Weekly Garden Thread - November 6-12, 2021

November 6, 2021 | Diana in Wisconsin/Greeneyes

[Diana in Wisconsin]

“Mint is a perennial and VERY invasive.”

As a novice gardener, I bought some potted Chocolate Mint at a Farmer’s Market and promptly planted it in a corner of a raised bed I had in the back yard of my suburban home.

I’m sure whoever owns that house all these years later is STILL cursing me, LOL!

Yep. I had to sell my house in the winter, just so they wouldn’t know about the mint that was all through the lawn, etc. (Just kidding!)

It really smelled FABULOUS when you mowed over it, though, LOL!

[Diana in Wisconsin]

You’re welcome! I just watered all of my houseplants, and gave my Rosemary a misting! :)

[Liz]

Pumpkin Crisp will be your favorite holiday or anytime dessert......easier than pie.

Pumpkin Crisp

INGREDIENTS CRISP MIXTURE 2 cups (180g) quick-cooking oats 2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour 1 cup (200g) packed brown sugar ½ teaspoon baking powder ½ teaspoon baking soda 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice 1 cup (227g) butter, cubed while cold

PUMPKIN MIXTURE 3 large eggs, room temperature 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar 1 can (15 ounces) pumpkin purée 1 cup (240g) heavy cream 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract ½ teaspoon kosher salt

INSTRUCTIONS Preheat oven to 375°.

CRISP MIXTURE Grease a 12inch or 13-inch skillet with cooking spray or butter.Combine the oats, flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and pumpkin spice together. Add in the cubed butter and use your hands to combine. You want the butter to be pea-sized and coated entirely.Spread 4 cups over the bottom of your prepared pan and press flat. Set the remaining crisp mixture aside.

PUMPKIN MIXTURE In a large bowl, whisk together eggs and sugar. When smooth and fully combined, add pumpkin, cream, vanilla, pumpkin pie spice, and kosher salt. Whisk until smooth and blended. Pour the pumpkin mixture on top of the layer of crisp in the skillet. Pour remaining crisp mixture over top of the pumpkin. Bake uncovered at 375°F for 35-45 minutes.

Serve (warm or cold) with whipped cream or ice cream.

[daniel1212]

"What a neat and today job on the garden, last picture is poke weed, bad weed - poisonous, I would yank it completely. I have a bad one I have to get to myself, slightly downhill will be tricky."

Thanks for the compliment and the I.D. If only the enemy rats and squirrels would eat it then I might leave it.

[greeneyes]

Glad to hear the good results so far. I’m sure you know, but as a reminder - Don’t forget to send a thank you to them for their time and efforts etc.

[MomwithHope]

Diana pinged me on the basil. I had more than usual this year and it went late into the season. We like the Italian basil. To store for the winter I take fresh clean leaves, stack them and chiffonade them. Pack a lot into a quart Ziploc freezer bag. Add a good amount of olive oil about 1/2 cup. Squish around the oil to evenly coat the leaves. Put flat on the counter and flatten, working any air up to the top and out. Freeze and when you want to use some break off a chunk. Wonderful with pasta and tomatoes and a little cream sauce. To overwinter fresh cut some nice looking stems medium size and put in a clear and roomy vase. Change the water frequently. You will start seeing roots in a few days. The roots will be very white and will grow quickly. I usually don’t plant in soil because here in west Michigan they new plants only last through January. I just don’t get enough sun. I don’t mind because I usually have plenty in the freezer, this year I made pesto too and have 2 flat bags of that frozen. Sad to say I was lazy this year and cut my cuttings too late. I should have done it in September not October. The plants were getting weak and only one cutting made it and has rooted.

[MomwithHope]

My mom had a few houseplants that she never watered, she just put 2 ice cubes a day on the soil. Someone told her about it.

[daniel1212]

"I agree with MomwithHope on the pokeweed. It can be kind of pretty, but it’s also pretty invasive in my neighbor’s yard, which has grown over into mine. I can’t get rid of it in my beds."

However

: Weeds You Can Eat: Pokeweed Sloppy Joes

Marie Viljoen May 23, 2016 In late summer, pokeweed (Phytolacca americana) drips with clusters of glossy black berries on fuchsia-pink stalks. ...Pigs that have snouted out the root have been sickened or killed. Toddlers who swallowed the berries whole have been admitted to emergency rooms...What parts of pokeweed are poisonous? The root is the most toxic, followed by mature (fibrous) red and branching stems, mature leaves, and finally the seeds inside the fruit.

So who eats a plant with such a dubious resumé? People who know that its young shoots and leaves are delicious, and safe. Cooked pokeweed shoots and young leaves are succulent, juicy and have a unique flavor. Native Americans knew this, and ate poke every season (toxic parts of the plant were used medicinally). In the modern South, poke is still a spring treat... this is a plant to eat only cooked...The edible part of pokeweed is the actively growing green shoot or stem, before the plant has branched...sister takes poke to their family reunion every year in July, breaded with cornmeal and lightly fried, layered singly on a sheet pan and frozen. For serving she quick-fries them golden brown. “It is a family favorite and they don’t last long,” says Sheila. “They go quicker than the blackberry dumplings.” More: https://www.gardenista.com/posts/weeds-you-can-eat-pokeweed/

Is Pokeweed Poisonous to the Touch? Many people have been told that pokeweed is poisonous to touch, but that’s not exactly true. It’s definitely not a skin allergen in the way poison ivy is. Touching the stems or leaves should have no effect at all.

What part of Pokeweed is Poisonous? All parts of the pokeweed plant are poisonous. The young shoots in early spring are considered the most palatable leaves, but they still have some toxin. Roots are the most toxic, followed by the stems, new leaves, old leaves, unripe berries and then ripe berries. The berries tend to have the least amount of toxin in them.

Should I make a salad out of Pokeweed? No. No. No. This is not recommended even though when you hear the common name, Poke Salat, it sounds like poke salad. Salat implies that it should be grilled our boiled. This likely breaks down some of the toxic chemicals in the plant.

Can you Eat Pokeweed You can eat pokeweed and in fact, people have done so for a long time. However, you the only part of the plant you eat are the young leaves in that emerge in the spring. Presumably these leaves are less toxic as they’re trying to grow quickly. If you prepare them you need to boil them three times, and rinse out the water each time. This is what is known as poke sallat. - `https://stoneageman.com/deadly-poisonous-pokeweed-is-actually-edible-if-you-do-this/

And here is something on the "other crop" that I actually planted, besides tomatoes:

The strange history of the butternut.

By Bill Kerr September 21, 2013 at 10:16 pm

The butternut has a most unlikely origin. It was bred by a Charles Leggett of Stow, Massachusetts, in the USA in the mid-1940s. He was not a plant breeder, but had been forced to leave the city for the country because of his father’s health... Leggett took a gooseneck squash, which was long and gangly, and crossed it with other squashes and made selections from there. Butternut belongs to the species Cucurbita moschata. Our regular pumpkins are C. maxima; gems and marrows are C. pepo. The Halloween pumpkin is C. pepo and will readily cross with gem squash. It is the usual origin of the giant gems we read about in the press. (https://www.farmersweekly.co.za/crops/vegetables/the-strange-history-of-the-butternut/)

Indeed, the ever-so-popular Waltham variety of Butternut squash only dates back to 1944....Poor Mr. Leggett — he never got his due for developing one of the best winter squash varieties in history. Mr. Leggett died in the late 1980’s at the age of 88. The land he grew the famous crop on in Stow, Massachusetts is now a golf course — Butternut Farm Golf Club. - https://www.newsleader.com/story/life/2016/09/10/thank-mr-leggett-butternut-squash/90199640/

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Daniel! You have about 1 1/2 bushels of squash! Make certain you have enough butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon!

Yes, that is poke weed. While there are ways to harvest it when only 6 inches high and eat it (Boil it 2 times, throw the water out, cook with bacon pepper and salt.) you shouldn’t eat the berries and the stem is poisonous after about 6-9 inches in height!

Poke is so loaded with Potassium it causes hyperkalemia.

You do not want that! https://www.verywellhealth.com/signs-and-symptoms-of-hyperkalemia-4160468.

Here is a discussion of composting poke weed: https://permies.com/t/68474/Hot-composting-pokeweed-morning-glory. You do not want to include the berrys, which you should pick off before composting!

[daniel1212]

"1 can (15 ounces) pumpkin purée 1 cup"

And I think you could use Butternut or Hubbard squash with molasses added. However, while semantically pumpkins are a type of squash, yet apparently it is not true that canned pumpkin is really Butternut or Hubbard squash with molasses added since Libby’s ( responsible for the manufacture and sale of 85 percent of pumpkin worldwid) uses a specific cultivar of pumpkin called Dickinson and adds sugar to it.

[TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig]

You are correct! I sent them an email thank you that night!

[MomwithHope]

interesting post, thanks Daniel

[greeneyes]

Good on you for that!

[LibWhacker]

Size comparison: man vs. redwood

The door to the dining area of the Alcobaça Monastery in Portugal was made so narrow that monks who got too fat were forced into fasting

Diamonds Hallucination by Graff, the most expensive watch in the world ($55 million)

[FamiliarFace]

All good info, thanks.

I have touched the pokeweed leaves multiple times, and haven’t had any problem like I might with poison ivy. My problem with it is how invasive it is in my flower beds. It makes a nice enough backdrop in the culvert between the yards, but I hate that it encroaches, actually breaches, into my flower beds. It’s a constant thorn in my side.

[FamiliarFace]

That looks amazing!

Since you brought up desserts, does anyone have a killer recipe for pecan pie? I don’t make it often, but my husband does love it, so I’m wanting to make small versions of it so we can have it sometimes.

[Liz]

Texas Pecan Pie / blue ribbon winner at Texas State Fair

Ing: 1-1/4 c chp pecans cup + 1 tbl light corn syrup 3 lge eggs 1/2 cup + tbl sugar 1-1/2 tsp vanilla Pnch salt

Direction---beat corn syrup, eggs, sugar, vanilla and salt well. Pour over pecans in Homemade or bought pie crust. Bake 350° for 45-50 min...knife in center comes clean. Cool on wire rack.

[FamiliarFace]

Oh thank you! That looks yummy!

[who knows what evil?]

A ‘male’ tree, evidently. :-)

[who knows what evil?]

The nearby river bank is LOADED with those...