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TomatoNut95
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Re: Tennessee 2019 Garden

@Gary, have you ever grown sweet peas? I bought some Wando's that I was going to plant this fall and never did. I guess I'm glad I didn't, otherwise they would've frozen. If weather cooperates, I'll plant in the spring.

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Gary350
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I am experimenting with herb mixes for best flavor for certain foods. I made a chili power blend 1 jalapeno pepper & 4 New Mexican peppers including seeds it is spicy hot but not hot enough to burn your mouth off. New Mexican peppers gives chili power flavor & Jalapeno gives it the spicy hot. I think several chili power blends would be great to have in the kitchen to cook with with a range of spicy hotness. Herb mix is before and after herb grinder,
1 tsp medium spicy hot chili powder
1 tsp rosemary
1 tsp marjoram
1 tsp salt
1 tsp fennel
1 tsp paprika

Yesterday before it rained I put 30 lbs of Urea on the 8ph area of the garden. I hope nitrogen decomposes the organic material and sulfur is not needed. I will have to test soil ph again in 1 month.

I learned online Fennel is a perennial it returnes bigger and stronger year after year. I am saving several of my fennel seeds to plan early in pots to transplant in the garden. I have a terrible time finding a permanent location for plants that never die every spring they are full of grass & weeds an in the way of the tiller. Years ago I planted perennials in large clay pots, dig a deep hole put the pot in hole then push soil up around the pots. With top of clay pot flush with soil surface they get all their moisture from garden soil and I never have to water. Pull pots up in spring to till then put pots back in the soil. I don't like doing this type work in the garden wait and see what I decide to do this spring.

TomatoNut95 I planted Wando peas 2 years ago plants grew well until hot weather then nothing. The whole row of peas made about 1 bite of peas to eat. Total waste of time in TN spring weather goes from 30 to 98 degrees in 6 weeks. In the past peas did best for me planted Aug 15 freezing weather in Nov did not kill plants. I picked peas for 3 weeks is freezing weather but still not many peas to eat cold weather makes them grow very slow. I give up on peas.
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Gary350
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WHAT do you cook with fennel? Does the plant taste like fennel seeds too? Does dry fennel plant loose its flavor?

My garden fennel seeds are almost gone, I need to save what seeds I have left to grow in pots. Single plant herbs are $5 each that gets expensive I need to grow my own. I need several clay pots and another fish aquarium to start seeds in the garden.

This 1.6 oz bottle of fennel seeds is $11 at a grocery store. Same 1.6 oz bottle is $3.97 at Walmart. I don't mind paying $3.97 but not $11. Some sellers think organic means bottle of gold. I usually avoid everything marked organic I refuse to help rich people get richer. If I want organic I grow it myself.
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When we were finish harvesting all the beans we wanted for the pantry I let beans make seeds. I think it was about Sept that I picked several pods that were turning yellow & brown & put them in a 5 gallon bucket. I kept the beans spread out on a table to dry a month then put them in a 5 gallon bucket again. Today I decided to put all the dry bean pods in an empty fertilizer bag then beat them again the side of the brick house. Then I tried beating beans against a tree like we did when I was in grade school the tree seems to work better than the flat brick wall. Then I rigged up a sifter using 3 buckets and my garden soil sifter. Beans are heaver than hulls I pushed a lot of hulls to the right side then threw them in the garden. When I was a kid we did this on a very windy day the hulls would blow away, today I used a window fan. Fan worked ok but a good strong wind works better most of the hulls & dust are gone. I have slightly more than 1/2 quart of beans this is more than enough seeds to plant next year. This will be the 4th year for saving my own bean seeds this saved me $10 not buying seeds. This is probably $20 worth of seeds. I usually sort beans while watching TV some seeds have hulls stuck tight to the side of the seeds and some seeds look dirty. Probably nothing wrong with dirty seeds but I like planting the best seeds

I usually save my own corn seed but I forgot to do that this year.
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The process of separating seeds from the hulls, chaff with a big fan is called winnowing.

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Interesting observation hard neck garlic near the glass on the south side of the TP shape green house sprouted within 1 week of planting that was about 2 months ago. Garlic bulbs in north side some are just now starting to sprout & some are not.

Right side carrot seeds are growing in a U shape pattern. Short weed type plants are growing faster than carrots. These little weed plants grow across the soil like ground cover. We love garden carrots I wish I could grow a better larger corp.

Winter potatoes appear to be doing nothing but that is how they are. Potatoes under fish aquarium should grow plants soon but potatoes to the left are under 8" of soil I don't expect to ever see plants. The 40 foot row of potatoes 4 feet to the south of the tiny green house are making no plants either but might grow some by April. Winter potatoes grow totally different than summer potatoes they make new potatoes often with no plants. Winter potatoes are nice round potatoes usually not very large but nicer than summer potatoes and not as many potatoes as summer potatoes.

To the right of the tiny green house I planted a lot of winter seeds and nothing seems to be growing. We had a drought seeds never got water until after cold weather. I'm not sure any of these seeds will grow.

April 20 is usually tomato planting day all these plants need to be gone on that day. If it was not for the row of 45 ft tall trees south side of garden all these plants could have been planted on south side of garden where they would not be in the way of anything until about May 10 or 15.

I still wonder if it is worthwhile to build a 6' x 15' green house with 1 wide 3 ft row beds of plants like carrots, potatoes, napa, garlic, etc. If I could actually grow good crops in a green house it might be worth it. Green house will take up valuable summer garden space soil could be put to better use in summer.
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It has been dark for a hour and I am board looking for something to do so I decide its time to do something with these peppers that have been drying out for 2 months. Some are crispy as potato chips an break up easy. Some are like leather and some are still soft. The peppers with bad places are a good indication there is a problem inside. I trashed the small peppers that were never mature and trashed the bad ones. I broke up the dry peppers & threw, stem, seeds, vanes in trash they ground them up into a nice chili powder. I ripped open the leather pepper pulled off the stem, seeds, vanes then ground them up but they only grind into small pieces. I will let them dry on a paper plate another month then grind them again. This chili powder has a hotter spicy flavor better than the chili powder made with peppers I dried in 150 degree dehydrator. Heat is cooking out the spiciness.
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@Gary, I was standing there cooking some bacon and I was struck with an idea.....can you fry jalapenos? Like breading the slices with flour or cornbread and frying em? It was making me hungry.....

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TomatoNut95 wrote:@Gary, I was standing there cooking some bacon and I was struck with an idea.....can you fry jalapenos? Like breading the slices with flour or cornbread and frying em? It was making me hungry.....
I have been in restaurants where they have deep fried jalapeno peppers on the menu. I have seen jalapeno peppers whole & sliced in 1/2 breaded an deep fried. No reason you can't bread & deep fry hot pepper strips. I have eaten breaded & deep fried pickles in restaurants they are very good. I has been many years since I have eaten a deep fried jalapeno pepper they are good too. You can deep fry large basil leaves they turn out like green color crispy potato chips basil flavor. Deep fried sweet potato, french fries, wedges, strips, peals, strips, are all good. How many people have eaten, fried green tomatoes, yellow squash, zuchinni, okra, green beans, they are good too. I have eaten jalapeno bread and corn bread they are good. I say deep fry only because we have one it is so easy to use oil is already in there but skillet fry is good too. Try it & let us know how it turned out. You are making me hungry I wish I still had some jalapenos I would fry some for dinner.
Last edited by Gary350 on Wed Dec 11, 2019 12:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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TomatoNut95
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I wish I had some jalapenos to, those in the grocery store would be too hot for my liking.

Fried basil leaves?? New one on me, but sounds awesome!

I got some free Cilantro seeds with my order, would you want em, @gary?

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TomatoNut95 wrote:I wish I had some jalapenos to, those in the grocery store would be too hot for my liking.

Fried basil leaves?? New one on me, but sounds awesome!

I got some free Cilantro seeds with my order, would you want em, @gary?
I have a 1/2 pint Jar of cilantro seeds I grew from several plants almost 2 years ago to make coriander an to grow more plants. Cilantro is tricky to germinate an grow it seems like too much work. End of Feb seems like the best time to germinate seeds in the house in pots to plant in the garden. Now is a good time to grow in pots to eat in the kitchen it needs a sunny window. I would love to have a bay window. I don't need anymore cilantro seeds. 1 year I grew cilantro in a 2 gal pot it got early morning sun for only 4 hours then shade until dark it did not bolt until August after surviving a whole month of 98 degree weather in full shade.

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Yeah, I've tried growing cilantro in the past and had nothing but trouble with it, which is why I gave up on it. Out of all the seeds Baker Creek could've sent me, why did it HAVE to be cilantro! My luck. Oh well. I'll toss them in my cull out pile. I need to go through my seed stock...

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TomatoNut95 wrote:Yeah, I've tried growing cilantro in the past and had nothing but trouble with it, which is why I gave up on it. Out of all the seeds Baker Creek could've sent me, why did it HAVE to be cilantro! My luck. Oh well. I'll toss them in my cull out pile. I need to go through my seed stock...
This seems odd to me. I'm not keen on the flavor of cilantro-the-foliage but I use a lot of coriander-the-seed. In my garden the stuff will self-seed and grow wild without any encouragement. Three or four plants penned in a tomato cage will easily give me a year's worth of coriander for the kitchen. The idea of having to buy seed (more than once) is quite surprising to me :).

I have been a little puzzled, though, at how puny the foliage is. lucky I don't like cilantro; there wouldn't be much of a harvest. The plants grow like my dill does, as very tall skinny stems with sparse & insignificant leaves, but many flower umbels that make lots of seed.

I wonder if there are different varieties; some better for foliage and some for seed?

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I don't believe I've ever seen different varieties of cilantro now that I think about it. If the seeds are genetically engineered, then perhaps they were modified to do something different. Or, if tthere are different varieties of cilantro out there, then I'm sure there's a hybrid out there, bred for better seed over foliage.

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It’s more a question of selection I think. Some are selected for tendency to grow more foliage/leaves without bolting until later, and some are selected for tendency to bolt-bloom-set seeds early and prolifically and perhaps in larger sizes. And of course for flavor of the herbs and/or seeds as well.

Cilantro as fresh herbs maddeningly do not fall in line with our preference to use them with fresh tomatoes and peppers, however. They are early spring crop and might even do better if sown now to come up soon after the ground thaws. Trying to grow them with tomatoes and peppers in the heat of the summer is nearly impossible.

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Vanisle_BC wrote: In my garden the stuff will self-seed and grow wild without any encouragement. Three or four plants penned in a tomato cage will easily give me a year's worth of coriander for the kitchen. The idea of having to buy seed (more than once) is quite surprising to me :).
Vanisle_BC You have mentioned this before and this gives me an idea. Do you remember what your weather and temperature was like when cilantro seeds germinated and grew plants? Tomorrow I am planting cilantro in this cold weather when temperatures get right in spring seeds should grow. I need a marker 4 months from now I will never remember I planted cilantro seeds.

I have decided cold weather plants do not grow well in below freezing weather. Just because 15 degree weather does not kill the plants does not mean they will grow, they wait until spring when we have 60 degree weather. My idea to grow winter crops in a small green house won't work. A green house large enough to warm up to 60 degree on its own in 15 degree weather every day might work.

I had course ground chili powder drying in the 100 degree bread proofing box for several days. Today I ground it into a fine powder then mixed it with my other chili powder blend. It is good we have used chili powder several times to cook Mexican & chili other wise this chili powder would not fit in the chili powder jar. I still have about 20 chili peppers drying out they will be chili powder too maybe about Jan.

Time to relax with a new bottle of SIMI red wine this is very good wine.
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So there IS more than one variety of cilantro?????

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Gary, we're officially in zone 7 which means we get frost but seldom below about 10F, and it's been a while since we even got that low. The coriander that volunteers is seed that falls to the ground late summer and survives to germinate in (I assume) spring. I think it has done that even in our coldest winters. (I remember a very rare 0 deg F but that's before I was gardeneing.) Spring is when I plant the coriander I want to grow 'under control'. Actually I largely neglect it. I scatter seed inside a cage, lightly cover and thin when it comes up. Hereabouts, watering is seldom necessary in spring :).

I hope you'll have success - coriander is such a great flavor; and I suspect cilantro is too once you get accustomed to it; specially if it's a subtle, unobtrusive ingredient.

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TomatoNut95 wrote:So there IS more than one variety of cilantro?????
There are a bunch of varieties of cilantro, plus the different varieties grown for the seeds - a.k.a. coriander. I have tried all of them, but none grow well here - they bolt way too fast, unless I grow them indoors. Most of them have some name like slo bolt, or a variation on that, but they aren't for me! I even grew the ones meant for seeds, but they didn't do well.

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pepperhead212 wrote:
TomatoNut95 wrote:So there IS more than one variety of cilantro?????
There are a bunch of varieties of cilantro, plus the different varieties grown for the seeds - a.k.a. coriander. I have tried all of them, but none grow well here - they bolt way too fast
If you were growing them for seed wouldn't that be OK?

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Vanisle_BC wrote:
pepperhead212 wrote:
TomatoNut95 wrote:So there IS more than one variety of cilantro?????
There are a bunch of varieties of cilantro, plus the different varieties grown for the seeds - a.k.a. coriander. I have tried all of them, but none grow well here - they bolt way too fast
If you were growing them for seed wouldn't that be OK?
Sounds like it would be OK, but you'd want a much larger plant, before it bolts, so there would be a lot more flowers and seeds. These just get barely more than one stalk, and they bolt. I think it has something to do with length of day, not just getting hot out.

One thing that I tried in 2018 was growing some for the unripe seeds - sort of like harvesting green peppercorns. I saw in a show - I think a Milkstreet show - that this is the way they use a lot of it in Colombia, so I figured I'd try it, and it was OK, but again, I would have wanted larger plants. I really didn't get much from each plant.

Fortunately, cilantro is found everywhere in the stores around here now, so I gave up on it! Last season was my last trial, with 4 varieties. I did find out, however, that GA-3 helped them germinate much faster, however. So if I ever grow them indoors again, I have that to work with.

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Dave, sorry about your experience with cilantro. It can be frustrating when something won't grow for you, even though it's available in the stores. And often the store-bought produce has been transported from far away. Right now I'm having to buy my Brussels sprouts because my home-grown ones failed.

Your last comment makes me wonder if your cilantro trials have all been indoors; but I think that's unlikely. Mine have always been started & grown outdoors.

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Online says, cilantro likes temperature 50 to 77 degrees F. 2 years ago I planted cilantro so it got early morning sun only then shade hotter part of the day. When temperature got near 80 I put shade over the plants to keep them cooler they grew another month more than they usually do before plants made seeds. Nitrogen fertilizer made larger plants than usually. Coriander is ground up seeds compared to ground up dead sticks they have almost the same flavor. Even grocery store coriander in a bottle has no flavor I don't understand why this is a herb. pepperhead212 You mention harvest green seeds an use them as herbs maybe that is the key to good flavor. This summer I will pull green seeds from a plant an taste them. Dry seeds loose their flavor. I have saved cilantro leaves they don't have much flavor after they dry out. I like cilantro & ripe tomatoes in salsa.

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What about parsley? I've grown it from seed before, but in my opinion it's just yucky eaten fresh. Can the weather make it go bitter or something? Or maybe the variety. I do know there's more than one kind of parsley. I prefer it dried, really. Not much flavor to it then.

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TomatoNut95 wrote:What about parsley? I've grown it from seed before, but in my opinion it's just yucky eaten fresh. Can the weather make it go bitter or something? Or maybe the variety. I do know there's more than one kind of parsley. I prefer it dried, really. Not much flavor to it then.
Curly parsley is not for eating it looks good on a dinner plate that is all it is good for. Some people claim you can eat it. I have chopped it an eaten it in food it has a stronger flavor than other parsley.

I grow flat leaf Italian Parsley. It grows to a nice big plant with good flavor the first year. Second year it grows much larger good flavor an makes seeds. I harvest it both years, chop into very small pieces to put in food, soup, stew, meatloaf, salads, homemade bread, smoothy, etc. Nitrogen fertilizer makes it grow very BIG. I harvest a lot to dry and put in a jar to cook with in winter.

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I cannot remember what kind of parsley that was that I ate (or sniffed) that was bitter. That could've been curly.

I found a nice, simple recipe on the Taste of Home website for fried, cheese-stuffed Jalapenos. I think after work I'll buy just a few peppers, experiment, and if it works out, I'll do it again next year with my own heatless jalapenos.

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TomatoNut95 wrote:I cannot remember what kind of parsley that was that I ate (or sniffed) that was bitter. That could've been curly.

I found a nice, simple recipe on the Taste of Home website for fried, cheese-stuffed Jalapenos. I think after work I'll buy just a few peppers, experiment, and if it works out, I'll do it again next year with my own heat less jalapenos.
Every time I deep fried or fried peppers in a skillet they loose 90% of their heat. What ever makes peppers spicy hot must have a boiling point lower than water. Even stuff peppers baked in the oven were less hot. I like Chili Rellenos if they are made right each family has their own recipe and each cook book has different recipes. I like chilies cut in 1/2 baked in oven until done then filled with, meat, onion, garlic, herbs, then filled with melted cheese sauce.

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I'll admit I'm not the best cook around, but I wasted my time on this. That's the last time I attempt frying whole, cheese stuffed peppers. The batter and flour/cornbread mixture wasn't wanting to stick to the peppers too well and the cheese melted out while trying to fish the peppers out of the pan. :x I won't be doing this again unless I fry just the halves or slices of the jalapenos.
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TomatoNut95 wrote:I'll admit I'm not the best cook around, but I wasted my time on this. That's the last time I attempt frying whole, cheese stuffed peppers. The batter and flour/cornbread mixture wasn't wanting to stick to the peppers too well and the cheese melted out while trying to fish the peppers out of the pan. :x I won't be doing this again unless I fry just the halves or slices of the jalapenos.
Fried peppers look yummy in the picture I want one. See if you can find corn dog mix at the grocery store it will stick to a smooth surface like peppers and cook very crispy. I have never found a corn dog breading recipe that works as well as store bought mix. I have a good onion ring recipe that hangs on tight I have never tried it on anything but onions.

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Today we used our first Quart Jar of homemade garden Enchilada sauce from the pantry. We made Mexican Burritos with, chicken, rice, beans, onions, garlic, cheese, sauce, filling. After rolling up 16 burritos I topped them with sauce & sharp cheddar cheese then baked them until cheese melted. 5 of us for dinner and we still have 8 burritos left over, these are big 1 is a meal for me. Enchilada sauce turned out excellent I was worried 1 quart will be too much but with 16 burritos it was almost not enough. Sauce flavor is perfect I did the math on the recipe to make 1 gallon of sauce each time. I think we still have 7 more jars of enchilada sauce in the pantry. Wife's stomach has been bothering her all day she wanted 2 burritos with no sauce.
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I got the recipe off the Taste of Home website. First I washed the peppers, cut the stems off, cut out the seed cores and poured Cheese Whiz in them. After sitting in the refrigerator for three overs I prepared to fry them. While the crisco melted in the saucepan on the stove, I mixed a batter consisting of flour, a bit of cornmeal, milk and spices. In another bowl I mixed the more flour and another bit of cornmeal. The batter came out too runny even after I added a bit more flour, then the flour lumped up.

They smell ok, and I ate one(tasted fine, actually) but the heat did not cook out of those peppers. Too hot for my liking!! I wish stores would sell heatless jalapenos. If I ever attempt to do that again, I'll use my own less hot peppers.

Aww, I hope your wife feels better; I hope she isn't sick.

Those enchiladas look delicious. I'm sure they turned out way better than my goofed-up peppers did.

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Saturday morning I finished making New Mexico chili powder. I also have 3 dry fire hot chilies that I made chili powder with too. The fire hot chilies were a volunteer plant from plants grown a year ago tag on the plants said, HOT Mexican Chilies 8" long, in small letters it also said Cayenne. If I had noticed tag said cayenne I would not have bought 4 plants. After grinding up New Mexico chili powder I dumped it in with the chili powder I already made and blended it all together in a large 10" cast iron skillet. A 3 pint empty mayo jar makes a good container for mild chili powder. Sometimes it pays off to be a pack rat I have an empty cayenne pepper jar this will be a good place to keep the fire hot chili powder. I also have about 200 Fire Hot Chili pepper seeds. Soon I need to put seeds in envelopes with names & dates.
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Tonight I am sorting & saving seeds. I am not very organized seeds are in every size & shape container I can find. I end up with too many of each kind of seed. I hate to throw out old seeds if I don't get round to saving seeds this year then I plant last years seeds. I think most seeds are good for several years. Here is a list of what I have collected, some of these are left over seeds. Some seeds may never get planted for 1 reason or another. I probably will not plant pickling cucumbers next year we have about 6 gallons of Bread & Butter pickles. Pickles will all become relish for hot dogs & potato salad next summer. I won't be planting Marconi peppers Big Bertha are large, produce more and taste better. I don't have a place to sprout seeds inside the house seeds will get sprinkled in garden if they grow they get transplanted. Beans, corn, melons, tomatoes, will all get planted in rows. I have lots of other seeds I did not plant last year they don't grow well in this weather so they will probably never get planted. I have given up on greens by the time they germinate and grow weather is hot and greens are milky & bitter. My seeds take up a lot of space in a cardboard box maybe next year I throw a lot of old seeds away.

1000 or so Blue Lake bush beans.
1500 or so Big Beef tomatoes
20,000 or so New Mexico peppers
1000 or so 1" cherry tomatoes
1 lb Roma Flat Pod beans
300 Marconi peppers
1200 Big Bertha peppers
2000 cilantro seeds
100 Jalapano seeds
100 dill seeds
200 Peaches & cream seeds
Several large leaf basil seeds
10 pickling cucumber seeds
200 fennel seeds
30 yellow squash seeds
11 zuchinni seeds
100 broccoli seeds
400 napa seeds
200 Fire Hot Mexica chili seeds
200 Watermelon seeds
400 Ambrosa corn seeds
2000 Silver Queen corn seeds
4000 cantaloupe seeds
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I know what you mean. I've got too many seeds to that I didn't plant, and probably WON'T plant. Most of it is flowers though. Some tomatoes and some peppers. What kind of cantaloupe do you have? And I'll take some of those Big Bertha peppers if you want to get rid of some! I love that BB, I just can't find seeds for it in-store. Online they're not cheap.

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Gary350
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Location: TN. 50 years of gardening experience.

I got 3 buckets of very fine white beach sand at a construction site. Guys said, we can bring you several dump truck loads of free sand but not to TN that is too far so I got what I have room to haul. This will be used in a bed 50/50 sand/soil for something that needs soft soil, not sure what yet? Not sure where to put it yet either? I don't think this will work for onion or garlic it will be dry as desert in 98 degree weather. I grew 1/2 long carrots at the other house 30 years ago in construction sand they did much better than 100% soil. Melons love sand but not enough sand to waste it on melons. I might use sand for potatoes I have 3 months to think about it.

Online info says, sandy loam soil is, 7% clay, 30 to 50% sand, no mention how much silt. Funny it also says, you can not go outside and whip up a batch of sandy loam garden soil it will likely be hard as cement it takes years to make good soil the key is lots of organic material. I already have too much organic material maybe this year it will be composted better and soil will be better than last summer. Silt comes from river flood water 40 years ago I hauled 3 pickup trucks loads of sandy river bank soil to my garden but not doing that again it is too much work for me now.
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Gary350
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My garden is covered with this plant every winter. It never gets tall, it spreads out over the soil surface and by April it is like walking on carpet. I have not clue what this plant is but it is a little bit interesting that it only grows in cold weather. These plants are making seeds that do not germinate until December a year from now. I only need to till 1" deep to kill these plants 1 week before planting spring garden. Everything I read says tilling the garden provides much needed oxygen to the soil. I only till enough to kill weeds or stir in more organic material so I can plant the garden and not have weeds spring or summer. Some people claim you can till too much but how is that possible a compose pile must be turned often to give it oxygen to compose so how does tilling garden soil 2 or 3 times in spring bad? My garden is full of too much organic material it needs to be tilled at lease 1 time to break up the soil so seeds can be planted. I expect to find soil to be full of 1000s of fishing worms late April.
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TomatoNut95
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That looks like Chickweed. That stuff grows like crazy in my backyard. It and henbits were trying to cover my garden during that last warm spell and had to do some hoeing. I used to feed chickweed to my pet rabbit years ago, who sucked it up like candy.

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Gary350
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TomatoNut95 wrote:That looks like Chickweed. That stuff grows like crazy in my backyard. It and henbits were trying to cover my garden during that last warm spell and had to do some hoeing. I used to feed chickweed to my pet rabbit years ago, who sucked it up like candy.
Now that you mention it I do remember the name Chickweed. When I lived in Arizona chickweed grew every where even if nothing else grew it would grow. Mexican people picked it and used it like lettuce. They eat it as salads and put it on tacos & enchiladas. I have eaten it before with honey mustard salad dressing and on sandwiches. I am so forgetful these days I can't remember anything without making notes. I have to make map of my garden on paper to remember what I planted and if it was planted. After seeds germinate then I don't need the garden map. I hope chickweed does good things for the soil it is not big enough to eat yet.
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TomatoNut95
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What???? You mean I've been growing a free salad crop for years and never knew it?!!! :lol: I already chopped mine up, so if you try yours let me know how it tastes! :wink:

Hey, garden maps are handy, and it never hurts to have one even if you're not forgetfull. But since my garden is so small, I don't need a map. And besides, I hardly ever plant seeds directly in the garden, I plant the transplants and make sure I stick the variety label next to the plant so I'll remember what kind it is until it starts producing.

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Gary350
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Location: TN. 50 years of gardening experience.

I wish I could grow every herb I need so I don't have to buy it. 2 years ago prices in town were $8 & up for spices at all the grocery stores & Walmart. For a while I was buying herbs at Mexican flea market $4 per lb 30 mile drive round trip. We have to eat a lot of tacos, enchiladas, chili to use up 1 lb of cumin, 1 lb of oregano, 2 lbs of chili powder. NOW there is a new spice in all the stores called, Organic Great Value, prices are $1.99 to to $3.99 has anyone seen these herbs in your stores. Today I bought, Bay Leaves & Celery Seed. I have bought, Turmeric, Mustard seeds and others in the past.
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