Garden 2019

[KQ]

I'll admit it - I put him him there myself. He was motionless in the street as I walked home. Put him in a few shots then in a plate with some sugar water, hoping to revive him. The cat ate him.

LOL!

Cat thought: Dessert!

[BobMc]

Pulled a couple rows of carrots this evening. I didn’t thin them much and sowed the seeds fairly tight. Ended up with a pretty big mass of them, some big ones, some small ones and all in between.

[MakersTeleMark]

My favorite to do with the late harvest carrots are to cut them on a bias and throw them in a pickle with cumin and turmeric.

Julianne them. One year later, so so good.

And ginger and some fish sauce.

[SB]

That does sound good.

Here it is get the garden in shape for fall planting of the garlic time. I have been in a massive death match with weeds. Went nuclear on their little hinders and bought one of those propane torch cane looking burners. Works pretty well and no chemicals on the soil. Worked so well I went on a tear and cut a swath of destruction thru the crab grass and clover which has taken over much of the yard.

It looks bleak now but after de thatching and over seeding soon it should recover by the spring and rebound into a wonderful Make America Green Again lawn.

[riser4]

I like clover fields. Not so much the crab grass.

[Boissal]

Thread bump, help needed. Ms B and I just came back from a 2 week vacation and the 2 buddies we had recruited to harvest veggies (and take them home obviously) decided fresh home-grown goodies were not worth the effort.
We had canned a massive amount of tomatoes just before leaving and only picked a few pounds this time but the peppers all reached maturity together. Since it's supposed to get close to freezing this week I picked everything, about 40 lbs of green bells, poblanos, anaheims, jalapenos, and shishitos. Our tomatillos are not quite ready so most of my green salsa ideas have to wait. We're gonna use the bells in stir-fry dishes and I usually pickle the shishitos but am a bit at a loss as to what to do with the rest. I'd prefer not to dry or freeze if possible since I'm never as motivated to use the stuff in the winter, I'd rather can a shitload now and be lazy later.

I'm thinking of pickling the jalapenos and maybe making some hot sauces with them. What are you go to recipes for that?
Thoughts on using not-quite-ripe tomatillos to make batches of green salsa?
Any other super inspired ideas to plow through those peppers? I'm all ears... I really like the pickled shishitos but after the 10th jar it gets a bit repetitive.

[Rideski]

Reverse trick or treating. Door to door handing out peppers. Trade for beer or punani where applicable.

[Boissal]

Reverse trick or treating. Door to door handing out peppers. Trade for beer or punani where applicable.

Neighbors here are allergic to real food. It's processed stuff and fast food to feed the hordes of kids, they'd flee at the sight of a tomato. Kids across the street pick strawberries then bring them over to our house since they don't like them. We have a peach and a cherry tree in the front yard and none of the fruits ever get picked, even the mailman gives them a wide berth even though he cuts across the lawn daily. I asked him to help himself, you'd think I'd have offered him a shot of ass juice.

[Game Over]

Thread bump, help needed. Ms B and I just came back from a 2 week vacation and the 2 buddies we had recruited to harvest veggies (and take them home obviously) decided fresh home-grown goodies were not worth the effort.
We had canned a massive amount of tomatoes just before leaving and only picked a few pounds this time but the peppers all reached maturity together. Since it's supposed to get close to freezing this week I picked everything, about 40 lbs of green bells, poblanos, anaheims, jalapenos, and shishitos. Our tomatillos are not quite ready so most of my green salsa ideas have to wait. We're gonna use the bells in stir-fry dishes and I usually pickle the shishitos but am a bit at a loss as to what to do with the rest. I'd prefer not to dry or freeze if possible since I'm never as motivated to use the stuff in the winter, I'd rather can a shitload now and be lazy later.

I'm thinking of pickling the jalapenos and maybe making some hot sauces with them. What are you go to recipes for that?
Thoughts on using not-quite-ripe tomatillos to make batches of green salsa?
Any other super inspired ideas to plow through those peppers? I'm all ears... I really like the pickled shishitos but after the 10th jar it gets a bit repetitive.

Ohh man that looks nice.

Maybe get a big pork shoulder (or several) and make a huge pot (or several) of Verde. Freeze for lazy meals later.

[snowaddict91]

Neighbors here are allergic to real food. It's processed stuff and fast food to feed the hordes of kids, they'd flee at the sight of a tomato. Kids across the street pick strawberries then bring them over to our house since they don't like them. We have a peach and a cherry tree in the front yard and none of the fruits ever get picked, even the mailman gives them a wide berth even though he cuts across the lawn daily. I asked him to help himself, you'd think I'd have offered him a shot of ass juice.

F'in weirdos. I wish I was your neighbor. Pretty good haul there. I second Steepconcrete's idea.

[MakersTeleMark]

Why not dry them and make your own chili powder?
A buddy in nm dehydrates the hatch and sends them to east coast friends. Claims rehydrated is 99% as good.

[riser4]

Neighbors here are allergic to real food. It's processed stuff and fast food to feed the hordes of kids, they'd flee at the sight of a tomato. Kids across the street pick strawberries then bring them over to our house since they don't like them. We have a peach and a cherry tree in the front yard and none of the fruits ever get picked, even the mailman gives them a wide berth even though he cuts across the lawn daily. I asked him to help himself, you'd think I'd have offered him a shot of ass juice.

What kind of hell do you live in? If you want to move in next to me I will be happy to eat your food. I am too lazy to garden so I spend $$$ buying fruits and veges.

[Boissal]

^^ UT suburbia is weird. Chickens are illegal here since they're "too loud and smelly" but it's perfectly OK to spend a full day revving ATVs in the driveway for no apparent reason. Anything "natural" is frowned upon.

I ended up making 12 pints of 4-pepper salsa and am still kicking myself over it. I figured I'd use the smaller peppers so we could keep the large anchos and anaheims for stuffing, it took me hours to peel them after roasting. Had just enough tomatoes to make it work... I threw in 12 jalapenos and it was too mild. Added one bulgarian carrot and it's at the upper end of what I can enjoy. Not sure what I'm going to do with the other 100 or so the plant is bearing. Ms B canned some chili, a bunch of ancho paste to use as starter for salsa or chile verde, and pickled a bunch of jalapenos. We used maybe a third of the peppers...
We wrapped every plant that is still looking good for the first frost and sure enough, lows of 34 and frost everywhere. There's probably another 50 lbs of tomatoes on the vine, huge amounts of tomatillos, more peppers, and a dozen melons. We'll see how keeping the clear plastic on during the day works. Hopefully it keeps things warm enough to ripen a few lbs of stuff.

Edit for remaining canteloupe stoke:



Shishito stoke:



And mantis in the peppers stoke:

[riser4]

^^ UT suburbia is weird. Chickens are illegal here since they're "too loud and smelly" but it's perfectly OK to spend a full day revving ATVs in the driveway for no apparent reason. Anything "natural" is frowned upon.

I ended up making 12 pints of 4-pepper salsa and am still kicking myself over it. I figured I'd use the smaller peppers so we could keep the large anchos and anaheims for stuffing, it took me hours to peel them after roasting. Had just enough tomatoes to make it work... I threw in 12 jalapenos and it was too mild. Added one bulgarian carrot and it's at the upper end of what I can enjoy. Not sure what I'm going to do with the other 100 or so the plant is bearing. Ms B canned some chili, a bunch of ancho paste to use as starter for salsa or chile verde, and pickled a bunch of jalapenos. We used maybe a third of the peppers...
We wrapped every plant that is still looking good for the first frost and sure enough, lows of 34 and frost everywhere. There's probably another 50 lbs of tomatoes on the vine, huge amounts of tomatillos, more peppers, and a dozen melons. We'll see how keeping the clear plastic on during the day works. Hopefully it keeps things warm enough to ripen a few lbs of stuff.

Edit for remaining canteloupe stoke:



Shishito stoke:



And mantis in the peppers stoke:

Which is funny because a bunch of Mormons I know are REALLY into good food, organic, grow your own, etc. My wife is third cousins with a few and they are really cool, really like to eat healthy food.

[Boissal]

Which is funny because a bunch of Mormons I know are REALLY into good food, organic, grow your own, etc. My wife is third cousins with a few and they are really cool, really like to eat healthy food.

Right? The 2 extremes exist in the valley. Nothing in moderation

[babybear]

that's funny about SLC folks being scared of veggies. I would babysit your garden any day
my veggies only ever get to miniature versions here in zone 1a though so I have vegenvy

my perennials loved the cool rainier summer here though.


...and now it's going to be in the 20's overnight all this week so arrivederci flowers

[KQ]

^^ UT suburbia is weird. Chickens are illegal here since they're "too loud and smelly" but it's perfectly OK to spend a full day revving ATVs in the driveway for no apparent reason. Anything "natural" is frowned upon.

I ended up making 12 pints of 4-pepper salsa and am still kicking myself over it. I figured I'd use the smaller peppers so we could keep the large anchos and anaheims for stuffing, it took me hours to peel them after roasting. Had just enough tomatoes to make it work... I threw in 12 jalapenos and it was too mild. Added one bulgarian carrot and it's at the upper end of what I can enjoy. Not sure what I'm going to do with the other 100 or so the plant is bearing. Ms B canned some chili, a bunch of ancho paste to use as starter for salsa or chile verde, and pickled a bunch of jalapenos. We used maybe a third of the peppers...
We wrapped every plant that is still looking good for the first frost and sure enough, lows of 34 and frost everywhere. There's probably another 50 lbs of tomatoes on the vine, huge amounts of tomatillos, more peppers, and a dozen melons. We'll see how keeping the clear plastic on during the day works. Hopefully it keeps things warm enough to ripen a few lbs of stuff.

Edit for remaining canteloupe stoke:



Shishito stoke:



And mantis in the peppers stoke:

you need to make some Posole

[BobMc]

Been getting a steady stream of radishes from my late planting.



Grabbed the rest of the carrots last weekend.



I always like the freaky carrots.



We had 3 dogs for a number of years and our backyard became “dogland.” This year I’ve reclaimed 1/3 into garden and started working on reclaiming the rest.

Two yards of premium soil, a garden wagon, shovel, a bag of shade mix grass seed and a lot of sweat will hopefully yield dividends next spring.

[Boissal]

you need to make some Posole

Interesting. Looking into recipes.

Garden ghosts, it's really helping against frost and warming things up during the day:

[MiddleOfNight]

Getting everything shut down for the season. Had a great onion and garlic year, tomatoes came through. Late honey harvest/processing.
Apples yesterday. Potatoes, carrots, beets soon.

[KQ]

Posole varies from region to region (and gets spelled a couple different ways). I prefer green based Posole made with tomatillos but there is also red and white (what is Pozole?).

This is the recipe I used yesterday:






CHILI VERDE WITH PORK AND HOMINY (POSOLE)
Serves 6.

Boneless pork butt roast is often labeled as boneless Boston butt in the supermarket. The outer husk of a fresh tomatillo should be dry, the tomatillo itself should be bright green, with a fresh, fruity smell. You can substitute three (11-ounce) cans of tomatillos, drained, rinsed, and patted dry, for the fresh tomatillos; broil as directed in step 1. You can substitute 4 large jalapeño chiles, stemmed, seeds and ribs removed, for the poblanos if necessary.

INGREDIENTS
• 1 1/2 pounds tomatillos (16 to 20 medium), husks and stems removed, rinsed well, dried, and halved if larger than 2 inches in diameter (see note)
• 3 poblano chiles , halved lengthwise, stemmed and seeded (see note)
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 4 medium garlic cloves , minced or pressed through a garlic press (about 4 teaspoons)
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• pinch ground cloves
• pinch ground cinnamon
• Salt and ground black pepper
• 1 (3 1/2-to 4-pound) boneless pork butt, trimmed and cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
• 1 medium onion , chopped medium
• 2 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 cup water
• 2 (15-ounce) cans white or yellow hominy , drained and rinsed
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro leaves
• 1 tablespoon juice from 1 lime

INSTRUCTIONS
1. Position an oven rack 6 inches from the broiler element and heat the broiler. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil. Toss the tomatillos and poblanos with 1 tablespoon of the oil. Arrange the tomatillos, cut side down if halved, and poblanos, skin side up, on the prepared baking sheet. Broil until the vegetables blacken and begin to soften, 5 to 10 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through broiling.

2. Remove the tomatillos and poblanos from the oven, let cool slightly, then remove the skins from the poblanos (leave the tomatillo skins intact). Transfer the vegetables with any accumulated juice to a food processor and pulse until the mixture is almost smooth, about 10 pulses; set aside.

3. Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 325 degrees. Combine the garlic, sugar, oregano, cumin, cloves, cinnamon, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper in a small bowl. Pat the pork dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper.

4. Heat 1 tablespoon more oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat until just smoking. Add half of the meat and brown well on all sides, 7 to 10 minutes; transfer to a medium bowl. Repeat with the remaining 1 tablespoon oil and remaining pork and transfer to the bowl.

5. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon of the fat left in the pot, add the onion, and cook over medium heat until softened, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in the garlic-spice mixture and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 1 minute (do not let the spices burn). Stir in the processed tomatillo-poblano mixture, broth, and water, scraping up any browned bits.

6. Stir in the pork with any accumulated juice, hominy, and bay leaves and bring to a simmer. Cover, place the pot in the oven, and cook until the pork is tender and the sauce is thickened, about 2 hours, stirring halfway through cooking.

7. Remove the pot from the oven and remove the bay leaves. Stir in the cilantro and lime juice, season with salt and pepper to taste, and serve.

[Mr. Mike]

last night's dinner--red sauce with homegrown tomatoes. I planted some of these http://www.territorialseed.com/produ...te_tomato_seed this year for the first time. They did really well. 4 plants in containers have generated several of these meals, plus I have 3 batches in the freezer and enough on the plant that I'll get at least another meal or 2 from them. The salad was comprised of my tomatoes, a cucumber and a gypsy pepper. First year for those also. I just bought one plant at the nursery and it has produced wildly. https://bonnieplants.com/product/gypsy-pepper/

[Rideski]

Happy to see ski season approaching but the tomatoes aren’t.
One plant has had green tomatoes that haven grown for a week now.
Different variety plant is still producing, has 30 green and orange tomatoes on now. Overnights in the 40’s all week though. Might not make it through.

[Mr. Mike]

Happy to see ski season approaching but the tomatoes aren’t.
One plant has had green tomatoes that haven grown for a week now.
Different variety plant is still producing, has 30 green and orange tomatoes on now. Overnights in the 40’s all week though. Might not make it through.

do you have a basement or similar? I always pick mine right before first freeze. Put them in a cardboard box lined with paper towels in a single layer placed in basement. Check them every few days because some will rot, but some will slowly ripen. They don't taste as good as one you picked in August, but still better than the shit you can get at the grocery store in the winter. I usually make it to mid to late November before a freeze, so it's always a goal of mine to eat one I've basement ripened on Christmas Day.

Fried green tomatoes are pretty good too...the key is getting the oil the right temp. Too hot, and the smoke alarm is going off, not hot enough and you get a mealy consistency.

[MiddleOfNight]

I always pick mine right before first freeze.

+1

I let them ripen on the counter, no direct sunlight. Then quarter and freeze for making sauce. Just can't let even a single one go to waste.

This year's experiment: brought two renegade plants inside and put in pots, S facing windows... plants look good and actually throwing a couple fruits!