Posted on 08/05/2011 5:38:05 AM PDT by Red_Devil 232
Good morning gardeners. I transplanted 10 young paste tomato plants into my garden last Friday and wouldn’t you it, the heat gets turned up again. The area of my garden where I planted them gets shade from about 3pm on but I am having to supplying them shade from late morning until then. So far they are doing ok. I hope they survive.
My pepper plants are doing well and producing nicely and I may get another round of zuke production.
I got a very nice hard rain yesterday evening. Probably about 1/2 inch.
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I hope all your gardens are flourishing.
Good Morning y’all. I do have some Breaking News from the garden department that will sound trivial to most of you but it’s a big deal to your Dear Old Briar Bender. I found two tomatoes on my lone bush (Siberian) and I finally have some cucumbers that got pollinated and are growing beyond the embryo stage in my two planters. The vines are very very healthy but we are having fog drip in the mornings and that could invite blight or mildew on the plants.
The potatoes are far enough along so blight shouldn’t affect the yield too much if it gets them now. We have only dug about 25% of them to mostly share with family and FRiends. The corn is looking good and some stalks are approaching 8’ tall and still producing pollen for some of the younger ears. I really don’t know how long the pollen is viable? Mrs Bender says two more weeks or less for our first corn but the fog could set that back a bit. I just hope what ever we get is sweet and tender.
Mrs Bender continues to make strawberry jam and tomorrow she will make me a apple pie with the Gravensteins we purchased at the Farmers Market Sat. She has a few fresh blueberries to add to it.
Our zucchinis continue to produce. I’ve canned zucchini relish, dried some, blanched and frozen some, and we’ve had grilled zucchini and zucchini soup. We also had a pleasant surprise when the ‘gourds’ a friend gave me (that I threw into the compost pile last fall) came up in my potato patch and produced a bunch of crookneck squash that we turned into a delicious squash-cheese soup! Yum! I made enough to freeze. The tomatoes in my raised beds have not done well because of the extended weeks of heat and no rain in July. Meanwhile, the tomato starters I stuck in the ground because I didn’t want to throw them out are doing well. I’m glad I planted them! Our cukes are failing, as are the Chinese long beans. Our bush beans gave us a nice crop for the freezer and we are going to try doing a second planting of those and the snow peas. Overall, we did ok for novuses. We learned a lot for next years garden. The two beds in which I used vermiculite (Mel’s Mix) definitely did better than the rest. I’ll add vermiculite to the rest of our raised beds next spring.
So, if a person wants to continue with fruit trees... do they start growing younger trees in a different area for a few years before the demise of the older trees? Sort of like having a “second string” ready to go when the “first string” is exhausted?
ROFL!!!!!
We have a string of hot pepper lights handing in the living room. The kitchen curtains are all hot peppers. The kitchen is painted red, green, and yellow. I have a framed print of a couple dozen varieties of hot peppers on the wall. Dish towels and pot holders all have hot peppers on them.........
Do you get the idea I have a thing about hot peppers???? LOL!!!
EXCELLENT WORK there Tatze! We have to buy our tomatoes and melons from the farmers markets here around Humboldt Bay and the tomatoes are late for the farmers this year...
OMG...OMG...OMG.
I now wear gloves when handling peppers AND seed...
Seriously!
Seriously!
Pics!
 Long Green Improved cuke. My favorite. |
 Poona Kheera cuke. Yes that is a cuke. |
 Purple coneflower around the light pole |
 Yellow coneflower out in the pasture |
 Currant tomatoes, about the size of a marble and strong tomato taste. |
 Amish Cherry tomato. This is a sport of Amish Paste I saved. |
 Red Zebra tomato |
 Horseradish |
 Four Seasons Lettuce saved for seed. |
 Pasture full of wild carrot and clover. |
do you know of any bugs going around? my wife has been stricken by some sort of stomach bug that causes her to expel anything she takes in back out in both directions. I need to find someplace to take her cuz this has been going on for several days and she’s getting dehydrated.
not having insurance is not helping matters...but i did start work training on wednesday. unfortunately, i dont have access to their insurance until nov 1 though.
These are the same Pimento Peppers in the photo I took earlier. The skins have been removed and they have been seeded. I will stuff them in one or two pint canning jars with no water or other liquids and process in a boiling water bath. They will be stored in the refridg.
I found out how to deal with hot peppers on the skin. Capsaicin is alkaline, so I wash my hands in vinegar or lemon juice and scrub, especially under the nails.
Oil soaks up hot pepper so then after that I rub that on my hands and wash it all off with soap. Repeat all that again if necessary and it will go away.
And a double post to prove it. Glad you are ok.
The recipe I use is one of the more simple (less exotic types) so here goes:
10 lbs tomatoes, skinned and chopped
6 medium size onions, chopped
3 cups bell peppers (any color), chopped
12 Jalapeno peppers, seeded and minced/chopped (**see note at bottom)
5 chili peppers, seeded and chopped (** see note)
10 cloves of garlic or a good tbsp of the chopped, jar garlic
1/3 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1 1/3 cups white vinegar
1/4 cup salt
2 tsp pepper
2 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsp cumin
2 tbsp lime juice
3 cans tomato paste (the bigger can not the teeny ones)
Combine all the ingredients except the tomato paste in a large stock pot. Simmer about 40 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add tomato paste and mix well. Simmer another 20 minutes. **If you want a thinner salsa, then remove half of it and blend it smooth in a blender and return to pot. If you like a bit more chunky type salsa, skip that part all together. Ladle into hot jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Cap and process 15 minutes in water bath canner. (Recipe makes approx 15 pints)
** If you like sweeter salsa, you can also add to the original recipe 1/4 cup brown sugar and 1/4 cup white sugar. We prefer a less sweet type but some folks like a sweeter one.
**With respect to the peppers, we still use the green jalapeno style. For the additional chili peppers, if you want something really hot.. try Habanero, Scotch Bonnet or Serrano. Remember, these peppers are super-dooper hot. They need to be minced very small so the salsa eater doesn’t get a chunk of it. If you prefer it mild, skip that part all together. Also, I am not extremely careful to get only the green with the cilantro. I add a bit of the stem (below the leafy part) simply because I think it has good flavor.
*** WEAR GLOVES FOR THE HOT PEPPERS AND KEEP YOUR EYES AWAY FROM THE CUTTING BOARD! I have to write that because of my “experience”. Even the “fumes” will clear your sinuses. Of course, if your husband has been a “bad boy”... have him cut them up (and forget the glove part) LOL!! Enjoy!
If you do get hot pepper hands and eyes, pumpkin seed pulp is an awesome neutralizer.
If you do get hot pepper hands and eyes, pumpkin seed pulp is an awesome neutralizer.
SALSA FRESCA
4 small tomatoes, finely chopped; 9 scallions, chopped in 1" lengths( I use chopped onions); 1 clove garlic, minced; 2 -3 fresh serrano or jalapeno pepper; 3 - 4 mild chiles, roasted (I don't roast mine); 1 Tbs. fresh cilantro, chopped; 1/2 tsp salt; Pinch pepper and sugar; 1 tsp. red wine vinegar. Mix and drain in colander
I usually use more tomatoes, I sometimes add some diced cucumber, and I use whatever peppers I have available. Also, I add the salt (you don't have to use sugar if you are using good tomatoes) and then drain. After that I add the red wine vinegar so it will marinate the salsa.
Completely fresh, nothing cooked - it really is amazing. You can use a food processor but I normally just cut mine by hand - I like it chunkier. Eat with tortilla chips, or Frito scoops - yum. I also put it on fish, pork, eggs. I've never tried to freeze or can it, but maybe someone here has some ideas on that.
“OMG... OMG....OMG”
Some “mistakes” in life, we seem to repeat over and over before learning. THIS IS NOT ONE OF THEM! Make that mistake once and you will NEVER do it again. With those hot peppers, even if you wash your hands over and over... seems whatever you touch burns like the devil.
Most of the private Docs around here are pretty good about letting you pay in installments, and giving samples to people without insurance.
Just get the appointment ASAP. Did you have a primary care doc. you normally used? If so, they will probably work you in. Salmonella is going around.
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