Tennessee 2019 Garden

[TomatoNut95]

Is there a way I can get my pepper plants to come back? Like cutting them down and mulch them before the first frost?

[Gary350]

Is there a way I can get my pepper plants to come back? Like cutting them down and mulch them before the first frost?

I would try putting a Harbor Freight Blue tarp over them in 6ft tall poles, use ropes on each corner to hold it up like you would a tent. I did this when I lived in Arizona plants are much cooler than direct sun and do much better in hot summer weather and fall too.

[Gary350]

This morning I picked all the tomatoes that look ripe enough to eat right now. After washing them I cut them into small pieces then cooked them in a 3 gallon pot. I strained out the skins then puree the skin and mix it back into the cooked tomatoes for extra flavor and thickness. This made 5 quart jars and there are several tomatoes left over.

I had several Amish Paste tomatoes they had to be sliced into 6 pieces right through each seed section so I could push out the seeds and jelly stuff into the trash. I saved only the pulp with the skin after cooking skins were puree into the tomatoes for added flavor and to make tomato sauce thicker.

I had 1 quart jar extra from yesterday that will go into the cooker today with these other 6 jars the canner holds 7 jars.

I decided not to pull up the Beef Master tomatoes yet they have ripe tomatoes. Ripe tomatoes are such a waste of time about 60% of it is green stuff in the middle and there are several rotten places in several of the tomatoes. It takes a lot of time cutting tomatoes into lots of pieces to save only the good part of the tomato.

I found a place to plant several Roma tomato seeds where potatoes use to be so Beef Steak can stay a few more weeks before I pull them up.

[Gary350]

More ripe tomatoes, I only have 10 empty quart jars left. Marconi peppers are big 9" long. Big Bertha pepper plants are loaded with too many peppers to count. We want Red color peppers but never get those until cooler Oct weather not sure why?

[TomatoNut95]

Nice tomatoes! Beautiful pepper! Ah, Big Bertha! Love that bell pepper! Too bad it's a hybrid or I'd save seeds from it.

I know peppers take forever to turn their colors, but I've never had to wait until October 'til they do. Must be the weather?

[Gary350]

5 more quarts of tomatoes for the pantry.

[Gary350]

We arrived home today from a week vacation in Michigan, unloaded the vehicle then ordered a pizza. After pizza I checked the garden we had storms that blew limbs out of the tree and kicked 2 bell peppers from a plant. I picked up peppers, picked squash & several cucumber. I just started picking tomatoes when a storm came then after the storm I picked more tomatoes leaving them on the ground to be picked up later. Another bigger storm came now rain gauges both show 6" of total rain for a week. Rain had not completely stopped so I picked up tomatoes in the rain. Rain is warm an feels very good. I rinsed dirt from tomatoes in 3 buckets then rinsed them again on the patio table. Tomorrows delima is what to do first we only have 1 quart mason jar left & no seals, we need to make a trip to grocery store for food. Tomorrow first order of the day will be, drink coffee on patio, listen to birds, feed cats, feed dog, & feed birds, relax a while. We might not go to store until after lunch. Blackberry bush has more berries maybe I pick those early or maybe not? Wife is already asleep on sofa.

[TomatoNut95]

Hope you had a great vacation! Ah, pizza! Thanks for making me drool! Nice tomatoes, cukes, squash, peppers, cookies and chips!

[Gary350]

This year we are targeting certain grocery store produces to can in mason jars. We have already canned about 15 quarts of stewed tomatoes with celery, onions, garlic. We also canned about 15 quarts of whole tomatoes. Today we are canning tomato sauce in quarts. Cut tomatoes in 1/2 like an orange or lemon then slightly squeeze to squirt out the seeds, jell & juice. Cut off the top to get ride of stem and any bad tomato and anything that looks, clear, green, yellow or white color. There are too many tomatoes to be fooling around with trying to salvage 1/4 or 1/2 of a bad tomato. First I tried the preferred way to cut tomatoes in 1/2 to remove seeds & jell then I tried holding stem end up then cut off 4 slices around the stem. Stem & core are not wanted core is usually green and white. I can push out jell with seeds with my fingers then dip tomato pieces in a water pan to wash out remaining seeds. Pulp & skin is all we save after cooking to a boil then puree in food processor color is blood red it looks and tastes exactly like grocery store tomato sauce. There is 1 quart is Amish Paste tomatoes the other jars are all mixed tomatoes, big beef, big boy, beef master, brandywine. Fill each jars then put in 4 fresh picked basil leaves before putting seal & ring to can in water bath canner.

Today we are having very good garden dinner, corn on the cob, fried squash, sliced tomatoes, fried okra, hamburger on BBQ grill. Why can't we eat like this year round, last time we ate like this was about Oct about 9 months ago. Maybe I freeze okra this year. Probably can't freeze or can squash. I need to make another blackberry cobbler. Wow dinner was good.

[Gary350]

Chinese stir fly for dinner with garden, corn, green beans, peppers, onions, garlic. Also broccoli, carrots, chicken. I found a zipper spider in front yard bushes, I was going to move it to garden then changed my mine. There are no bugs in garden, only bugs I saw all summer was first week of May. Birds are doing a good job keeping bugs gone.

[TomatoNut95]

Am loving that good-looking food! And I've never heard those spiders being called zipper spiders. Those are Garden Spiders or Orb Weavers. But actually, judging by the web pattern, the name 'zipper' suits it, to.

[imafan26]

The stir fry looks good, even though it looks a little strange to me to see carrots cut that way in stir fry. What did you use to flavor it besides the garlic?

[Gary350]

The stir fry looks good, even though it looks a little strange to me to see carrots cut that way in stir fry. What did you use to flavor it besides the garlic?

One of our favor easy to do sauces is, Tikka Masala sauce in a jar. I can not make India Tikka Masala sauce at home that is this good. First time I tried this I was very surprised how good this is most sauce in a jars is not even close to the real thing. On a day when I'm too lazy to make my own sauce I use this sauce in the jar. I love India food sometimes we would rather have this than oriental, plum sauce or sweet & sour sauce.

I have this Sweet & Sour stir fly sauce that was given to me by a Vietman lady. Stir 1 tablespoon corn starch into 1/4 cup sugar then add, 1/8 cup vinegar, 1/3 cup soy sauce, 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper, 3 garlic cloves chipped, 1 teaspoon lemon juice. Stir until it begins to boil when it gets thick remove from heat.

Plum Sauce is good too. 1/4 cup plum jam, 2 tablespoons soy sauce, 1/2 teaspoon white vinegar, cook & stir on medium heat until it boils and becomes smooth.

Orange Plum Sauce. 1/2 cup plum jam, 1/2 teaspoon grated fresh orange peal, 1 pressed garlic clove, 2 tablespoons soy sauce, 2 tablespoons orange juice, 1 teaspoon corn starch. Stir well, bring to boil until sauce becomes thick, remove from heat.

1/4 cup Orange Marmalade Jelly, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 1 pressed garlic clove, 1 tablespoon orange juice, 1 teaspoon corn starch. Stir until it boils and gets thick, remove from heat.

[Gary350]

We are having an exceptionally good year for tomatoes because of this mild 67 to 82 degree weather. Our typical 98 to 100 degree July weather usually puts a stop to tomatoes and kills several of the plants. Our pantry is stocked with all the tomatoes we need and I picked another bucket of tomatoes this morning. I looked at the tomato plants 10 minutes ago there is another bucket of tomatoes to be picked. If weather keeps being this nice we will soon be swamped in tomatoes. 1" cherry tomatoes are starting to get ripe.

Garden harvest every day determines what we eat for dinner every day but now vegetables are coming too fast with more than we can eat. I picked more okra and more squash, looks like we will be eating it tomorrow. It might be time for a garden vegetable pizza with thin sliced, squash, tomatoes, jalapenos, peppers, onion, oregano, basil. 3 zucchini plants are making on squash and we don't care.

I picked several jalapeno peppers & 1 red Marconi pepper today. I sliced 1 of the jalapeno peppers and put it on dinner, red peppers have a nice mild spicy flavor I like. It looks like something took a bite out of the Marconi pepper what every it was must have become bird dinner no worms no bugs to be found anywhere..

I have decided to let green beans & cucumbers make seeds. 1 good ripe cucumber will give me more seeds than I need. White beans will make seeds for next year and if there are too many white beans they might become, soup, stew, chili or something else. There is probably a bushel basket of beans to pick my Son says he has more than enough for now.

Water melon plants are growing fast trying to take over. I have been moving vines to make them grow in a circle.

Aug 1st is the date potatoes should be ready to harvest vines are looking brown color it is about time to pull up the vines. Soil is very soft now from all the rain we had it would be easy to harvest potatoes today but I will wait maybe it will rain about August 1st.

Tomorrow morning we may be busy with corn it looks like about 50 or 60 ears are ready to pick. Too many ears to eat at one time so we have to cut it off the cob to freeze or can.

[Gary350]

Yesterday evening I decided no point in waiting 1 more week potatoes are ready to harvest. I pulled up the plants 1 by 1 most of the potatoes pulled up with the plants. I picked off the potatoes then threw the plants in a pile. I took potatoes to patio table then spread then out to dry over night.

We were up at 5:30am this morning, had coffee on patio with birds, cats, dog. I was 64 degrees this morning. This morning I cooked hash brown potatoes for breakfast. Bathroom scales show 30 lbs of potatoes in each bucket. 60 lbs of potatoes should last about 5 months, several of the smaller potatoes will be planted for a winter potato crop August 1st.

[Gary350]

I picked a few corn this morning making sure silks were dry & crispy as dead grass. Once corn reaches maximum sweetness it looses it sweet flavor fast I would rather pick corn a day too soon than a day too late. We are cooking ears 3 minutes, cutting off the kernels, then canning corn in 1 pint mason jars. Wife made chicken salad for lunch I am ready to eat, sandwich and 3 ears of corn makes a good lunch.

It turns out 5 ears of corn will fill each jar loosely packed then filled jars with water 1/2" from top. After pressure canner comes to a boil cook 55 minutes at 15 psi. Corn can not be packed tight in jars it swells up and can bust the jars.

I picked more tomatoes 2 buckets full & a few extra got 72 lbs. Pantry is full.

.

[applestar]

A-MAZING!!!

[Gary350]

I did nothing in the garden today, I am tired from yesterday so I mostly stayed in the house out of sun & 94 degree heat. I advertised 74 lbs of garden ripe tomatoes for sale $1 per lb online Market place 35 people said they were coming, first 4 people bought them all. I gave away some green beans, squash, okra but no one wanted a free cucumber. I couldn't even sneak a cucumber in with anyones bag they see it and give it back. LOL. 2 people picked their own free green beans. People offered to pay money for me to pick them green beans, I don't like to pick green beans for myself, I won't pick beans for anyone else not even for $50 a gallon. More corn & tomatoes might be ripe tomorrow but tomorrow is Sunday they need to wait until Monday. I started to throw out those very large 20 cucumbers that did not get picked while we were gone on a week vacation but decided to cut 1 in 1/2 to see what it looks like inside. I was very surprised large cucumbers are no different than small cucumber only larger, seeds are soft too. So I started cutting them up for pickles just to see if they would all be good and make a good batch of Bread & Butter pickles. I had a pan full of sliced cucumbers in 30 minutes plenty to fill a 1 gallon jar. I have 2 quarts of Bread & Butter pickle brine left over that needs to be used up so I decides to make a gallon of pickles. I sliced up a Marconi Red pepper, sliced up a Big Bertha Green pepper, sliced 9 garden golf ball size onions, 1 garlic clove. I poured in salt, ice, stir every hour for 4 hours then drained & rinse them. Now I have a 1 gallon jar of Bread & Butter pickles to take camping. Next camping trip with 50 other campers September a gallon of Bread & Butter pickles will be on the Pot Luck dinner table. I still have pickle brine left over maybe I make 2 pint jars of pickled green beans to use it up. Wife said, holy junk those are large pickles. LOL.

[Gary350]

This evening we made a garden pizza for dinner with our own homemade pizza sauce, homemade pizza crust, garden onions, garden peppers & garden zuchinni. Pizza crust recipe is on Lilly White All Purpose flour package.

We have been working on making a very good Pizza Sauce since last summer we finally have a very good recipe. I start out by picking very ripe tomatoes from the garden then let them set in the kitchen for several days until they get riper and the flavor changes. After a few days tomatoes acid is lower and tomatoes get sweeter. Cut tomatoes in pieces what ever size & shape works best for you to push out all the, seeds, jell, juice, vanes, green, yellow, & white color stuff and core so all you have left is tomato pulp with skin. Put tomato pieces in food processor puree pulp & skin. Then bring to a boil AIR will cook out and volume becomes about 10% less. Measure out 3 cups of tomato sauce cook it down to 2 cups. If you want extra thick rich tomato flavor measure out 4 cups of tomato sauce then cook it down to 2 cups. After tomato sauce has been boiled skins will be softer puree again in food processor.

Pizza Sauce Recipe
2 cups tomato sauce.
1 garlic clove diced
1/4 small onion diced
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
1 tablespoon dry Italian Seasoning from Dollar Tree store $1 per bottle it contains, marjoram, thyme, basil, savory, rosemary, oregano.
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper or 1/4 of a RED color jalapeno pepper.
2 tsp olive oil
2 tsp corn starch

Bring sauce to a boil stir until it becomes thick turn off heat let it set 30 minutes with a lid on pan to prevent herb flavors from escaping. After 30 minutes dry herbs have become soft puree sauce again to grind herbs into the tomato sauce. If your sauce is not thick enough add a little more olive oil & corn starch. When Pizza sauce cools it gets thicker.

I gave up using home grown garden herbs I get better good flavor using factory made Italian Seasoning. I know factories have figured out a way to make a good consistent produce, they are better at it than me. I can't grow savory & marjoram anyway plus I have no clue if I grow the correct herb varieties for pizza sauce.

Spicy flavor is optional, leave it out if you don't want it slightly spicy. I have spicy flavor adjusted for us it is barely noticeable spicy.

[Gary350]

This morning I picked 97 ears of corn. Still more corn in garden to be picked. We cut corn off the cob and filled up 9 more pint mason jars for the pantry. We have 2 bags of corn 5 lbs each for the freezer. We have plenty of corn for the winter to eat and for stew & soup. This is peaches & cream sweet corn.

[Gary350]

About 8 am I started picking corn and pulling up all the plants. About 9 am my Son arrived he took, 40 ears of corn, 10 lbs of tomatoes, basket of okra, and some potatoes home. About 10 am people that bought tomatoes 2 days ago arrived and bought 16 lbs of tomatoes, 1 dozen ears of corn, a basket of pickle cucumbers. We have met a bunch of very nice people selling vegetables. Wheel barrel has 101 ears of corn, my son took 40 and the visitors took 12 ears that equals 153 ears today. Counting the 175 ears we already harvested that equals 328 ears of corn total. I learned new things about corn this year, it takes 5 ears of Peaches & Cream corn to fill a 1 pint mason jar. Next year if we want 15 pints of corn and about 50 to eat for the kitchen table I only need 125 corn plants. I never fertilized corn much in the past ears were always small it took a lot of plants to put corn on the kitchen table. Fertilizer means I only need to grow about 1/3 the plants I usually grow this takes up less garden space to grow other plants. A 40 ft long corn row needs 1 lb of Urea when plants are 2 ft tall then another 1 lb of urea when corn ears make silks. I planted corn seeds this year 6" to 7" apart random spacing. We don't need anymore corn we have 30 ears in the refrigerator so this wheel barrel of corn needs a new home. I will have it listed on market place in about 5 minutes.

[Gary350]

Corn plants are gone. Wheel barrel of corn is gone too. Amish Paste tomatoes suddenly died not sure if they were determinant tomato plants or if 97 degree weather killed them it has been hot for a week. Beef Master tomato plants died too no lost I will remember never buy these again. I have been setting outside listening to thunder for 45 minutes. No rain just thunder it echos back and forth through the clouds. No lightning strikes to the ground just high elevation thunder that echoes through the clouds for 15 seconds then starts again it sounds like a continuous on going thunder. After corn plants were gone I found a volunteer pepper plant so I put a tomato cage over it. When corn was small I planted 2 types of squash they are still here.

[Gary350]

This is today's harvest. I have 4 New Mexico peppers just enough to make 1 pint jar of Enchilada sauce with, onion, garlic, cumin, oregano, salt. I think having 8 ft tall corn plants on the south side of pepper plants shaded peppers and kept them cool enough to produce peppers in July, but we did have a mild summer this year in the 70s and low 80s maybe that was helpful. Oct cool weather 8 pepper plants will load up with 100s of peppers I hope to make 20 pint jars of Enchilada sauce. Maybe if I put up shade tarps to keep sun off pepper plants maybe they continue to blossom & grow peppers in this heat. I am going to make 1 more quart jar of pickled mixed vegetables with, broccoli, onion, garlic, carrots, red & green peppers, green beans, celery, cucumbers. Wife is making potato salad today using up more of our little garden onions. We have too many jalapeno peppers we ate some on pizza and other foods. I am going to make a bowl of salsa today for evening dinner.

[Gary350]

I poured a quart jar of our homemade Bread & Butter pickles into the food processor and turned it into pickle relish. Wife made potato salad with our garden, potatoes, onions, & relish. I cooked Bratwurst German sausage on the BBQ grill, I had mine on a bun with mustard and Bread & Butter pickle relish. Sliced garden tomatoes too, I ate a whole large tomato. Kennebec potatoes sure are good this is the first year I have grown these they are much better than, Russet, Idaho & Pontiac potatoes. I will grow Kennebec potatoes again for sure.

[SQWIB]

Wow, I'm tired just reading everything you have been doing, very impressive.
Love to see what folks are doing with their produce.
You mentioned you would never grow Beefmaster again, if you don't mind me asking, why not?

[Gary350]

Wow, I'm tired just reading everything you have been doing, very impressive.
Love to see what folks are doing with their produce.
You mentioned you would never grow Beefmaster again, if you don't mind me asking, why not?

My Beef master grows deformed tomatoes. Applestar calls it fused blossoms. Subject: viewtopic.php?p=428584#p428584

The whole center of the tomato is green & white about 50% of the tomato is trash. Often tomato has 2 halves and sometimes 3, 4 and 5 sections. Some sections get ripe a week sooner than the rest and rots before the other part of the tomato is ripe. Often only 10% of the tomato can be saved. This averages out to about 10% to 50% good it is more trouble than it is worth to save 10% of a tomato. Beef master tomato has a very good flavor equal to Big Beef I will slice off a piece or 2 if it is worth saving then throw the rest away. Beef master is a low producer compared to Big Beef it produces about 75% less tomatoes but take into account the bad sections of a Beef Master is produces 90% less than Big Beef. These tomato plants are wasted space in my garden.

My Blackberry wine is ready to finish but I got out of the wine making mood and been ignoring it. I need to siphon off 5 gallons of wine leaving that 1/2 gallon of sediment in the bottom of the jug. No hurry it can wait. Soon it will be 28 bottles of Blackberry Cabernet Sauvignon wine 11.5% alcohol.

[Gary350]

Today I made pickled jalapeno peppers. I cut 1/8" thick slices, boiled the left over Bread & Butter pickle brine then dumped in the pepper slices after seeds were removed. Stir 1 minute then hot packed it in an empty Ragu Pizza sauce jar. These will be good on, spaghetti, salad, pizza, baked potato, meat loaf, scrambled egg, chili, BBQ baked beans, stew, soup, more. Red color jalapenos are not as hot as green jalapenos and pickle brine will dilute the spiciness a little.

[SQWIB]

Yeah, I have noticed that on the Beef master as well. I have one completely ripe with one quarter completely green.

Thanks for the input, I think next year I'll ditch the Beefmaster.



Beefmaster


Big Beef

[Gary350]

I made this mixed vegetable tray for dinner most of it is from our garden. Yellow squash, Red Marconi, Green Big Bertha, onions, carrots, green beans, tomatoes, broccoli, some salad dressing, it was good. This is my 3rd year growing 1" cherry tomatoes from saved seeds no one around here sells 1" cherry tomato plants anymore. I started 3 more cherry tomato plants from seeds last week we should have 1" tomatoes by Oct. I started 6 Big Beef plants today from seed I want to know if Big Beef seeds will grow and what type tomatoes they produce.

[Gary350]

Today I decided if I don't find a way to save what is growing in the garden I will loose it so I made 2 jars of pickled mixed vegetables, Marconi Red peppers, Big Bertha green peppers, yellow squash, onions, carrots, green beans, cucumbers. I also decided to use my garden Mexican chili peppers to make 2 pint jars of Enchilada sauce. I cut chilies in 1/2 scraped out vanes & seeds with a spoon. I have lots of seeds to plant next year and garden plants are loaded with more chilies. I usually make Enchilada sauce from dry chili peppers I buy at the Mexican flea market, I figured growing my own chilies will be easier than dry chilies and it is. This enchilada sauce taste very good, I used up all my oregano & cumin, I need to buy more tomorrow at the Mexican flea market. Buying dry chili peppers allows me to make Enchilada sauce in larger quantities 2 gallons each time = 16 pint jars instead of 2 pint jars using garden peppers before they go bad. These chili peppers are not very spicy hot but flavor is good. Enchilada sauce recipe is very easy, 8 chilies, 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp salt, 1 T oregano, 2 garlic cloves, 1/2 medium onion, 1 T oil, 1 T corn starch, 4 cups water. Stir cumin into hot oil 15 seconds, then stir oregano into hot oil for 15 seconds, add everything else. Bring to a boil turn off heat let it set 15 minutes, then puree in blender or food processor. Bring to boil again about 2 minutes until sauce becomes thick. Makes 2 pints. Real Mexican Enchilada sauce has no tomatoes. People at Mexican flea market say, no tomatoes in Enchilada sauce. Some grocery store Enchilada sauce has tomatoes and some don't. I am not adding tomatoes to my Enchilada sauce but I might experiment with that flavor later.

[Gary350]

Squash, cucumbers & melons all have black spots of leaves. Black spots scrap off easy they look like little black seeds. Not sure what black spots are but they don't seem to be causing trouble. Cucumbers have the most black spots, squash have less, melons not many, none on beans, tomatoes, peppers, okra. Leaves are turning yellow probably from low nitrogen caused by too much organic material I put in the soil. Melons are slow to get ripe this year they are getting too much shade they only get full sun for 5 hrs.

[applestar]

The black things are spore capsules shot up by the birds nest fungi growing in the mulch. You can see them inside the cupped mushrooms in your photos. I learned about them on mushroom walk at a local wildlife habitat.


I don’t think they will hurt the leaves.

The fungi will help break down the mulch and make nutrients available to the plants.

[Gary350]

About 12 noon I decided to salvage some garden tomatoes that birds damages and some that were cracked. Then I added some, onion, 2 garlic cloves, 1/2 tsp cumin, salt, garden cilantro, 1/2 of a red color jalapeno, juice from 1/2 lime, pulse it in food processor a few times until is looks like salsa, then put it in the refrigerator.

I have more New Mexico peppers in the garden but not red color yet, not green either, more of a dark green/dark red color. 4 New Mexico peppers 8" long with seeds & vanes removed, 3 cups water, 1/4 of an onion, 3 garlic cloves, 1 teaspoon cumin, 1 tablespoon oregano, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 jalapeno pepper, 1 tsp corn starch, 1 tsp oil. Puree in blender then bring to a boil until thick.

Refried beans, 1 can pinto beans in food processor, 1 big T onion, 1 tsp chili powder, 1 garlic clove, 1 tsp salt, water to suit thickness.

About 4 pm we cooked, 1 lb ground beef, 1 large onion diced, 5 garlic cloves, 1 package taco seasoning or 1 large tablespoon chili powder , 8 ounces of Philadelphia cream cheese. Lay 10 flour tortillas 10" diameter each on counter top. Put a large tablespoon of refried beans in the center of each tortilla then spread beans to cover the tortilla on top side. Put equal spoons of meat filling on each tortilla spread it long ways in the center. Roll tortillas up place them on large cookie sheet pan.

Pour Enchilada sauce over the rolled tortillas then fill the pan with all the remaining sauce. Sprinkle with sharp cheddar cheese bake in oven 350 degrees long enough to melt cheese about 5 minutes.

This is my mothers recipe she called these, Chili Burros. She usually made this with a pork roast or beef roast that was cooked all day and sometimes it was made with ground beef 97%. I like to make this with roasted chicken pulled off the bone or pork but too late in the day to do that today. Scoop 1 tortilla out of the pan put it on your plate, scoop up extra sauce pour it over your tortilla. It has been about 7 years since I made this recipe I had forgotten how good this is, we won't be waiting another 7 years to make this again.

[SQWIB]

Dam, I'm sold on those enchiladas with shredded beef or chicken thanks for sharing..

[Gary350]

I was outside for about 15 minutes when I came inside the house I looked like I fell in a river. Humidity is very high today. Good day to stay in the house.

My oregano plant leaves taste like chlorophyll. I think the correct thing to do is harvest leaves then let them dry until chlorophyll flavor is gone. I don't notice chlorophyll flavor in, basil, cilantro, rosemary, or thyme. I stripped oregano leaves from 6 limbs wonder how long it takes for chlorophyll to be gone?

Older tomato plants are not doing much. Newer plants from seeds have been making tomatoes for 2 weeks today they are loaded. 1 more plant from seeds should be making ripe tomatoes in about 2 more weeks. I totally forgot to plant larger tomatoes from seeds this year so I planted them today. I found another bad Big Beef tomato to harvest seeds from. After washing seeds with plenty of water I planted all the seeds. I want to make sure seeds germinate & also want to see if tomatoes from seeds are same as tomatoes from the original plant before I save seeds for next year.

I picked a few more peppers the New Mexico plants are loaded peppers are about 30% red color another week or so I can make more enchilada sauce.

Cucumber plants are looking bad but they continue to grow more cucumbers. Cucumber use to grow nice green color but now they grow slightly yellow color. I hate to waste food it looks like several people will get a quart jar of Bread & Butter pickles for Christmas. LOL. I have 1 more empty gallon jar not sure I have enough cucumbers to make a whole gallon of pickles. It is almost time to pull up the plants they have lost 90% of their leaves.

Still waiting on ripe water melons. The small rain we had made the melons all get about 10% larger.

Here is a terrible picture of my Fennel plant camera takes terrible pictures in full sun. This is my first time to grow fennel not sure what to expect or how to use it. We picked some to eat on food but not much flavor. I want to save seeds they should have good flavor. Plant made lots of tiny flowers but no seeds yet. I will take a better pic about 6 pm to replace bad photo.

[Gary350]

Pepper plants are loaded, Big Bertha, New Mexico chilies, Marconi peppers. This Marconi is 9" long. Pepper plants are 5 ft to 5 1/2 ft tall. Now that corn is gone I can actually see these plants. I gave plants lots of Potassium this year wood ash is calcium & Potassium. Calcium for BER & K for lots of large fruit. I also gave them nitrogen but not much. 16 pints of medium spicy Enchilada sauce coming soon. Nice looking flowers on the fence caught my eye, what is this? These must have got started from birds. Vine has a round green nut the size of a pecan.

[applestar]

Hey, that’s probably Maypop Passionflower — fruit is edible and I’ve been wanting to grow them for a while.

SQWIB is growing it, so maybe he’ll chime in.

[SQWIB]

Yes that's a Passaflora incarnata.
Passion flower, or maypop.
Makes a decent jam.

[Gary350]

I decided to compare a Green New Mexico pepper to a Red New Mexico pepper, Green is much hotter than Red as I expected. I was considering making green Enchilada sauce but too spicy hot don't think I will.

I picked more cucumbers this morning to add to the pile I already had in the kitchen. I can not throw away food so I made more pickles with, carrots, onions, marconi peppers. Some how it turned out to be a perfect fit for the last empty 1 gallon glass jug. I still have 1 quart of brine left over. Time to pull up cucumber plants before they make more cucumbers.

This morning I picked 1/2 bucket of green beans we cooked them all day in the crock pot with salt pork. They turned out great this is how I like green beans cooked.

Wife made several small garden baked potatoes for dinner.

I picked all the okra, sliced it and let it set 2 hours if flour salt coating then deep fried it 400 degrees for dinner.

I sliced some tomatoes and dinner was ready. I went back of seconds 2 times. Everything on the table is from the garden, beans, tomatoes, potatoes, okra.

[Gary350]

I am very surprised to learn oregano I pull from my plant smells and taste more like oregano after drying for 2 days. After 2 days drying oregano has a nice perfume oregano smell. Oregano plant has a dead limb I stripped the dead brown dry leaves from the limb and before throwing them away I smelled them. Perfume oregano smell is very strong on dead leaves I think I accidentally learned something new I wonder if other herbs smell an taste better after drying the leaves for a several days? I have an empty rosemary bottle in the pantry I am pulling rosemary leaves tomorrow after they dry a few days if they smell and taste better I will fill the empty bottle with fresh dried rosemary.

Kitchen is cluttered up with lots of tomatoes & peppers so mission today is clean up the kitchen. I cut all the tomatoes, scooped out seeds, jell, vanes, green & white color insides. Tomatoes were pureed with skin into sauce with onion & garlic then it went into the crock pot. After lunch I add 1 tablespoon corn starch, 1 tablespoon oil, bring to a boil on stove, tomato sauce became thick. Add salt, black pepper, 1 tsp crushed red pepper, 1 large table spoon of dry Italian seasoning mix. Return sauce to crock pot add meat balls and cook spaghetti on the stove. This sauce turned out as good as factory made Ragu pizza sauce. We finally have the recipe we were looking for. Soon as I get another pile of tomatoes in the kitchen we will have several quart jars & pint jars of pizza sauce.

After lunch I sliced up all the jalapeno peppers, boiled them in Bread & Butter pickle brine then packed several jars full. Once I started spooning this into jars choking fumes ran everyone out of the house. Fill jars outside of patio where there is a nice breeze.

I am saving all my seeds.