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Weekly Gardening Thread – 2010 (Vol. 32) September 10
Free Republic | 09-10-2010 | Red_Devil 232

Posted on 09/10/2010 5:09:56 AM PDT by Red_Devil 232

Good morning gardeners. This is the first year that I will have a fall garden. I have decided to try few broccoli and cabbage plants. I decided to visit our local County Co-Op a couple of days ago and they had starts of both and I bought a nine-pack cell of each. I hope they do well because we are still having 90 degree days with overnights in the mid to high 60’s. They also had starts for various types of tomato plants which kind of surprised me.

If you are a gardener or you are just starting out and are in need of advice or just encouragement please feel free to join in and enjoy the friendly discussion. Our Freeper community is full of gardeners, each with varying interests and skill levels from Master Gardener to novice.


TOPICS: Agriculture; Food; Gardening; Hobbies
KEYWORDS: agriculture; food; garden; gardening; recipes; weekly
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To: Red_Devil 232

Well now Dolly’s owner tells me those are Glads and not the Iris I thought they were and I respect anyone connected with the name Dolly...


241 posted on 09/13/2010 5:13:43 PM PDT by tubebender (Life is short so drink the good wine first...)
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To: tubebender

Beautiful dog! Dolly (the dog) must stand guard for the blueberry burgler when the patch gets raided.


242 posted on 09/13/2010 5:28:52 PM PDT by Red_Devil 232 (VietVet - USMC All Ready On The Right? All Ready On The Left? All Ready On The Firing Line!)
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To: Red_Devil 232

Well that whole part of the family is corrupt to the Bonz RD


243 posted on 09/13/2010 5:48:53 PM PDT by tubebender (Life is short so drink the good wine first...)
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To: Red_Devil 232

This Yankee never had real grits until she went to Basic Training at Ft. Jackson, SC...a whole ‘nother LIFETIME ago, LOL!

Man, I love them grits! Lots of butter and salt & pepper!

Amazingly, I had eaten grits for a very long time but I just didn’t know it! ‘CoCo Wheats’ were chocolate-flavored grits that my Mom made us for breakfast at least once a week when I was a kid.

I’d imagine that would be a hangin’ offense down south though, LOL!


244 posted on 09/13/2010 6:50:18 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin (Save the Earth. It's the only planet with Chocolate.)
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To: afraidfortherepublic

Having grown up in Milwaukee, I can attest to the fact that yes, indeed, that whole ‘town’ IS crazy, LOL!


245 posted on 09/13/2010 6:52:44 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin (Save the Earth. It's the only planet with Chocolate.)
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

Dang... I ain’t ever tried salt and pepper in my Cream of
Wheat


246 posted on 09/13/2010 7:34:55 PM PDT by tubebender (Life is short so drink the good wine first...)
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To: rightly_dividing
This is one of the better photos I have of our Church stained glass windows. There are several others and they are relatively new and were made and installed by a shop in Crescent City Calif...

This was taken after Bishop David Mullen (rt) came up to bless the new windows and the addition to the Fellowship hall. On the left is our Pastor David Groe...

247 posted on 09/13/2010 7:58:07 PM PDT by tubebender (Life is short so drink the good wine first...)
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To: tubebender

What beautiful face!


248 posted on 09/13/2010 8:41:17 PM PDT by MHGinTN (Noids, believing they cannot be deceived; nye impossible to convince them when they're deceived.)
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To: neefer

What is the name of the heirloom tomato plant book you mentioned?


249 posted on 09/13/2010 8:57:53 PM PDT by TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig
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To: metmom

If you want to make great spaghetti sauce, this is the recipe I use and was sent down through my mother. Use 90 oz of tomatoes (or 4 large cans of stewed tomatoes and 2 small cans of tomato paste), 5 tblsn (appx, to taste) basil (fresh is better), 3 tblspn dry oregano or 3 sprigs fresh, 2-4 whole dry bay leaves, you must use a ton (at least 1.5, but as much as 2.5, bulbs of fresh ground garlic), 2 tblspn salt, 2 tspn black pepper.

Throw it all into a large pot. Crush toms and bring to a low boil.

Turn down to the lowest simmer you feel will stay at food safe temp..

Take 3 country style spareribs and brown them in olive oil. Do not cook through, just brown the outside, then place in the sauce.

Bring back to a low boil then simmer at same low temp for 24 hours. Yes, 24 hours.

Let cool and refrigerate for 12-24 hours.

Put back on stovetop and resume the low boil simmer process.

Get some Italian sausages, brown, and put in sauce.

Get 1.5 lbs ground beef of at least 20% fat content and 12-20 oz of ground lamb.

Put ground meat into large metal mixing bowl.

Add 1/4 cup WHOLE milk, 1 to 1.5 bulbs (not sections, full bulbs) of ground garlic. (do not used jars of pre-ground garlic...use fresh)

Add 2-3 cups of bread crumbs. You can use the unseasoned small dressing cubes they sell for stuffing mix or for best results, use stale french bread. Do not use the cardboard tubes of fine ground bread crumbs. You actually want small cubes. The cubes absorb fat that is cooking off and the milk, which helps keep the meatballs moist.

Add 2 tblspoons of dry basil or fresh basil, 3 tblspn dry oregano, 2 raw eggs.

Mix all ingredients by hand until you have bread crumbs/cubes evenly divided in all the meat, and the lamb is mixed through evenly also.

While hand mixing meat, get large frying pan, put 1.5 tblspn of olive oil in pan and bring to med low.

While oil is heating, roll meatballs into silver dollar size (may make as big as desired but this size is easiest to work with). Do not roll “tight.” Roll them by starting with firm grasp between the palms of the hands and slowly end up with soft hold on meatball.

If you try to roll them “tight” they just seperate and will fall apart when you try to brown them in next step.

Brown them in oil, cover pan while doing this. Most of fat in outer layer cooks down to oil in pan. Lid on the pan traps steam in pan and keeps the meatballs moist.

High fat content in ground meat is absolutely necessary for moist, tasty, meatballs.

After browning meatballs, put into spaghetti sauce.

Bring to low boil, then down to lowest simmer that is a safe temperature for the meatballs to finish cooking.

Simmer for at least 6-8 hours then you have an Italian feast ready to go.

As far as simmering the sauce goes, a setting of “1” on my electric range, with large pot on small burner,with a lid on the pot, is good enough for me.

Large burner on “1” and a lid, ends up with a burned bottom layer of sauce in the pot by morning.

With the lid off you get a mess even simmering because it will bubble.

I am sure there are much better cooks than me, but this is my recipe. If I deviate even a little bit, cheat and use old/dry herbs, use powdered bread crumbs (progresso cardboard packaged), or don’t use the spareribs, it does not come out right.

I was in the Navy for 6 years after H.S. and spent 10 years trying to recover my meatball recipe by trial and error.

I got it right when I remembered to use the breadcrumbs from stale french bread.

If you make garlic bread, save the 4 ends and let them go stale overnight, then freeze. You can use them for the bread crumbs the next recipe.

If you have a source for fresh, handmade, Italian sausage, where the proprietor packs the casings himself, your sauce will be incredible.

Spaghetti sauce is similiar to chili in that the repeated cooking/cooling cycle seems to improve the flavor.

If it is a quality Italian Deli, they make it themselves and don’t import it even by plane from another city.

This can be hard to find if you are not in a large East coast city.

There is one such place in the Seattle/Tacoma area.

When I lived in San Diego, the 5-6 “Italian” delis in the Italian district didn’t even make their own...they shipped them down from L.A.. Lousy and not even as good as you get in the grocery store.

Hope someone trys this and reports back on the mess they made.


250 posted on 09/13/2010 9:44:27 PM PDT by TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig
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To: TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig

Wow! Reading that recipe has my mouth watering! Sounds so good. What size are those large cans of stewed tomatoes?


251 posted on 09/14/2010 4:18:33 AM PDT by Red_Devil 232 (VietVet - USMC All Ready On The Right? All Ready On The Left? All Ready On The Firing Line!)
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To: TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig

My wife was wondering what to do with the load of tomatoes we are getting from our garden...we have lots of blacks, and many people say those make some of the best sauce going...using those in this recipe could prove interesting...


252 posted on 09/14/2010 4:25:44 AM PDT by who knows what evil? (G-d saved more animals than people on the ark...www.siameserescue.org.)
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To: TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig
The Heirloom Tomato by Amy Goldman. Made the cherry tomato focaccia bread. Husband was laughing because it looked like it had measels. But, wow, was it delicious.
253 posted on 09/14/2010 4:38:46 AM PDT by neefer (Big city turn me loose and set me free.)
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To: tubebender
I've enjoyed all of your photos very much Mr. T.B. and am quite envious. Here's a true story - we went down to Lowes this last weekend for some knicks and knacks & the wife needed some Slug Bait as she will find one or two 1/2" long slugs in her garden each year. (This is the high desert- "dry" is the key word in this climate) We asked the clerk for help 'cause we couldn't find any on the shelves - the clerk thought for a moment and said "do you mean for your water feature, like for water snails?" Shows you one problem we don't have to deal with. By the way, this isn't Dolly:


254 posted on 09/14/2010 5:08:26 AM PDT by happydogx2 (If you can look at a dog and not feel vicarious excitement and affection, you must be a cat.)
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To: TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig

Thanks for the recipe.

I’ll have to look up the ground lamb. But we have a Wegmans nearby. :)

Do you use a crock pot to cook it for the 24 hours?

I started an herb garden in my backyard and so have fresh herbs.

I won’t be able to get to it this week, but an going to print out the recipe and try it when I have the time.

And yes, good spaghetti sauce DOES taste better when it sits. Just like a lot of soups do.


255 posted on 09/14/2010 5:38:46 AM PDT by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
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To: Red_Devil 232
I've been unable to root cuttings from bamboo

Might anyone have any suggestions?

.

256 posted on 09/14/2010 6:13:27 AM PDT by Elle Bee
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To: tubebender

Those are very nice stained glass windows. A lot of churches nowadays have more simplistic S.G. windows, if any. I took some pics of an old church in Mobile a year ago, or so. Maybe I can find them and post.


257 posted on 09/14/2010 6:47:55 AM PDT by rightly_dividing
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To: metmom

Crock pots work well if you as long as you can turn it down low enough. My crock pot is not big enough to house all the ingredients when I add the meatballs.


258 posted on 09/14/2010 7:14:12 AM PDT by TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig
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To: tubebender
OK, found them pics of the old church. It was probably built in the late 1800's or so. I dont remember and I didnt photo the historic places info plate on the front of it. These shots are of the side of the building. I could not get far enough away to catch the front. It is still in use, but is in sad shape, peeling paint shows around the windows. Photobucket Photobucket Oops...Sorry for this one to be unlevel Photobucket
259 posted on 09/14/2010 7:35:50 AM PDT by rightly_dividing
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To: Elle Bee; hoosiermama; Daisyjane69; Diana in Wisconsin; tubebender; All
I stay away from bamboo so maybe one of our FReeper experts can answer your question. I included tubebender because he knows (someone LOL ) who knows how to get rid of it.

Hey guys see post 256.

260 posted on 09/14/2010 7:43:15 AM PDT by Red_Devil 232 (VietVet - USMC All Ready On The Right? All Ready On The Left? All Ready On The Firing Line!)
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