheese meltingly tender filling, crispy, salty potato skins.

Ing 4 large russets, 1 tbl evo 2 1/4 tsp k/salt, divided 1/2 tsp pepper, plus garnish 1/4 cup h/cream 4 oz cr/cheese, 5 oz creamy blue cheese bits, 1 tbl fine-chp fresh chives, plus garnish 1/2 c plus 6 tbl Parm

Directions Position oven rack in center about 7-8" from heat. Fotk pierce potatoes all over; place on foiled baking sheet. Rub w/ olive oil; s/p. Bake fork-tender, 425 deg 1 hour; cool enough to handle but still hot, about 15 min. Increase oven to broil. Slice open leaving 1/2" unsliced on each side. Push ends to open centers. Scoop out most of the flesh leaving a 1/4-inch layer. Return potato shells to foil-lined baking sheet. Salt insides; set aside.

To potato scoops in bowl, add cream, cream cheese, blue cheese, chives, 1/2 cup of the Parmesan, remaining salt. Mash til well combined. Spoon or pipe potato mixture evenly into potato skins, piling high as needed until filling is all used up. Sprinkle evenly with 1 1/2 tbl Parm. Broil until warmed through and cheese is melted and golden brown, 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer to a platter and top evenly with finely chopped marinated olives. Garnish with chives and black pepper and serve immediately.

Variation that includes olive brine for a salty and briny flavor. Some Dirty Martini recipes omit the vermouth entirely and swap it for olive brine, while others include equal parts vermouth and brine. Dirty Martinis can be made with gin or vodka. 3/4 cup pitted Castelvetrano olives, quartered lengthwise, plus 1/3 cup olive brine 1/4 cup Beefeater gin 1 tablespoon dry vermouth 3 strips lemon peel While potatoes bake, place olives, olive brine, gin, vermouth, and lemon peel strips in a small jar or airtight container. Seal container and shake well to combine. Chill in refrigerator until flavors meld, at least 30 minutes and up to 24 hours. Strain marinated olives using a fine-mesh sieve set over a medium bowl, reserving olives and brine mixture separately. Finely chop 1/4 cup of the olives; set aside. Reserve remaining marinated olives and brine for another use; put some in filling.

[linMcHlp]

Double Baked Potatoes
bttt

[MomwithHope]

Hubby make a great twice baked, loaded with cheese, butter, sour cream, sauteed onion etc etc. I call them fork lift potatoes, can only eat 1/2 at a time. Friday he’s going to make his fork lift tuna casserole.

[Liz]

Mmmmmmmm.........love those classic pairings.

[Liz]

One way to enjoy those delectable potatoes is with a perfectly grilled steak.

Ing for 2 servings 2-1 lb each ribeye steaks, 1 1/4-1 1/2" thick, or use New York strip steak, filet mignon (tenderloin), 1 1/2 tsp k/salt, 1 tsp pepper 4 Tbsp butter 2 tsp minced fresh rosemary parsley or thyme 3/4 tsp minced fresh garlic

Instructions Sprinkle each side of steaks evenly w/ kosher salt. Let rest at room temp 45-60 min. Meanwhile in a small mixing bowl stir butter, rosemary and garlic. Set aside.

Heat a grill over moderately high heat, to about 450 to 500 deg. Sprinkle each side of room temp steaks w/ pepper. Grill about 3 1/2-7 min per side to desired doneness. Use an instant read therm in center of thickest portion. Let steaks rest off heat 5 min. Brush w/ garlic herb butter, slice and serve.

Notes Steak can be salted up to 48 hours in advance (if it's not about to spoil). If doing so just salt each steak and keep on a wire rack in the fridge uncovered.

STEAK DONENESS --- FDA recommends internal temp of 145 deg with a 3 minute resting period for food safety. Rare: 115 - 120 deg, serve steak at 125 deg. Medium rare: 120 - 125 deg, serve at 130 deg. Medium: 130 - 135 deg, serve at 140 deg Med-well: 140 - 145 deg, serve at 150 deg Well: 150 - 155 deg, serve at 160 deg.

[MomwithHope]

We do our steaks now indoors, not on a charcoal grill, in a cast iron skillet with a bit of homemade beef tallow. A little montreal steak seasoning and a tiny splash of soy sauce near the end.

[Pollard]

Chef John’s double cooked french fries. Fried until white and floppy, chilled and then fried again.

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/219634/chef-johns-french-fries/

Chef Andrew Gruel’s version blanches with acidified water for the first cooking.

https://x.com/ChefGruel/status/1898618015060828254

[Liz]

Chef John’s double cooked french fries. Fried until
white and floppy, chilled and then fried again.

---

Actually dble frying potatoes is an ages old French technique.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

“You can grill BEEF...?”

...said the lady with the freezer full of Bear, Elk and Venison.

Just kidding. ‘Chuck’ is in the rotation, too. ;)

[FamiliarFace]

Valuable link, thanks!

[Augie]

Mostly warm and dry here in Central Missouri this past week. We got quite a few things knocked out over the weekend.

I retrieved the Red Menace from the body shop Friday morning. The radiator grille piece is on 2-3 week backorder so they put the broken one back on for now. I’ll have to take the truck back to have that swapped out, but that’s a minor inconvenience at this point.

I started off Saturday swapping the OEM wheels/tires that I run during the winter for the high fashion Fuel ten spoke wheels and meaty Yokohama tires that I run the rest of the year. The truck looks nicer and performs much better with the Yokos on compared to the Firestones that it came with. I tweaked my back a bit working on that task, which slowed me down some for the rest of the weekend, but it didn’t stop me.

I got Nanner out and cleaned up one of the winter’s bale butt/horse poo piles and put all of that on the compost heap in the new garden patch, and put a fresh bale on the other pile. Now that decent weather is here there’s no need to keep two bales out at once.

Mrs. Augie and #1 Marine daughter spent quite a bit of time Saturday and Sunday picking up deadfall and patching fence around the horse pasture. One section of temporary fence that is due for replacement had grown up in wild blackberries/multiflora rose and was quite a mess. I used the loader bucket on the tractor to slice the canes off at the ground then pushed them across the pasture and dumped the mess over the fence into the woods. Made short work of what would have been half a day’s worth of really nasty hand-to-briars combat.

I cut down another half dozen or so dead trees around the pasture fence and made bonfire wood out of quite a bit of that. The scrappy bits were shoved to the edge and heaved over the fence into the woods. There are a few more dead ones that I need to cut before they decay to the point they aren’t safe to work on - probably another half day’s worth of work. Once that’s done the fencelines should be good until next spring.

The big win for the weekend... I got the last cattle panel arch installed on the hoop house frame and got them all tied together, and installed the last two panel sections on the side walls. Now I need to frame the end walls and then it will be time to install the plastic sheeting. I doubt I’ll get all of that done in time to get much use out of the hoop house this spring, but come fall it will be in shape to provide green salad etc. well into the winter.

I’d intended to pick up a couple bags of potting soil and get some lettuce going in the greenhouse but I never made it to the store for that. With Daylight Savings Time now in effect I should be able to get that done one evening this week.

[Paul R.]

Ah, good info. Thanks!

Unfortunately, I was already through the soaking process before I read it. What I ended up trying was a 5 minute boil followed by an overnight soak, but I just let ‘em cool down by themselves and then only changed out the soak water once during the night, then again before beginning cooking them in earnest.

The beans then got cooked ~9 hours and are still(!) only somewhat softened. I’d say the consistency is not too far off that of pecan meat.

Maybe I could try the pressure cooker? Would the baking soda still help? (It seems unlikely, as the beans are mostly slightly splitting anyway, but still not soft. But, I might try it with a cup of them separately.)

If, next time, I try several soak water changes,

A) Should I not do the “quick boil” at the start?

B) Should I add baking soda at each change, to counteract the acidity of the water?

Note that the beans seem pretty consistent. Unlike this person’s experience, they are all a little “unpleasantly crunchy”.

https://www.seriouseats.com/how-to-cook-dried-beans