The Veggie garden

[EL34]

Things are growing at an amazing rate right now.
Been eating fresh raspberries and blueberries every day now since about the first week in June
Ate the first crop of sugar snap peas last weekend.
Been eating 4 kinds of Lettuce and green onions for a while now.
Squash is starting to fruit.

I planted Soy beans this year. Never have grown them before. Love those green Edemame soy beans.

Lots more pics here
http://www.el34world.com/Misc/Garden/Garden.htm

[sluckey]

Very nice and neatly arranged. I see a lot of pretty gardens up in your area. Here's a flatlander garden. Looking at snap beans. Tomatoes, squash, and cucumbers are off to the left. Snap beans are gone now and replanted with Zipper peas. The seeds are just breaking the ground this morning.

Gonna be in Sapphire Valley near Cashiers next week.

[EL34]

Man, that's a pretty garden. 
Wish I had that much space here :crybaby2:

I keep expanding every year, but it's a ton of work just to get another 12' x 18" raised bed. 

keep posting em, love garden pics!

[EL34]

This mornings picks

Been eating fresh raspberries and blueberries for a couple weeks now.
Yum

[EL34]

Also picked a bunch of sugar snap peas today

[tubenit]

Doug,

Man, those veggies and berries look delicious!!!  Very nice!  My blue berry bushes are still pretty small.

Are you growing those super good small tomatoes this yr?  I think that tomatoe you turned me on to was about the best tasting I've ever had.  There's a older gentleman lives close to me that has an incredible garden and sells excellent tomatoes. Think I'm gonna see if I can get some green ones from him and make green fried tomatoes this year.

We grow a few tomatoes and peppers but that's about it.

With respect, Jeff

[EL34]

yes, it is nice to walk out and eat fresh stuff right off the plant.

The raspberries are only a year old, and they are huge already.
The Bluberry buches are almost 2 years old and starting to put out a decent qantity of berries.

I am growning those Golden Gem tomatoes again this year.
They have little green one on the vine right now. Looking fowrad to those getting ripe for sure.

see ya

[tubenit]

I think the Golden Gem was the one I tried. Man, that was a good tomatoe! I'm gonna have to remember that one and try growing those.

My blueberry bushes are about two years old. I'm still not getting enough blueberries to make a decent cobbler yet.  Maybe enough for some blueberry pancakes or muffins but that's about it.  I have them in full sun (6hrs or more) but haven't fertilized them enough I guess?

Jeff

[EL34]

That picture above is the most I have picked at one time.
I usually just eat them right off the bush.

I think the bushes have to get way bigger to get a bunch of berries.
Also, early in the spring I fertilize the bushes with Holly Tone, the Azaelea type fertilizer you see everywhere.

[Bassmanster]

Wow, great!

Stuff seems to grow in NC.  My uncle always had corn and taters behind his house in Bryson City.

[EL34]

Todays harvest.
first squash of the season.
Been eating lots of raspberries for a few weeks now.

[tubenit]

Man, those look fantastic!!!  YUM  We eat squash probably at least twice a wk usually just lightly steamed and still firm.

However, I do have a great fried zuchinni recipe (for those who do fried stuff). Cut zucchinni in finger size strips. Dip in battered egg. Then dip in a 50/50 mixture of Italian bread crumbs and shredded parmesan cheese. Press the breading/cheese on to the strips gently.  I've also cut the zucchini across into circles. You can also use a mixture of Italian bread crumbs with Panko bread crumbs.

Cook in a skillet (not deep fryer) using about a 1/2" or less of olive oil.  The oil should be very hot. Fry about 30 sec a side until golden brown. Don't overcook.
The zucchini should still be very firm. The outside is simply golden browned and crunchy.

Mix horseradish sauce (60%)  with horseradish mustard (this is a mustard sauce with horseradish & spices) 20% and with sundried tomatoe mustard 20%.  Dip the zucchini strips in that or you can use Ranch dressing which isn't as good.

However, you do your squash, I hope you enjoy them?  More zucchini bread perhaps?
 

Your gardening is paying off.  Looking really good!

  With respect, Jeff

[EL34]

You are making me hungry again. 

I hand all the squash over to Ginny and she does her magic with it.
I get to eat whatever she makes and it is always great.

I don't really cook, unless you call steaming veggies and eating them crisp and as close to raw as possible, cooking. 

[tubenit]

eating them crisp and as close to raw as possible

Yes, I think that tastes the best, IMO!  I don't like mushy veggies.

My wife is actually the better cook of the two of us, I tend to do a little more of the cooking though. She makes incredible zucchini bread which I love.

I'd say the two of you make a great team ........ you grow em ........ she cooks em ......... you eat em!   Hard to beat that.   

The squash looks magnificent.

Jeff 

[panhead]

I started my first veggie garden a couple months ago. It was my wife's idea, but it always seems to work out that I end up doing all the work. Planted tomatos, carrots, cukes, basil, and radishes. The garden isn't very big. We've only had about five days of sunshine so far in the month of June here in Southern New England, so my tomato plants have gotten pretty big, but have just begun to flower. The radishes have come up like crazy, but I think you could grow radishes on the moon. I definitely have a lot to learn about growing veggies. I've gotten a few tips from a local old timer farmer who talks like Gabby Hayes from "Blazing Saddles", but usually he's loaded and I really can't understand what he's saying.

[EL34]

Revvvvvrend!!!!!!!!!!!! 

[Frankenamp]

I'd say the two of you make a great team ........ you grow em ........ she cooks em ......... you eat em!   Hard to beat that.   


Jeff 

This year I didn't wait for SWMBO to dictate the garden, I saw a Burpee display and got a supply of Peas, Beans, & Corn  at Wally World (should have only got one pack each- but used to the cheap crap that SHE finds at Wallgreens- half dozen seeds each, and half don't sprout). Planted 3 rows of corn -compact spacing (small garden) 2 half rows of Peas, and a half row of beans Beans dinna come up very well, but the volanteer beans from last year have jumped up like the devil (got'em climbin posts already) So far only  one of last years heritage tomatoes has sprung up (from between a couple of bricks lining the bed) and is growing to beat the band. Kinda hard to water it . The corn is about a foot tall (and I 'spect it to grow another foot this weekend- heatwave weather) Yesteday while weeding the corn of the insidious redroot and other weeds I found where the volanteer tomatoes were hiding, so I'll transplant a few. SWMBO saw some potted vegies at the discount store, so I found some squash and a likely looking 'mater (before I found the volanteers), and a couple of decent looking strawberries. That all went in the ground last weekend, watered real good, even threw some water on the artichoke thistle (for SWMBO)... well shoulda known better, now I got volanteer squarsh and watermelon aplenty!  well, I think that it's squash- but it could be a volanteer canteloupe... Now I gotta plant something up front before the poppies take over and choke everthing else out...


I grow, I cook, she eats, ...and the stepdaughter turns up her nose... (progress- after 5 years she fnally puts dressing on her salad had eats an occasional veggie without too much protest, but at 23 there ain't much else I can do)

[EL34]

Picked the first batch of green beans this past weekend
5.75 pounds

We stashed most of them in the freezer and ate some too.
I love eating stuff from my garden in January!

[sluckey]

Fresh green beans (we call them snap beans) is one of my favorite dishes. I usually do snaps early and pick in May. We canned (put up in jars) 36 quarts of snap beans back in May and still had plenty to eat fresh and share with the neighbors. I like planting "Contender" bush beans. Never got into doing poles or strings for the running vine types. Which kind of bean did you plant?

Don't know how you cook yours but I'd like to suggest a simple deep South recipe. Snap the ends off your beans and discard the ends. Now snap the beans into approximately 2 inch long pieces. Put beans in a boiling pot. Add a generous amount of small red potatoes (also called new potatoes). Leave the skins on the potatoes. Cover the beans and taters with water. Add a stick of real butter and a little salt. Bring pot to a boil and cut the heat back to a slow rolling boil. Cook for about 30 minutes. You won't be disappointed. Snap beans and new potatoes compliment the taste of each other very well.

[EL34]

Hey Steve,
I always plant blue lake bush beans.
They just keep producing huge batches every week for a long time.

I just picked those 5.75 pounds last saturday and alreay there is another big batch ready to pick.

here's how I stash them:

I blanch them in boiling water for 3 minutes.
Dump them into ice water for about a minute to stop the blanching.
They are still very crisp after they are blanched and cooloed down.
They get divided up into meal sizes portions.
Then we vacuum seal them and put them in the freezer.
They are remarkebly fresh tasting in the middle of winter after coming out of the freezer.

That recipe sounds good, have to show it to Ginny.
I usually just steam them for a couple minutes, add a bit of real butter, dump some fresh parmesean cheese on them and eat em.

I do things real simple.  

[sluckey]

I've used the Blue Lake beans too. B/L and Contenders grow and yield about the same and look alike. Don't really have a reason for preferring the Contenders other than that's what Daddy liked.

We've put beans in the freezer using a very similar process. I like the taste of the frozen beans better. Carol likes the beans in the jar better though. When the beans come out of the jar they are practically cooked, so prep time is quick. I think she just likes the quick idea, and since she teaches 1st grade, I just say yes m'am, Mrs. Luckey.

We also just got thru making 35 pints of hot salsa. We usually make a party out of that process. Lot's of beer and wine and a lot of chip dipping and experimenting with the peppers until we like the taste.

Zipper peas are coming along, but it's been so hot and dry the last three weeks that we've been replanting. Finally got a good stand. Maybe we'll soon get into our summer T-storm pattern to cool things down a bit.

I looked at all your garden pics. I love the way those hillside gardens look. I can appreciate the kind of work it took to carve that garden into the side of that mountain.

[EL34]

I can appreciate the kind of work it took to carve that garden into the side of that mountain.

Oh man, that new trellis I cut into the hillside about killed me.

Right now, the Golden Gem tomatoes, Juliet tomatoes and Cucumbers are all over that trellis.
It's 12' tall, but those plants will go way over the top and then come back down at a angle and run along the top of the trellis.
I'd say the tomatoes and cuc plants are easily 16' long when they peak.

The first large Diva cuc's are ready to pick now.
I just throw em in the fridge and eat them raw with a little salt.

Ginny makes great cucumber slads also.

[panhead]

Well, it's still raining here in the Northeast. Rain everyday for over a month, with another week of steady rain forcast. My garden is shot.

[EL34]

We had a real rainy spring here, but it has been dry for a couple weeks now.

Now I want more rain so I don't have to hand water the veggies

[mackie2]

When I was a kid in Maggie Valley, N.C.we had pole beans cooked
with corn, boiled potatoes and country ham--CORN BREAD.

Mackie2

[EL34]

Ginny makes the best corn bread I have ever had.

She uses real corn meal of course and she puts real corn in the mix.
It's dense and chewy with just the right amount of sweetness.

I love corn bread!

[supro66]

Ginny makes the best corn bread I have ever had.

She uses real corn meal of course and she puts real corn in the mix.
It's dense and chewy with just the right amount of sweetness.

I love corn bread!

I went to a Cracker Barrel once

I got Chicken and Dumplings and Corn Bread

The Dumplings were square pieces of dough
The cedar saw dust in my shop tasted better than their Corn Bread

[Rich]

Here it is 26 July and finally I see a bit of color in the raspberry patch and I added my first zucchini to the salad.

So much for global warming!

I brought in some garlic but the main crop will be a few weeks yet.

Location 48 degrees 27'54.32"N 89 degrees 41.64"W about 40 miles north of the border.

[jjasilli]

Great stuff guys.  I live in a Brooklyn, NY, brownstone.  My backyard faces north and gets only limited sunlight.  Just got a bit into flower gardening with my wife; and some houseplants.  I think the only way for me to have a vegitable garden would be use contaioners on the flat roof.  This raises issues of loadbearing; water supply and possibly auto misting. 

[EL34]

Man, the season must be a short one in Canada.

When I lived in FL, I used to start my garden in Feb.
Here in NC mothers day is kind of the official last frost day

[drew]

Great stuff guys.  I live in a Brooklyn, NY, brownstone.  My backyard faces north and gets only limited sunlight.  Just got a bit into flower gardening with my wife; and some houseplants.  I think the only way for me to have a vegitable garden would be use contaioners on the flat roof.  This raises issues of loadbearing; water supply and possibly auto misting. 

Try a salad table or two up on the roof:  http://mastergardener.umd.edu/GardeningTopics/ContVegeGardening/SaladTables/SaladTable2006Report.cfm

Plans:  http://mastergardener.umd.edu/GardeningTopics/ContVegeGardening/SaladTables/SaladGardeningv2.pdf

I built one and had pretty good results.  It tends to dry out fast if you don't water daily, but since you're back east and get at least some rain in the summer, it might not be such an issue.

The garden stores on the web also sell self-watering containers like this: http://www.gardeners.com/Organic-Tomato-Success-Kit/37-852RS,default,pd.html  that you can use for plants that have deeper roots, like tomatoes.  They're expensive for what they are (i.e., a plastic pot that sits in a plastic tray, and various accessory doo-dads), but they also work well.  I have one going now with some peppers, and the plants are bigger than any of the ones I've ever tried to grow in the ground.

[jjasilli]

Thanks Drew.  Great suggestions.  The salad table seems do-able and good way to start.

[tubenit]

Hey Doug!

That great tasting tomatoe that you turned me on to (best I've ever eaten) ................. was it like the small tomatoes in this picture.  They're kind of golden color?

I see these at the Farmer's Market this morning and bought them. They are VERY sweet tasting and delicious to me.
My wife is a Kansas farm girl and knows good produce and she commented "these are so good they're almost addictive".

Here it is not even lunch time yet & each time I pass by the kitchen, I'm woofing another one down. And the interesting part is I cook with large tomatoes but don't eat them by themselves.

Think it's possibly the same tomatoe?  It was advertised as some type of grape tomatoe?

The poblano sized peppers behind them are actually Cubanellos & are supposed to be less hot and sweeter. So I'm gonna cook the chicken poblano pepper recipe tonight with these along with sweet corn on the cob and fried green tomatoes (big tomatoes)

Yum!  Can't wait!

With respect, Jeff  (Tubenit)

[EL34]

Hard to say, could be the same one.

This is the seed I grow mine with
http://www.parkseed.com/gardening/PD/5409/

They are called Golden Gem.
They have about 10% more sugar than other tomatoes.

I've been eating them every day like candy here for the last month

[tubenit]

Doug,

Hey, that's great info!!!  I'll bet their the same or at least similar.  Super sweet and flavorful.

I'm gonna remember that and plant some next year.

THANKS, Jeff

[tubenit]

Doug,

Is it too late to plant the Golden Gem tomatoes????  They take 65 days to harvest and it says to plant 5 wks prior to the last frost which I've obviously missed already.

I can NOT remember .......... are you growing the Golden Gems in 5 gal buckets?  If so, I presume you punched some holes in the bottom ...... correct?

Do you know by any chance if Lowe's or something similar carry the starter tomatoe plants like this? I might be better of with the seedlings.

Jeff

[EL34]

Hey Jeff,
It's not too late to start seeds.
There are other small sweet varieties that are red and yellow, but I don't know which ones to suggest.
A big nursery that has starter plants ready to go would be the ticket for you.
That way you can get a big jump on the season.
You have a longer growing season down where you are than I do.

I started the Tomato seeds indoors here on 04/01
They will get transplanted into the buckets in a couple weeks and then go into the green house

Up here in the mountains, we can have frost up until mothers day.
I move the buckets out of the green house a week or so before mothers day.

You may be able to put out the plants way sooner than me.
I would do them in the ground rather than in a container, but some people like containers on the patio.
Buy a big bag of good compost container soil, dig a hole and mix in the good soil with your soil.

Check out my garden page here.
I have info on the buckets and how I set them up.
http://www.el34world.com/Misc/Garden/Garden.htm

[tubenit]

Thanks Doug!   Yeah, we're past the frost now (unless something weird happens).

I got 5 tomatoe seedling plants this morning as I was headed to Lowe's for some Lantana also. I got some Early Girl large tomatoes also which should produce within two months. Got some Big Boy's and another Hybrid type.

I also got two yellowish grape tomatoes but I don't know if they're Golden Gems? I do have a good nursery close to me and I'll check to see if they have the Golden Gems. Those were awesome tomatoes. I got a feeling that's what the Farmer's Market here in Charlotte was selling also?

If I can't find the Golden Gems locally, I'll order the seeds.

OK, I'll just stick them in the ground vs. container.  Most of the stuff I plant does quite well. My rose bushes are looking pretty good right now and the first 2 week of blooms, I typically will cut 60-70 blooms or more. Should bloom within a wk or so.

THANKS for the info!  Best regards, Jeff

[EL34]

I only use the 5 gallon buckets because I don'y have much flat ground here.
There's more room for big root systems when you plant in the ground

I don't grow any large tomatoes, just small salad and salsa making sized tomatoes.
Here's the links to the tomatoes I am growung this year

Golden gem
http://www.parkseed.com/gardening/PD/5409/

Red currant
http://www.parkseed.com/gardening/PD/5434/

Cherry sweetie
http://www.parkseed.com/gardening/PD/5883/

[tubenit]

The Cherry Sweeties sound like they'd be pretty good also.

I just finished planting mine. I accidently got a Yellow Pear tomatoe also.  I'll have to look that up.

Jeff

[tubenit]

OK, my really nice local nursery did not have those but they highly recommended a grape tomatoe called a Julliete (sp?)
which they claim is very very sweet and tasty. So I'll try those. If this yr is a bust then I'll order seeds next yr.

Thanks again, Jeff

[EL34]

Juliets are what I grow for salsa, they are not that sweet.
They are great salsa and salad tomatoes

Maybe the nursery has never tasted a really sweet tomato.
The small sweet ones are more like desert tomatoes.

[tubenit]

Oh well!  The nursery thought they were sweet?  Maybe I got the name wrong?

Doesn't matter ........ I like salsa. Jeannine and I love Mexican food.

Jeff

[EL34]

Here's the Juliet description from the Park site.
Just for a comparison between the other links I posted

http://www.parkseed.com/gardening/PD/5345/

They really lay it on thick when describing an item so you will push the order button.

[cigarboxblues]

lovely looking veg garden and some lovely looking veg their .
i got my first seed out yesterday ,cant say my garden well veg plots on the scale of yours.
but lovely to see someonelse enjoying the good home grown veg.
im hoping have a better year than last lol ,only had a few years a it
so better each year ,and look forward to posting some of my produce 

[EL34]

Last year was weird here too.
Lots of cold spring nights seemed to stunt the tomatoes and other hot weather stuff.

[cigarboxblues]

yes it was me and the neighbour had similar problem.
lots of the veg bolting to seed ,so well hope for a nicer time this year 

[tubenit]

My tomatoes are Juliette instead of Juliet. Don't know if those are the same or not?  They're described as very sweet. Guess I'll find out.

http://naturehills.com/gardening/blogs/featured_plants/archive/2009/04/09/juliette-cherry-tomatoes-are-flavorful-and-organic.aspx

Jeff

[tubenit]

Doug,

Where are you on your tomatoe plants this year? 

I've gotten one brand of sweet cherry tomatoes in, some Roma's and a large Better Boy.

Still trying to find that Golden Gem one locally in a container. Think I may need to do it from seeds?

Best regards, Jeff

[EL34]

Banana peppers and eggplant seeds went in peat pots on 03/15

Just put the tomato seeds in the peat pots a week or so ago. They have not sprouted yet.

Cucumber seeds go in the peat pots this week.

All the peat pots are in mini green houses under timed grow lights in the house until later this month.

Then they go out to the outdoor greenhouse until they are ready to go in the ground around or before mothers day.

I have one pack of the Golden Gem seeds here.
I'll throw them in an envelope for you if you want them?