Too soon to talk about gardening?

[Winchester]

 
I was just checking my e-mail and I found one from Burpee for their Fordhook Open Day.  (http://www.burpee.com/gygg/content.jsp?contentId=summeropens)  Boy that sounds fun!  They have self guided tours of the gardens, speakers, demonstrations and an open question and answer session.  They are even going to have some chefs from the Food Network Test Kitchen!   I could probably get to this if we planned it out well in advance; it's not really day-trip optional for me.  I'd want to be sure we could get there early enough to make the most of it.  But it looks really interesting!  

I would be very interested in going to that if we could. It sounds like a lot of fun.

 

[Winchester]

Here are some pictures of what's left in the garden. At this point, not much....other than butternuts. The lack of rain is killing is and we won't water because we're on a well. 

I was up there this morning and picked assorted peppers and some tomatoes. Yum. 

Veggies.jpg

• Winchester
• Aug 16, 2015

I sliced and/or chopped the peppers, depending on what I wanted to use them for, and then threw them into containers and put them in the freezer. There are green peppers, some banana peppers, and some mariachi peppers in the mix. The green peppers were frozen in separate containers, but the other ones were chucked all together in the same containers.

Here's what I did with the tomatoes:

RoastedToms.jpg

• Winchester
• Aug 16, 2015

Spritzed with a bit of olive oil, then sprinkled with some basil, oregano, marjoram and parsley, then roasted at 375 degrees F for about 90 minutes. The whole kitchen smelled like pizza! They're in a container in the freezer to be used for pasta sauce later on.

And here are some butternut pictures....Some of the squash are just growing on the garden fence. We put them into slings and they seem quite happy there. 

SquashOne.jpg

• Winchester
• Aug 16, 2015

This one is getting ready to be put into a sling....it's living on the outside of the fence.

SquashTwo.jpg

• Winchester
• Aug 16, 2015

This one is on the ground right inside the gate to the garden

SquashThree.jpg

• Winchester
• Aug 16, 2015

Butternut squash plants have pretty much taken over the garden at this point! We have them on crushed plastic milk jugs and on other plastic containers. If they were left on the ground, they would rot where they touched the ground. If they're on the plastic containers, they don't touch the ground at all. There are holes in the containers, too, so that if it rains, they will drain. I wish we would get some rain.

SquashFour.jpg

• Winchester
• Aug 16, 2015

Another one is living in its sling...this one is along the back of the garden. This one is going to be a big squash! If we can grow nothing else, we sure can grow the squash.

SquashFive.jpg

• Winchester
• Aug 16, 2015

SquashSix.jpg

• Winchester
• Aug 16, 2015

Here are some of the onions I pulled today. I put one in a pair of panty hose, then knotted the hose. Then I put another one in the panty hose and knotted that one. I did that the whole way up the panty hose in both legs. It's hanging in the basement now. Whenever I need an onion, I'll just go down and cut the onion out of the panty hose. They are supposed to last quite a while that way as they're not touching each other; each onion is separated by a knot. Depending on how things go with the onions, we shall plant more of them next year.

Onions.jpg

• Winchester
• Aug 16, 2015

 

[MoochNNoodles]

I love your butternut hammocks! 

My garden is looking sad. I think I can pull the potatoes now.  Other than peppers and tomatoes; everything else is done.  My garlic dried up so I pulled what was left.  The cloves are so tiny it's comical.  I mean the whole head is the size of or smaller than a cherry tomato! 

  I think we have strawberries that we can get soon still.  We get a few at a time and eat them right up.  

I am watering; even though we are on a well.  I notice the rhubarb I put in just cannot take the heat without water.  I use the water wand on the hose; so I'm getting it all right at the base of the plants at least.  I think next year we really will go for rain barrels.  

It's kind of sad to see the corn fields drying out already.  And being cut down.  In some ways summer goes too fast.

I did finally discover what keeps killing my cucumbers.  It's the downy mildew.  I was looking something else up online and I just happened to see a picture of what I've seen in the garden.  Apparently all I can do is try to use fungicides.  The article said that there are different things commercial farmers can use; but for home gardens it's basically just whatever fungicide you can buy at a garden center.  

 

[jtbo]

Here lawn has been white from ice at last two mornings, hopefully you get at least month more before that starts!

 

[stewball]

[ame="JTbo" url="/t/294710/too-soon-to-talk-about-gardening/210#post_3809114"]
It is wonderful in there, orange juice is so easy to get, just grab few oranges from tree on yard, also lot less rain too, wonderful place what I have visited there.

Was it last year or one year before when you got little snow for short time? I remember something from news about such, but surely much warmer there.[/quote]

A little snow? Jerusalem was closed for about 4 days. Places around had no electricity for about the same time. It was terrible. Luckily I'm not near Jerusalem so I was ok. When were you here? I wish I had a citrus Grove on my windowsill! I hope I haven't highjacked this thread.

 

[Winchester]

Here is our first butternut picking. I know you're supposed to let them cure out in the garden, but we have rain coming, so we put them in the basement. They'll be fine there. A couple of them are still fairly white and I guess I should have left them in the garden, but too late now. There are 10-12 white ones still in the garden that are still very white. And tons and tons of flowers; I doubt the flowers will do much as it's getting too close to fall. We have some new flowers on the zucchini plants, too; the ones we didn't pull out yet. Still very small peppers and lots of pepper flowers, too. That's pretty much it at this point.

They are dirty; I won't clean them until I'm ready to use them. Those really big/long ones? They were the ones in the slings; evidently, butternuts like their hammocks! 

ButternutsFirst.jpg

• Winchester
• Sep 12, 2015

 

[happybird]

Those are some good looking squash! Have you tried stuffing and frying the blossoms? We used to run it as an app special when we could get the blossoms from the farmers market. Something like this: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/squash-blossoms-stuffed-with-ricotta-354966. Very tasty!

 

[Winchester]

You know, I've never tried that and I should. Thanks for the idea!

 

[MoochNNoodles]

Wow!  Look at all of those!

I still have peppers and tomatoes going.  I need to pull carrots and the potatoes.  We got rain too; so I'm going to give the ground a day or two to dry out.  I'm trying to get my kids cooler weather clothing washed and sorted so it'll be ready to go. 

 

[rubysmama]

Anyone else still have veggies in the garden?  I've dug everything out except for my tomatoes and green peppers.  Still have a few green tomatoes I hope will ripen.  And a few green peppers that I hope will get a bit bigger.  No frost here yet, but could be anytime now, so I will be keeping an eye on the weather forecasts.

 

[kntrygrl256]

We have peppers and some beans, but I can't keep up with the okra. We will be moving in a week and will cut down anything left. My freezer is full and can't put anything else in there.  I have given away as much okra as I have put up.

 

[Winchester]

We still have some butternut squashes up in the garden. And there are a couple of wee tiny little ones that just started to grow; I don't think they'll do much because we're going to get a frost....it's just a matter of time. But I'll take them, no matter how small they are. Who knows, little ones might be delicious, too.

There are also a few peppers and pepper flowers on the plants. We're keeping a close eye on the weather, too. Some spots along the PA northern tier have already seen 30s at night. The lowest we've been so far is about 43. But I know that will change and we'll be headed into the freezer. 

Usually I've started tearing the garden down by now. But it was so dry that it was futile. I couldn't just pull the plants out because the ground was so dry. Since we've had some rain, maybe I can get up there this weekend and start taking the garden apart. Whatever is growing can be left alone for a while yet.

 

[di and bob]

My tomatoes were so good this year, finally productive! I've canned tomatoes and hot sauce, eat fresh almost daily, and now get the fun of giving sacks full to relatives and local nursing homes. My peppers are still going, and I've got ONE HUGE PUMPKIN! It's turning orange now, and was a volunteer from last year. ALL the other pumpkins I planted died from wilt, I'm pretty sure borers. I got bushels of gourds, I've been decorating and giving them away too. The peanuts I planted have peanuts! It's so cool to pull on a stem and see the little peanuts come up from underground along the stem, it's magic. The onions and potatoes are long dug and being  used, all in all with the cooler temps. (hardly any 100's) and normal rainfall, it's been a good year! (although it shut off in August and we're three inches below now 

 )

 

[furry]

I have plenty of tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and lettuce growing – the benefits of having a greenhouse!  

 

[stewball]

If I planted a mango pip would anything ggrow from it.

 

[furry]

a mango.

lol seriously, not sure how successful it would be, best try googling it for advice. Let us know if you're successful, mango's are lush!

 

[Winchester]

You might be able to get it to grow, but I don't know that you'd be able to get it to produce anything. It's like avocados. You can get an avocado plant from the pit, but it's difficult to get them to bear fruit. I was able to grow an avocado plant that was about 3-1/2 feet tall and very lush. It was really pretty. But it wouldn't bear. I think it was because I simply didn't have enough light for it....they like a ton of light.

 

[kntrygrl256]

 
You might be able to get it to grow, but I don't know that you'd be able to get it to produce anything. It's like avocados. You can get an avocado plant from the pit, but it's difficult to get them to bear fruit. I was able to grow an avocado plant that was about 3-1/2 feet tall and very lush. It was really pretty. But it wouldn't bear. I think it was because I simply didn't have enough light for it....they like a ton of light.

My mother grew an avocado from a pit and it was beautiful. It never had fruit but the tree was so pretty.

 

[stewball]

Thank you all.

 

[MoochNNoodles]

I have been away; but I pulled all my potatoes a few days before we left.  They were SO delicious!  I planted Yukon Gold I believe.  I have enough for a few more meals; so probably 4-5 meals altogether.  Not too bad for a 4x4 plot!  Pulling them out was great fun; like looking for buried treasure! 

I still have carrots in the ground and I've got more peppers and tomatoes coming.  We are having a cold snap; so they might not last much longer either.  I managed to get 4 jars of peppers pickled before we had our trip too.  (DH wasn't too thrilled I was pickling instead of packing. 

)  I had a hard time getting enough peppers that didn't have marks on them; so I ended up mixing the hot and sweet peppers.  I was out in the rain picking some more to fill the jars.  I sent 2 to my father since I'm the only one here who eats hot/spicy things.