What Did You Do In The Garden?

[Zeedman]

The home gardens made it through the last frost with no damage, even the Tromboncino still looks healthy. One of the seed squashes had started to crack the long way down the neck, so I cut it off & brought it in before bugs/snails got into the crack. The long neck of that squash has been cut, peeled, sliced, and placed in the dehydrator... an experiment to see if I can turn it into something useful.

The initial result is encouraging. The slices dehydrated into round, very crunchy chips... a little too hard for snacking, but sweet & flavorful. One of the things that I disliked about ripe Tromboncino was its watery, pumpkin-like texture when cooked; that problem was solved by dehydration. The chips now taste like Butternut squash.

There are still 5 more ripe squashes, which will also be dehydrated. I'll do more experimentation at that point, to see what can be done with the chips.

 

[Zeedman]

i would be surprised if they were identical in dry weight. let them dry down good, close your eyes and take 100 from each batch and measure how much they weigh.

Too late, they are already bundled together. Oops. You bring up an interesting point though. I was comparing only the stage of maturity, and the number of pods; it didn't occur to me to compare dry weight. I'll probably repeat this experiment next year with a different variety, and will keep the two plantings separated until I can measure what dry weight difference (if any) there is between them.

 

[ducks4you]

Still working on cleaning up here, but it goes slow. Today I planted a shrub rose I picked up on clearance last week, moved some more mulch between my garden beds, and planted some bulbs. It frosted a few days ago, so I have a tray of clippings from my favorite summer annuals in the kitchen to overwinter. Repotted my ginger, and my garlic arrived in the mail yesterday. I am hoping to get it in the ground by this weekend.

Be sure to heavily water and heavily mulch that rose. In fact, I suggest that you REPlant it, dig a bigger hole and surround the roots with lots of mulch. This is late to plant anything here, and we just had a freeze this week. Wanna give your pretty rose a fighting chance!

 

[ducks4you]

Yesterday I had to hit the office to meet and change our INet there, so I only got to unload the 21 (40 lb) bags of Equine Fresh, some 1,040 pounds total. First time I have gotten ALL of my bedding way a head of time. Usually it starts getting really cold, and Everybody hits the store for bedding, and you can't find it.
I have enough of this AND plenty of straw and fine pine shavings for 2 1/2 months, once I start stalling the horses at night.
FIRST they need to be outside as long as it's dry, so that they can build good coats for the winter.
I cringe when I see horses outside in the winter with blankets!
Yeah, I Understand show clipping, but mostly it's overkill.
I have seen a horse moved from FL to IL in January and covered with 2 blankets shivering.
They can build a coat pretty quickly, but they can also get sick...pretty quickly.
I like mine wooly, so that what they really need is protection from the wind, and, of course, dry feet at night.
Wednesday, I was weeding and burning and weeding and burning, etc.
If I keep this up, the place should start looking pretty good.

 

[digitS']

There are still 5 more ripe squashes, which will also be dehydrated. I'll do more experimentation at that point, to see what can be done with the chips.

Ah ha.

I hope to learn from your experiences, Zeedman! DW finally had me bring the dehydrator up from the basement and it saw the light for the first to since it was boxed up at the factory, ages ago.

Admittedly, I haven't really liked kale chips or fruit leathers purchased at the store. So, it may have been my idea to buy this for her but, it was a gift, and I was hoping that she would have an interest in experimenting.

The 2 freezers are full. There are bags and bags of green beans and broccoli, gallons and gallons of pasta sauce. And, there is a bucket of tomatoes that could come in, at any time! DW has been busy dehydrating tomato slices. She likes them! (i don't ).

The final zucchini of the year were left on the plants. We gave away boxes of tomatoes and onions and several winter squash but it wasn't a great year for zucchini. Still, there has been all the zucchini bread that I wanted to eat. We will have a very late frost. I was wondering if I should suggest interrupting her regular schedule for drying tomatoes and try summer squash. May also suggest some of the immature winter squash.

(Oh, and the Butterbelly crookneck were mostly left in the garden. She didn't like them and didn't think well enuf of them even to give them away! [and i ain't gonna eat 'em ])

Steve

 

[flowerbug]

picked some beans.

scraped some weeds and raked 'em so they got buried then piled some more deadheading in there to also get buried. covered with a layer of sandier soil and then some clay on top of that, but didn't get any ashes put down because it has been too windy so i have to wait until a calmer spell before getting more layers to this garden put down. that's ok as i have plenty of other gardens to work in.

 

[Zeedman]

Yesterday, while cleaning the yard, DW & I decided to burn all of the branches & pallets set aside for bonfires. We haven't had as many bonfires in recent years, and the rather large pile was just turning into animal habitat. The project took all day, and was a great way to burn the piles of pulled weeds which had also accumulated. By the time it was done, the sun had set, and there was a huge pile of coals. DW & I sat by the fire until the flames died down, then I doused the coals with the water hose.

There is quite a lot of charcoal now, which will be sifted from the ashes & spread on the garden. A magnet will pull out all the screws & nails. Some of the sifted ashes will be spread on the gardens (there's years of accumulation), but the rest will be mixed with the portion of Autumn leaves that is composted.

 

[ducks4you]

the rather large pile was just turning into animal habitat.
There is quite a lot of charcoal now, which will be sifted from the ashes & spread on the garden. A magnet will pull out all the screws & nails. Some of the sifted ashes will be spread on the gardens (there's years of accumulation), but the rest will be mixed with the portion of Autumn leaves that is composted.

Sounds like we read the same book!! If you have any trees they would appreciate the ashes, too, btw.
We get rabbit nests in our pile.

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

Ah ha.

I hope to learn from your experiences, Zeedman! DW finally had me bring the dehydrator up from the basement and it saw the light for the first to since it was boxed up at the factory, ages ago.

Admittedly, I haven't really liked kale chips or fruit leathers purchased at the store. So, it may have been my idea to buy this for her but, it was a gift, and I was hoping that she would have an interest in experimenting.

The 2 freezers are full. There are bags and bags of green beans and broccoli, gallons and gallons of pasta sauce. And, there is a bucket of tomatoes that could come in, at any time! DW has been busy dehydrating tomato slices. She likes them! (i don't ).

The final zucchini of the year were left on the plants. We gave away boxes of tomatoes and onions and several winter squash but it wasn't a great year for zucchini. Still, there has been all the zucchini bread that I wanted to eat. We will have a very late frost. I was wondering if I should suggest interrupting her regular schedule for drying tomatoes and try summer squash. May also suggest some of the immature winter squash.

(Oh, and the Butterbelly crookneck were mostly left in the garden. She didn't like them and didn't think well enuf of them even to give them away! [and i ain't gonna eat 'em ])

Steve

I remember your story about the dehydrator. I like dehydrated tomatoes too and I did dehydrate yellow squash and zucchini into slices. I would eat them like chips. DD has my dehydrator at the moment and made deer jerky and is getting ready to make more.

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

I got my garlic planted the other day before the rain started and pulled weeds after it rained. I am making lots of piles to be hauled to the dump. I picked the last of the green beans. We are going to have a lot of wind tomorrow.