Garden thread.

Started by peg_688, April 12, 2006, 08:45:41 PM

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glenn-k

Looks good PEG - did you see your shadow - I am wondering how much more winter we will have. :)

Texan_lost_in_cali

Got the spinach, bell peppers, jalapenos, zucchini, yellow squash, watermelon, and cantalope started here in SoCal. Got to love the weather here even if everything else sucks.


glenn-k

You got that right - we have continuous winter garden - more of the parsnips, cabbage , carrots, chard, spinach, more  still growing and ready to eat right now. :)

Amanda_931

Not true of the  whole country, but parts of the South and the South-east have rainfall that amounts to about 40 percent of the average for the year.  (not 40 per cent down--60).  Somebody said that it was the driest since before the Civil War.

Which so far does not put us into major drought status.

Here's a link for drought monitoring.

http://drought.unl.edu/dm/monitor.html

glenn-k

Yup - looks about right - we've been pretty dry.


MountainDon

Thanks for that Amanda. It's interesting watching the 12 week animation.

I see the animations can be saved and then later, could be combined (with the right software) for say, a years worth.

peg_688

Good thing I started this thread , I went back to post #1 , I see it was 12 April when I got the garden in last year, I'm way ahead of schedule this year ;D 8-)

Must be that added 3 weeks of daylight savings time , it's like adding hours to a all ready full month, well or somethin :-/ :-?

glenn-k

I do that often -- look back through the thread and see how long it's been since I've done something -- or anything. :)

MountainDon

#233
Quote
If you haven't had them (edit: parsnips) before, imagine the flavor of a sweet potato, regular potato and a carrot combined and fried in coconut oil .  Sprinkle it liberally with salt as with French fries and it's really yummy.  Don't expect any of these to be left for leftovers.
I didn't have quite enough parsnips for a meal so in a moment of culinary madness I cut up a small remaining portion of cabbage and fried them all up together in olive oil. Added a small sliced onion and it was oh-so delicious. No left overs either.  :)


Amanda_931

After a couple of weeks of pretty warm weather (most of us had broken out the shorts instead of jeans for at least a while) that have seduced a lot of us into buying our plants early, we've gotten hit by days of hard frosts.  The up-side?  It felt almost good to be chopping into the privet jungle.  :o

So here's the garden report from the Alabama/Tennessee border.

A couple of the asparagus spears are limp.  The new growth on the oregano looks frost-bitten.  So far the Spinach, sage, and thyme look OK.  Haven't planted any basil yet, although I've got a plant in the house, brought the flat of lemon balm in because one of them looked frozen, although I think they'd have been OK if they'd been in the ground for a while.

Some of the new growth on the multiflora rose (nasty prickly invasive pest) is leaning.  They can just do that.

Don't really imagine that the lavender will make it.  I've put the geranium/sweet potato vine container inside the barn room, but after a couple of days of cool-to-cold and tonight may be the worst, at least the cute black sweet potato vines will probably be toast.  No room inside, and besides it's quite a ways away.

Neither the raspberries nor blackberries have bothered to bloom yet.  Fruit trees (peach/apple/cherry, although not my little cherry tree) and strawberries are another story.  Including the kind of strange plum (Damson??--sour and late-fruiting) down the hill.  It's already bloomed, presumably the little fruits are being frozen.

BTW, the cookbook author Sally Fallon says that parsnips are inedible if they aren't cooked in oil.  maybe coconut specifically.

glenn-k

Didn't know that about Parsnips but -boy are they good.

Gardens all doing pretty good here.

Sassy and I ate a big bowl of asparagus steamed and  buttered yesterday.

Amanda_931

Yum.  

There was some nice looking asparagus at the store the other day, so I steamed (storeboughten) vegetables (yellow squash, red sweet pepper, broccoli, and the asparagus, dressed them with garlic sauted in olive oil, added some ricotta cheese and cooked pasta.  It was a hit at a potluck-dinner.  Even if I did forget to bring parmesan cheese.  

Since a good deal of my extremely meager asparagus crop seems to be frost-bit, I wish I'd picked one or two for the dish.  :)

fourx

I have three rows of parsnips in - my only gripe with them is that they take so long to mature, but they are well worth the wait. We usually roast them along with potatoes and swedes ( rutabarga is the US term I think..?) with roast beef. An orange glaze works well- roll them in a mix of orange juice, brown sugar and a little Contreau if you have it, before you bake them.

MountainDon

#238
QuoteBTW, the cookbook author Sally Fallon says that parsnips are inedible if they aren't cooked in oil.  maybe coconut specifically.

I don't know about that claim.  :-/  I've cooked them in soups and stews with no fats or oils, strictly vegetarian. Also baked with carrots , apples and brown sugar. They're also great roasted alongside a beef, pork, elk, whatever roast... ok, there you'd have the beef fat. Thay are tasty indeed. When I fry them I use either olive oil or Smart Balance.  Hint; they cook faster if parboiled first. I microwave them sometimes with just a spoonful or two of water.


Amanda_931

I don't know.  I haven't had parsnips in 30 years.  And that time I thought they weren't quite edible.  But I'm not sure how they were cooked that time.

But then when I was younger, I didn't like Chinese Parsley/cilantro much either.

glenn-k

#240
QuoteI have three rows of parsnips in - my only gripe with them is that they take so long to mature, but they are well worth the wait. We usually roast them along with potatoes and swedes ( rutabarga is the US term I think..?) with roast beef. An orange glaze works well- roll them in a mix of orange juice, brown sugar and a little Contreau if you have it, before you bake them.


That sounds good, Pete.  Missed it before.  Rutabaga I think -- haven't seen them in years and don't remember what they taste like - maybe it's time I try them out.

ru·ta·ba·ga  (rt-bg, rt-, rt-bg, rt-)
n. In both senses also called swede, Swedish turnip.
1. A European plant (Brassica napus var. napobrassica) having a thick bulbous root used as food and as livestock feed.
2. The edible root of this plant.
[Swedish dialectal rotabagge : rot, root (from Old Norse rt; see wrd- in Indo-European roots) + bagge, bag (from Old Norse baggi).]

I got the deer fence up today except one small temporary section.  Almost 100 feet with 3 gates and a door 7 feet high.  I used the black poly netting for fencing -- very nice to work with and stops the giant rodents from lunching out on top of my house.

I put in about 5 yards of top soil I saved from making another flat spot earlier this year and 5 yards of composted horse manure -- 3 year old yummy stuff.   I love my Bobcat.   :-*

So-- after I did that I planted three citrus trees we've had in pots forever and even tomatoes and peppers - we planted some others already  but found some heirloom Brandywine and Anaheim Peppers at the feed store when looking for the deer netting...  so in all added about 250 square feet of prime garden soil.  

peg_688

Sounds good Glenn , Hopefully  I can get some garden time in this coming weekend  :)

glenn-k

My solar is a bit upgraded from last year so more water available - yard is bigger -- garden is bigger - -should be a good garden year.  I think we may grow enough for us and the gophers. :)

MountainDon

Any time you can stay ahead of the gophers of all kinds is a good time.   :)

glenn-k

They used to be a major problem but now, we have so much stuff that reseeds itself - I don't think they can eat it all so we don't have as much problem.  There are quite a few gopher holes - even on top the house -- they don't really care where they go to eat.


MountainDon

QuoteThere are quite a few gopher holes - even on top the house -- they don't really care where they go to eat.

As long as they don't actually drop in....

glenn-k

No - I guess they don't like the taste of plastic.  They just stay above it.

glenn-k

Well-- I got another 36 feet or so of rock wall up to around 30" high today and most of it backfilled with top soil - needs about another 6 to 10 inches of rock and compost then the garden will be even bigger. ;D



All trees, vegetables and flowers will be on drip irrigation and timers so it will stay alive if I have to be away for work -- don't want anything dying while I'm gone.

Sassy

It really does look wonderful!  I sure was pleasantly surprised when I got back to the cabin last night to see all the rock work...   :)  Glenn won't tell me what he's doing most of the time - says "it's a surprise!" so then I have to wait 'til I get back...  

MountainDon

It's looking real good!