New England September 2014

NHGardener wrote:Aspirin to prevent blight? Wow - never heard of that one.

That looks like a red zebra to me.

CC, what will you do with your extra cucumbers? Pickle them?

If I have Red Zebra seeds, I'll send ya some.  I think I remember it tasting borderline to me so I probably won't grow it unless my note on the jar says otherwise.

The aspirin for blight is in the Answer Book.  I think Mel says to use it for early blight but I'm using it for both blights.  I applied the mid season aspirin just like he tells us to do - blend it in water and water the base of the plant with that.

If I have EXTRA cukes  , I'm going to box them up and drive them around the country, showing them to every one I know!!!  OK, so maybe not...maybe photos will suffice. 

I probably won't pickle the extra, but blend them and freeze them in ice cube trays, then store those in baggies.  I use them in my smoothies, and pickling wouldn't cut it.    Now, if I have EXTRA extras, then yes!  I'd love to try my hand at pickles.  The garlickyer the better!

Third year's a charm, Marc! 

CC

CC, those cukes look like awfully good candidates for a nice gazpacho, too.

I haven't made any gazpacho yet this year, and I think it's about time. After I buy the cucumbers.

YOU CAN FREEZE CUCUMBERS????!!!?? I never knew that. Here I've been letting them get wilty in the fridge. I'll freeze them for winter smoothies. So glad to hear that!

Here's my 6 pie pumpkins - can't wait to try to make pie out of them. A couple of them have some small holes, I can't imagine they couldn't be cut out:



There are 2 more hanging on the fence. The vines have died, but I'll see if they orange up some more. They're small.

Still keeping the butternuts out there. They say wait until your thumbnail doesn't make a dent in them. I can't imagine that ever happening. I'll just keep them out there until I hear a frost is coming I guess.

Question about butternuts:

At the school garden I volunteer at, a plant was pulled and dumped on the compost pile with a full-size, green butternut squash on it. Will this green squash still ripen, or is it just compost fodder?

This is my first year growing butternuts, so I'm not sure. But online I see:

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/organic/msg0919590913674.html

that it should be possible to ripen green butternuts. They just won't have quite the same flavor as vine-ripened, and they won't store as long.

I love this post: 

Haha, that poster has a point there!

Thanks. I guess I'll go reclaim it from the compost pile, then.

CapeC....yes that's a Red Zebra.  I don't know about yours but mine was the best flavored of any of my fruits.  Of course, not everyone's taste buds are the same.

Yeah, very true.

What keeps surprising me is how much of a difference the soil makes. I'm finding that growing the same kind of tomato in different places can result in quite different flavors. So, it seems, does picking one the very day it's perfectly ripe. Sometimes the difference is dramatic.

CC, Just saw your cucumbers. Wow! Cucumber envy, here.

Marc, that's really interesting. I knew the health of the soil determined the health of the plant, but I never thought of it as improving flavor.

45°F this morning. Pretty darn chilly.

quiltbea wrote: Of course, not everyone's taste buds are the same.

This is so true!  My boss tends to prefer, what I consider to be, the blander tomatoes.  Like he would have loved my Brandywine's, pink or red.  No matter where or when I planted or picked them, I couldn't get them to taste outstanding.

Marc, I'm pretty sure my  taste buds aren't distinctive enough to distinguish between different flavors from different soils, but it sure makes sense. My handyman sells his organic produce & one yr his patrons complained about fishy tasting cukes.  He stop using fish for fertilizer and all was well. 

Thanks, Sanderson. It's some kind of weird fluke. Actually, I hope its not a fluke. I hope I now have the "secret of the cucumber".  

Oh, I need to mention to you all that the Burpee Burpless cuke is not PM resistant in my area. The Marketmore still shows no sign of PM. Even though the Marketmore will be a staple in my garden from now on, they are a bit thick skinned which is fine for smoothies but a little tough for munching. So I'm also going to try Persion next year in hopes of finding the perfect snacking cuke in my area.

Beeeeeeeautiful day here. I'm transferring kale, collards and chard from the SFG to the kitchen garden for harvesting during winter in case I get blocked by snow from the SFG, as well planting kale seeds to hopefully grow early next spring. Also harvested a bunch of mixed greens for supper tonight along with some zucchini noodles.

What are you all up to?

CC

I got 30# + chopped tomatoes in the oven. Have to go pick some peppers, chop them, and onions for sauce. I'll can it up tonight.

I hit the Badger Balm tent sale this morning and made a score.... Starting my holidays shopping.

It is not beautiful here today. It is cloudy, chilly, damp, and breezy... And I'm not seeing any 70s in the forecast. BLEH.

Now. What is a kitchen garden? Something located closer to the house? Is it covered? You're planting kale seeds like they were mentioning in the Johnny's Seeds link, plant them now so they'll start growing in March?

Next weekend I'm going to the local greenhouse workshop on starting an indoor winter herb garden. Exciting!

CC, must mention that some of the potato onions I've pulled (and there are still many left in that bed for now) are mushy. I think I'm going to have much better luck with the walking multiplier onions in my rock bed, which are growing up new shoots in several places, and which don't need to be dug up, they're perennials. From the surface, they appear to be at least as big as the potato onions, maybe bigger. Because they seem to be hardier, I may just stick with them.

NHGardener wrote:Now. What is a kitchen garden? Something located closer to the house? Is it covered? You're planting kale seeds like they were mentioning in the Johnny's Seeds link, plant them now so they'll start growing in March?

CC, must mention that some of the potato onions I've pulled (and there are still many left in that bed for now) are mushy. I think I'm going to have much better luck with the walking multiplier onions in my rock bed, which are growing up new shoots in several places, and which don't need to be dug up, they're perennials. From the surface, they appear to be at least as big as the potato onions, maybe bigger. Because they seem to be hardier, I may just stick with them.

Yes, the kitchen garden is in ground and is right outside the kitchen door. It contains perrienal &annual herbs, onions & such and also where my 3+ yr old collard plant is.  The garden is up against the southwest wall of the house so it's well protected.  I like to harvest from it in winter if possible, as well as for early spring greens.  it's not covered.

Yup, the kale seeds I planted are hopefully going to be early spring greens as mentioned in the Johnny's link. I planted some in the kitchen garden and some in the SFG. We'll see what happens. I also transplanted some kale plants from the SFG to the kitchen garden. they will come back in spring for eating and then in summer go to seed for me to collect.

my potato onions were ok but very small. I'm getting used to small onions. I also have the walking onions and the greens are great. I have never harvested the actual onion of the walking onion yet. Have you?

I had pulled an onion a couple times from the walking onions and they were about the size of the potato onion, but this was a month or 2 back. Now when I look at the size of the bulbs that are half-submerged in the soil, they look twice that size. But I'm not pulling any until the bed gets populated with them, so I'm not completely sure.

CC - are you saying that if you leave the kale plants in the ground, they'll re-emerge by themselves in spring? That would be easy.

Next year I'm getting a small front-open freezer and putting it in the shed - there's an electrical outlet in there.

NHGardener wrote:
CC - are you saying that if you leave the kale plants in the ground, they'll re-emerge by themselves in spring? That would be easy.

Yup, if well protected, which isn't my SFG.  But they go to seed the 2nd year once it warms up enough. 

Hmm...this is making me wonder now if the seeds I planted today, per Johnny's instruction, will behave like first year plants or second year plants.  I was thinking first year until now...

CapeCoddess wrote:

NHGardener wrote:
CC - are you saying that if you leave the kale plants in the ground, they'll re-emerge by themselves in spring? That would be easy.

Yup, if well protected, which isn't my SFG.  But they go to seed the 2nd year once it warms up enough. 

Hmm...this is making me wonder now if the seeds I planted today, per Johnny's instruction, will behave like first year plants or second year plants.  I was thinking first year until now...

CC,next season you will have second year plants. If you want to sow late season for an early first year crop the seeds must remain dormant until next year, late winter, early spring.

A frost advisory for tonight has been issued for my region.

Thanks for the info, camp.  Second year kale in my SFG is not what I need since we want to eat off it for 3+ seasons. I'll be sure to plant the usual starts this winter for transplanting.  But the fall spinach seeding makes sense & I know it works since it's accidentally happened here before.

Got a huge score today!  I don't know if you folks have a store called Ring Brothers out your way, but if so, they have seed pkts for a quarter ea!

I may have gone a little overboard... 

Another beautiful perfect day in da hood. Just finished watering the SFG.  Pepper plants seem to be winding down, probably from cold nights.  Guess we'll be eating them green. Just planted out a dzn scallion stumplings between the kale in the kitchen garden hoping to keep bugs away. Need to cut back & bring in the stevia plant & pot up some basil for inside also.  

But first, a seaweed run!  
Ciao!
CC

CC, at 25c each, I would say you were very restrained!!

PS Can you pick up some sea weed for me?

Our area expects 38F tonite which means that it could be up to 6 degrees colder if the last several days are anything to go by. 
I picked all the peppers I had; Lunchbox, Green Bells, and Jalapenos.  I doubt there will be any more coming.  I even got a few late cherry tomatoes.  That'll be it for my garden this year.

I watched a Good Eats show 9/14/14 with Alton Brown talking freezing vegs, fruits, and meats.  How to prevent freezer burn on meats.  Wrap individual pieces in two layers of clear wrap, then 2 layers of heavy duty foil, tucking in the ends before freezing.  Label the foil with item and date.

Why blanch vegs before freezing.
The answer to that is that most have enzymes that continue to ripen the veggies even after picked and freezing doesn't kill the enzymes, hence you get brown and mushy vegs when you open your package.  There's a way to prevent that: Blanching.
There are charts online with times to blanch different veggies.  Then chilling quickly in ice water.
Alton's method is to be sure the veggies are completely dry before freezing.  Pour chilled veggies onto layers of paper towels and roll them around to dry them quite a bit.  You'll still have moisture and to fix that, place the vegs in a single layer on cookie sheets and refrigerate a few hours.  The refrigeration dries the surface moisture.
Then you put single layers of veggies on sheets in the freezer til they freeze.  When frozen, put them in freezer bags and be sure to suck out all the air with a straw.

I was most interested in the freezing peaches segment because I hope to have lots of peaches next year on my dwarf tree.
Take 1 lb peaches and core and peel them, and slice them about 1/2" thick.
Grind up 1 teaspoon (about 3 tablets) of chewable Vit. C tablets.  Add to this 4 oz sugar and 1/2 teas smoked paprika.   Grind together. 
Place the peaches and the dry mix in a freezer bag, remove all the air, and seal it.
Smoosh it around so that the dry mix covers all the peaches.  Freeze up to 1 year.

I learned quite a bit today.  I hope this helps at least one other person on the board.

I think I'll go post a new thread for this info.  I'm sure folks in other parts of the country might benefit from the info.

Wow CC, that really IS a big score! Some of those packets can sell for 8 to 10 times that much at full price.

I may have gone a little overboard...   

 We are hopeless seedaholics, along with fruittreeholics. Yes, I probably would have bought out the entire store, leaving every other poor gardener with no seeds for next year while I store mine in the fridge until 2092.

QB, thank you for that info! So much to learn, it boggles the mind and gives me a headache sometimes. Right now I'm on Eliot Coleman's book "The Winter Harvest Handbook: Year Round Vegetable Production Using Deep Organic Techniques and Unheated Greenhouses." I read a page, and then get overwhelmed.

Here is a pot of cherry tomatoes cooking down to sauce from tonight:



I post this to show that these were all volunteer cherry tomatoes that I picked this afternoon. I don't intentionally plant cherry tomatoes anymore because what takes an hour to get all the little crowns off will take about 10 min. on big tomatoes.

camprn, I'm crossing my fingers for you for NO FROST. Bleh. We're expecting 39F tonight and no frost advisories here.

Most of the garden is covered. And so it begins...

quiltbea wrote:

Pour chilled veggies onto layers of paper towels and roll them around to dry them quite a bit.  You'll still have moisture and to fix that, place the vegs in a single layer on cookie sheets and refrigerate a few hours.  The refrigeration dries the surface moisture.
Then you put single layers of veggies on sheets in the freezer til they freeze.  When frozen, put them in freezer bags and be sure to suck out all the air with a straw.


I learned quite a bit today.  I hope this helps at least one other person on the board.

Thanks Quiltbea - I want to make sure I understand this.  You have to refrigerate them first for a few hours then put single layers on sheets in the freezer until they freeze.  I have always put them on single layers on sheets in the freezer but have never heard the part about refrigerating them first??