Posted on 03/01/2025 7:23:36 AM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
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Nothing prettier than grill marks on veggies!
Well, maybe a Speckled Pup, but that’s about it. ;)
I’ve been growing these for 3 years now.
Things I’ve experienced:
1. they are prolific! They’ve taken over one side of my garden beds. It is 25 feet squared and this week I tilled the side away from them and I’m seeing tore up sunchokes all were I tilled!!!
2. The chokes are still small. I tried to peel them but most are too small for this without a ton of work. Now I just clean them with scrub brush and cook unpeeled. This might make the texture unpleasant to some. Maybe they’re small because this is where I tilled them not expected to find any.
3. They are perfectly capable of taking care of themselves. You don’t need to weed them; they’ll kick the weeds butts! You don’t need to water them. Mine survived and flourished even though we got no rain from mid-August (Hurricane Helene) until October. I didn’t water them because water was getting expensive.
“Soil is always clayey, hard, rocky. What to do?”
Hanging baskets & planters for annuals. :)
24 Best Perennial Flowers for Clay Soil Gardens:
https://www.bhg.com/gardening/flowers/perennials/best-plants-to-grow-in-clay/
10 Annuals for Clay Soil:
https://www.provenwinners.com/learn/soil/10-annuals-clay-soils
Maybe I should just container them or plant them in the woods somewhere unless they are invasive.
March is coming in like a Lion! Temps are good - upper 50’s to 60’s. It’s the wind again .... gusts 20 - 30 mph, 40 in the mtns. Fire risk is elevated. This is the time of year we had wildfires last year & the conditions were about the same.
Daffodils are above ground, but no buds yet. A couple of the maples are showing some ‘red’ growth - beginnings of leaves. Grass not greening yet which is OK because I don’t want it growing up in tree debris - backyard is cleaned up, but the much larger front yard is loaded with downed branches.
I cut down 3 fairly small apple trees Wednesday. One was dead & the other 2 were struggling (no blooms, no apples). They were a pain to mow around & IMO, an eyesore. Next, there is the large, dead chestnut. I have room to fell it, just need a chainsaw.
This month I need to get the new raised beds filled. I dread it - going to be a lot of back breaking work. I am trying to focus ahead when it’s all done & we have gorgeous flowers & herbs to enjoy. 💐🌻
Beau has two Maple trees in the house yard tapped so far and has supplies to tap about a dozen more down in the woods.
He’s got a good 3 gallons of sap so far; he’s going for 50 gallons, which will make about 5 quarts of syrup.
Yummy! We have always used charcoal although this year I want to start using wood, we have a ton. Love grilled veggies, we have a grill wok that will grill up a bunch for 4 people. Easy to stir for the short time it takes to grill them. We also have one of those locking rectangular baskets.
Years ago, maybe 30???? Bobby Flay had a show called Grillin’ and Chillin’. He faced off in each episode against a good old boy in bibs using a charcoal kettle grill and Bobby Flay always used gas. We gave Flay the nickname Burn It All Bobby. Most of his stuff caught fire and the charcoal guy had the best looking food. I think youtube may have an episode or two up. They are a hoot. That’s how far back we started to dislike Flay.
Thanks, I saved your list. I have grown Cherokee Purple and have seeds. Will look at the others.
OK, if I want to contain them, which I do, how deep would, say, a raised bed need to be or a container to put into the ground? Do the roots grow close to the surface or go very deep?
And are they invasive enough to not want to just grow wild on the property?
I speed up breakfast by a little time in microwave for my potatoes before I slice/dice and fry in bacon fat or olivw oil. Thanks for recipes.
Good idea.
Flay is known as the guy you love to hate.
Hubby is a charcoal type but we add pecan wood chips to give the most amazing smoky flavor. We have a gas grill, too, but don’t often use it. The smoker is the way to go. I LOVE everything over pecan wood. Have never had one bad meal from that.
Now, that’s all due to Mr. FF’s skills. I do the inside cooking. I’m not looking forward to having no smoked meals for the next few weeks while he’s recovering from eye surgery. We are gearing up for it. Going out of town today but will return tonight. Tomorrow I’ll be in food prep mode. Maybe I can get him to smoke a few things and then I stick it in the freezer for later? He makes great ribs!
Sorry to hear Mr FF’s incapacitated.......get well soon wishes.
I’d google it or ask Grok (Elon’s X AI). Much better than a search engine. If you tell it your climate, area, etc., it will give specific advice!
I think the roots go deep because they survived my drought while everything else not watered died. But a deep raised bed with some deep edges in the soil could be good—just use that bed for only sunchokes.
But I only have 3 years experience. I should have said the first year I thought they died because I didn’t recognize the plants without flowers!
Guess what I found at the grocery store yesterday? Shishito peppers! This will help me cuz I have zero of that left in my freezer. It will help until I get something (hopefully) from the seeds I saved last year.
Hi Diane and Freeper brothers & sisters! Any sage advice about how and when to plant pumpkin seeds in the Colorado mountains above 7,400 feet altitude? Is it even possible? Thanks!
Thank you. Eye surgery is Wednesday morning, so we have a few days left before he begins recovering.
I saw some at our local grocery store last week. But they looked old in the sealed bag. Besides I still have a gallon zipoc in the freezer half fill of little frozen baggies!.
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