Weekly Garden Thread - November 5-11, 2022 [Fall Gardening Chores Edition]

November 5, 2022 | Diana in WI/Greeneyes in Memoriam

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Your timing is always spot-on! We love lettuce wraps. We’re not 100% low-carb but those wraps help make lunchtime easier, for sure.

I usually make tuna or chicken salad to use in a wrap, and veggies and dip on the side. I have a lovely crop of butterhead lettuces on hand right now in the greenhouse.

Granted, it’s not a burger and fries, but it’ll do. ;)

[Diana in Wisconsin]

I think Pete is growing the ‘Raspberry Shortcake’ berries, if I’m remembering correctly?

If not, whoever is, please chime in!

[Diana in Wisconsin]

I’m going to go with Blue over Feta.

As an indentured servant on my Aunt’s farm every summer, I want nothing to do with goats ever again! :)

[Qiviut]

For years, until last year, as soon as the jalapenos started turning what looks like 'black', I would bring them in & they'd ripen on the counter top just fine. Usually within a couple of days, a week tops - no trouble getting enough peppers, one year for 6 batches (10-12 peppers/batch). This year, they've got the 'black' going, but no red following. It's very strange.

I looked up ripening jalapenos ... didn't see much that was a sure thing. Bags were suggested, putting them in a sunny window, etc. Anyway, the ones I had brought in a week ago that were not ripening, starting to get a little soft, ended up as jalapeno poppers tonight.

You can make Jalapeno Pepper jelly with green peppers, but the red make the most beautiful amber colored jelly, with little red flecks of pepper - so pretty! If using green, the color isn't that great & green food coloring is generally added.

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Thank you Liz! Everyone needs Post Thanksgiving recipes like this for their file box!

Alas we ate all my butter head lettuce! However, I have a substitute planted and growing that I think this would work very well!

Baker Creek Golden Chinese Cabbage (Their Photo!) and my seedlings (picture from 10/30 at about 20 days in the ground, 55 days Maturity! The chicken wire is to discourage squirrels!)

I will need to start covering things up again next week when it gets below freezing again late next week.

Info and Chinese Golden Beauty Cabbage Description

[Liz]

That Golden Chinese Cabbage looks inviting.

I admire your ability to grow esoteric veggies.....kudos.

[Liz]

Blue would be perfect.......even better, I’d say.

Indentured servant you say? Maybe you can get reparations?

[Liz]

Yummy......

[Diana in Wisconsin]

“Maybe you can get reparations?”

Nah. ‘Our Moms’ sent ALL of us Cousins to The Farm in the summertime to get us OUT of, ‘The People’s Republic of Milwaukeestan.’

I’m forever grateful, and working with my Aunt Alice in her organic gardens helped me, ‘get back to my roots’ once I was post-Army.

I still hate goats, though. That will never change, LOL!

[Liz]

LoL.....

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

T.C.P. I do have a Raspberry Shortcake I grew in a garden bag inside of a 15 gallon black pot. I purchased it from Jung and it has "survived" in my garden. I think it would be a good patio plant and If I had a patio would keep it there!

The fruit that I was able to eat before the mice or squirrels got to them was good, but not as large or as good as the raspberries from the Unknown Full Cane varieties my father had in his 4-30 foot rows. (They were unnamed when given to him; I will also admit that my taste buds may not be as good as they were 30 years ago!)

I am still learning the best way to grow it. It needs more water and probably fertilizer than I provided and and maybe some shade and a better soil. I may switch pots and compost and will prune it in the spring. (Probably more phosphate and Sea90 or Azomite this year.) It might also do better in a cooler setting like Wisconsin. (We regularly have mid summer temperatures in the upper 90s or low 100s.)

Note: I used 1" chicken wire and formed a cage around it to keep the squirrels out. I do not think that was enough to keep voles and mice out. I had grasshoppers this year and they seemed to enjoy the leaves and immature fruit.

It is in the black pot lower left in this October Garden picture! (Not much to see at this time of year!)

I think a full cane patch would be better, but if you don't have the room or the energy, I think it is worth trying. Good Luck!

[TheConservativeParty]

Thanks, Pete! I am in Wisconsin, so that’s cooler than your state. I also like to water, daily if needed (commercial greenhouse background). I was gonna try at least 3 plants, but maybe more.

I like raspberries but they are so expensive I never buy them.

Maybe I could put them in big tree pots, inside my fenced back yard.

Or in the ground elsewhere with chicken wire around them.

Sure would be nice to pick a few raspberries next summer!

😀

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

A potato post for our Alphabet Monitor!

Get planting! Soviet Minister urges a return to Soviet-era food policy to grow potatoes

Old Soviet Union....town girl harvesting potatoes (Picture title...."Inside girl and potato.") Article has a picture of 2 children in a garden with beautiful wildflowers!

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Beautiful jars of jelly! Preserving the memory and flavor of summer for dark winter! I like it wtih that color and not green.

Ms. Pete says she likes pepper jelly, but there is jar that has been in the refrigerator for about a year. I think he only likes it at certain times and with cream cheese. I have 2 containers of fig preserves I will open in December. Maybe have with some goat cheese on crackers!

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Lets try again with a link that works !

Siberian Times Minister...Plant potatoes!

[Qiviut]

Pepper jelly is a fantastic glaze for salmon, too. My brother loves the stuff (he even bought me a case of jelly jars for it) - has friends who sell seafood so he can get some good, fresh fish & shellfish. Of course, my SIL puts it on cream cheese & serves with crackers for an appetizer.

Mom picked our Brown Turkey figs a couple of times this late summer, early fall - the bush was particularly ‘loaded’. She cooked the figs down & has the result stored in containers in the freezer. She likes it on her English muffin and as a topping for ice cream, yogurt, etc. The bush is huge - I’ve been looking up how to prune it.

[TheConservativeParty]

Have been looking at the other raspberries from Jungs.
Since garden space is not a problem for me, maybe larger raspberry varieties would be nice. They are also cheaper since they are sold bare-root.

They have a “sampler” that has 3 varieties, 5 plants per variety, for a reduced price compared to buying them not in the “sampler”.

If you have any favorite varieties, let me know.

Thanks!

[Pollard]

Best part of a farmer’s day? Getting down and dirty with his hoes.

[Bon of Babble]

She is actually a Berna-doodle, father is a Bernese Mountain dog and mother a White Poodle.

Her name is Indigo and she’ll go by “Indy” but I call her “Inky.” She’ll be joining us in December when she’s ready and has had some training.

She should get up to about 60 lbs.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

I grow ‘Heritage.’ The reason being is that I can cut ALL the canes down to the ground come spring, then let them grow and leaf out, flower and fruit.

I get one LATE crop, August into September (and even longer this year!) and by then most of the Japanese beetles and the Picnic Bugs (that small black beetle that also loves raspberries) are both GONE so I don’t have to do any spraying, though sometimes some hand picking and squishing with the leftover Japanese beetles. It’s preferable to NOT spray, as Raspberries don’t take well to ‘washing.’

Freeze what you don’t use fresh each week on a cookie sheet, then bag those up. Keep adding to the bags as you go through the weeks of picking.

I put a fence post at both ends of the row, then run sturdy string around the berries as they grow, which keeps them upright and easier to pick by the time they are mature.

It’s worked for me for decades, now. I had ‘Heritage’ at my other farm, (Fitchburg) too. Here, we just have a 10’ or so row. Since I picked raspberries commercially with my In-Laws back in the day, I am TOTALLY OVER days spent picking Raspberries! :) Figure one cane per foot when deciding how long of a row you want. They spread readily! When they get out of line, I just mow them down on either side with my rider.