Posted on 08/08/2014 1:25:23 PM PDT by greeneyes
The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly 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. This thread is non-political, although you will find that most here are conservative folks.
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 Weekly Gardening Thread. There is no telling where it will go and... that is part of the fun and interest. Jump in and join us!
NOTE: This is a once a week ping list. We do post to the thread during the week. Links to related articles and discussions which might be of interest are welcomed, so feel free to post them at any time.
On sunny days, it’ll look like spring.
************************************
Sounds lovely - something to help with the winter blahs/blues. :-)
Thanks for the heads up. My computer was acting up. I did actually ping the members, but apparently it did not “take”. I was wondering why so many who usually post didn’t.
Thanks again, I’ll try it again.LOL
Pinging the List.
The bigger the cuke, the more the center has big seeds and mush. I sometimes cut those in quarters and shave all the middle part and seeds out, then cut them in spears. If they are not too far gone that’ll save some if it.
That’s a fine lookin Tomato. What is the name?
I started from scratch. Added new compost, top soil and 10-10-10. Dropped in cukes, zucchini for the third time and lots of bush beans. Beans have already broke ground.
Will see if the fertilizer works. Was looking for fall tomatoes but haven’t seen them yet.
Sounds like it may have worked.
We were told to try Celebrity as they are disease “resistant” and that is true so far. There are 4 plants and they are loaded with fruit with a few more turning color.
My tomato crop has been wonderful this year, the best in about four years, but the weather has contributed to blight again.
Fortunately, it hit late enough that some of the plants had produced a heavy yield and are loaded with green tomatoes.
I’m hoping to get a decent enough crop to replenish my tomato sauce supply.
Made a note to order some for next year’s garden.
...and you thought YOU were late to the party! LOL
I am happy to report that the electric drill & chain thresher, even with just one piece of chain at the bottom of the long shaft works extremely well.
Today we hit the 50 pound mark of threshed and winnowed rye, which is the amount I originally planted. That is about 6 or 7 times as dense as one would plant for grain production, and due to crowding produces about the same amount of grain as the recommended production amount. However, this was planted to improve soil and smother weeds, with grain production secondary; it was what Utah State University Extension bulletin recommended.
We finished July with a lot of extra rainfall, and so far, we have received all of August’s normal precip. It has also been continuing the cooler than normal trend that started late last Fall. We’ve been, with rare exceptions, in the high 70s and low-mid 80s, and dropping down into the 50s & low 60s at night; even into the high 40s a couple of times in the last few weeks. A week of or so of 90-100 in July finished the cool season crops, but since then, it’s been too cool for the warm season stuff. We’ve just finally managed to set the first zukes; and the cukes are barely producing. Tomatoes and peppers just sit & spin. At least the corn & potatoes look good.
Tonight, I brought out the leftover cherry juice, and used it up by making 6 more pints of jelly. This time I used LITE pectin; used 2 boxes, 7 cups of juice, rather than the 10 called for, and 6 cups sugar, which is less than the amount called for for that amount of juice with REGULAR pectin; but a bit on the heavy side for LITE pectin: this time, after the water bath, it is solidly jelling, unlike the last batch. The first batch tastes great, and is a very soft jell, which goes beautifully spread on (Sara Lee) Cinnamon Swirl bread, French toasted.
Thursday was a day off, to go to the Custer County 4-H fair; our own was the previous week. Both were disappointing, as the exhibits were very sparse compared to past years, and attendance was also down considerably.
Try pickling lime.
Excellent start of your crop. What is different this year that allows you grow tomatoes?
We have been inundated with cucumbers so I have been making “freezer” pickles. I’ve made ‘refrigerator’ pickles before & the recipe called for boiling them. These freezer pickles are a ‘cold’ process. Instead of using a bowl (don’t have enough room for one in the fridge, we’ve been using very large mayo jars (like 64 oz. large) and it seems to work fine - instead of stirring, we just turn the jar over a couple of times every day to remix and makes sure all the pickles have liquid on them. As for the ‘too large’ cukes, I cut them in half lengthwise, take a spoon & scoop the seeds, then slice. We call these “pickle bits” - I like them drained & on a tuna sandwich - sweet/sour/salty crunch is good!
Here is the link to the recipe I’m using - supposedly these will stay crunchy for 8 months. We have put our pickles in smaller (3.5 - 4 cup) containers for freezing, once we move them out of the fridge part of the process. The hard part is getting them to the freezer since they’re so good and we keep snacking! I had to make double batches to fill my jars. I did modify the recipe in two ways - I cut the sugar in half and I left out the peppers .... otherwise, I have followed directions - we’ll see how these hold up in a few months:
http://www.food.com/recipe/crisp-cucumber-freezer-pickles-9458
The weather has been exceptional this year and every crop we grow is bigger and better including the berries, potatoes, corn, carrots and beets. I will probably pick another gallon of delicious strawberries this afternoon...
Good for you!
I'm going to my house this coming week and bringing back more “stuff”. After that, I think we're off to Ohio and New York state (visiting his family members) - maybe. (Oh, my, he's a Yankee from birth!) When I get back, I'll deal with starting some seeds for fall. I do want to try growing a Cherry Punch tomato plant designed to be able to be grown inside and has 30% more Vitamin C than other tomato plants. I'll also start a few other tomato plants for containers outside.
I'm wondering what I can do to start seeds early for next spring since the three car garage can be heated in the winter. The entire yard has inset sprinklers to water all plants. There are many containers here as well as many plants in the ground BUT NO EDIBLE FOOD COMES FROM ANY OF THESE PLANTS.
ABOUT THE GARDEN THREAD:
A Freeper friend sent me a message and he doesn't post anymore due to circumstances, but he said he reads the garden thread and the information has helped him with his garden. We don't know who reads this thread unless he/she posts but believe me people are reading and enjoying the thread and learning from it just as he does.
It goes like this: We don't know how many people know JRandomFreeper (Johnny) loses his pants on New Year's Eve and they are found on the top of a house near him the next morning. We also don't know how many people know Johnny ran across the street (nude) to put out a neighbor's house fire and the firemen were grateful. I don't think they were grateful about the nude part. Now, Johnny's gardening advice helps people so we'll just accept Johnny the way he is - a simply grand "unusual" wizard. :o)
Well, I’m drenched! Finished doing Chicken Number 3, (3 more left) when storm coming from the direction that almost always misses us didn’t. Had to quickly finish and police the area, and then get the garden tractor & trailer put away, then take cover in the pickup, getting the windows rolled up. Lots of water, and a smattering of pea to dime sized hail. It’s a “sever thunderstorm warning”, and sitting on top of us, moving very slowly.
So far, over 3/4” and still more coming down, but slower. Yesterday, I emptied 1/2 inch out of the gauge, and we had already had 1/2-3/4 inch since August 1st. Both Aug & Sept averages are both 1.4”
Temperature is back down to 60, from a high of 84; last night was down to 55: that does not help the garden grow! The rain doesn’t help with the grain harvesting & threshing, either.
At least I hadn’t started smoke-grilling the split broiler that has been sitting marinating in the fridge since last night; that set up is in the open.
Sigh; just re-read this before finally posting, and it reads like a typical farmer, always griping about the weather. LOL
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.