Gardening 2015: And we're off!

[DrJill]

We've started picking peas from our second planting and finally picked some green beans tonight. The plants are enormous but have been slow to produce.  Picked some peppers today too. The tomato plants are also enormous. 30+ fruits apiece.

 

[pushbutton]

Like bobberineyes, was gone for a week or so and glad to be back. Bugs were not as bad while cutting the backyard hay and weeding. Yep, hot peppers are in full swing. Tons of maters, but none red yet. Lettuce is starting to get a little biiter, but still edible. Cauliflower is starting to flower and picking the broccoli shoots. Taters are .....newish....the purple ones are about two weeks further along than the pink ones....but the pink taste better. Beans, squash, and cucs all just started setting heavy, and like the good Dr., just  getting started on the daily morning raspberry pick.  Lots of good times ahead.

[roony]

Things are moving along. Picked our first six ripe tomatoes the last couple days. 

Yesterday we found four good sized slicing cucumbers (straight eight).

Peppers still have some foliar disease but are growing new leaves and producing well.

The sweet corn is seven feet tall and silking. The deer started on it so yesterday, it seem the stalks are tasty right where the ear is going to form.  I toiled and built a fence around the sweetcorn patch. Those varmints are fierce this year. Last night cucumber greens were on the menu.

Had fried zucchini with peppers and onions last night.

The green beans are there for the picking. They are tasty and tender. The pole beans are about a week away. I planted the bush beans and the pole beans the same day (April 30) and it seems the pole beans are about 15-20 days behind in producing edible sized beans. 

The warden got her 12 quarts of beet pickles canned for the year. 

Oh, those tomatoes, they were cherry tomatoes, lol. If this heat continues the full sized ones won't be far behind. 

Edited July 15, 2015 by roony

[Early Riser]

 

Awesome stuff Rooney.

My beans are really kicking in. The pole beans just started putting out along with the bush beans that have been going for about 10 days now.  I have canned 10 pints of dilly beans and 10 pints of sweet/hot beans with mustard seed. 

I have pulled about 40 of my red and yellow onions planted from sets April 3th for drying. My whites are still in the ground and a few are starting to fall down. 

We are enjoying a lot of new red potatoes.

The carrots are already huge and I pulled one of four rows of beets for 8 quarts of pickles so far. 

All radishes are done. Arugula is finished. Only a few shaded cilantro are not flowering. My third and fourth planting basil are already getting to be nice size. The tomato plants are topping my concrete mesh cages and running wild. I have been harvesting cherries for a few weeks, and larger tomato fruit are really building in size. 

My experimental spring garlic planting has produced small but potent bulbs that I have been using in my bean canning. 

The only disappointment so far are my first plantings of green zucchini. The vines are four feet tall and lush, but the fruit has only now started to set after I cut back some of the foliage. 

[roony]

Sounds great Early Riser! Possibly too much Nitrogen for the zucchini? Our yellow onions are quite big, how do you usually go about drying them?

 

[Early Riser]

I think you are right about the nitrogen being too high. I cut back a bunch of leaves to see if it moves things along. 

On the onions when the tops fall down, wait another week or two to pull them. Then I just sting them up, cut back the tops and hang them under the shed overhang before moving them to the basement for storage. 

[DrJill]

We picked our first tomatoes today and had BLTs on homemade bread with a side of green beans for dinner.

Raspberry pie for dessert.

Then I made some raspberry muffins for breakfast and snacking.

I just love this time of year !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Duffman]

My salsa garden.

Some peppers are ready to go.

It's gonna be a bit for the onions and 'maters.

[Early Riser]

This garden talk is enjoyable. It is a great time of year with long days, lots of fresh food, and a lot of tasks to keep a gardener very busy. 

Compared to the vibrancy of my late spring garden, things have a more mature - almost middle aged look, with some sections looking a little "long in the tooth," like my wilting potato vines, and other plants that have gone past bolting to seed. It is still beautiful with a lot of insects and birds visiting each day. 

Cutting back the leaves on the zucchini has lead to numerous rapidly growing green and yellow squash. 

I am canning dill and sweet beans, as well as beets every 4-5 days now. 

My tomato pants are are loaded with fruit. They are growing well over the top of my concrete wire cages, and the sweet corn is tasseling. 

This afternoon I picked a 5 gallon pail of basil from my first planting, to process with my garlic, olive oil, a fresh squeezed lemon, parmesan cheese, and salt/pepper. We ended up with six 1/2 pint jars of pesto.

Then I made a fresh garden stir fry of a yellow zucchini, some cherry tomatoes, a red onion, a green pepper, and kale. We put that over rotini pasta, along with some of the fresh pesto. 

Edited July 21, 2015 by Early Riser

[roony]

I never thought of using kale in a stir fry! We may have to try that. We have been making kale "chips" in the oven. I like a couple pieces of these in a sandwich or in a bun with my bratwurst, it's delicious. 

[Early Riser]

Yes it is awesome in a stir fry, along with other veggies, fried to crispy with potatoes, or with some garlic and bacon. It is very versatile.

I know people make chips with it. How do you do that? 

For frying, just bunch it up real tight and cut it up. 

 

Edited July 21, 2015 by Early Riser

[roony]

My wife is the one who makes the kale chips. It is pretty much a matter of putting some olive oil in a shallow cooking pan and laying out the kale leaves and sprinkling some seasoned salt or other seasoning of your choice on them. Bake in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes at 350 or until they get a little crunchy. 

[pushbutton]

We picked our first tomatoes today and had BLTs on homemade bread ......

First garden blto( have to add onion )day is almost better than x mas......still waiting . 

My garden is on overdrive and finally had to water today for the first time.....things were showing signs of stress. Almost done with the cool weather crops. Pretty much done thining the carrots and going to let them bulk up now.....my orange are doing well for this time of year, yellows are doing ok, and the purple carrots did not germinate well. Am up to my ears in beans right now. Tried a couple new pole beans that I am impressed with.....very long,  slender and tender. Retried after 20 years or so, an old dutch heirloom horicultural  bean that is lime green and purple striped. They are pretty tender in snap stage and will let some go to seed....which is also purple mottled. My cucs finally are kicking out. Cheap open pollinated pickles(one is white....well, kinda....more faint lime green)are doing way better than two fancy expensive hybrids. Never have that good of luck with the cucs though. Squash is finally kicking in with a new round yellow zucchini and a multi colored crookneck....just picked today and hope they taste as good as they look.

 

[pushbutton]

Five days later........waaayyy too many beans.....and cucs....and squash. Getting close on the maters and having fun with the taters.......

[Early Riser]

You have a nice harvest coming in. Those are some interesting looking colored potatoes and beans you are growing there pushbutton. 

For dinner we ate some small red and white potatoes, two small onions, some small beets, a few smaller turnips, and a rutabaga. Then added some butter, with salt/pepper for a nice boiled dinner. 

I hear you on the bean explosion. I am picking every Sunday, and canning Mondays. I just got in from making another batch of "Dilly Beans." 

They are really quick to make, and are a really nice crunchy bean for eating right out of the jar. Make a mixture of 2 cups water, 2 cups vinegar, 2 tbsp canning salt and bring to a boil. Add this to jars of vertically packed beans, a clove or two of garlic. and a sprig of fresh dill. Process in hot water bath for 10min. 

[pushbutton]

Yep, Monday has turned into bean canning day. Your root dinner does sound good.....well, except for the beets....still can't wrap my taste buds around them....maybe latent childhood trauma. Going to try the dilly beans this year, but age is catching up to me and leaning towards a refrigerator type with less salt.

As for the fun colors .....somewhat gimicky. The purple in the beans fade to green when cooked(curious to see what a dilly vinegar bath does) and flavor of the colored taters pale in comparison to to a norland type baby; but just starting up a non profit for outdoor kid type stuff...... and to kids....different  colors always seems to improve taste.....lol.

 Having said that, those purple striped beans got away from me this week, got a little  big and seedy, and are still juicy and tender. Similarly, the off white cucs, probably undesirable in the market because of pronounced black spines .....are off the cuc chart for being sweet, crisp, and "burpless."

[Early Riser]

A co-worker wanted to try the dilly beans and commented that they tasted sweet, when in fact there is no sugar. I would think you could cut the salt, but maybe add some for preservation purposes.

Also consider the above ratio is half a regular recipie, or for four pints.,,,just double for a full canner.

Just to add a little on the beets.....We were canning pickeled beets on this past Friday, and our 21 year old son took a slice of a boiled beet. He commented that it tasted a little like sweet corn mixed with carrot. I always thought they tasted a little like a mild sweet corn. In fact, just like sweet corn, I like cooked beets without anything added sometimes. I believe that if they are done right, and maybe the right variety, most people might agree they are a pretty good garden staple. You might want to give them another try sometime.

Edited July 28, 2015 by Early Riser