henless' garden, 2018

[digitS']

cilantro. It tastes like the smell of the garbage dump to me.

Oh my!!

No, I agree with @flowerbug on cilantro. Salsa with no cilantro? Fried rice with no cilantro? So widely used outside of the US.

There is quite a distant between the dump and soap. But, tastes differ ... and that makes the world go round!

Steve
edit: a-round

 

[henless]

Kohlrabi may be at it's very best raw and in salad. It really is quite mild. Harvest it while tender.
Steve

I plan on picking the kohlrabi this week. Found a couple recipes online that I may try. Of course, I'll save a bit to eat raw to see how that tastes. I hope we like it, since it grows very good here.

I grew turnips last year. I'm sorry to say I'm not a fan. I'm sure it's because I have defective taste buds though, so y'all just keep the turnip party going...

oh and I must add that I don't find them anything like cabbage or broccoli or other brassicas.

Not all turnips are the same @thistlebloom. I cook mine in chicken broth and add smoked turkey or ham for the meat. I'm not a fan of turnips cooked in water. They have a bitter taste to me.

I canned turnips, guess I need to try some tonight to see if I like them or if I wasted my time. We like turnips raw with salt on them. But I really plant them for the greens. Greens and cornbread-a feast!

Did you ever try the canned turnips? How do you like them compared to raw? We missed all the rain this weekend. We did end up with 1.2" last weekend though.

*Garden Update*

My rattlesnake green beans are starting to produce, at least the first section I planted. The 2nd section I had to replant since only 2 came up. They have yet to produce, and don't look as vigorous as the first set of RS. My Kentucky Wonder green beans grew good, flowered but have never produced. Maybe bad seeds?

My cucumber's are start to produce. They just need to get it in gear and produce more at the same time. Need to make some bread/butter pickles.

I have several cantaloups growing, but my pumpkins are not getting fertilized. I've noticed 2 females bloom so far, but no male flower has been open to fertilize it.

Okra is up and doing good. I'm hoping I'll have plenty to put up for next year. We all love okra.

 

[thejenx]

@thistlebloom
On a non gardening subject, I had a hen go broody a couple weeks ago. I ended up ordering some chicks for her. They came in yesterday and DH & I slipped them under her last night. Thankfully she accepted them. Now she is one happy Momma!

View attachment 25781

Wow I never knew that chickens would adopt chicks! Ítś a shame they got eaten, Iḿ so glad we don have any snakes where I live.

 

[Rhodie Ranch]

I just listened to a food article on NPR (well, here its JPR Jefferson Public Radio). They were saying that Cilantro is tasted two ways, depending upon the person. 1: soapy, obnoxious. 2: herby, delicious.

 

[henless]

@thejenx ~ Not all broodies will adopt chicks. I got lucky with my first try. It was just the wrong time of the season for my area. Even though spring is when chicks are born, I prefer to have them in late winter. No worries with snakes trying to get them. Never had a problem with snakes before, and there are plenty in the area. I'm assuming the sound of chirping chicks is what drew them into the coop.

@murphysranch ~ I'm not a cilantro fan, but I will have to give it a try again and see what it tastes like to me. Probably the soapy & obnoxious one!

Garden happenings:

The okra is getting taller. Probably just one more thinning and it should be good to go. I have a good bit of green tomatoes, Amish Paste. Picked my first two yesterday. My Brandywines that are planted up by the house are not doing so good.

Some of my green beans are doing good. It sure is nice to be able to stand under the trellis in the shade to pick them. I will grow the rattlesnake pole beans again, but I will get the seeds from a different source. Not happy with Gurney's seed quality.



My first sunflower has bloomed. I planted mammoth & red velvet, this one is a mini mammoth, LOL. My cherokee tan pumpkins. Hope I'll get some. The males don't seem to flower the same time as the females.



Here is some of the produce from my garden. Jimmy Nardello peppers I will be freezing today. If I have enough cucumbers, I will try doing a small batch of bread & butter pickles. The green beans are from my first time ever using a pressure canner. I also canned some carrots, but they didn't come from the garden.

 

[Beekissed]

Henless, as usual your garden is gorgeous!!!!! Having serious garden envy going on with all that produce showing! Just lovely.

Your hen and biddies are beautiful too...those are nice, big chicks. What breed are they?

Funny thing...I planted red velvet and mammoth sunflowers too, though mine are just little seedlings right now, if they bothered to come up at all.

 

[digitS']

You growing Cherokee Tan pumpkins set me off on a little research. They are a C. pepo so I don't think I will be trying them. DW doesn't share my interest in "true" pumpkins altho she likes summer and winter squash ... You will have to report on the Cherokee Tan flavor.

The Cherokee Nation has a seed sharing program for tribal members. That's a good thing. Then, I found a Mother Earth News story from a few years ago on how a garden might be more authentically a 3 Sisters affair. (LINK)


Now, about those out-the-backdoor tomatoes: mine always do so much better than the ones in the garden! Mine will hit a wall on growth soon because they are in 5 gallon containers. Still, it's pure compost for them and so much more protected from wind and such.

The garden tomatoes are doing okay, unless I have another one with a wind-damaged stem . They are watered by the auxiliary sprinklers and not the big field sprinklers.

I may have made a mistake there. The field sprinklers don't really put so much water down. They throw in a wide circle. The two rainbird-types I bought also throw in a wide circle but can be adjusted to the smaller area they are needed for ... (ended a sentence with a preposition ) Anyway, the ground around the tomatoes is really getting soaked. I hope that doesn't encourage a slug invasion!

Steve

 

[Nyboy]

Snakes can't hear they don't have ears. I think it is smell of chicks that attracts them. I wonder if planting very fragment flowers around chick pen would stop snakes from finding them

 

[flowerbug]

snakes also hunt via heat and also feeling vibrations. their entire body can be used as an antenna for vibrations.

 

[flowerbug]

I just listened to a food article on NPR (well, here its JPR Jefferson Public Radio). They were saying that Cilantro is tasted two ways, depending upon the person. 1: soapy, obnoxious. 2: herby, delicious.

3: soapy, herby, delicious. i love it. reminds me of when Mom tried to wash my mouth out with soap. long story... i got time, but i'll squoaze it down for here...

one day came home from school and some kid was being obnoxious and so i picked a fight with him and at one point i had him on the ground and was so pissed off that i didn't notice he was turning blue. my brother came along and kicked me in the face and it worked to distract me because i went after my brother instead and i was swearing up a storm and Mom heard it all. so she came out and hauled my a$$ inside and was trying to wash my mouth out with soap, but it was an old squishy bar of soap so she was trying to mash it in my mouth and it wasn't going other than bits between my teef and i was bleeding all over from my nose so it was a big mess. we were laughing our butts off after a few minutes of that.

i was young and foolish. i've learned to control my temper since then. no more fights. i've been good. i only actually had three fights that i remember (not counting sibling squabbles...)... so, um, mebbe mostly good? heeheehee. we all still talk so that's a sign that all is forgiven.

p.s. i really do like cilantro...