What's Growing in the Garden

Lil Mikey is giddy!!!!

After 4 years, or is it 5 - finally able to pick my first Jap. Persimmon. Have no idea of it's ripeness - but it sure looks like it is. Last year the tree bore 3 but the animules got'em. This year I think it set about 12, but something happened to 5 and I have 7 left including this one. I don't particularly like them, but my wife does. Did not think they were hardy enough for here, so this is an experiment. They've survived getting down to the low teens.

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Looks good to me! Although I admit, I've never seen a persimmon, Japanese or otherwise...
 
It's October!

Started hauling pumpkins from the garden to the house this afternoon. Here's a pic that shows most of this years varieties. Haven't hauled "The Great Pumpkin" out of the garden yet.

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Way cool. Really like the one on the far right. Looks like a frenchie variety a friend of mine grew a few years ago. Made awesome pies!
 
That variety is sold as "Fairytale" but it is the French heirloom variety musque de provence. I've grown these for several years, and this year I'm determined to cut a few up to eat. The description underestimates the size of these. My vines are closer to 15 meters and these are usually 15-20 lbs or more.

Here is a description:

Fairytale pumpkins, botanically classified as Cucurbita moschata, are a French winter heirloom variety and are members of the Cucurbitaceae family along with squash and gourds. Also known as the Musque De Provence squash, Fairytale pumpkins are prized for their excellent flavor, ornamental shape, and unique tan coloring. Fairytale pumpkins grow on vigorous vines that can reach over three meters in length and are named for their musky scent. They also belong to the “cheese pumpkin” group because of their resemblance to a wheel of cheese. Fairytale pumpkins are one of the only hard squash varieties that can be consumed raw and are known for their long storage capabilities, delicate flesh, and sweet flavor.
 
Mike Hill said:
Lil Mikey is giddy!!!!

After 4 years, or is it 5 - finally able to pick my first Jap. Persimmon. Have no idea of it's ripeness - but it sure looks like it is. Last year the tree bore 3 but the animules got'em. This year I think it set about 12, but something happened to 5 and I have 7 left including this one. I don't particularly like them, but my wife does. Did not think they were hardy enough for here, so this is an experiment. They've survived getting down to the low teens.

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Which species...? There are a few Asian choices. Some are astringent, so would need a frost to trigger the sugars to develop. You can still mimic the process with a refrigerator and freezer.
 
I thought there was generally only one species diospyros kaki and a bunch of cultivars.with two types kinda. One type that needs to be really ripe and maybe a frost before it won't pucker you up. The other type is more forgiving. I don't remember the cultivar name but I selected for hardiness, early ripening and not needing to have a frost or being dead ripe.
 
Mike Hill said:
I thought there was generally only one species diospyros kaki and a bunch of cultivars.with two types kinda. One type that needs to be really ripe and maybe a frost before it won't pucker you up. The other type is more forgiving. I don't remember the cultivar name but I selected for hardiness, early ripening and not needing to have a frost or being dead ripe.
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That is likely so, just thought there were two species, but that was a long time ago. Good thing you chose well. Ah, very good for you, otherwise your face would collapse in on its self sucking the moisture from your mouth and breath from your lungs. Try it on vanilla bean ice cream.
 
Never thought about ice cream! Lil Mikey says everything goes better with ice cream!
 
Not much growing, the s season is about over. A few tomatoes left to ripen, carrots, beets, and parsnips still in the ground. Thought I would show off Grams Johnson's beans. My wife's grandma was born in a sod house near Dix Nebraska. As a young bride in 1922 she moved to a farm in Peacham Vermont. She brought her family's bean seeds to Vermont with her and grew them every year for the rest of her life. My wife's cousin gave us some seed years ago and we grow a few every year. My wife cans them for shell beans and we dry some for seed as well as baking. IMG_20211002_094019736.webp
 
Very cool to have family seed like that, Dave.

We don't have any family seed from my own family, but we did have someone else's family seed given to us - a friend gave us a tomato seedling this spring that is traced back to seed she was given by some friends of hers when they lived in Texas. The family that gave her the seed, it's their family tomato plant/seed going back some time. Their family brought it with them when they emigrated from Bohemia. We saved some seed and it'll be something we plant each year.
 
Had a bumper crop of cilantro this year, I let it bolt and produce seeds (coriander). We dried it in the attic then stripped off the seeds. I had a extra crushgrind pepper mill, corriander seed is roughly the same size as peppercorn. Works great 👍 I also infused some vodka with corriander seed, I think it will make some interesting bloody Marys.
 
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Well down to 5 - found this under the tree yesterday evening. AAAARGGGGG!!!! If they would even eat it all, I wouldn't be as mad. But to leave over half for me to discover! That's just mean!!!! Lil Mikey is being bullied by rodents!!! He might have to go write sumthing to vent!!

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Sprung said:
Very cool to have family seed like that, Dave.

We don't have any family seed from my own family, but we did have someone else's family seed given to us - a friend gave us a tomato seedling this spring that is traced back to seed she was given by some friends of hers when they lived in Texas. The family that gave her the seed, it's their family tomato plant/seed going back some time. Their family brought it with them when they emigrated from Bohemia. We saved some seed and it'll be something we plant each year.
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Seed saving in many cases is such a simple thing to do, but many people myself included don't do enough of it. I am getting into it a little more lately. I planted alderman peas this year and had a time finding seeds. No one local had them and not many places online, I ended up paying over $20 from a organic seed company for a half pound. They did well and I saved around a pound of seed for next year.
 
We're starting to save seeds here - it really is simple. Didn't save from everything we planted this year, but did save some. Next year our goal is to save seed from most everything.
 
Sprung said:
We're starting to save seeds here - it really is simple. Didn't save from everything we planted this year, but did save some. Next year our goal is to save seed from most everything.
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I really like my hybrid sweet corn so that's out. We save beans, squash, peas, dill, and coriander. I plant hybrid blight restant tomatoes because we have lost entire crops in the past.
 
Today I cut back the chives again, save for a small part so we have a little bit in case we want some fresh chives in the next week or so, and the basil. Got both in the dehydrator right now.

Not much coming out of the garden right now - a few tomatoes here and there still and some peppers. If this unseasonably warm weather can hold out for another 7 to 10 days, we should get enough peppers that I could can another couple jars of pickled peppers. After the chives and basil are done in the dehydrator, I'll pull the green onions and dehydrate them - they've already been cut back twice, now I'll just pull them. After those are done, the leeks will come out and I'll dehydrate those as well.

Had a couple pounds of one of the big heads of cabbage we got still left. So today I decided to try and make a small batch of kimchi. Yeah, it's not the traditional napa cabbage, but I figured I'd give it a try with what we had on hand. I've never had kimchi and I've been wanting to try it.

I enjoy the garden and it's not a lot of work to keep our garden going or to harvest it. The biggest time commitment is in preserving it all. I've enjoyed the garden and canning - and still have probably a few dozen more jars of stuff to can as I put some stuff in the freezer to can when I had more time - but I'm looking forward to garden and canning season being done and spending my free time on something else.

And then I'll look forward to getting back to it next year. My wife and I have already been talking about what we want to plant next year - what we want to plant more of, or less of, or what else we want to try to plant. As soon as our van is back from the shop, I'll be off with it to pick up some cedar to build a third raised bed planter. We plan to build a trellis into it as well.
 
Sprung said:
off with it to pick up some cedar to build a third raised bed planter. We plan to build a trellis into it as well.
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I love my raised beds, they are quite a bit of work and expense up front but pay off big over time. Ours are around 30" high and make weeding and thinning super easy for us senior citizens with bad backs. We have a little over 150 sq feet of raised beds, that seems to be enough for now. The only down side is they tend to dry out fast and need frequent watering. I'm planning to add some drip irrigation with a timer next year.
 
Agreed on the raised beds! Ours are about 22" high. We're currently at about 100 sq ft and will be at about the same 150sq ft you are when we add in the third bed.
 
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