Re: N&C Midwest: August 2020

OhioGardener 8/17/2020, 12:38 pm

Sounds good, SR! We put up another 8 pints of tomatoes, and 7 pints of Spiced Pickled Beans yesterday. Our panty is getting full, though, and the harvest isn't slowing down at all.

**Scorpio Rising** 8/17/2020, 8:19 pm

Oh my gosh...yes! OG, my peppers are ahead of me big time! I didn’t pick them last weekend because they are pretty forgiving!

Will pickle peppers this weekend ! The only peppers I have ever pickled is the Cowboy Candy.

So, will be interesting! I have a TON of bananas, Anchos, and a smidgen of jalapeños. I want some of these to get red! PRETTY!!!!

OhioGardener 8/22/2020, 5:23 pm

Pulled 9.75# of carrots out of a 4 ft sq section of one of the raised beds this afternoon. Surprised how big and beautiful the carrots are considering that they were just planted on June 3rd. Still have beets to pull,. but don't have time to preserve them right now. The beets were planted the same day as the carrots, and some of them that I checked are 2.5" in diameter. They will make nice pickled beets when we get around to it.

OhioGardener 8/23/2020, 8:49 pm

Picked 17.75# of Blue Lake green beans today, and they are beatiful! Not sure what we are going to do with all of them, since the freezer is nearly full and we have already canned all of the Spice Pickled Beans that we need. But love how productive these beans have been this year.

nrstooge 8/24/2020, 8:48 am

How many are planting fall gardens? I've planted bok choy, tatsoi, lettuce, peas, and spinach, strawberry spinach, radishes, turnips, mache and mizuna will follow.

I also purchased hoops that will go on my raised bed so I can put a plastic cover, extending our Oct 12 frost date so will have 2-3 more weeks of growing Very Happy

What is everyone planting?

Nancy

**Scorpio Rising** 8/24/2020, 9:40 am

I am planting radishes, maybe a little lettuce, turnips and Bok Choi as well!

I pulled 5 Delicata off dead vines yesterday. One watermelon, 4 musk melons, a bunch of Dragon Tongue beans, cucumbers, one carrot, and watered! It was so dry out there!!!

I did not get to the tomatoes or peppers. Gotta pick tomatoes tonight. Might make some Easy and Delicious Crockpot Marinara! And salsa. Also need to cut up the melons to eat them this week at work.

I also have a couple zucchinis and a couple patty pans to do something with!

Fruits and Vegetables everywhere—how great is that???? I love you

OhioGardener 8/24/2020, 9:42 am

nrstooge wrote:How many are planting fall gardens?

Interesting timing on your post. Just before checking posts here I had read the e-letter from Dave's Garden which had an article titled "Plant a Fall Garden". The opening comment of the article is, "Most people don't think of planting vegetables this late in the season, however a fall vegetable garden is a great way to welcome autumn."

Dave's Garden article, Plant a Fall Vegetable Garden

I don't exactly plant a fall garden, but do succession planting from spring to fall. When a vegetable is done I clear out that section of the bed and plant something else there. For example, a couple days ago I pulled the carrots, refreshed the bed with compost, and planted some summer squash seeds. So, the soil is not bare for very long.

**Scorpio Rising** 8/24/2020, 9:46 am

Curious, OG, what kind of squash? Will you need to cover it?

OhioGardener 8/24/2020, 9:58 am

Scorpio Rising wrote:Curious, OG, what kind of squash? Will you need to cover it?

One square of Yellow Crookneck and one square of Yellow Straightneck Squash. They mature very fast, about 35 to 40 days, so we get a lot of squash from them before the October frosts gets them. A couple weeks ago I planted the fall cucumber seeds, and they are already over a foot high on the trellis and will soon be starting to bloom.

**Scorpio Rising** 8/24/2020, 1:45 pm

Is there any difference in their taste between the two, OG?

Jessiepniles 8/24/2020, 2:11 pm

Hi! New here, do any of you use the core gardening method with the SFG? That's what I'm setting up right now as I can dig up the bed I had some stuff planted in, and I'm very excited to see how well that works, and hopefully a bit of a timesaver since I have lots of containers as well. Curious if anybody here has tried it and had success.

OhioGardener 8/24/2020, 2:17 pm

Scorpio Rising wrote:Is there any difference in their taste between the two, OG?

Not enough difference that I can tell any. The straight ones have more solid area, with less of a "seed bulb". We like the Straightneck picked fairly young and sliced in salads. The Crookneck we mostly slice and boil with sliced onions and a little curry to make a great side dish.

**Scorpio Rising** 8/24/2020, 5:44 pm

OhioGardener wrote:
Scorpio Rising wrote:Is there any difference in their taste between the two, OG?

Not enough difference that I can tell any. The straight ones have more solid area, with less of a "seed bulb". We like the Straightneck picked fairly young and sliced in salads. The Crookneck we mostly slice and boil with sliced onions and a little curry to make a great side dish.

I am going to look for seeds! Thanks, OG.

OhioGardener 8/27/2020, 9:52 am

When you miss picking cucumbers for a couple days, you end up with some very big cucumbers! Shocked

N&C Midwest: August 2020 - Page 2 Cucumb24

**Scorpio Rising** 8/28/2020, 9:16 am

Hey, OG—do you eat those big yellow cukes?

OhioGardener 8/28/2020, 10:08 am

Scorpio Rising wrote:Hey, OG—do you eat those big yellow cukes?

Well, yes, sort of. My wife makes Marinated Cucumbers & Onions out of them. She made a huge batch of them night before last (they have to set over night before eating them), and then she gave pint jars full of them to friends and neighbors.

**Scorpio Rising** 8/29/2020, 1:08 pm

Right...I typically don’t eat the big yellow ones. They seem to be bitter to me, and lots of seeds! Same boat here, though. I haven’t been very attentive to the tomatoes or peppers...my bad.

Gonna go out there and pick stuff—I see crockpot marinara (freeze) and frozen peppers in my future! What a Face

**Scorpio Rising** 8/29/2020, 6:51 pm

Picked a ton of maters. Will make marinara. I left the peppers—they are starting to turn color! So pretty!!!

Got a few eggplants. And a couple onions! Cukes—yum! And a head of celery. 3 more out there. Yikes! Very yummy.

OhioGardener 8/29/2020, 9:23 pm

Picked a few Jalapenos this evening so that I can make some bacon wrapped poppers tomorrow. This less than 1/10th of the ones that are ready to be picked, so will soon be picking the rest of them to make Pickled Jalapenos for the winter.

N&C Midwest: August 2020 - Page 2 Jalape24

**Scorpio Rising** 8/30/2020, 10:33 am

Marinara in the crockpot; old spent squash and watermelon vines cleaned up. Will need to mow sometime. Windows open—really nice here, almost Fall-like!

OhioGardener 8/30/2020, 6:09 pm

Did the last picking of the bush beans today - 12# of beans. Cut off the plants at the soil level, ran them through the shredder, and put them in the compost tumbler to start making the compost to feed next year's plants. Refreshed both beds with about an inch of compost, and called it a day. Sometime this week, between doctor visits, will set up the coldframe on one of the beds to get it ready for fall lettuce & spinach planting.

Sponsored content


	Hello Guest! Welcome to the official Square Foot Gardening Forum. There's lots to learn here by reading as a guest. However, if you become a member (it's free, ad free and spam-free) you'll have access to our large vermiculite databases, our seed exchange spreadsheets, Mel's Mix calculator, and many more members' pictures in the Gallery. Enjoy.