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I'm in the same boat with cucumbers and loving it. All of this rain and ultra humid weather in Illinois has led to my most productive tomato and cucumber garden to date. We have pickled SOOO much and of every possible variety, and we're just getting started. Cucumber bread is something I'd recommend. Some of my friends said it was weird, but it's close enough to zucchini bread to be pretty good in my opinion. Other than that, poo poo loads of pickles/relish and cucumber water are my uses of choice.
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Jul 13, 2015 06:11
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coyo7e posted:Pickle them for later. Make spicy thai or vietnamese etc, and garnish with cukes. Put a pitcher of ice water into the fridge and throw in a few slices of cucumber for added cooling flavor. Make tatziki. Even more pickles - canned or refrigerator, who cares?! I'm trying out a new recipe right now for some pickles. I really wanted to see how these turn out before I do any more. For how much sauerkraut and pickles I like I need to just invest in a crock or two. Making them in mason jars is annoying. Cucumber bread sounds interesting. My husband has been experimenting with breads I should let him know.
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Jul 13, 2015 13:46
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My mother in law makes cucumber juice. Father in law works 12 hours a day in a kitchen and swears by the stuff.
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Jul 13, 2015 15:55
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Cucumber juice makes a good gin and tonic.
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Jul 14, 2015 04:43
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So after thinking a lot about it, I applied! http://hillsborough.ifas.ufl.edu/residential_lg/master_gardeners.shtml If I'm able to do this around my work schedule, it sounds pretty neat.
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Jul 15, 2015 21:21
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is it too late to sow cabbage directly outside? I'd like to get some fall planting done. I planted some beets, planning on gething some kale, have carrots. I t gets pretty chilly where I am mid October. We are apparently 4a. Edit: The greenhouse just down the street from me is closing up this weekend, so I went and got the following for only $14!  Rosemary, broccoli (3), cabbage (4), peppermint and asparagus! More garden pics  Forgive my ugly lawn, it's been rainy the past few days and too wet to mow. This is my first year in this house and I really hit the jackpot with amazing soil in the back yard, my other house was not ideal at all.Lil' basil   One bed with sweet pea, pepper plants that probably aren't going to mature enough, lot's of carrots, tomatoes, green onion, chives, white sage  I broke and bought a lavender a few weeks ago from the Farmer's Market since mine just wasn't happening, naturally I find this right beside the transplanted plant.  My other raised bed which has cucumber, squash, lavender, corn, beets, radish, lettuce, spinach and peppers My dad gave me a bubble top a last month, since I hadn't known I was going to have one it sort of sits on top of both so the leetuce and spinach get the extra heat, next year I'll be able to plan better. He brought me a rain barrel yesterday too. I'll probably build another bed for next year as well, so I'm on board with the forehead tattoo mentioned last page. 54 40 or fuck fucked around with this message at 18:06 on Jul 17, 2015 |
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Jul 17, 2015 04:23
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Not edible, but my Sensitive Plant (Mimosa Pudica) has started blooming. It also apparently has gone rogue and is luring house flies to their death: I wonder if it has something that's toxic to insects, of if that guy decided that a big sticky pink puffball was as good a place to kick the bucket as any. In other news, my tomatoes have gone insane and threatening to take over my entire yard and move into the apartment. The Serrano peppers are making all the fruit. Lastly, both my small but lovely Datura plants are now forming flowers. Soon the nightshade family trinity will be complete: Juicy, spicy, deadly, it's a squirrel Russian Roulette. 
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Jul 18, 2015 00:28
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So, I finally got everything in and sort of done: I'm real anxious to see what's up. E: while layering the compost I managed to impale a slug on the tines of my rake 
T.S. Smelliot fucked around with this message at 22:15 on Jul 19, 2015 |
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Jul 19, 2015 21:59
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Looking good, one thing i will be doing next year on my raised beds(besides adding more) is till up the grass all around it and mulch or stone it, so i dont have to blow grass clippings and poo poo into my Gaaaaahden.
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Jul 20, 2015 00:12
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Toriori posted:is it too late to sow cabbage directly outside? I'd like to get some fall planting done. I planted some beets, planning on gething some kale, have carrots. I t gets pretty chilly where I am mid October. We are apparently 4a.
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Jul 20, 2015 05:50
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 I think my summer squash got hit by borers again this year. I thought I would be ok because I planted them so late. Has anyone had any sucess wrapping their plants stems to prevent them? Everywhere I read says to use row covers, but they're out during the same time of year they're flowering.
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Jul 21, 2015 20:28
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I killed one! I killed a squirrel, and I don't feel bad. Shot it (powderless cartridge, 22, quiet little pop, safe for suburbia). I'm done with trapping and relocating; it's a declaration of war. I hope it was the one that I saw sitting on one of my tree stumps, eating a huge green tomato earlier this week. We've lost 12/28 plants to wilt (so far--there's so much disease going on), and those fucks are eating what hasn't died. Last year, we had ~250 lbs of tomatoes; this year I'll be lucky if we have 1/10th that. I'm pulling tomatoes at the first tiny wisp of orange, and I've still been losing about 3-4 a day to squirrels. Haven't pulled a single cherry tomato--and those black cherries are the only 100% healthy tomatoes I have! I looked at my notebook from last year, and as of 7/23 last year I had 2lbs of black cherries. I have zero right now.  We did eat BLT's for two nights this past week, and treated it like a delicacy. Black Brandywines, and a Black Krim. So good, but pretty indistinguishable from each other. The internal flesh was structured a little differently, and I think in a normal year the brandywines would probably be bigger; with all the issues we're having, we need to savor every bite we get.  >DIY & Hobbies > Veggie and Herb Gardening - gently caress Squirrels In non-tragic news, my marconi peppers finally have fruit set, and the scotch bonnets actually have a ton of fruit that are just kind of hiding in there. A surprising amount of jalapenos are out there, considering how sad the plants looked. (They would be good to go now, but we're letting this first flush get red and are going to pickle them bread and butter style.) Pulled all the carrots and planted more. I now have one crisper drawer of carrots, and one drawer of cukes. I'm thinking of trying these this weekend. 4 new potato plants have started growing out of the second crop, so there's that. In a week or two, I'm going to start broccoli seeds inside and plant them in the half barrels the cukes are in now. The wilt isn't too bad with them, but it's progressing, and we have an overwhelming amount of cukes anyway. I figure, I'll be able to do a small batch of little cornichons, or tiny bread and butters, with what's left hanging on the vines. Second crop of beets is close to ready, and third crop is wee little sprouts, so sans disaster, they'll be good to go by mid-September. Harvested all the garlic, planted more potatoes in the garlic bed. Tons of garlic! Plenty to eat, and plenty to save for fall planting. I'm trying to look on the bright side, but seriously my tomatoes. I legit depend on canning tomato sauce (and salsa, and tikka masala base, etc...) because Mr. Cookie can't eat most commercially prepared spaghetti sauce or salsa (it gives him severe digestive upset; it's the onion/garlic powder.) Pickles are great and all, but I can't open a jar of pickles and make dinner, you know? I can/do/will buy plain canned tomatoes and make sauces from them, but...sigh. The tomatoes this year.
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Jul 25, 2015 03:36
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I'm just now getting my first tomatoes (northern VA) and have had to prune a ton of dead growth off my plants. They're like, 6 feet tall but long spindly things at this point. I'm sure it's he crazy amounts of rain. I just want my San Marzanos!
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Jul 25, 2015 22:26
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 I had this mystery plant in with my jalapenos and its producing veggies like this, am I looking at banana peppers?
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Jul 26, 2015 00:11
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Hungarian wax pepper? Ate my first tomato(better boy) today. Was delicious.
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Jul 26, 2015 02:46
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AlistairCookie posted:I killed one! I killed a squirrel, and I don't feel bad. Shot it (powderless cartridge, 22, quiet little pop, safe for suburbia). I'm done with trapping and relocating; it's a declaration of war. There's gotta be a thread somewhere in SA that'll teach you to skin and cook squirrel, right? I say get those tomatoes back, one way or another.
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Jul 26, 2015 15:14
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Anubis posted:There's gotta be a thread somewhere in SA that'll teach you to skin and cook squirrel, right? I say get those tomatoes back, one way or another. If you have a copy of Joy of Cooking in your house I honestly wouldn't be surprised if you could find something workable in there.
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Jul 26, 2015 15:36
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mrmcd posted:If you have a copy of Joy of Cooking in your house I honestly wouldn't be surprised if you could find something workable in there. Oh the 1970s one has detailed instructions on skinning and cooking a squirrel. Or watch Winter's Bone.
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Jul 26, 2015 16:59
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I can collect them and give them to the local bird sanctuary to feed the rescue hawks and such, or to my husbands aunt who will turn them into delicious, delicious sauerbraten. 
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Jul 26, 2015 19:36
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detectivemonkey posted:Oh the 1970s one has detailed instructions on skinning and cooking a squirrel. Or watch Winter's Bone. I just checked my modern edition and page 523 has a section on dressing and cooking game including small game such as squirrels. The detailed skinning instructions are for rabbit but you could probably adapt most of the techniques and recipes to squirrels as well, just with less meat.
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Jul 27, 2015 02:10
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mrmcd posted:I just checked my modern edition and page 523 has a section on dressing and cooking game including small game such as squirrels. The detailed skinning instructions are for rabbit but you could probably adapt most of the techniques and recipes to squirrels as well, just with less meat. Rabbits and squirrels really don't dress out the same. And I'm not ashamed to know that.
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Jul 27, 2015 02:13
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Motronic posted:Rabbits and squirrels really don't dress out the same. No reason to be brah. Lots of YouTube guides to gutting and skinning squirrel. My favorite cooking method is Caribian Jerk style.
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Jul 27, 2015 12:16
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so my spinach plants are starting to get tall, like not flowering but they are about two inches tall despite my almost daily picking. time to pull? Also, check out this monster tomato plant  It's huge! it has flowers, I'm just waiting on it to start producing, like the rest of my garden . next year I plan on having way more flowers to encourage pollinaters.
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Jul 28, 2015 21:02
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Toriori posted:so my spinach plants are starting to get tall, like not flowering but they are about two inches tall despite my almost daily picking. time to pull? If your spinach still tastes good, keep it around. A lot of times greens start getting bitter when they get weedy and bolt. Your tomatoes will eventually produce some fruit, you might get a lot of little tomatoes though. Have you been pinching of the suckers? Next year, if you pinch them off and keep the plane to one main vine and get bigger fruits.
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Jul 28, 2015 23:50
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We need to change the subtitle to "Next Year", haha. No, I didn't pinch off suckers...should I prune off branches/stems with no flowers?
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Jul 29, 2015 00:22
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Toriori posted:We need to change the subtitle to "Next Year", haha. No, I didn't pinch off suckers...should I prune off branches/stems with no flowers? You don't want to prune off too much at once, but I've cut out a few branches now and then to clean up them pesky suckers. Also, if it's a determinate tomato, you probably don't want to prune at all. You'll want to figure out some sort of support though (unless I'm just not seeing it in your pic) - as soon as tomatoes start forming, those vines will start dropping to the ground. Edit: Oh! I've noticed a ton more fruit set on my tomatoes when I remember to periodically tap the stem around the flowering bunches (some people use a little electric toothbrush) - most tomatoes are self pollinating and just need a little vibration for the pollen to fall and pollinate a flower. dedian fucked around with this message at 00:55 on Jul 29, 2015 |
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Jul 29, 2015 00:52
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I'd leave it be, it gets pretty hard to prune once it gets that big. You'll still have fruit, I wouldn't worry to much about it.
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Jul 29, 2015 01:04
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My tomato plant in my side yard test garden (which has been an amazing success x10) is spewing out shitloads of tomatoes now and I couldn't be any happier. I've done OK on cucumbers and zuchinni over the past few years, but it's been a good 4+ years since I've had anything resembling extra tomatoes. I hope to be pulling a box like this every day for a while now. Time for some salsa, pasta sauce, and 1000 other things: (bonus shots of some cucumbers in the background) There isn't much for scale in this picture, but that center tomato is easily the biggest I've ever grown. It's the size of a baby's rear end.
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Jul 29, 2015 01:13
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dedian posted:You don't want to prune off too much at once, but I've cut out a few branches now and then to clean up them pesky suckers. Also, if it's a determinate tomato, you probably don't want to prune at all. You'll want to figure out some sort of support though (unless I'm just not seeing it in your pic) - as soon as tomatoes start forming, those vines will start dropping to the ground. There's one of the smaller three ring tomato cages somewhere in there  This's weekend I'll get more support for the Big Boys, which I'm now calling them. Originally, the plant came from a vendor at the farmers market and actually came quiet close to death after an insane cold snap after everything was in the garden. Resilience!
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Jul 29, 2015 01:40
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Haha yeah I've never had a cage big enough to be able support my tomatoes, still something I'm figuring out ("Next year"). If I kept up on pruning my German Pink this year to keep it to one (or two?) stems, it'd be probably 7' by now and still going - a couple 6-8" wide green tomatoes on there I can't wait to try. I've been trying the Florida weave on my indeterminates this year - planted them too close and lost track of suckers since they went crazy. The two determinate's I've got are pretty much just lounging on the ground (but at least they're on mulch, I guess..)
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Jul 29, 2015 01:48
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I used three steel fence posts and some nice baling twine to do the Florida weave for the first time this year and it is exceptionally effective. I regularly grow 9'+ tall indeterminates and the trellis always fails. Not so this year, and all the fruit is supported, accessible, and still shaded by the lower leaves.
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Jul 29, 2015 03:29
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Jan posted:Peppers and tomatoes, the middle plant is actually one of the two seedlings that survived, and managed to outgrow the two pre-started ones on the right. I went off on vacation for 10 days, apparently it was hella rainy during that time and this crowded planter exploded. I should've taken pictures before leaving to work, but basically the three tomato plants all decided to grow a bunch of extra branches and fruit and basically have all outgrown the small bamboo guides I'm using. This is great and all, but I didn't expect them to grow that much in that little space. I'm thinking to grab two large pots and transplant two of the tomato plants on their own, leaving one tomato and the two pepper plants in that planter. But at this advanced a stage, is it a bad idea to transplant them?
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Jul 29, 2015 14:55
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So, I have a large planter on my balcony where I dump extra dirt out of pots when I don't need it, and I toss dead plants in there as well to let them decompose. I've been using it as a sort of half-assed compost pile lately. I didn't go out on my balcony at all yesterday due to school, but when I went out to check on my plants today, I found this little guy:  It's about four or five inches tall and I'm honestly surprised that I didn't notice it before, but I could swear it wasn't there the last time I went outside. I have no idea what this could possibly be. Any clues? I'm not even really sure what to google to try and figure it out.
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Jul 31, 2015 00:17
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It's pretty much completely impossible to tell at this stage short of DNA analysis. It's a dicot but that's about all you can say about it at this stage.
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Jul 31, 2015 01:59
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probably a pretty big seed if that's a four inch plant with leaves that big. squash or melon maybe? we need daily picture updates and a betting pool
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Jul 31, 2015 03:15
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Pucklynn posted:So, I have a large planter on my balcony where I dump extra dirt out of pots when I don't need it, and I toss dead plants in there as well to let them decompose. I've been using it as a sort of half-assed compost pile lately. It looks like some sort of squash, or maybe a sunflower?
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Jul 31, 2015 03:32
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I did throw some dead cuttings from my cucumber in there. I didn't think they'd have seeds yet. In fact, the only things I've planted with seeds that big are my avocados and a mango. I'll take more pictures and we can go on this beautiful journey of discovery together! It does look like some squash seedlings I saw on GIS, I just can't imagine where the seed would have come from.
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Jul 31, 2015 05:52
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Are squirrels able to get up there? I've had random sunflowers popping up in my garden because squirrels collect sunflower seeds from a local bird feeder and bury them everywhere.
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Jul 31, 2015 12:39
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My money is on cuke. This year, I pulled hundreds of cucumber volunteers out of last year's compost because it didn't get hot enough. This year's pile was sitting at a toasty 142 when I measured on Sunday.
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Jul 31, 2015 14:17
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here's my new one: the joints on my hot pepper plant have turned black. what's up with that?
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Jul 31, 2015 19:01
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