Let's talk about gardening 2011

[go-fish]

I just heard about tomato water walls for trapping heat and keeping it next to one's little tomato plants. Also the best tomato plant yields I have seen in the PNW were from plants that were draped with visquene (clear plastic sheeting). They were started in cages with a stock panel behind the bed, pruned and trained accordingly, and then the plastic went over them. Of course you have to be super on top of ventilating when it is sunny.
I don't have any hot weather plants going this year, as I will be moving from town to country in August, and my country garden is overgrown with sod and needs a year of mulch before I can put anything in. I did put some small potatoes in the ground and hopefully they will be early. I think I know the people who will be moving in after I leave; maybe they will let me come harvest some. Same with the sunchokes. Other then that, greens, perennials that I need to start moving, and there is a pretty nice raspberry patch going.
I have a worm bin in my basement and a compost pile outside that is begging me to go turn it!
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http://www/fivegallonbucket.net

[receptionitis15]

Can I eat softneck garlic leaves? I know that for hardneck varieties, you can eat the scape, but softneck garlic doesn't produce a scape. Plus leaves and scapes are different things. I make a lot of omelets and risottos and it seems like the leaves would make a nice addition. Is there a reason I shouldn't pick the leaves and eat them?

[Chiquita]

No idea about the garlic leaves.

Does anyone have a good recipe for doing your own sun/oven dried tomatoes? We have about a dozen tomatoes that need to be used before they go bad (and many many on the plants just days away from being ripe enough to pick). I found one recipe but am interested in others.

I've given a few tomatoes away, will use a bunch of them in salads and pasta, not sure I want to just blanche and freeze the rest, would love to see if I could collect enough to make my own tomato sauce.

Started some micro greens in the kitchen; zukes didn't sprout much so I put in more seeds a week ago; lots of jalapenos harvested and more on the way; eggplants have flowers; lots of basil and oregano; onions are doing okay.

[tinyrock]

I wouldn't eat the garlic leaves, but because I think they'll be too fibrous, not because I think they'd hurt you. You can also pull some garlic early as "spring garlic" - if you plan ahead for this you can plant it super close together, just stick it in in the fall.

I am also jealous of everyone with gangbusters gardens. We've had a cold, wet spring. At least my lettuce mix likes it.

[gemma]

This may have 1. already been addressed, and/or 2. need its own separate thread (and if so, please tell me! I don't want to annoy.), but I did read back and haven't seen it mentioned yet:


What do you plan to preserve from your garden and how do you plan to preserve it? I am trying to save as much as humanly possible from my garden and CSA so I don't have to buy crap produce (I loathe supermarket strawberries) this winter. Lucky for me, my CSA goes through December. Anyway, here's what I'm doing, and I would love to know what you're doing! Some stuff I'm just not sure how to preserve easily.

Spinach: chopping and freezing

Tomatoes: making and freezing sauce and salsa

Strawberries/fruit: 1. pureeing and freezing in ice cube trays for smoothies and yogurt/ice cream mix-ins. 2. Freezing whole/sliced

Brussels sprouts: freezing

Herbs: drying (rosemary, thyme, chamomile), chopping and freezing with water in ice cube trays (cilantro, basil, parsley, etc.)

Peppers: roasting then pureeing and freezing

Leeks: freezing

Peas: freezing

Corn: grilling/roasting and freezing


Any other ideas for other veggies or methods of preserving? I know I'm not going to do any canning this year. Maybe next year! I'm trying to do fresh frozen veggies/fruits, mainly. I would love any tips! :) Thanks!

[petunia_843]

Wow, I feel like an amateur on this thread. I have two tomato plants in Topsy Turvy containers and they are growing pretty well. Blossoms on both. I can't wait until I have actual tomatoes in my hot little hands! I planted Roma tomatoes because those are my favorite.

[Chiquita]

I wish I had planted Romas, we love them. I have a bowl full of tomatoes but as the season progresses they aren't as big as they once were. The nearly 40 days of no measurable rain has taken it's toll. It's also a bad year for spider mites so the largest of the tomato plants will have to be pulled and thrown away. At least they were super productive.

The cherry tomatoes are doing well. Waiting for the eggplants to really produce and we finally have zuke sprouts! That took my several tries for some reason. I need to tend to my garden this week, hopefully things cool off for a few days.

Despite the early heat and long drought I think my garden is doing pretty well. I've learned more this year, that's always good.

[smalltowngirl]

I read today that you can simmer the garlic leaves in water then use as a sort of garlic stock for soups or cooking rice, etc.

As for preserving, I make a lot of herbed butter when I have an abundance of herbs that I store in the freezer for winter. Its great for saute, for putting on pasta or veggies, for bagels, etc.

Here's a pictures of my front yard garden. This was taken a few weeks ago and now the beans are starting to climb up the trellis!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/smalltownholly/5818711807/in/photostream

[checkersumthing]

How are everyone's gardens doing?

We have decided that our balcony just isn't the right environment for growing tomatoes. It's ok, we tried, and it just isn't working out. We've been having problems with bottom rot, and even with my dad's expert guidance we haven't been having success. We are fine with it, because our hot peppers are growing like crazy. And yet my (expert) dad's are tiny as compared to ours! So we've determined that sometimes, location and other factors come into play, and that its ok if certain things don't grow well in containers on our balcony. We started off this spring as an experiment, and so far we're getting all kinds of results.
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i live at the foot of a mountain: some of my adventures

[Chiquita]

Here in South Tx we hibernate in summer. Everything has been pulled up from the garden. Some people are getting ready to plan their fall tomatoes, I'm holding off convinced it is going to be a looooong summer. (102 today, 103 tomorrow)

The only thing I will be doing in the next month will be adding compost to the beds and getting the soil ready for fall.

Edited to add: I do think there is a lot of value in experiment.
What I learned this spring and early summer:
- The raised bed is great for leafy greens but take TONS more water than the mounded beds so they weren't a great option for this summer's drought.
- Making my own tomato cages, thanks to a link from a G* gal, was super easy and they were much better for my plants.
- The bed where I planted onions needs to be deeper (it's a new bed and didn't have much compost added). It will be the first to get compost and probably get herbs in the fall. But I do have lots of onions, they just aren't that big.
- I'll use a grow light to help start seeds next spring, and start the seeds much earlier.
- My dog likes to eat tomato horned worms.

Hope others are doing well with their gardens. Mine gives me lots of joy.

[checkersumthing]

[Chiquita]

[checkersumthing]

Chiquita, you writing "dead of winter" made me laugh. Dead of winter to me means 6 ft of snow. To a more northern climate dweller, what you describe is spring :) If the temperature during the day goes above freezing people wear shorts here (not everyone . . . but people do). But then what I describe as a hot summer day probably isn't that hot to you either (though our temperatures have been borderline excesssive lately, but not as sustained as what you get).

It makes discussion interesting.
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i live at the foot of a mountain: some of my adventures

[Gigi]

I'm gardening, ya'll!

Well, sort of. I've got a little container garden going on my tiny, narrow balcony. It's semi-enclosed by privacy walls and has a roof, but it does get several hours of morning sun, so the plants I've got have been doing well.

I'm growing herbs (rosemary, thyme, oregano, basil, cilantro, and lavender), a big pot of succulents, some annuals, and a hanging basket of colorful perennials. That has basically taken up the entirety of the balcony's ledge, but I'd like to get a plant stand and have room to grow some lettuce and spinach for salads. I wish I could grow more vegetables, but there's just not enough light.

I also have three wind chimes (those of you who are friends with me on Facebook might remember my "does three wind chimes make me Crazy Wind Chime Lady?" dilemma) and this cute little mosaic table and just looking at my little balcony full of plants makes me so happy. :) And reading this thread makes me so excited for having a yard again someday!