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Weekly Garden Thread - August 17-23, 2019
August 17, 2019 | Diana in Wisconsin/Greeneyes

Posted on 08/17/2019 7:09:33 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin

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.

If you have specific question about a plant/problem you are having, please remember to state the Growing Zone where you are located.

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. Planting, Harvest to Table Recipes, Preserving, Good Living - there is no telling where it will go and... that is part of the fun and interest. Jump in and join us! Send a Private Message to Diana in Wisconsin if you'd like to be added to our New & Improved Ping List.

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 to Gardeners are welcomed any time!


TOPICS: Food; Gardening; Hobbies; Outdoors
KEYWORDS: garden; gardening; gardenthread
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1 posted on 08/17/2019 7:09:34 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
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To: 4everontheRight; Augie; Aevery_Freeman; ApplegateRanch; ArtDodger; AloneInMass; ...

2 posted on 08/17/2019 7:11:30 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin (We come from the earth, we return to the earth, and in between we garden.~Alfred Austin)
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

I’ve been spending much more time working in the garden now that we have Gracie, our new, five year old rescue. She loves to lie on the brick path in the sun while I work. What a mess! Vines, crabgrass, blackberry vines with thorns and everything else imaginable. Instant gratification, though! :)

Thanks, Diana! I love these threads.


3 posted on 08/17/2019 7:16:10 AM PDT by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
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To: Diana in Wisconsin
I been saving this extra-special recipe for the right thread.......and you delivered.
Fort Worth Top Chef's world class spin on his childhood fave--his famous Venison Chili
packed with Fritos corn chips; plenty of cheese---an award-winning Frito pie. Talk about bragging rights!

Frito Pie / Cast Iron Restaurant recipe

METHOD cook thru 2 lb grnd venison in 3 oz rendered bacon fat, add/sweat tsp minced garlic, oz diced onion, tsp chili powder.
Then add 7 oz diced tomato, 3 oz ea diced tomatillo, beef stock, and demiglaze; reduce by 1/4; s/p.

ASSEMBLY Layer in cast iron skillet 8 oz venison chili, 1/4 c ea Fritos, grated cheddar. Broil a min--cheese is bubbly.

SERVE hot.

4 posted on 08/17/2019 7:17:29 AM PDT by Liz (Our side has 8 trillion bullets; the other side doesn't know which bathroom to use.)
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

Are raised bed paprika pepper plants have made it to a full pint of dried spice.
And, they’re still producing !

Perfect on pork chops and chicken.


5 posted on 08/17/2019 7:23:23 AM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks (Baseball players, gangsters and musicians are remembered. But journalists are forgotten.)
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To: Diana in Wisconsin; All
Canning time. We have a glass-topped stove so I 'sweat it' every time I put the big canning pot on it due to the weight - afraid of cracking or breaking the top. Last year, I bought a butane burner, but I didn't use it until this year. It worked just great (has to be used outside) & heats the water much faster than the stove (I boiled water in a large pot & filled the canning pot with hot water to help it heat up faster). Canned two batches of salsa in the big pot/butane burner.

In the meanwhile, I ordered a small wire rack for making jelly in a smaller pot on the stove and got it a couple of days ago. Yesterday, I made 3 batches of Jalapeno Pepper Jelly using the smaller rack/pot. The recipe calls for pureeing (food processor - into small bits, not smooth) the jalapenos with one cup of vinegar. I then put the puree/vinegar in quart Ball jars & stored them in the fridge until I had enough jars to process a couple of batches at a time - worked just great.

I wait until I have red jalapenos - the color is just gorgeous - never made a batch with green jalapenos, but I might do it this year just to see how it turns out.

DSCN4586

6 posted on 08/17/2019 7:37:12 AM PDT by Qiviut (Support the country you live in or live in the country you support.)
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To: Qiviut

Beautiful!


7 posted on 08/17/2019 7:37:59 AM PDT by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
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To: Qiviut

Oh my....that looks delectable.


8 posted on 08/17/2019 7:41:53 AM PDT by Liz (Our side has 8 trillion bullets; the other side doesn't know which bathroom to use.)
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To: Diana in Wisconsin
I pulled my cucumber plants yesterday. Made freezer brewad & Butter pickles.Enough is enough.

Made a little fresh tomato sauce. Will start freezing a couple cartons at a time.

Sooooo much eggplant. I bread and fry...like french fries. Great snack.

And now about those 9 cherry tomato plants...Oh my....

9 posted on 08/17/2019 7:42:09 AM PDT by Sacajaweau
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

Please remove me from this ping list...thank you.


10 posted on 08/17/2019 7:47:58 AM PDT by who knows what evil? (Yehovah saved more animals than people on the ark...siameserescue.com)
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To: Qiviut

We have a heavy duty two burner “camp stove” we used for canning Albacore Tuna that takes 90 minutes or more. I set it up in the garage with a small TV to pass the time as we did two batches using two pressure cookers...


11 posted on 08/17/2019 7:50:20 AM PDT by tubebender
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

My neighbor has some beautiful ripe tomatoes on the vine. I warned her that we have lots of critters in the area...and sure enough there was a bunny in the yard this morning.


12 posted on 08/17/2019 8:01:24 AM PDT by left that other site (For America to have CONFIDENCE in our future, we must have PRIDE in our HISTORY... DJT)
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To: Liz

I was thinking about FRITOS just last night, LOL! I’m trying to come up with some more food stand ideas for some of Beau’s hunt-related gatherings, and I was thinking of using bear meat (ground) and making those ‘Walking Tacos’ where you put everything in a big of Fritos and hand the customer a spoon.

I think that crowd would really like those...and I can use up some more bear meat! ;)


13 posted on 08/17/2019 8:01:33 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin (We come from the earth, we return to the earth, and in between we garden.~Alfred Austin)
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To: Eric in the Ozarks
Posting these for Eric in the Ozarks…

IMG_0414

IMG_0413

14 posted on 08/17/2019 8:04:06 AM PDT by tubebender
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To: Qiviut

Perfection!

My favorite treat is a slab of cream cheese (room temp) on a plate, slathered with Pepper Jelly, served with crackers.

Beau bought me a Ball Electric Water Bath Canner - that might be a good solution for your glass stove top terrors. About $140. Worth every penny!

https://www.amazon.com/Ball-1440035017-FRESHTECH-Electric-CANNER/dp/B00SLLS2MI

I’m tackling Salsa today - that last batch I made was WAY too hot, so I have the ‘mild’ version to do, today and can always dilute the hot with the mild as I serve it for our own consumption.


15 posted on 08/17/2019 8:07:20 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin (We come from the earth, we return to the earth, and in between we garden.~Alfred Austin)
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To: tubebender

Oh my goodness, I bet home canned albacore tuna is fantastic!

I hate anything with scales and fins but my family and the cat would probably love it.

I’ve pondered canning it for them if we ever get our hands on freshly caught tuna.

I buy tuna in foil pouches. I always preferred it packed in oil(back when I could eat it without gagging)but it’s hard to find that way anymore. My daughter likes one brand that’s packed in olive oil.

I haven’t bought cans of tuna in years. I can smell the metal as soon as the can is opened and the taste of it.... yuck.

As much as I hate fish, I might even be able to eat some home canned tuna. Home canned items taste miles better!

Do you just pack it raw like any other chopped meat?

IIRC, half pints or less for seafood?

Lucky yous!


16 posted on 08/17/2019 8:08:20 AM PDT by Califreak (If Obama had been treated like Trump the US would have been burnt down before Inauguration Day)
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To: Liz

It tastes as good as it looks! I have relatives who beg for it every year. A relative shared it over a cream cheese block at a meeting and four ladies came to her, wanting to know where she got it. They wanted to buy it and/or they wanted me to travel to their location & teach them to make it! My brother uses it for a glaze on roasted/grilled salmon & loves it (he’s on the list to receive a few jars at Christmas). It would also be a good glaze on chicken or pork & of course, as an appetizer over cream cheese or even plain on crackers. I love it on buttered English Muffins. It’s got a bit of heat to it, but you won’t be running for something cold to drink.

This is a common recipe - in the Ball ‘Blue Book’. Here’s a link online:

https://ballhomecanning.com/recipes/jalapeno-jelly/

The recipe calls for using 2 3-oz pouches of Ball® RealFruit™ Liquid Pectin. This is expensive!! There is a way you can use much cheaper dry pectin (I use 1 box of original Sure-Jell premium fruit pectin). There is another jelly recipe I make (Blackberry Merlot) that calls for liquid pectin & I’ve converted that one to “dry” pectin as well - works like a charm.

The recipe ingredients are the same, but here is the process for using Liquid & DRY pectin so you can see the difference. Also, I get 6-7 8-oz jars of jelly which differs from the 5 jars listed on the recipe. I use a regular pot, not an ‘electric canner’.

Prep:
Wash peppers under cold running water drain.
Remove stems & seeds & chop into large pieces.
Puree peppers with 1 cup cider vinegar in a food processor or blender

Cook [liquid pectin]:
Combine pepper puree, 1 cup cider vinegar & sugar in a large saucepan.
Bring mixture to a boil over high heat, stirring until sugar dissolves.
Boil 10 minutes, stirring constantly.
Add Pectin (liquid).
Bring to a rolling boil that cannot be stirred down.
Boil hard for 1 minute, stirring constantly.
Remove from heat.
Skim off foam if necessary.

Cook [dry pectin]:
Do not add the sugar in the first boil, but add the DRY pectin instead (sprinkle it in while stirring so it doesn’t clump)
Bring mixture (vinegar, pepper puree, pectin) to full rolling boil (a boil that doesn’t stop bubbling when stirred) on high heat, stirring constantly.
Add the sugar, pre-measured, all at once.
Return to full rolling boil and boil exactly 1 min., stirring constantly, then take it off the heat. The foaming will subside - what little foam is left when I ladle into the jars, I don’t skim off - just my personal preference since I don’t think it’s worth the trouble.

Fill:
Ladle into jelly jar leaving 1/4 inch headspace

Process:
Half-pint jars for 10 minutes at a rolling boil, covered.
Turn off heat, remove cover, let jars cool for 5 minutes.
Cool 12 hours, check seals, label & store.

One more note if you use the dry pectin which requires adding all the sugar (6 cups!) at once: DO NOT PANIC!! You will have lots of what I call “sugarbergs” (sugar icebergs) in the mix. Just keep stirring & crushing them against the sides/bottom of the pot (I use a spatula with a silicon head, metal handle). You have plenty of time to incorporate/dissolve all of the sugar into the mix before you get to the final one minute boil point. The first time I dumped all the sugar in, I almost had a heart attack thinking I would never get the clumps out, but it works just fine. :-)


17 posted on 08/17/2019 8:08:22 AM PDT by Qiviut (Support the country you live in or live in the country you support.)
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To: Sacajaweau

“Enough is enough.”

I thought I was the only one that pulled things out when I was sick of processing/using them! (I pulled some cukes off that had grown to monstrous size, and I’m not averse to pulling a zucchini plant out by the roots and composting it. ;)

Talk about a First World Problem, LOL!

I’m not even going to comment on NINE cherry tomato plants! I plant ONE each season, now, just for Beau’s snacking enjoyment.


18 posted on 08/17/2019 8:10:04 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin (We come from the earth, we return to the earth, and in between we garden.~Alfred Austin)
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To: left that other site

I think I have the bunnies gone. Real dummies when it comes to the trap.


19 posted on 08/17/2019 8:10:28 AM PDT by gundog ( Hail to the Chief, bitches!)
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

Trying to answer the question” What happens when you plant peas in late July?” Viability was good, so I have some for December planting, and successive. Some fava beans came up. Need to thin the yellow rocket and get the cruciferous babies in the ground, pronto.


20 posted on 08/17/2019 8:13:56 AM PDT by gundog ( Hail to the Chief, bitches!)
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