WEEKLY GARDEN THREAD

Free Republic | 8/16/2013 | greeneyes

[greeneyes]

The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you.

This thread is non-political, although you will find that most here are conservative folks. No matter what, you won’t be flamed and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked.

It is impossible to hijack the Weekly Gardening Thread ... there is no telling where it will go and that is part of the fun and interest. Jump in and join us!

NOTE: This is a once a week ping list. We do post to the thread during the week. Links to related articles and discussions which might be of interest are welcomed, so feel free to post them at any time.

[greeneyes]

Well, try it and see what you get maybe?

[greeneyes]

Sounding like a pretty good year for you.

[greeneyes]

That’s some good looking produce there.

[greeneyes]

I haven’t actually ever made ketchup, and last time I was looking for a recipe I didn’t really find one that I wanted to mess with.

Then the other day I ran across one and thought maybe I’ll try that sometime. Trouble is I can’t remember which of my 100 plus cookbooks it was in.LOL

If I run across it, again, I’ll post it.

[tubebender]

Couple of Ketchup recipes here Recipe

[ApplegateRanch]

Corn cob jelly is new to me, too.

Corn cobs in the outhouse...CHECK!

Corn cob syrup...CHECK!

Corn cob jelly...504 ERROR: Page Not Found!

Corn cob syrup: Click photo.

[ApplegateRanch]

I still make the pies, but it always took both of us to make a pie crust. I mixed them, then rolled them thin. Once rolled out, I brushed on a thin layer of butter; folded in half; buttered, and folded again, then rerolled it thin. Rinse & repeat 3 or 4 more times, and it was ready.

However, I couldn't handle it with my big meathooks, even rolled out on waxed paper, so Mrs. AR had to get it into the pans without it falling apart. Turns out very flaky and crisp.

Now, we cheat, and use a ready-made crust most of the time.

[thecodont]

My rice is 5ft tall and each plant has ~20 pannicles of rice grains. Still smells wonderful at mid day too.

Ooooh, rice! I've been wanting to try growing this. Where did you get your seed? What variety is it? Do you grow it in standing water?

Kitazawa Seed Co. sells rice seed for a "sticky rice" short grain variety. I have a packet but haven't planted it yet.

[ApplegateRanch]

Is it hot? Corn can just totally stop at around 95F, no matter how much water it gets. 85F day/50F night is about right for best growth & development. We had the high-temp problem last year. The plants pretty much quit growing around 4’ tall, but I didn’t worry about ‘too short’ corn, as it produced tassels & silks. Unfortunately, no corn on the cobs, so I started checking the Net. Here’s a good article about it.

http://cropwatch.unl.edu/web/cropwatch/archive?articleID=4900219

Or, it may be something else entirely going on with yours.

[ApplegateRanch]

Oh, that is lovely! So far, only ONE tomato, out of several clusters on 2 plants even has a hint of color. Nights in mid to low 50s for the last 2-3 weeks, with heavy rains. Somebody at the Weather factory’s shipping department confused South Dakota with Western Washington.

[rightly_dividing]

Thanks again for your help last week on my ghost peppers. It seems to be doing better now. For sure I had something munching om them a little, but I think the soil admindments and feeding helped it out. It looks bettter and is sprouting new peppers again. It has 14 on it now, so as I see it, a fruiting plant is a happy plant. My baby peppers had stopped their growth while ill, but now they filled on out and had new ones pop out. I added nitrogen, calcium, and and fed them some MG and washed the leaves with soapy water tops and bottoms. My local seed store expert sold me some liquid food the has gotten good response from her customers. She spent about 30 minutes with me looking through her books for disorders last Sat morning so I appreciate her help also.

These are my 4th and 5th Ghost pepper plants and the only one to produce peppers so far, so I really didn't want to loose it. The 5th plant flowers a lot but no peppers.

Again, thanks to all who gave their help last week.

[tubebender]

We have been eating our corn raw right in the garden the past week and the ears are filled out nicely. Early in the silk stage I start walking through the patch and “rattling” the plants at least 3 times a week for a couple of weeks to pollinate the ears. I know they are ready to pick and boil as the raccoons got 2 stalks and 4 ears about 5 days ago and had to set up my impulse sprinkler with the motion detector to deter them and it has worked so far...

[TEXOKIE]

Exactly.

[Red_Devil 232]

LOL. I am not really being over run in Figs. Getting only about 10 - 15 nice ripe ones each morning. I canned all those in the picture up thread yesterday evening. After processing they all fit into two pint mason jars. I do a two min. blanching in boiling water. Then boil five min. in about a quart of water (just to cover) with two cups of sugar dissolved in water. Whole figs go into a jar with a 1/2 tsp Fruit Fresh then add the hot sugar water. Close jars with lids and rings and then process in a boiling water bath for 45 min. = Done. Canning for the winter when we are dreaming about fresh Figs. Will can some fig jam/preserves also, yum, so good on toast, biscuits, English muffins or pancakes.

I picked 10 more large, egg sized, figs this morning. The firm almost, but not ready, to pick figs that were there yesterday really grow and bulk up over night. I pick early morning before the ants and birds realize that there are very ripe figs on the tree.

My wife and I love eating the fresh picked figs and we get our fill.

[greeneyes]

Thanks tubebender.

goodwithagun: See tubebender’s link.

Here’s the Ball Blue Book Recipe:

4 quarts tomatoes
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup sweet red pepper
1 1/2 tsp celery seed
1 tsp whole allspice
1 tsp mustard seed
1 stick cinnamon
1 cup sugar
1 Tbls salt
1 Tbls paprika
1 1/2 cups vinegar

Peel,core, and chop tomatoes. Add chopped onion peppers. In a large saucepan, cook until tomatoes are tender. Puree and cook rapidly till puree is reduced by half. (Probably have to stir frequently).

Tie whole spices into bag and add bag to puree, along with sugar, salt, and paprika. Simmer 25 minutes stirring frequently. Add vinegar, simmer till thickened while stirring. Ladle into canning jars-leave 1/4 inch head space.

Adjust 2 piece caps. Process 10 minutes in boiling water bath.

[Black Agnes]

No standing water. The variety is ‘Hmong Sticky’. I ordered it from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange. I think it’s probably ‘kin’ to what Kitazawa sells if that variety is an ‘aromatic’ variety too. Apparently the aromatic varieties smell good while they’re growing too.

I grew it ‘sri’ style. http://sri.ciifad.cornell.edu/

I put the seed in a cup of warm water for 48 hrs. Then, planted the ones that didn’t float in a 128 divot seed starting tray with organic seed starter (burpee I think). When it was 3w old (which is about 10d or 2w too late for true SRI method) I transplanted it 12”-15” apart on a grid in 3 rows. Hubby had spread chicken poop before he tilled and tilled that in too. I put osmocote (1/4 scoop) under each one before I put it in. Gently with the transplanting, don’t push on the seedling to mash it into place!

Once that was done I did my usual newspaper/cardboard and hay mulching to keep weeds down and moisture in. I’ve watered it deeply a few times when we had a dry spell longer than a week once or twice.

And that’s it.

I’ve got 1lb of that Kitazawa seed waiting for next year.

My next pressing problem is how to dehull it once I harvest it. We’ll see how that goes LOL.

I’m so impressed with the SRI method for grains at least I’m growing my fall corn, Cherokee White Flour, that way right now. If that succeeds I’m going to grow Hopi Blue flour corn that way next year as that variety ‘tillers’ more and would benefit from the extra spacing.

I’ve got a cart at Bountiful Gardens with some winter (for us) grains that I’ll probably plant that way if I get around to doing winter grains this year.

Just make sure you have enough heat units for rice. It loves heat and humidity. And a long enough growing season, I think the Kitazawa variety (Koshihikari) takes 140+ days? IIRC? And, rice that gets cold as a seedling is more likely to set ‘blanks’ instead of grains when it blooms so you need to wait till it’s absolutely warmed up to plant it.

[Black Agnes]

You’re very welcome. I’m going to pot up some superhot orphans that have been sitting on my driveway this summer as there was no room in the garden. I’ve got 3gal pots for them and hopefully they’ll sit out winter in my garage.

[greeneyes]

Cheating takes less time and tastes pretty good. That’s what I do too. Sometimes though, I mix it up in the pie plate and smoosh it out with my knuckles and fingers. It is not uniform thickness, but very tasty.

[greeneyes]

Could you tell us the name of the liquid food? Thanks.

[NormsRevenge]

Shucks, just when I was getting the hang of agave nectar.