Readying for the season - Sharing your growing list!

[WinglessAngel]

Oh and you could do a little fibbing and fudge the truth a little. You could always tell the kids they've eaten the purple potatoes before, they were just peeled before they ate them and mashed into mashed potatoes lol.

[sweetiepie]

Oh, I make enough other things, that they either find something at the table to eat or go hungry. It just is nice when they eat what you make, that they do it with a happy face because honestly I could do with out eating and be fine.

[WinglessAngel]

I understand

[digitS']

Viking is neither purple nor red past the skin. It's white. Daisy Gold is gold, right thru.

I did once grow a purple fingerling. I don't remember what DD thought of it but I think she ate them just fine.

I once read that if tomato sauce on pizza didn't count as a vegetable, one-third of American teenagers would not average one serving of veggies a day . DD and DS have always done well but were exposed to garden-fresh from a very young age.

I didn't like 'em. No, I mean the purple fingerlings ... See above about early varieties ... almost no fingerlings are early. The real problem was the color.

Most people are like puppies, afraid of anything new. I can still remember the first time I tried a gold, Yukon Gold. I thought those mashed potatoes were just full of rich, golden butter! With the first bite, the resentment set in. It took a little time ...

Steve

[WinglessAngel]

I was a different sort of child. I would order salads at restaurants and get yelled at because we were "at a nice restaurant" and I should "order something other than a salad". lol

[sweetiepie]

HaHa! Being on the farm as a child, and then when I grew up, people around me were always ordering steak or ribs, etc. I never could figure it out, I was so sick of that. Your at a nice restaurant "why aren't you ordering seafood". lol

On the flip side, my now college son loves to come home and eat real food, and he will eat just about anything.

[WinglessAngel]

I'm still somewhat that way too now as an adult. Some days I would just rather eat my vegetables rather than any sort of meat, though bacon wins me out all the time if available lol

[digitS']

HaHa! Being on the farm as a child, and then when I grew up, people around me were always ordering steak or ribs, etc. I never could figure it out, I was so sick of that.

Exactly my experience, Sweetiepie. if we had nothing else, we always had beef. I would search through the freezer thinking, "Anything but Beef!"

But not salads ... I didn't even know I liked lettuce until my wife's grandmother prepared "wilted lettuce" from her garden. You know, with the bacon crumbled on top.

Steve

[WinglessAngel]

Well....Bacon kindof makes just about everything better.....lol

[sweetiepie]

I agree bacon does make it better. Our family seemed to go in cycles and mom never dug to the bottom of the freezer so you had a season of the same thing. Fish in the summer, chicken and beef late summer, pig in the fall, venison in the winter and sausage during the spring. All sounds good if it wasn't every night for weeks until gone. But that is a first world problem.
Wow, did we ever get off topic. What fun!

[WinglessAngel]

lol No worries

[WinglessAngel]

Went out and actually did a tiny bit of gardening today, tiny though lol. I bought some celery from the grocer yesterday and I stripped all but the center leafy stalks and I got them planted just a bit ago. Celery is one herb that I forego my usual non gmo organic mantra about because it's the only way I can seem to get it to grow. Plus the upside for me is they grow off, as in off from the way they should grow. I get huge nice succulent leafy greens and poor stalks. But, that's what I want so it's not the norm but it works for me. I only use the leaves anyway. When we had our bunny he would get the leaves too. He loved them. But I do grow organically here, or as close as I can get to it so that helps too after they're planted.

I did a review of my floral list and everything but the French Dwarf Marigolds are coming back woohoo! Granted I will still need to seed more of my Columbine but I have 4 plants that came back from my original 6! Jerusalem Artichokes are starting to pop up as well. The rest of the flowers are coming back in beautifully. Sadly though, only one lone rose bush made it through the winter to come back thus far. It produces huge fragrant blooms, color seems to change year to year slightly. It was a fluke too so we don't know what it is. It was labeled as a different rose bush that it most definitely did not end up being lol. Aside from already planting my Lemon Queen Sunflower seeds all the flowers are done but the Marigolds for hubby and reseeding more Columbine.

Oh and I even spied one lone emerging Mini Bell sprout in the seeding pots in the greenhouse this morning.

I also have my Mint coming back, as well as, Korean Anise Hyssop, Parsley, Sweet Marjoram, German Oregano (I think that's what I planted last year), possibly my Thyme too. My Parsley came back kick butt this year I'm hoping it will just keep self seeding though last year was not a flowering year but this year should be.

[digitS']

My family didn't eat pork. Fortunately, the Farmers Pack would make beef bacon and sausage for us. Our chicken flock never amounted to much more than a collection of pets. No, we often ate beef 3 times a day. And, did I say anything about gallons and gallons of cow's milk ... quarts of butter?!

, have you grown par-cel, 'Angel?? You may be able to skip the supermarket celery if what you are wanting are leaves, and more leaves! (LINK)

I found the small plants very easy to grow. However, I couldn't come up with much use for leaves.

The difficulty I had growing conventional celery, led me to try celeriac (& the par-cel). Celeriac requires almost an entire season, after its indoor start in late winter. That's okay, I've learned that it's trustworthy, it keeps well, and it's delicious in mashed potatoes and soups!

We just call it celery root and that's about what it is - just an unusual variety of celery.

Steve

[WinglessAngel]

Ooh! That is right up my alley then! I may give that a go then next year for sure. I didn't realize there was such a thing like that. I knew about celeriac and celtuce but not par-cel. Definitely something I'd be willing to give a go. I would like to avoid the store bought ends to be sure. I just never could get it to grow well from seed. The best I ever got was a few inches in height lol!

Actually I do have a few dollars in my PayPal account. That listing says after the last frost. I would still have time to get some seed. I'm going to go do some searching....

[Rairdog]

I just grow celery in clumps in the garden. It is strong flavored but make great freezer stock for the off season to flavor soup/stew/sauce. It grows well in the aquaponics.


This was started from seed. Last year was the first time I grew fairly successful...almost to peanut butter size but still strong. I blanched them with a split solo cup and a piece of tape until they busted out.


I also take the butt end of celery and put them in the AP.


I just tried the top off a Daikon in the AP a few days ago. I couldn't believe it was putting on leaves in 3 days. I don't know if the root will grow back. I'm hoping it will flower and give me seeds to add to my collection.


Here is the baby pak choi. This is a first for me. It grows fast and much lager than normal.


Here is the Michihili cabbage. Another first. Grows fast also. They both are stealing all the nutes from my spinach and lettuce.


I am planning to try my first Kimchi with these. I still need to find some kind of fish sauce or salted shrimp. Let me know if you know of substitutes.

[WinglessAngel]

You might use dried anchovy in place of salted shrimp but lesson the amount. Not sure what else you could use as a substitute. Fish sauce is pretty hard to substitute. I have to buy it online since no stores near me carry anything like it. Nice looking plants!

[Rairdog]

Thanks! I will have to hit one of the Asian markets. I thought about using oyster sauce or anchovies/sardines. The problem is finding something without preservatives. I am not too worried about making it traditionally. It's more about what ingredients I can grow well.

[WinglessAngel]

Oyster sauce is not anywhere near a substitute for fish sauce. Fish sauce is made differently and is thin and watery. Oyster sauce actually have discernable flavoring to it and is thick like ketchup. I would not use that as a substitute. <3

[Joyfirst]

I am growing several new things this year : Pepino Melons, Ground Cherry, red veined sorrel, Toothache plant, moringa (started in the fall), kiwi, Turly Tiny banana, Mulberry, and maybe something else I am forgetting. Also I am working out goumi plant trade with another gardener. Oops, this thread is just for vegetables, right? Got carried away...

[WinglessAngel]

No worries. I listed all my plants etc, I just picked the veggie department because it seemed to fit most of what I was growing lol

My Bennings Green Tint Patty Pan seeds were finally posted out today too. Hopefully it won't be long for them to get here so I can soak them and then plant them out so they'll be ready to plant at the right time.

[WinglessAngel]

Ugh, thanks to mother nature and my greenhouse cover going up the creek all my seedling pots from my seed starts (save maybe a dozen) are all dead and dying. Hubby and I have plans to save up by the end of the growing season now to purchase a better greenhouse kit for next year with polycarb panels and roof vent etc. But for now I'm stuck waiting until the weather warms to direct seed instead of using my seed starts I had going. I also don't have anymore seeds for a number of varieties I had started and hadn't planned on purchasing anymore so I'll have a number of empty garden pots to fill and find things to grow in. Luckily I can get some inexpensive seed locally that's still non gmo and heirloom/organic if I find something I like I can purchase still. Sooo angry at mother nature and my greenhouse cover! >.<

[sweetiepie]

That is terrible!! I keep wanting a greenhouse, but one just won't work here, due to the wind. I would have to build a building with no plastic. I don't have funds for that. So sorry.

[WinglessAngel]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/111578242832?_t ... EBIDX%3AIT

That is the one I have my eye on. It's for the most part affordable but yes still a large buy. For the money and the amenities and the wind protection it would make you a good greenhouse. We are going to be putting it on our back deck so we can anchor it down. It comes with anchoring hardware etc to anchor it onto concrete and or wood. You can have your greenhouse even in high wind areas The polycarbonate plastic is not soft plastic it's twice as strong as glass or so they say. Just something to think about for you

[digitS']

I built a sunshed greenhouse ... in fact, I built two, except the second one has a hoop house attached.

I live in an old house and when the neighbors decided that they didn't need an alley, they built garages right up to the back property lines. These decisions must have been made about 50 years before I got here. Anyway, there was only a short wood fence between the garages.

When the neighbor on the street behind came over and offered us his tiny garden to use I asked him about a shed. "It will look the same from your side as it does now," I claimed. It doesn't quite because the south wall on his side, altho' built with old fence boards, is a little higher now so that rain & snow drains off the roof.

That wall is taken out every spring and a hoop house goes up, on out over 2 of his garden beds. The south wall could be just as easily taken out and be replaced by plastic film or glass windows. By the way, he still has use of his garden through the summer and we have tried to help him gear up for the season with a thorough weeding and plants to set out.

I had to buy a few fence boards and some hardware for the doors. My access is through my fence. It is kind of a "through the wardrobe" experience for me ..

Steve

[WinglessAngel]

Sounds like a great relationship with your neighbor. I wish our neighbors here were nice like that lol

[WinglessAngel]

So after some consideration all day yesterday, hubby and I have decided to add a few more things to the garden to take up some of the empty space that will be left from my seed starts dying off. I was able to find more Armenian cuke seeds to replace my dying plants. To save some money I went with Cutting Celery rather than Par-Cel seed, simply because the cost is exorbitant for the Par-Cel seed. I've now added Sweet Italian Golden Marconi Peppers, Italian Romanesco Natolino (Broccoflower) and Italian Purple of Siciliy Cauliflower to the garden. Hubby said we should try something weird and different. So hence the last two on the list. He loves Broccoli and Cauliflower.

I was able to purchase from a garden store US based that ships extremely quickly off of EBay who I've bought from before. All but the last two from one store and the last 2 from another store. All non GMO and heirloom varieties. So I'll be direct seeding I guess rather than seed starting for the remainder of the garden season once warmer weather sets in here hopefully by the end of the month. I'll be a bit late starting but I was way late last year anyway. I didn't get my garden going until mid June! (That's a whole other story but my garden made it and produced well) So I should be ok. Fingers crossed lol. So much for my garden plan schematic I started with. It's gotten all shot to hell now. But gardening is always an experiment (I say) so bring it on Mother Nature