# What's growin in the yard



## Spinartist

Florida native tomatoes. Big ones are marble size. Very tasty!!
My buddy Tom took some back to Virginia last year & had a good crop next to his porch.

I found two plants in the yard sprouted from renegade escapees from a couple months ago.
Caught our dog eating them off the vine.

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## woodtickgreg

We are still getting frost.

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## barry richardson

Different than cherry tomatoes?


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## ripjack13

Nice, I had planted one cherry tomatoe years ago in our garden. Its gone rogue every single season. I even find some throughout the yard where the grandkid has thrown a few at me. Lol

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## Spinartist

barry richardson said:


> Different than cherry tomatoes?




Yes different. About half the size. Taste better too!


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## trc65

Nothing in the yard that is ready to eat yet. Asparagus is starting to peek through though. Tomatoes are still in the basement under lights and are only 6" tall right now. Still a little while yet for fresh spinach.

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## ripjack13

trc65 said:


> Nothing in the yard that is ready to eat yet. Asparagus is starting to peek through though. Tomatoes are still in the basement under lights and are only 6" tall right now. Still a little while yet for fresh spinach.



The wife says theres no room in the to start growing stuff. I need to remedy that. Im tired of waiting till summers over before getting yummies....

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## Spinartist

Assortment of orchids & a Frangi Panni (used to make Lei's in Hawaii)

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## Spinartist

View attachment wb yard6.jpg

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## trc65

It's official, spring is here! First harvest of asparagus! Just cut enough for supper, will cut the rest tomorrow to share with my sisters.

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## ripjack13

Spinartist said:


> used to make Lei's in Hawaii



I'd love to get lei'd in Hawaii....

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## ripjack13

trc65 said:


> It's official, spring is here! First harvest of asparagus! Just cut enough for supper, will cut the rest tomorrow to share with my sisters.
> 
> View attachment 186038



That looks yummy!!!

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## trc65

It was!

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## Sprung

There's a little bit of asparagus starting to pop up by one corner of the house. Other than that, nothing yet. We want to plant a garden here. And that leads us to a project that I will be tackling this weekend - building raised beds. We just got snow a few days ago, so we've got a little time before we can put much into the ground.

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## Nature Man

Vegetable garden planted, but nothing to show yet. Seeds are germinating, but just barely breaking the surface. Chuck


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## Otterhound

Smokehouse apples . Barring problems , I will have plenty of applesauce and apple pies . I may even press some cider . 


 





 
My 3 offspring from the old tree that served so well for so long . Smokehouse is a local variety that dates back to 1837 .

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## Spinartist

ripjack13 said:


> I'd love to get lei'd in Hawaii....




Been there, done that!

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## Sprung

Well, between yesterday and today I got the raised beds built. What was going to be two 4' x 12' beds turned into a giant U after I had some boards leftover and we were discussing where she wanted to plant the strawberries. Not on the ground for the local rabbit population to eat, was her response. So I took the extra boards and made it into a U. That center section, lower part of the U, will be where the strawberries will go. The rest will be a variety of things. We'll be getting some dirt and compost courtesy of a farmer in our church sometime this week to fill up the raised beds.

She also got some rhubarb from a member of our church, which she transplanted into a spot in our yard. Soon we'll also have some raspberries to transplant.

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## Ray D

Sprung said:


> Well, between yesterday and today I got the raised beds built. What was going to be two 4' x 12' beds turned into a giant U after I had some boards leftover and we were discussing where she wanted to plant the strawberries. Not on the ground for the local rabbit population to eat, was her response. So I took the extra boards and made it into a U. That center section, lower part of the U, will be where the strawberries will go. The rest will be a variety of things. We'll be getting some dirt and compost courtesy of a farmer in our church sometime this week to fill up the raised beds.
> 
> She also got some rhubarb from a member of our church, which she transplanted into a spot in our yard. Soon we'll also have some raspberries to transplant.
> 
> View attachment 186515


Very nice. I’ve never used a raised bed before so does the dirt go right up against the wood or is there some kind of a moisture barrier?


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## Nature Man

Sprung said:


> Well, between yesterday and today I got the raised beds built. What was going to be two 4' x 12' beds turned into a giant U after I had some boards leftover and we were discussing where she wanted to plant the strawberries. Not on the ground for the local rabbit population to eat, was her response. So I took the extra boards and made it into a U. That center section, lower part of the U, will be where the strawberries will go. The rest will be a variety of things. We'll be getting some dirt and compost courtesy of a farmer in our church sometime this week to fill up the raised beds.
> 
> She also got some rhubarb from a member of our church, which she transplanted into a spot in our yard. Soon we'll also have some raspberries to transplant.
> 
> View attachment 186515


Put wire mesh in the bottom before you fill with soil to prevent gophers & moles from cleaning out your plants from below. Chuck

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## Spinartist

Indian Rosewood burl growin back of my ex's townhome. I'm painting her place so I went out back to check the burl that I've been watching fer 19 years. I think I'll take my chainsaw next week & bring it back to my shop!!
That's my size ten shoe for size

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## trc65

Strawberry season just started! First picking, about 5 quarts of berries. A little smaller than normal as someone wasn't paying attention to frost warnings a few weeks ago and we lost some of the primary blossoms/berries.

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## Wildthings

Trying out cucumbers in a hydroponics environment. I'm very impressed! these are 3 days apart

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## trc65

Harvested the first variety of garlic today. It will hang in the shed until this winter and then go into the root cellar.

This is a hardneck porcelain variety named Armenian. One of my favorite, we will still be using it next March.

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## Sprung

We've had a few strawberries that we've picked in the last few days. And tonight we picked our first lettuce. We planted butter lettuce, which is usually the type of lettuce we buy from the store.

I've never had garden grown lettuce until tonight. Oh my. The flavor! Never knew lettuce could have that much flavor!

We've also been periodically harvesting green onion replants - when cutting up green onions we save the bottom 3/4" or so and replant it. We started replanting some store bought green onions. They've cycled through enough that we've got some that have been replanted a couple times already.

Everything else is growing nicely so far.

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## ripjack13

I have a nice Liberty Apple tree. Going on ten years now. It produces about a bushel full of em. They are so yummy.

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## ripjack13

I have a granny smith tree to. It just started producing this year. I think it's 5 years old now. The gypsy caterpillar chewed it up good 2 years ago. It had a few buds on it then, then nothing last year. Just leaves. 
I need some pix of it.


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## Sprung

We're looking to plant a few fruit trees here at some point. Couple apple, a cherry, and maybe an Asian pear.

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## trc65

I've got HoneyCrisp and Winesap Apple, a Montmorency tart cherry, Bartlett and Delicious pear, a couple unknown peach trees and an apricot. Apple's have been producing for a couple of years, but the pears are standard trees and only have a couple of Bartlett pears this year. They need another year or two before they really start producing. Cherry is also about a year from producing.

Want to get a Granny smith and a sweet cherry, but started looking too late this year and everyone was sold out. Maybe I can find some this fall.

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## Wildthings

trc65 said:


> Harvested the first variety of garlic today. It will hang in the shed until this winter and then go into the root cellar.
> 
> This is a hardneck porcelain variety named Armenian. One of my favorite, we will still be using it next March.
> 
> View attachment 190128


Nice! when did you plant them?


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## trc65

November 5 of last year. Up North all of the garlic is planted in the fall. It gets root growth going before the ground freezes, and occassionally will have a shoot or two emerge. I mulch it with leaves before the snow flies. This year it emerged in March, so got an early start.

I've read that you can get a crop with spring planting, but tough to do with wet soil early. Crop will also be much smaller.

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## ripjack13

Sprung said:


> and maybe an Asian pear.



OH boy. Never thought of that one. I love those things!!!

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## Sprung

Today's harvest. Some green onions - these were replants from some store bought ones. At least a few of these have been replanted at least twice now and will be replanted again. Nice handful of lettuce. And a few strawberries. We transplanted a couple of small strawberry plants a little over a month ago and have already been getting a few strawberries.

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## trc65

Matt, I've got to keep that in mind for green onions next year. A lot quicker than growing them from seed.

I've also been harvesting onions, but mine are a little bigger than yours.

Most of these are between 3-4 inches in dia. Pull them, let them dry in the sun for a couple of days, and then move them to the shed to continue drying for several weeks. About 1/3 of them harvested so far.

Just pulled this afternoon.





Drying in the shed with a fan.





3/4 of the garlic also drying in the shed. Will dig the last variety tomorrow.

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## Sprung

Tim, what's the process and timing for growing garlic? I might like to try growing some next year - we like using garlic in cooking and I like it pickled with peppers or dilly beans.

Yeah, the green onion replanting trick is really nice. While we did also plant some from seed, replanting makes for a quick regrowth/harvest. I think it's been about 4 weeks or so from replant to harvest. We just cut off the bottom roughly 1/2 to 3/4" and replant it.

While we're not fans of red onions - will only eat them if they're cooked, otherwise they taste like the smell of burning plastic to both my wife and I - we do have some of those growing as our neighbor had some sets started that he didn't have room to plant them all, so we've got some of those growing too.


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## trc65

With your lake effect weather, I think you are still in hardiness zone 5, so even though you are a lot further north, similar to my conditions. 

I plant garlic in late October or early November, 3- 4 inches deep spaced 4-5 inches apart. Before planting, I fertilize with a 13-13-13 blend at a rate of 100# actual nitrogen per acre. Depending on the fall, you will sometimes get a few sprouts emerging, but usually just root growth. Before the ground freezes (late Nov) I mulch with leaves. They will emerge in late March, and for optimal size, I give them a shot of nitrogen (40#N/A) around April 1 and again on May 1. In June, they will send up a flower stalk that needs to be snapped off so resources go to the bulb instead of the "bulblets" that form on the stalk. 

In early to mid July, the bottom leaves start drying up and you want to dig them when you have 2-3 green leaves left on the top of the plant. At this point, you need to be gentle with them as they bruise easily. Don't wash them, just get as much soil off them as you can. Leave roots and stems/leaves on them and hang to dry out of the sun (garage/shed). Unlike onions, you can't leave them in the sun after harvesting, I hang them immediately.

After the stems completely dry, you can cut off the roots and stems, and remove the outer layer of dirty skin on the bulb. I just leave them hanging in my shed all summer and fall, and cut a bulb off as I need. Before winter, I'll clean them up and bring inside and store in the basement. They will usually last well into February for me. 

Other than using them raw, I will batch roast a cookie tray full of whole bulbs, remove cloves, and freeze them to use in soups/stews, etc all year. 

Come fall, send me a reminder, and I'll send you up some bulbs/cloves to plant. I've always got about double what I need, and most of it just dries up before I get it all used.

I grow four varieties, Armenian, Carpathian, Chesnok Red, and Spanish Roja. All are hardneck varieties and vary in taste and clove size.


On the onion side, all of mine are white storage onions that I grow from seed in flats and then transplant. We will still be using these onions next April. I used to grow from sets, but all of those have such a flattened shape, and don't store like these will.

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## Sprung

Tim, that is good information - thank you! And thank you for the offer for bulbs/cloves - may have to take you up on that (provided my wife agrees with me that we should grow some garlic instead of buying it!)

We are looking forward to better planning out our garden next year. We moved here right at the beginning of the year and started giving a garden serious thought in April. Eventually we decided to do raised beds, so I built them and we got help bringing in dirt in the later part of May. So we didn't do a whole lot of planning this year - more of a "let's buy some plants and seeds and see what happens" thing for our first year!

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## Brandon Sloan

Can’t grow anything without a greenhouse.

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## trc65

Electric fence?

I keep whitetail out of the sweet corn with it. Bait them using peanut butter in aluminum foil hung on the fence. A couple of nose shocks and they stay far away from it even though they could jump over and eat everything.


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## Brandon Sloan

trc65 said:


> Electric fence?
> 
> I keep whitetail out of the sweet corn with it. Bait them using peanut butter in aluminum foil hung on the fence. A couple of nose shocks and they stay far away from it even though they could jump over and eat everything.


Probably would work, I know they use them for bear protection. I’d hate to scare them off, it’s a treat seeing them in the yard. When I first moved up here, I heard my dog barking outside. Opened the door and found her “herding” a mama and two calf’s.

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## woodtickgreg

Betty's flowers are looking nice.

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## trc65

Well, not growing in the garden anymore, but picked and pickled the first of the beets. Got six pints worth, and should get another 20 or so when the rest of them grow a little more.

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## ripjack13

Flowers are poppin over here....

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## Sprung

Man, what a wonderful time of the year! The fresh bounty we've been enjoying lately:

About 60lbs of Montmorency Tart cherries. We've made cherry bounce, cherry bbq sauce, cherry freezer jam, cherry jam, frozen cherries, and frozen cherry pie filling.

10lbs of fresh Michigan blueberries, given to us by someone who makes a trip to MI every year for a load of blueberries. This year's load for them was 1250lbs. Whatever we haven't eaten fresh by tomorrow night will get frozen.

Green beans are starting to be able to be picked. Canned a jar of dilly beans tonight while I was canning cherry jam.

Strawberries, which we bought, were made into strawberry jam and strawberry jalapeno jam.

Lettuce from our garden has been ongoing. Green onions here and there. As well as a precious few of our own strawberries from plants transplanted this year.

Peppers got planted at different times, but we'll be able to start picking a couple soon. We'll be picking some tomatoes soon as well.

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## Wildthings

Sprung said:


> cherry bbq sauce, fresh Michigan blueberries, dilly beans, strawberry jalapeno jam.


All of it sounds awesome but those I quoted above.....here let me get you my address...wait! you should already have it!!.

Speaking of peppers..... I smoked some ribs the other day and afterwards on a whim, as the smoker was cooling down, I picked some Coolapenas, salad peppers and bell peppers and threw them in there. Man they were great and that's gonna happen on a regular basis

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## Sprung

Barry, some of that you're going to have to fight either my son for (the dilly beans) or my wife (the blueberries and strawberry jalapeno jam)!

Smoked peppers - that sounds delicious. I'd try it, but I don't have a smoker... My wife was just down to visit her parents and I sent her with a couple pork butts and my father-in-law smoked them for us, as well as some mac-n-cheese and some side pork. Side pork didn't last long, but it's nice to have some pulled pork and smoked mac-n-cheese in the freezer.

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## Herb G.

trc65 said:


> Well, not growing in the garden anymore, but picked and pickled the first of the beets. Got six pints worth, and should get another 20 or so when the rest of them grow a little more.
> 
> View attachment 190625


I loves me some pickled beets.

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## Eric Rorabaugh

Barry, enlighten me. What is a Coolapena? Nevermind, I just looked it up. I like jalapenos but I need to try those!


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## Wildthings

Eric Rorabaugh said:


> Barry, enlighten me. What is a Coolapena? Nevermind, I just looked it up. I like jalapenos but I need to try those!


Jalapenas without the heat. Found one at the store and bought it on a whim. Ehhh it's ok..but smoked it was real good

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## Herb G.

Wildthings said:


> Jalapenas without the heat. Found one at the store and bought it on a whim. Ehhh it's ok..but smoked it was real good


Ever make ABT's ? 
They are Atomic Buffalo Turds.
Basically a Jalapeno stuffed with anything including bacon, cream cheese, and smoked on the grill until soft & done.
I made some stuffed with Habanero peppers, cream cheese, bacon, cheddar, and wrapped in double thick bacon.
Then I dipped them in ranch dressing & damn near lost my mind when I ate them.

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## Gdurfey

Shrimp and Bacon jalapenos at Hard 8 BBQ, Stephenville, TX. yep, wow!!!!!!!


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## Eric Rorabaugh

I bet that was hot eating it. I'd worry about when it comes out though!

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## Wildthings

Herb G. said:


> Ever make ABT's ?
> They are Atomic Buffalo Turds.
> Basically a Jalapeno stuffed with anything including bacon, cream cheese, and smoked on the grill until soft & done.
> I made some stuffed with Habanero peppers, cream cheese, bacon, cheddar, and wrapped in double thick bacon.
> Then I dipped them in ranch dressing & damn near lost my mind when I ate them.


Oh yeah all the time. We just call them "poppers".

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## trc65

If you smoke those jalapenos until they are nearly dry, grind them up, you'll have chipotle pepper to season things all year long. I make a batch on my grill every year after the jalapenos ripen to red. Smoke for an hour or two, then I throw them in the dehydrator to finish drying. Coffee grinder to get them powdered. Can adjust heat by including seeds or not.

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## Sprung

Been getting a lot from our small garden lately - sugar snap peas (which are done now), green beans, cucumbers, some of the peppers are starting, tomatoes are starting.

I've canned some dilly beans. Should be canning at least a little bit of pickled peppers soon. Hope to can some tomato/pasta sauce. Have canned a good amount of jam - plenty of cherry from two trips cherry picking, in addition to the previous strawberry and strawberry jalapeno. Froze some cherry juice that was leftover from working with the cherries. Lots of frozen cherries. And plenty of frozen blueberries, courtesy of someone giving us 10lbs of Michigan blueberries.

Looking ahead, next year the raspberries should be grown back up enough to produce fruit (before we moved in they were pulled out/cut down - but they're growing back from what was still left in the ground.) We've transplanted some blackberry plants in this week and should have some more raspberry plants to transplant in soon. Rhubarb was transplanted this year, so there should be some of that to pick next year.

Oh, and my wife planted some sunflowers. So we have 3 sunflowers growing at the back of the house, already more than 8' tall. We'll collect the seeds and try roasting them.

Planting some fruit trees is something we still want to do, but are looking at next year for that.

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## Wildthings

trc65 said:


> If you smoke those jalapenos until they are nearly dry, grind them up, you'll have chipotle pepper to season things all year long. I make a batch on my grill every year after the jalapenos ripen to red. Smoke for an hour or two, then I throw them in the dehydrator to finish drying. Coffee grinder to get them powdered. Can adjust heat by including seeds or not.


See if you can see this thread from a bowhunting sight I frequent

Jalapeño Shake

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## trc65

That's some good looking green powder! May have to make some to go along with the chipotle I made last fall.

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## trc65

Everything is ripening in the garden all at once. Started by picking a couple quarts of raspberries, then started about 8 # of sauerkraut from excess early cabbage (can only eat so much slaw), picked enough beans to can a batch, broccoli is ready to be picked and frozen, early sweet corn is ready, enough tomatoes and peppers are ready to make some salsa, and will probably have stuffed peppers tomorrow. Also been eating fresh potatoes for a month, but they store just fine in the ground until fall.

Here's a pic of the sauerkraut in progress. Eight pounds is not enough for the crock I usually use, so put it in two half gallon fermenters I use for small batch fermentation.

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## trc65

Started in on the sweet corn today (yeah, I got it planted late). This will be about a third of what we freeze, 30 bags out of this.

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## Sprung

Not from our garden, but from a local farmer, we picked up a bunch of sweet corn. One of tonight's tasks is to freeze it.

Lots of tomatoes from our garden recently. Cucumbers as well. Green beans, sugar snap peas, and carrots are done. Peppers are just starting. We're headed out soon for a week of camping and expect enough peppers ready when we get back to start canning some. The peppers that we have so far my wife has roasted, diced, and frozen in muffin tins - this gives us a puck of roasted peppers that are easy to just pop into any dish.

Freezer is getting awfully full now! It'll be nice to get tastes of summer in the dead of winter.

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## Eric Rorabaugh

I'm jealous of all y'all with gardens. I don't have the room at this house. I miss my garden and fresh veggies.

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## Sprung

Eric Rorabaugh said:


> I'm jealous of all y'all with gardens. I don't have the room at this house. I miss my garden and fresh veggies.



Eric, it doesn't take a lot of room to at least have some sort of garden space. Our garden space isn't very big - I built raised bed planters, two of them at 4' x 12', with a 3' x 4' section at one end to form a U shape. So it takes up a 12' x 12' space in the yard. Our yard also has raspberries that are coming back after there were attempts to remove them by others before we moved in. We've transplanted blackberries and rhubarb too. So, it hasn't taken a lot of room to garden. We've also come to terms with our limits - we're not going to grow some things in our yard that we might like to due to space, but having what we have is great.

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## Eric Rorabaugh

The only place I could put it is the front yard and that's not happening. Back yard is too steep. I would have one end on the ground and the front would be 6' high. We're looking for an piece of property and then I'll have my garden back.

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## trc65

Today's project, canning some Roma tomatoes. They are skinned, halved and slowly warming up right now. Will get them in jars in a little bit, should have close to 20 quarts.

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## Eric Rorabaugh

I wish I had a batch like that. I'd make homemade spaghetti sauce

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## trc65

The next batch will be cooked into straight tomato sauce (No seasonings) to be used for spaghetti, lasagne, and others. I pressure can all the tomatoes, and think I loose too much flavor if I season the sauce before hand.


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## Tony

Herb G. said:


> Ever make ABT's ?
> They are Atomic Buffalo Turds.
> Basically a Jalapeno stuffed with anything including bacon, cream cheese, and smoked on the grill until soft & done.
> I made some stuffed with Habanero peppers, cream cheese, bacon, cheddar, and wrapped in double thick bacon.
> Then I dipped them in ranch dressing & damn near lost my mind when I ate them.




I wrap mine with half cooked bacon and grill them. Spectacular!

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## rob3232

No comment....

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## Sprung

We last harvested from our garden on August 18th, then left town for 8 days. We got home this evening and had a nice harvest from the garden. Canning spaghetti sauce and pickled peppers will be on the to-do list tomorrow or Friday. These are Hungarian Wax peppers - a sweet variety (as my wife doesn't like overly spicy foods/peppers). There are three other varieties of peppers we have growing - bell, jalapeno, and pepperoncini - but were planted from seeds rather than from seedlings that were transplanted, so they're not ready for harvest yet.

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## Ray D

With all the vegetable garden talk that has been going on I decided to make a few raised beds. Ive been growing vegetables since my junior high school FFA days but since we’ve been in this new house we haven’t been motivated....thanks guys. Lol We Should be ready for the Florida fall growing season.

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## trc65

Today is sauce day. About a bushel and half of tomatoes, once they finish cooking down a little later tonight, should end up with about 4 gallons of sauce.

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## Wildthings

Thanks to all. I have really enjoyed this thread!!

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## Tony

Y'all have got me going. I've been thinking about putting in a garden for a couple of 3, always had one growing up. Next year is the year, I don't know that I could get one going this year and get anything out of it before it gets cold. Thanks for all the inspiration guys!

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## Wildthings

Tony said:


> Y'all have got me going. I've been thinking about putting in a garden for a couple of 3, always had one growing up. Next year is the year, I don't know that I could get one going this year and get anything out of it before it gets cold. Thanks for all the inspiration guys!


Hey @Tony I use these for growing fall tomatoes. (GROWBOX) I put them on a Harbor Freight (furniture dolly) and when it gets cold run them into the shop and then back out. I have grown tons of tomatoes like this. It's not too late to get them going

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## trc65

Can you guys down south get bedding plants this time of year, or do you plant from seeds?


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## Wildthings

We can get bedding plants but it is still not quite time for the stores to have them all. My BIL has planted seeds in his indoor grow light box thingy and got those coming up. But I usually use the bedding plants. Celebrity is what I have best luck with on tomatoes

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## trc65

I've planted Celebrity in the past, and like it, haven't used it in the last couple of years though, I plant more indeterminate tomatoes for "slicers".

If you are looking for a really good Roma type, I use "Mariana". It is the largest (~6oz) has great flavor, and is a determinate type. Only problem you might have, I think it is only available from seed.

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## trc65

Something that's not a fruit or vegetable. Largest plant I grow annually, about 8 ft tall, largest leaf is about 18" across. The seed can be deadly and has no antidote.












It is a purple variety of Castor Bean, and although the beans contain ricin, the seed coat is so hard that when kids or animals eat them, they usually pass them whole with no ill effects.

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## ripjack13

I've been slacking. I need to post up stuff from yahd....

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## Gdurfey

@trc65 , Tim, is this cold front going to get you?? Already snowing here and the worst is yet to come.

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## trc65

Only with lots of rain and cooler temps. We are supposed to stay in the 50-60° range for highs and lows all week. Had 2+ inches of rain since Saturday and predicting another 2 before the end of the week.

I feel for you guys already getting snow, my Nephew and family lives in Cheyenne, so I get first hand accounts when things get nasty out there.


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## Wildthings

Gdurfey said:


> @trc65 , Tim, is this cold front going to get you?? Already snowing here and the worst is yet to come.


Well it looks like this front will be stalling a couple hundred miles north of me........daggunnit!

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## Tony

Wildthings said:


> Well it looks like this front will be stalling a couple hundred miles north of me........daggunnit!
> 
> View attachment 193263




We're getting the cold front here, supposed to be 84 tomorrow!!!!


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## trc65

We're sitting at 55° right now and will have a high of 58° tomorrow. A few days of cool weather and we are supposed to be back to our normal of low 80's next week. I did have to wear a windbreaker today to keep dry, but still have my shorts on!

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## ripjack13

I thought I had more. But....here's what I have now. I'll get more pics soon....

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## trc65

Looking good Marc! I'm guessing from the size of the "handles", those are from some of the seed I sent you? Those vines sure grow long, don't they.

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## Wildthings

Tony said:


> We're getting the cold front here, supposed to be 84 tomorrow!!!!


Yep you're about where they say it stalls


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## ripjack13

trc65 said:


> Looking good Marc! I'm guessing from the size of the "handles", those are from some of the seed I sent you? Those vines sure grow long, don't they.


Yep, those are from you. Same with the gourds. The long necked green one was up in a rose of charon growing. Lol. I know I have a pic of it somewhere....


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## ripjack13

Aha...found it in the trash file....

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## trc65

That's a speckled swan!

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## trc65

Some of my fall crop.

My "traditional" pumpkin patch.









I also have some blue ones...




And some pink ones...





And even some that turn the color of wood (if it doesn't frost too early)





And of course some Turks Turban

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## Mr. Peet

trc65 said:


> Some of my fall crop.
> 
> My "traditional" pumpkin patch.
> 
> View attachment 193400
> 
> View attachment 193401
> 
> I also have some blue ones...
> View attachment 193402
> 
> And some pink ones...
> 
> View attachment 193404
> 
> And even some that turn the color of wood (if it doesn't frost too early)
> 
> View attachment 193403
> 
> And of course some Turks Turban
> 
> View attachment 193399



Reminds me of as place near Rose Hill, NY called Tim's Pumpkin Patch. Used to take the kids there when they were little. I really miss those times.

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## trc65

I've never grown celery before, but bought a packet of seed this winter and started some transplants. Thought what the heck, I'm only out the price of the seed, and might be interesting.

Here's the first bunch I just cut.




Now my question is, what the heck am I going to do with 25 of these?  I plan to lacto ferment some of it, and I guess some will go into the dehydrator, but that is a lot of celery!

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## Ray D

We’ve never grown it either but we tried it this year. Just added my third raised bed this afternoon.

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## Eric Rorabaugh

Can it with tomatoes, corn and potatoes for soups and stews

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## Mr. Peet

trc65 said:


> I've never grown celery before, but bought a packet of seed this winter and started some transplants. Thought what the heck, I'm only out the price of the seed, and might be interesting.
> 
> Here's the first bunch I just cut.
> View attachment 193772
> 
> Now my question is, what the heck am I going to do with 25 of these?  I plan to lacto ferment some of it, and I guess some will go into the dehydrator, but that is a lot of celery!



Can you dill pickle it?


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## trc65

Mr. Peet said:


> Can you dill pickle it?


I'm planning to try that. Lot of people talk about lacto fermenting it like old fashioned crock pickles and I've got a jar started already to test the flavor. Just added peppercorns and garlic. I've got five more half gallon fermenting jars, so also going to add dill and hot pepper flakes to other batches.

I prefer the flavor of fermented "pickles" over those pickled with vinegar, the only problem is they need to be refrigerated after fermenting. You may do a boiling water bath to can them for storage, but loose a lot of the crispness.

I'll can a couple jars of the fermented celery to test crispness and compare that to vinegar preserved (and canned).

Luckily, we don't have a freeze predicted for a while, and mature celery can survive a frost (to about 30°), so I've got time to experiment.

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## Mike1950

Kathie loves her flowers.. lots of Mountain ash for the birds this winter...

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## Mr. Peet

Mike1950 said:


> Kathie loves her flowers.. lots of Mountain ash for the birds this winter...
> 
> View attachment 193801
> 
> View attachment 193802
> 
> View attachment 193803



Is it Showey Mountain ash..?.. Wondering species?

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## Mike1950

Mr. Peet said:


> Is it Showey Mountain ash..?.. Wondering species?


no idea- used to be a huge ponderosa pine there and the birds crapped mountain ash seeds and 25 years later they keep replanting. Probably have 20 of them growing in yard now...


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## Mr. Peet

Mike1950 said:


> no idea- used to be a huge ponderosa pine there and the birds crapped mountain ash seeds and 25 years later they keep replanting. Probably have 20 of them growing in yard now...



They look nice. It did not look like western Mtn. ash (S. scopulina), lacked shiny leaves, and leave looked to big for European, and to small for American, so was figuring you planted it, and thought maybe 'showey'...but looks to big for it...so wonder I shall.

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## Mike1950

Mr. Peet said:


> They look nice. It did not look like western Mtn. ash (S. scopulina), lacked shiny leaves, and leave looked to big for European, and to small for American, so was figuring you planted it, and thought maybe 'showey'...but looks to big for it...so wonder I shall.


I assume not western but really think I have no clue. wonderful for short lived tree. They replant -rot and replant. Last year there were no berries and this year loaded. The birds will love it come January..


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## trc65

These are what's left of my "lemon drop" peppers after making my first batch of hot sauce. In addition to their lemon color, they do have a slight lemon flavor. About the same heat of cayenne, makes for a unique hot sauce.

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## Sprung

trc65 said:


> Everything is ripening in the garden all at once. Started by picking a couple quarts of raspberries, then started about 8 # of sauerkraut from excess early cabbage (can only eat so much slaw), picked enough beans to can a batch, broccoli is ready to be picked and frozen, early sweet corn is ready, enough tomatoes and peppers are ready to make some salsa, and will probably have stuffed peppers tomorrow. Also been eating fresh potatoes for a month, but they store just fine in the ground until fall.
> 
> Here's a pic of the sauerkraut in progress. Eight pounds is not enough for the crock I usually use, so put it in two half gallon fermenters I use for small batch fermentation.
> 
> View attachment 191786



Tim, I'm curious on the how long you ferment your sauerkraut for? This is the first time I've done sauerkraut (at least on my own - helped someone with their large crock of it some time ago). The guidance I read was 3 to 10 days in the half gallon size, starting to check it each day, beginning on day 3, until it's got the taste you're looking for. That's my current plan, but I am curious what kind of timing you do on yours.

The home fermented sauerkraut I've had has all been vastly superior to the store bought stuff, so I'm looking forward to eating from ours.


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## trc65

I think it was about 3 weeks in the basement on the floor, which was probably around 65°. You will get a little bit of "sour" flavor after few days, but in my opinion, takes 2-3 weeks before it is completely fermented. If yours is in the basement below 70°, I'd start checking it at about 2 weeks. Maybe a little quicker if you have it above 70°.

I wouldn't worry about going too long, it really doesn't degrade in texture or flavor for quite a while. I know in the past, I've gotten busy and forgotten about the kraut, and didn't get around to canning it for two months and it was fine. I can all of mine in a BWB (boiling water bath), rather than keep in the fridge. Loose little of crispness by canning it, but still has much superior flavor.

In case you haven't seen it, here is a link to the _National Center for Home Food Preservaton's fermenting page_. https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can6a_ferment.html

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## Sprung

Thanks for that, Tim. The 3 to 10 days did seem rather short to me. Our basement is in the upper 60's right now. I'll start checking it in a couple weeks. And glad that I don't have to worry about it going too long. I'll probably put some in the fridge and BWB can the rest.

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## Mr. Peet

Sprung said:


> Thanks for that, Tim. The 3 to 10 days did seem rather short to me. Our basement is in the upper 60's right now. I'll start checking it in a couple weeks. And glad that I don't have to worry about it going too long. I'll probably put some in the fridge and BWB can the rest.



Our's was always in a 30 gallon stone crock. Do it with the new moon and be amazed how much moisture it pulls. Be careful to not go more than 2/3rds full to start. On a full moon the draw is less. We start checking at 14 days, usually can by week 3 of 4. We also used hot water bath.

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## trc65

This looks like a hot mess right now, but in a few short weeks will be a wonderfully hot, sour batch of kimchi.

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## barry richardson

Awesome, I love Kimchi!

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## trc65

Years ago in grad school, someone suggested trying a Korean restaurant, never been to one, but I love trying new foods, so went along. They served a small dish of kimchi as an appetizer, it took me about two bites to finish it, they thought I was crazy, but all I wanted was a great big bowl of it! 

I now grow everything to make my own (except the ginger), and make a batch or two every fall.

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## Tony

My Dad used to make it, great stuff!

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## Mike Hill

Ok, gonna freeze tomorrow night so might as well make some hot sauce. Those from Texas ought to know these peppers! Chili Pequins - used to pick them from fencerows. Garlic didn't get very big this year for some reason. Had to import the peppers for years until this past - finally found some seeds to buy. Fun to finally have these in my hands. There will be a number of green ones that I will pickle.

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## Wildthings

Mike Hill said:


> Those from Texas ought to know these peppers! Chili Pequins


Yessiree we call them Turkey peppers. Turkeys eat them like candy. Me not so much! Some of those can get fiery!!


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