Garden thread.

Homegrown_Tomatoes · November 16, 2007, 07:26:50 PM

Those cherokee purples look really good. Pretty much the rest of our garden froze last night.

glenn-k · November 16, 2007, 08:21:24 PM

Our tomatoes are starting to rejuvenate after the hot summer. All blooming again. I don't know how long it will last but was thinking of covering them with plastic before frost.

Cherokee purple are one of our better ones. I like the Brandywines for stewed tomatoes as they are tangy but most of ours are really ugly.

glenn-k · November 16, 2007, 08:33:58 PM

I have to work on the potato problem this coming year. They don't like me and I don't know why, but hope to figure it out.

The winter stuff is looking good except the ones I transplanted are a bit droopy.

Homegrown Tomatoes · November 19, 2007, 02:02:16 PM

Weird, I replied to this thread this morning, but it must have gotten lost in the switch-over... my daughter was looking out the window this morning and getting all teary eyed because our garden is dying off.

November 19, 2007, 02:26:47 PM

That's exactly what happened, Homegrown and I replied that I would take pictures for her to look at until she got a new one growing.

...and here they are special for her.

Homegrown Tomatoes · November 19, 2007, 06:30:22 PM

She said thank you... she thought the petunias must smell really good.

glenn kangiser · November 19, 2007, 07:55:53 PM

My pleasure. Tell her I will check the next time I go out there. I haven't really stopped to smell them. $:-\$

Homegrown Tomatoes · November 20, 2007, 10:52:41 AM

Will do. Think we're going to go rake leaves today to burn off some energy because it is supposed to get colder the rest of the week... even though it is kind of misty out there now. Kids need to be outdoors. It isn't good for them to be cooped up all winter.

December 05, 2007, 05:59:15 PM

Hey.......a garden thread

I have these to trade 12-36
Aunt Ruby's German Green
Beefsteak
Big Zac
Black Prince
Brandywine Pink
Cherokee Purple
Coyote (Yellow Cherry)
Debbie Beefsteak
Early Glee
Evergreen
Farmer's Red
Gardner's Delight
Gold Currant
Golden Sunburst
Mortgage Lifter Estler's Strain
Moskovich
Mr. Stripey
Negro Azteca
Northern Lights
Orange Banana
Pruden's Purple
Reif Red Heart
Roma
Ruby Gold
Shaker Village
Tappy's Heritage
Yellow Pear

Looking for these:
Alaskan Fancy
Andrew Rahart's Jumbo Red
Arknasas Traveler
Black Sea Man
Caro Rich
Dinner Plate
Dixie Golden Giant
Dr. Wyche's yellow
Garden Peach
Georgia Steak
German Head
Giant Belgium
Golden Ponderosa
Italian Giant Beefsteak
Kentucky Beefsteak
Lillian's Yellow Heirloom
Manitoba
Moon Glow
Mule Team
New Yorker
Pld Brooks
Old German
Omar's Lebanese
Orange Strawberry
Sausage
Sunray
Thessaloniki
Vintage Wine
Watermelon Beefsteak
Wins All

Earl/MI

tanya · December 05, 2007, 09:05:13 PM

Today I had the little buggers get up into my storage shed after the hay. Deer babies, to cute!!! But they better stay out of that hay!! I don't know what to do the darn dogs refuse to chase them, the hay costs a fortune this year, they are town deer so nothing at all scares them or keeps them away I may have to tame them and sell tickets just so I can buy more hay.

glenn kangiser · December 07, 2007, 08:45:45 PM

Homegrown, I smelled the flowers for your daughter -- good but not real strong.

Here are some carrots, a little parsnip and the big Swede that is in our soup tonight.

glenn kangiser · December 07, 2007, 08:48:12 PM

Northern Mich, we only seem to have some of the plants that are on your have list, and even they are probably not pure as we grow several varieties in close proximity to each other.

Homegrown Tomatoes · December 11, 2007, 08:41:24 PM

Glenn, what variety of carrots are you growing there? Those things are monstrous, like the ones we used to get in Korea. I like the big ones for cooking (= less washing and cutting, ha ha.) I like the little ones for eating raw. I bought the rainbow variety from Johnny's last year and the kids really liked them... they thought the white and yellow ones were neat... red ones didn't like it here. I harvested the last ones from our garden Dec. 1st in the midst of a snowstorm. They were absolutely delicious, and so crunchy I almost hated to throw them in the stew, so I ended up putting them in at the last minute and turning off the burner as soon as they were starting to get crisp. By my third bowl of stew, they were getting softer, but the first ones were perfect. Really ready for the seed catalog season... promised my daughter we'd get seeds for gray pumpkins this coming year. We were in the hardware store here a few weeks ago and they had a bunch of squash on display and she was all excited about the big gray pumpkins... the lady running the store told her she could take one home if she wanted, so I told them to choose one. However, they got into a fight about which one, and the younger one really wanted a light yellow-green pumpkin, which was the biggest one there... we ended up compromising on the deal, because the only reason my older one wanted them in the first place was for the seeds.... she ended up taking one of the "carnival" varieties of acorn squash instead of the big gray pumpkin she really wanted, and the little one got her great pumpkin. So, now she'll never let me forget that I let the little one have her choice and as a result I "owe" her seeds for a gray pumpkin.

December 11, 2007, 08:52:10 PM

I think those were nantes or danver's half long. Doesn't matter how big they get, still crisp & not bitter at all. These were very good - better than some of the little ones I've eaten. I also planted some red carrots, don't remember the name - the seeds were from the catalog "Seed Savers Exchange" the red ones were heirloom.

Made 3 sweet potato pies this afternoon. I'd baked a bunch of sweet potatoes Sunday for our get-together with some friends & had several left. Haven't tried a piece yet - I added pineapple & put pecans on top & sprinkled a little bit of coconut also. Hopefully they're good. Never tried the recipe before, looked it up on the internet. My brother-in-law custom farms several hundred acres of sweet potatoes in the valley so we can get all we want from him. Yummm

glenn kangiser · December 11, 2007, 08:59:02 PM

I think those were the half longs as Sassy said. We planted lots of them for several years so many of them volunteer from plants we let go to seed.

I think it's the horse manure compost that makes them so big and yummy.

Sassy · December 11, 2007, 09:33:30 PM

We just went to the grocery store for a few things. Glenn was looking at prices for rutabagas - $1.79 lb - the one he picked from our garden must have weighed 3 or 4 lbs. The peppers were $2.99 lb & we're still growing those in the garden even though it's frozen at night for the past 3 nights. The plastic hoop house over the plants is really helping!

Homegrown Tomatoes · December 12, 2007, 01:09:00 PM

Can't believe those were half-longs....You must be doing something right.

Sassy that pie sounds delicious... how could you go wrong with pineapple and coconut and so forth... I tried a recipe for popcorn pie from TMEN here a while back, and it was really good, especially with coffee, but I think it needed another egg or something... some more fat, maybe? It had a good flavor, but was a little dry, especially for a pie... I'll probably add butter and another egg on the next go-round.

Homegrown Tomatoes · December 12, 2007, 01:45:10 PM

I've been looking for rutabagas in the grocery store here, but haven't been able to find them... I've never tried them, so I wanted to. They should be here because I know a lot of people around here grow them.

Sassy · December 12, 2007, 02:24:23 PM

The basic recipe was: 3 cups mashed sweet potatoes, 1 & 1/4 cups sugar, 2 eggs, 1/4 cup evaporated milk, 1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice, 1 tsp cinnamon & 1/4 cup melted butter. I didn't really measure the potatoes, doubled the other ingredients & put in 6 eggs, can of pineapple chunks, sprinkled coconut & pecans on top & baked until done. Seems I can never leave a recipe alone

But it turned out real tasty. Enough to make 3 pies

so will freeze a couple.

Couldn't believe the price of rutabagas in the store - but we really like them, don't know if I'd ever had them before.

December 12, 2007, 05:56:14 PM

Sassy I can't believe you bought rudabagas at the store. The avid gardner you and glen are I would have thought you would have raised them yourself. A friend of mine raises them from seed. The trick is not to hill them in like potatos. Just plant in regular level soil and them will make their own room. I think this year he said he had 5 bushels that he puts in the root cellar.

glenn kangiser · December 12, 2007, 10:31:17 PM

We just looked at the prices of Rutabagas in the store -- 1.79 per lb. that made the one we grew worth about $6.00. Peppers were $2.99 and I probably picked 5 lbs -- that is $15 -- I was just trying to justify the cost of the roll of plastic to keep the plants from freezing -- still getting ripe tomatoes and peppers and they are still blooming.

There are still a few of the summer rutabagas left but letting them grow. I have a whole new crop coming on too. Broccoli and Cauliflower are growing good - rather crowded but we'll see, and I started cabbage seedlings ad kohlrabi also. They are growing slow but up.

Homegrown Tomatoes · December 13, 2007, 07:39:50 AM

I bet your little plastic hoop house will work well... when we were in OK, I made a little one over one of my raised beds and gardened all winter. Several times i forgot to cover it up when then temp was well below freezing, but perhaps because it was so well insulated (straw bales) and raised, even when the spinach looked completely frostbitten, it sprang right back to life as soon as the temp was above freezing.

glenn kangiser · December 13, 2007, 07:59:19 AM

I'm hoping we don't get a real killer frost that overpowers it. I'm off to work today -- got a real job.

Redoverfarm · December 13, 2007, 03:47:08 PM

Sorry Sassy I misread your post. I thought you said that Glenn bought Rudabagas at the store. I see now he was just pricing. One thing nice about country living. If you didn't raise it someone else did and they mysteriously show up at the door. Neighbor dropped off a bushel of potatos yesterday.

Garden thread.

Homegrown_Tomatoes

glenn-k

Homegrown_Tomatoes

glenn-k