What are You Eating from the Garden?

[flowerbug]

we'll be putting up some pickles today. went out to check the cucumbers out and had about 3/4 of a 5 gallon bucket picked. let the games begin!

i asked Mom if we are stopping at 100 quarts this season or not because last year i was ready to stop at about 60 and we went way over before finally removing the plants. we have 4 quarts left...

 

[ducks4you]

Cherry Pie and last year's frozen green beans.

 

[digitS']

Creamed Peas and New Potatoes!

Just in time! Of course the potatoes weren't at all small but very flavorful!

I think it won't be necessary to pull down trellis and replace peas with beans sometime over the next 7 days because there has already been a late planting of bush beans. Only one trellis of peas this year. I wonder if I could make good enough use of that ground sowing amaranth seed a little later in July ..?

Steve

 

[ducks4you]

Potatoes, boiled w/ unsalted butter and sprinkled with paprika. IF I had know what a hit these red potatoes would be I would have decided more space for them. I am thinking that they should grow on the west side of the garage next year, where the okra is, harvest, and then plant Brussels Sprouts there. Rural King sells seed potatoes by the pound in March, so easy peasy to buy.

 

[flowerbug]

Creamed Peas and New Potatoes!

Just in time! Of course the potatoes weren't at all small but very flavorful!

I think it won't be necessary to pull down trellis and replace peas with beans sometime over the next 7 days because there has already been a late planting of bush beans. Only one trellis of peas this year. I wonder if I could make good enough use of that ground sowing amaranth seed a little later in July ..?

Steve

i need to go out today and sit along the pea patch rows and pick but i'm kinda doubtful i'll manage more than a short foray this afternoon.

i'm imagining a micro-combine that i can lay flat in that would move along a row and it is enclosed with AC, a umbrella and some cold drinks. with the right pillows i can weed or pick or just daydream and watch the clouds go by (if there are any)...

we've never grown amaranth here willingly. what do you do to plant it, how does it grow? etc.

 

[digitS']

@flowerbug , I have explored amaranth and other ideas for summer greens for several seasons. There are always issues limiting me from any very serious commitment. (Planting a succession in that pea trellis location looks like a big jump.)

Recently, I learned that a local gardener had grown some variety with lots of leaves. That's been a holdup for me - tiny plants of varieties with good taste. We had some of this amaranth for dinner the other night - strong-flavored. But, it seemed to me that it had been harvested weeks after its prime. Gardener Error.

Or, maybe it wasn't. Maybe it always tastes like that. Hey, I'm kinda okay with the "pig weed" variety - don't need a close alternative to that! However, I don't yet know where there is seed for me to try this new one. I'm thinking about how to ask about that, "oh, I didn't really like it but maybe I can harvest it sooner if'n you have any leftover seed that I can get from you." No. That's not how to ask ...

Steve

 

[ducks4you]

I learned this tip on "California Bountiful" (RFD.tv)
"We harvest our green beans only days before market, and they are always fresh. Here's a fun tip: very fresh beans will stick to your shirt or other fabric like velcro."
https://www.newmorningfarm.net/green-beans.html

 

[digitS']

I'll take a short moment to say a little more about summer greens.

A forum member once noted that much of the US spinach seed is from an area just a few hundred miles from here. I said, that is my problem! Spinach (and other annual greens) bolt to seed beginning with the first days of summer.

Amaranth, tender and tasty, that I have grown have been very tiny plants. I've wondered if that was because of summer heat and tried sowing seed very early, tried it in the hoop house. Nope. Still, they are very tiny plants. That's okay but they bolt also and I have to be very careful to pay attention to that ... and, leave the garden one summer afternoon with about as many greens as would fill my hat ...

I'm left with my garden biennials. Baby beets are a real favorite for my entire life. The leaves begin to coarsen as they mature. If I plant seed this late, the seedlings are tiny and just sit there until the weather cools, and then they have no time to make any growth.

Chard was a recent discovery. I know! But, I was turned off to the thick stems of chard at an early age! Didn't want to grow it - then, I learned that there are thin-stemmed varieties of chard! I have a nice stand of that again this year. It will be my summer green along with kale.

Steve
who still doesn't know what he is using to replace the peas ... could wait about 3 weeks and plant more peas ...

 

[ducks4you]

I grow Swiss Chard brights lights as an ornamental and garden filler. I love spinach picked fresh from my bed, and also have the bolting problem. I will let you know if I solve it. Googlefoo research, my friend. SOMEBODY has figured it out and the answer must be elusive.
I have tried Swiss Chard and don't like it. It isn't the stems, it is the flavor of the leaves.
EVERYBODY always seems to say (regarding a new vegetable): "It tastes likes spinach."
Just like rattlesnake tastes like chicken. Right.
Spinach tastes like spinach, and grocery story rubbery chicken tastes NOTHING like what you harvest from your backyard chicken run!
I won't dissuade you from liking Swiss Chard. It is a healthy vegetable. Just don't care for it, myself.

 

[digitS']

Here's a fun tip: very fresh beans will stick to your shirt or other fabric like velcro."

Ha!

I've heard people complain about that .

Aren't people funny? The fuzziness disappears with cooking ... I can understand people complaining about cucumbers being a bit stickery. Hey, wear gloves and just handling them and that stickiness disappears. Or, grow a Beit Alpha cucumber. They might complain that it looks a little wrinkled ...

Yes. "My food comes from the supermarket." It probably takes awhile for anyone to become a gardener just as it takes awhile for someone to become a cook.

Steve