N & C Midwest: August is here!!! 2017

CapeCoddess wrote:IMO, chard and kale are two different animals. Chard  is more like spinach and kale is more like cabbage. You can use Kale for anything, SR...coleslaw, sauerkraut, stir-fries, smoothies, etc. I pick mine when they are young if I'm going to eat them raw. They are more tender. Also, IMO, Fall grown greens are superior to Summer grown greens, and kale gets sweeter when touched by frost. What variety are you growing? I like Dwarf Blue Curled.

Chard and kale are definitely 2 different animals. Even the rabbit won't eat Chard. I just pulled mine up and composted it yesterday. (The chickens won't touch it, either.)

Kale, otoh, is awesome! I grow Dwarf Blue Curled exclusively. It never bolts. It's never bitter. It lives and produces for a whole year, no matter what the weather does. Here is one of my year-old "trees." It's almost 2' tall. The 2nd pic is a top-down shot so you can see how healthy it is, even after multiple record-breaking heatwaves.


Next week I'll plant my kale seeds for the next year and gradually replace the old guys. 

We don't eat raw kale, but we love it steamed with hard-boiled eggs cut up in it, and we chop it up in all of our homemade veggie soups. The rabbit loves it. I will definitely plant more this year.

I have 2 plants out there right now that I haven't been watering and they won't die!  They are huge!  It is Dwarf Blue Vates, looks exactly like that.  

I do think it's tough,but I have not picked it at all.  Wahhhhhhhh, I know I should like it!  I love cabbage!

Harvest today! More carrots, cherry tomatoes, and a bowl full of kale! Planning on making kale chips tomorrow.

Scorpio Rising wrote:
I do think it's tough,but I have not picked it at all.  Wahhhhhhhh, I know I should like it!  I love cabbage!

We like it better than cabbage cooked, but we like cabbage better for slaw. I'll be trying to grow cabbage this year for the first time. Wish me luck.

Robbomb116 wrote:Harvest today! More carrots,  cherry tomatoes,  and a bowl full of kale!  Planning on making kale chips tomorrow.

Beautiful harvest, Rob! What variety of tomatoes are those? And what variety of carrots?

Well, the tomatoes were supposed to be sunsugar, but sunsugar is orange, these are clearly red. So the greenhouse mislabeled them. The two types of carrots I planted were mokum and purplesnax. None of my carrots were purple though... and I mow just recently got a letter from Burpee saying it's come to their attention that there was a mistake and no one received purplesnax carrots this batch of seeds. They did not state which variety I actually got though. But Burpee is making it up to me by giving me a free packet of purplesnax for next spring and $10 off my next purchase.

The carrots were a mix of the unknown variety and mokum. The mokum are thinner, described as "pencil carrots" but sweeter than my mystery variety. I chose mokum for 2 reasons initially, first they were pretty early, and second, they said they maintain their sweetness even in heat. And even with our 100 degree plus days, these carrots are so much sweeter than the store bough baby carrots. And they haven't e an been sweetened by frost yet!

That got a bit long winded, but I got a chuckle when you asked the varieties of the carrots and tomatoes as your guess is as good as mine.

The kale is a mix of dwarf blue vates and premier. Both varieties I basically postponed picking cause I didn't know what to do with it/ wasn't feeling it. I planted the dwarf blue, really intensively @5 per square planning on picking 4 early for salads. Never happened. So i think thats why the leavws are sp micb smaller than the premiere. Those ones are ad big as my head! Definitely tougher when they are that big, but works fine for soups and kale chips!

Hmmm...kale chips.  Maybe!

SR, yes I freeze my jalapenos whole.  Just throw them in a freezer bag and pull out as needed.  You lose some texture, but in a cooked dish it makes no difference, and even in raw dishes in a small amount its not noticeable.  Kale, love love love it!  I am picking huge quantities of it; we mostly eat it raw but I will freeze some for soup this winter.  Chard has been a bust due to Bambi and her evil friends.  They love the stuff!

herblover wrote:SR, yes I freeze my jalapenos whole.  Just throw them in a freezer bag and pull out as needed.  You lose some texture, but in a cooked dish it makes no difference, and even in raw dishes in a small amount its not noticeable.  Kale, love love love it!  I am picking huge quantities of it; we mostly eat it raw but I will freeze some for soup this winter.  Chard has been a bust due to Bambi and her evil friends.  They love the stuff!

Yeah, I use it mostly cooked in chili, etc.  I am going to do that.  Mine are HOTHOT HOT!!!  

Kale.  I will try it again and again....thought moving it to the patio would help.  Yah, no.

Significant powdery mildew on a few of the melons...will spray with milk tomorrow, hopefully after we get some rain.  Did I just say that?  If we don't, I have significant watering to do.

OK, did significant watering.....hopefully everything survived my little eclipse trip!  Pulled all carrots, a lot of tomatoes, peppers to take down with us, and 2 patty pans.  Has been hot in my area.

Cool, almost fall-like here at the moment, it is actually kind of nice.  Only weeds growing in gardens.  Kinda dry.  Tomatoes and peppers keep on coming on.  Need to get out there and pick stuff, as well as start a few seeds for Fall!  

It has actually been fairly dry here finally, so might help with the melons ripening!  Anyone ever plant cilantro this time of the year?

Scorpio Rising wrote:Cool, almost fall-like here at the moment, it is actually kind of nice.  Only weeds growing in gardens.  Kinda dry.  Tomatoes and peppers keep on coming on.  Need to get out there and pick stuff, as well as start a few seeds for Fall!  

It has actually been fairly dry here finally, so might help with the melons ripening!  Anyone ever plant cilantro this time of the year?

From what I've read about it, it's only recommended to plant cilantro in the fall in warmer climates. You sow in the fall, and it comes up in the spring.

Our August has been fairly cool this year - mostly really nice days. All the onions and carrots were done weeks ago.

When I was pulling up carrots, I found a little basil plant hiding under the canopy of carrot stalks, and decided to leave it there to grow. (I had several basil plants there last year, so this one must have sprouted from some seed that fell down there.) Lucky little basil plant... it's got that whole bed to itself now, and it's growing like a weed.

The tomatoes and peppers have picked up again in the cooler weather, and I may get another batch or two of salsa this year yet.

The kale is still going strong, but getting (literally) eaten alive by cabbage worms.

The broccoli is still trying to produce, but it's losing steam. I think it's time to say goodbye, and thank you.

I'm still thinking next year I'm going to take a hiatus from gardening, save for just a few tomato plants and I definitely want to grow more milkweed. (It seems true, if you grow it, the Monarchs will come. It was certainly true in my garden.) Maybe I'll fill one of the SFG beds with it. I put a LOT of work in to the remodeling, and all the new DIY gardening accessories, which put me behind the 8-ball pretty much all season. I'm exhausted, and just want to spend a little time doing other things for a while. I can't imagine giving up gardening altogether, I just need a short break.

CitizenKate wrote:

Scorpio Rising wrote:Cool, almost fall-like here at the moment, it is actually kind of nice.  Only weeds growing in gardens.  Kinda dry.  Tomatoes and peppers keep on coming on.  Need to get out there and pick stuff, as well as start a few seeds for Fall!  

It has actually been fairly dry here finally, so might help with the melons ripening!  Anyone ever plant cilantro this time of the year?

From what I've read about it, it's only recommended to plant cilantro in the fall in warmer climates.  You sow in the fall, and it comes up in the spring.

Our August has been fairly cool this year - mostly really nice days.  All the onions and carrots were done weeks ago.

When I was pulling up carrots, I found a little basil plant hiding under the canopy of carrot stalks, and decided to leave it there to grow.  (I had several basil plants there last year, so this one must have sprouted from some seed that fell down there.)  Lucky little basil plant... it's got that whole bed to itself now, and it's growing like a weed.

The tomatoes and peppers have picked up again in the cooler weather, and I may get another batch or two of salsa this year yet.

The kale is still going strong, but getting (literally) eaten alive by cabbage worms.

The broccoli is still trying to produce, but it's losing steam.  I think it's time to say goodbye, and thank you.

I'm still thinking next year I'm going to take a hiatus from gardening, save for just a few tomato plants and I definitely want to grow more milkweed.  (It seems true, if you grow it, the Monarchs will come.  It was certainly true in my garden.)  Maybe I'll fill one of the SFG beds with it.  I put a LOT of work in to the remodeling, and all the new DIY gardening accessories, which put me behind the 8-ball pretty much all season.  I'm exhausted, and just want to spend a little time doing other things for a while.  I can't imagine giving up gardening altogether, I just need a short break.

I'd once have said that short break is called winter, but I've learning it's not that much of a break. A lot of the cold season vegetables keep going after that first frost in October, then there's garlic planting, and cleaning up the garden, and planning/seed ordering.... and suddenly there's onions to start indoors in February.

Thanks for the information on the cilantro. I don't want to keep buying it, but it sounds like it's 'out of season' for me to grow in the summer and fall. I'd hoped I could succession it so I could harvest it most of the year, but the long germination time trips me up.

To a box full of milkweed, I say:

I am so glad there has been so much fire about the whole milkweed/Monarch thing!  Makes me happy. 

In my garden: Umm.  My tomato bed is over run with foxtail gras.  Annoying but producing,  

No idea what the cukes, melons, or mater and peps are doing, but they are doing!  

Gonna move a kid to college this weekend ( why cant a lease be renewed????) 

And then get look see

Picked my first Charentais melon today, smells heavenly, the whole house smells fruity!  Can't wait to eat it for breakfast....

That sounds delightful!

It was very sweet and tasty!  A for sure repeat for future years!

Scorpio Rising wrote:It was very sweet and tasty!  A for sure repeat for future years!

I see it's an heirloom. Will you be saving the seeds?

CapeCoddess wrote:

Scorpio Rising wrote:It was very sweet and tasty!  A for sure repeat for future years!

I see it's an heirloom.  Will you be saving the seeds?

Sure, want some?

Does the Charentais taste like cantaloupe? Not like honeydew or crenshaw?

Scorpio Rising wrote:

CapeCoddess wrote:

Scorpio Rising wrote:It was very sweet and tasty!  A for sure repeat for future years!

I see it's an heirloom.  Will you be saving the seeds?

Sure, want some?

Oh thanks... afraid I don't have luck with melons...not enough sun.
But it's good to know the seeds will remain in the ' family'.

sanderson wrote:Does the Charentais taste like cantaloupe?  Not like honeydew or crenshaw?

Yes, pure cantaloupe.

Pulled a few Tabasco peppers from the garden for my "Tabasco Edition" of salsa.


I tasted one of the yellow/green ones last month, and it was a scorcher, really good, but had a slightly "green" tasting finish, as if you had taken a bite of a mature green tomato.

When I found out McIlhenny only uses the ripe red peppers for their famous pepper sauce, I finally took a taste of one of the ripe ones.  They totally burn the house down, but after the burn passes, there's a very interesting sweet/tangy thing going on, there, no green taste... I definitely prefer the ripe ones. These are the only ones I'll be using for this batch of salsa.

Meanwhile, I got curious about how fermented pepper sauce is made, and found out it's not much unlike making sauerkraut, or any other fermented vegetable.

Scorpio Rising wrote:

sanderson wrote:Does the Charentais taste like cantaloupe?  Not like honeydew or crenshaw?

Yes, pure cantaloupe.

Thanks