The thread for people who have Green Thumbs (Gardening)

[johobbit]

Hey, all!

Kalta, really sorry to hear about your plants, whether from wildlife or the weather. Did anything thrive for you this year?

Oohh, Grandmama, my dad is a HUGE fan of pickles, particularly the 9-day, but I know he likes the 13-day, as well. Enjoy!

We have one garden for which my husband put up a fence. In that one, we place all the plants that might tempt wild critters: peas, beans, carrots, cucumbers. In the open garden we planted all our potatoes and tomatoes, which have not been touched, yay!

Aside from the fact that they were in an enclosed area, our peas and peppers did not fare well this year. But our beans were plentiful: in fact, we are still harvesting those, 'though they are slowing down now. The sunflowers we planted in that garden are spectacular, rising about 11' high, with blooms all up each stem. Gorgeous.

Our tomatoes are bursting at the seams. The cherry toms are tasty, although we need to pick them as soon as they ripen so they don't split; our Brandywine and Beefsteak are prolific. I am going to have to give some away, I think. Although we are eating these like candy, daily. The Beefsteak could be sold at a market, they are so blemish-less, but the Brandywine (my personal favourite) are somewhat scabby, 'though thankfully just on the surface/the skin. The taste of those is tomato heaven.

Our carrots are not ready yet, nor the potatoes, but in September, both should be yielding bountiful harvests.

I do like this time of year at the end of summer, because the gardens—both floral and veggie—are lush and full. Weeding has decreased dramatically, as the plants thrive and almost overflow with colour and life and beauty. Happy sigh. And a bonus is that we have had much rain in the month of August, so I have not had to water hardly at all.

The sedum/stonecrop have just begun to blush colour for their autumn dress, which is a sure sign of pending fall.

And now, I'm off to gobble down yet another succulent Brandywine tomato. ♥

[Kalta79]

Some stuff is still alive. The beets, watermelons, snapdragons, hyssop, oregano, sage, broccoli, brussel sprouts and a couple volunteer squash plants(not sure what they are), but they're only starting to do stuff now and I think it might be too late in year to get anything. Gonna pre-order some plants for spring next month(medlar trees, lingonberries, and...what was the other one I was going to order...akebias maybe, have to check my online shopping cart at the nursery first). I also want some paw paw trees.

[Grandmama]

medlar trees, lingonberries, and...what was the other one I was going to order...akebias maybe, have to check my online shopping cart at the nursery first). I also want some paw paw trees.

Is it OK to ask where you live? I've never heard of medlar trees and akebias!

johobbit, I know what you mean about the cherry tomatoes splitting!

[Kalta79]

I'm in southern Oregon. I learned of Akebias because Gurney's nursery was selling it, not sure if they still do, because I decided to quit buying from them. Not only did their stuff tend to die, but on time we had a long-drawn out problem with them refusing to refund(they tried to tell us the invoice that came with our order wasn't the 'real' invoice and I called them out on what seemed to be hinky accounting practices, then we got our refund), but the straw that broke the camel's back was our last order...the packing material was crumpled up old order forms from other customers. Not shredded, just hand-crumpled. And they made an attempt to mark out the payment/billing information on the papers, but someone with a good computer scanner could probably figure out what it was.

So then I went looking for another source for Akebias, and found Raintree Nursery, who sell medlars and the lingonberries and lots of other goodies.

[fantasia]

Kalta, I've loved reading your posts as well as I too am not familiar with a lot of the plants you post about. Hooray for google.

About four years ago I planted some Common Milkweed in a pot in an attempt to attract Monarch Butterflies. Well, to my dismay, I realized too late it wasn't the best type of milkweed. (I finally learned this year that what I actually wanted is called Showy Milkweed.) In spite of that, I was very excited to find five (five!!!) caterpillars on my milkweed a week ago. I've had to make three trips up to my parents' house because their neighbor across the street has tons of milkweed growing in her front yard... I didn't have anywhere near enough. Hooray for monarchs!

[Grandmama]

Kalta, I also googled Akebias and Medlars to see what they are. Do you plan to make medlar jelly?

I find it interesting how there are so many fruits, especially berries, that only grow in certain regions and so are not well known. I've been watching a show set in Canada on Netflix (Heartland) where they referred to "Saskatoon berries". That's one I had never heard of before.


The berries in my yard are pretty boring: just red raspberries and blueberries. Next year I hope to add alpine strawberries to the list. We constructed a new raised bed for perennials like rhubarb and strawberries, but right now the pH is too high. I added Sulphur to bring it down, so hopefully I can plant it in the spring.

[Kalta79]

Yeah in our area, showy milkweed and...narrow-leaf? milkweed are the best choices. Our local garden club started a milkweed patch with both kinds to be a monarch waystation for the annual migration, and it's doing very well.

Saskatoon berries(or serviceberries or june berries) are native here as well, as are currants. Crabapples also thrive here, as does rhubarb.

I don't know if I'd make medlar jelly, I'd want to taste the whole fruit first

Speaking of, time to do the evening watering and put our chickens to bed(lock them up safe for the night from predators).

[Grandmama]

I planted a lot of cucumbers so that I would have enough cucumbers the right size at the same time for making pickles. Now that I'm finished making pickles, I have A LOT of cucumbers that I've been giving away as quickly as I can. We eat some almost every night as well. Does anyone know how to "preserve" cucumbers other than making pickles? Or of a good way to just use up a lot of cucumbers?

[Kalta79]

Relish and um...skin care products, I'll look in my books tomorrow and find some recipes.

[Kalta79]

Sorry I didn't post anything yesterday, unexpected situation came up and I'm not sure when I'll have time to check the books.

[Grandmama]

No worries, Kalta,
The vines are starting to die, so there is an end in sight to my over abundance of cucumbers. I'm going to a family reunion this weekend out of state and I plan to pawn off as many cucumbers as I can when I'm there.

[johobbit]

johobbit, I know what you mean about the cherry tomatoes splitting!

Yep. But you know what I've found? Now that the cooler weather has settled in, they're not splitting nearly as much. We are overloaded in tomatoes—both cherry and large.

Our cucs finished awhile ago (so tasty!). But this past weekend on a gorgeous autumn evening with a stunning sunset above (almost surreal in its beauty), we harvested all our potatoes—Red Chieftains. More than a bushel basket of them, and that was just from three not overly long rows. We also dug up our carrots. They're not huge, but boy, are they delectable!

At the end of the season our peppers really took off. Beans have been done for awhile, but we had a good yield from them. Love this time of year, both for the abundant harvest and for the gorgeous floral colours and fullness!

[Grandmama]

Between tomato and cucumber vines dying and having near freezing temperatures at night, it's time to "put the garden to bed" for the winter. It's a bittersweet time--I'll miss the fresh produce, but I'm also ready to be done with canning for the season so I can move on to other activities.

The tomato vines are nearly all pulled up--at the end it wasn't just the cherry tomatoes splitting; the regular tomatoes all had large cracks on the top which meant cutting off and throwing away half the tomato.

There are still quite a few green peppers in the garden. I will leave them as long as I can in the hopes of getting a few more red peppers. And I will keep the lettuce going as long as possible too--it's crisper in the fall.

There's still a lot of garden clean up to do before the snow flies, so here's hoping the snow doesn't fly for at least a month yet!

[fantasia]

I dug 2/3 of my sweet potato plants today. I had to, my dog discovered them and was helping herself.

[fledge1]

I decided that this year I was going to start gardening. So I made a huge garden bed and planted tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and sweet potatoes. i ended up making 9 quarts of salsa from the tomatoes and peppers. Cucumbers did horrible and just now remembered that i have sweet potatoes waiting for me. Thank you Fantasia_kitty for reminding me HAHAHA. Tonight we shall see if I have those or if they are all ruined.

[Grandmama]

i ended up making 9 quarts of salsa from the tomatoes and peppers.

That's a lot of chopping!