Thanks .. it’s an odd look after being used to grass hahahahaha

Okay Update Time on the Mushrooms....

Nearly Time for Them to show Themseleves....

Just Wish I could Remember Which Ones These are.....

Ninecrow - Keep the updates coming!

Nicecrow - it looks like you are growing cotton candy!

Jamie - you have a Rock Garden! I think it looks real nice. No more mowing!

Yippee...Fall is finally here!!!

It's been in the mid 90s here for the last several days and I am tired of it. It's raining lightly now and today will top out at 72F. No highs above 80 in the 2 week forecast and next week the lows will be in the 40s! I love it!

My fall veggies have mostly weathered the latest heat wave but I think I will need to reseed my first planting of radishes. No big deal. I need to seed some lettuce this weekend and transplant some spinach seedlings.

My Early Dividend broccoli should start heading up any day now. I haven't looked at it for a few days so it might have started already.

My tomato plants are almost empty except for the cherries which keep on setting more. I'm almost up to 30 lbs, from my single Sungold and about 20 on the Black Cherry. Orange Jazz and Girl Girl's Weird Thing are in a dead heat for tops in production with both right around 32 lbs. Big Beef are not far behind but they were planted in one of my newest beds with poor soil and none of the plants in that bed produced well. I'll start ripping out tomato plants this weekend.

Jamie - that looks great!! Weeding and grass management should be much easier now! Hope it helps out with the drainage issue.

Jack - Your chiefs are looking pretty good ! Lots of weapons on that offense. Our Steelers are sort of self imploding.

Glad to hear your fall garden is surviving the heat wave. We are experiencing warmer temps but not quite in the 90s. Supposed to cool down considerably tonight.

I was out of town all week, so have lots to do in the garden today and this weekend! Probably will start ripping out tomato plants also.

I direct sowed lettuce, spinach, and tatsoi in just about every open bed last weekend. Hoping to see it sprouting here soon.

Also gave the wheelhorse tiller a try 'down on the farm'. This was in an area that hadnt been covered with plastic yet. I will be pulling up some of the plastic and trying a few test tills there too. I was pretty happy with the results - only hit a few boulders lol. This was one pass on somewhat dry ground and grass about 3-4 inches high. If I can hit it after a nice rainfall and shorter or killed off grass, I think I can get a good six inches with a few passes.

Looking good Kevin. I’ll probably be removing tomatoes here in the next week or two as well. They’re mostly dying off (haven’t sprayed fungicide since August) and there’s not many tomatoes left. Been harvesting by the dozen or 2 every other day pretty much. Ready to start rolling out some winter lettuce transplants!

Jack, I do need to find that Early Dividend broccoli next spring. It’s too bad one can’t save seeds off of hybrid broccoli isn’t it?

I’m amazed at some lettuces. I had planted Batavian lettuces (Sierra was the name) sometime in August, and they’ve pretty much not been watered whatsoever, even during the 90ish temps the last few days. They’ve thrived! I’m going to transplant them to proper spacing, and we should be harvesting in a few weeks. Batavian lettuces always amaze me. Most lettuces are picky for me, but these guys just want to grow. Rouge Grenobloise is the same way, being a Batavian.

Thanks all. We about to see if the drainage improves haha it’s supposed to rain the next several days.

Good morning,

Jamie, your 'rock garden' looks great!

And it's raining here - again. This may go on until Friday.

Yesterday I went to Monticello for their Heritage Harvest Festival. One of the speakers was Craig LeHoullier (nctomatoman) so of course I went to hear him. And I spoke to him for a few minutes. Really enjoyed his talk and learning about a few tomato varieties that were unfamiliar to me.

https://www.monticello.org/site/visit/heritage-harvest-festival-monticello?gclid=CjwKCAjw85zdBRB6EiwAov3Rik0uA5VGyBJp3gaIhSGYTw79tPZ7psttdlle3NUEFxCT0Jw-gw2SsRoC7eIQAvD_BwE

No gardening news here. :(

That looked like a nice way to spend a Saturday, Cindy. It’s unfortunate that y’all are getting rain again. it started here yesterday and will continue off and on throughout the week also- bit I don’t think it’s as bad as what you are experiencing.

Did you learn anything exciting?

I dug up 3 sweet potato plants today haha I let them grow a little too big

Jacob - I can send you a packet of Early Dividend next spring. My seed store should have some in February sometime. I'm glad your lettuce is doing well. I sowed some lettuce seed and transplanted a few spinach yesterday. Did you get any of the flooding rains there this weekend?

Jamie - Nice looking sweet potatoes! Some of them can get really big and strange shaped. I might pull the plastic off my SP bed next weekend to see how they are doing under there.

It's weird that with all the rain and flooding going on around the country, we are still having moderate to severe drought conditions here in Missouri. I got maybe 1/4" Friday morning from the system that caused all of the major flooding in TX and OK.

Kevin - the Chiefs are doing pretty well so far. Pat Mahomes came down to earth a little yesterday. He missed a couple wide open long passes that would have been TDs. Your newly tilled bed looks good. Have you found someone with a dump truck yet for the manure?

Cindy - I'm jealous that you got to meet Craig. I don't think he has ever spoken near here. I want to read his book Epic Tomatoes sometime. I wonder if my local library has it.

I picked another 11.5 lbs. of green beans on Saturday. They are still blooming pretty well so I should get at least one more decent harvest. I'm up to 28 lbs. from the 4x10 bed now.

Garden pictures · More Info

I have twin Siamese twins. The eggplant appeared to have stopped growing larger and was turning yellowish so I picked it. This is my third siamese yellow squash! My siamese acorn squash got aborted by the plant and turned to mush.

Garden pictures · More Info

Jamie - Yes, I did learn a few things. Craig said that there's no such thing as a low acid tomato, that what people think of as low acid tomatoes are just less sweet tomatoes.

Also, tomatoes like Cherokee Purple have a recessive genetic trait so that they retain some chlorophyll, resulting in darker coloring.

His next book is going to be about his Dwarf Tomato project.

Jack - If you are not opposed to a used book there are a number of them on Amazon. That's how I purchased mine.

And the Chiefs are doing so well!!

https://www.amazon.com/Epic-Tomatoes-Select-Grow-Varieties-ebook/dp/B00KLNAJCK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1537793731&sr=8-1&keywords=epic+tomatoes+by+craig+lehoullier

Pulled the first leeks on 9-16-2018 -- Bulgarian Giant -- and they amazed us with their crispness and tenderness plus flavor!

Thickest was 1" and the others 3/4" ranging from 18" (the 1") to
24" long, with the stems being nearly all white to the green tops. The
Bulgarian Giant Leeks are described as tall and slim, and some comments
say no need to blanch them.

Nibbled on the green leaves and was surprised to find out they were
not tough, so cut 2" off the stem, sliced it in half and ate it raw --
tender and delicious with lots of pungency. Store bought leeks we get
are short and stubby, with tough greens and hard to chew white part --
used only for cooking.

I'm wondering if these are so tender because they are home grown, or
because of the sort? What is your experience with the types you grow?

Tony

p.s. forgot to add leeks were direct sown in a container outside in
the freezing weather on 2-22-2018 (under a clear plastic dome making
the container into a mini greenhouse)

Jack - you’re the Bean Man for sure!!! You’ll be at 1 lb per square foot in that bed, that’s a lot!!! Dilly beans in your future?

We yanked all the tomato plants this weekend. A few would have been okay but I thought it better to pull them all so I could burn the plant residue all at the same time, and squeeze in a cover crop (blend of mustard, crimson clover, hairy vetch, and winter rye). Grand total for tomatoes was 681 lbs!

Got one half of the plot well tilled. Still need to work some compost in.

Deer finally found the garden... they hit up the beans and beets pretty well so far.

Kevin - The deer found my garden again Sunday night too. They ate all the leaves off one yellow squash plant and some off another and also some leaves from the sweet potato plants that were vining outside of the fenced confines of the bed.

Wow...that's a lot of tomatoes! I'm still picking but there's not more than about 5 lbs. left on just a few of the plants that are left. I think I'm somewhere around 300 lbs. of tomatoes now and about 850 lbs. total.

I still have 6 or 7 pints of dilly beans left from last year so I don't think I'll make any this year. I've frozen 8 or 9 lbs. already and may do one more batch from the next harvest. I doubt I get to 40 lbs. from the Provider beans but I should make it to 35 if the deer don't find them. The plants are starting to get pretty ragged after 3 harvests anyway.

Tony - my leeks are usually very tender if picked at around 1" in size. When they get up around 2" they start to develop a central core that can be tough and woody but it is only on the very bottom of the shank.

Am I remembering correctly - did someone here freeze their jalepenos/other peppers for future stuffing? I've make up the complete stuffed poppers and froze them, but I am looking to maybe just freeze the peppers themselves, then stuff later (don't think we will have the time for full scale poppers with us leaving for vacation in two days).

Thinking chop the top, core, then freeze in ziplocks. This would be jalepenos and poblanos. Then come back at a later date and stuff them with filling either prior to cooking or put back in freezer. Now that I typed that all out it seems a little sketchy.

If not I'll just chop everything up and freeze it for future sauce/cooking and maybe pickle some. There's something like 15 lbs of peppers to process in the fridge right now.

As long as we don't get a frost while we are gone we should have another big flush of peppers when we get back that we can make poppers with.

I haven't done poppers, but some other similar things. It worked best to freeze the hollow veggie in a single layer on a tray and bag them when frozen so their open hollow did not get smushed by being crammed into bags or boxes to freeze. To stuff, only a few at time were removed from the freezer and immediately stuffed while they still held their frozen hollow shape. Than back into the freezer they went. Then grab another frozen handful to stuff.

Enjoy the vacation!

naturegirl - thanks!

I've never frozen peppers whole without stuffing them first but I'd go with naturegirl's suggestion if I did.

I chopped and froze 8 bags of Jalapenos with one cup in each bag to use in Jalapeno Popper wonton cups. People seem to really like these better than poppers. For sweet bell peppers I slice them and freeze them for use in fajitas or Italian Sausage hoagies.

I buy green bell peppers once or twice in the winter if we want stuffed peppers.

Jack - I like that popper wonton cup idea! Sometimes the poppers with a whole pepper can be a bit overpowering for people, heatwise. I guess we'll just have a chopping party tonight haha.

Kevin - this is the recipe I use. I use 1/2 C of chopped Jalapenos per recipe but I usually make 2 recipes at a time so I freeze one cup per bag. They freeze best if vacuum sealed or they will get freezer burned pretty quickly. There are usually about 50 wonton wrappers in a package. I actually use 2 wontons per cup and place them like a star before pushing them into the cup. One package is enough to do 24 poppers if you double them up.

Jalapeno Popper Wonton Cups

Jack - Thanks for that recipe!!

Another t-storm headed this way. We are now 18" above normal for this time of year.

Oh my goodness, Cindy! You’re going to grow webbed feet!

Jack - that recipe looks delicious, thank you! Might have to throw some baked sweet sausage in the mix!

Do you freeze the actual made up wonton cup for reheating ? I doubt they would make it back into the freezer at my house!

Jamie - Did you check your mail today?

I’m actually in the Pittsburgh area until tomorrow, Cindy but I’ll make sure that my better half checks the mail! Thanks!!

Is it raining there?

it has been off and on since I got here on monday. It’s been clear most of the afternoon and evening. It was raining when I left Memphis. It rained in Charlotte during my layover. And it rained when I got here. Hahahaha

Jamie when do you leave so I can know when I can cut the grass? Lol!

Did you eat at any good spots yet?!

Been chilly here! 64 degree high today, northern wind blowing most the day.

Jack, hahahahahaha those Siamese twins look a little funny. I don’t think I could eat those with a straight face to say the least...

Cindy, I think you are going to grow webbed feet. You easterners are being hammered with rain this year!

I ripped out about half of tomato plants over the last couple of days, dug the area over, and mounded up a 15’x4’ bed for lettuce transplants. They’re all snug under AG30 fabric to keep the deer off, removed during the day. My garden looks a little redneck. I have overturned buckets and wheelbarrows over plants to keep deer off, row covers all over the place, rock barriers, etc. It’s a battle zone, and a real chore to remove everything every morning...

Anyone planting garlic this fall? I’ve got around 100-120 Inchelium Red cloves to plant soon as well as around 15-16 elephant garlic cloves. I’m hoping to remove the rest of my tomato plants in a few weeks once they’ve been harvested in plant it in mounded double rows. We may have a chance for frost next week according to the long range forecast so they may be going in sooner than later. Those long range forecasts are so screwy though, no telling. We plan a trip to St. Louis next week as well, and we may be helping my grandpa finish up his second cutting of hay, so I’m pretty much working any free time I’ve got outside digging the garden and prepping areas, preparing my chickens for winter, closing off compost piles, touching up the yard in preparation for getting leaves, and I’ll need to be getting leaves out of our neighbors’ yard once they start falling. In other words, I’ve been super busy and I’m ready for winter haha.

I saw the first geese flying south today, twice. Seems a bit early?

I’ll be leaving today, Kevin so get that lawnmower ready Hahahaha

We did have lunch at Primanti’s yesterday and I liked it! We didn’t get to Forgotten Taste though- we were running a little late and missed the time window. Last night we ate super at Industry Public House and Tuesday night we went to Hofbrauhaus- my coworkers wanted ice cream afterward so we went to a little place that’s under a bridge downtown (cue The Red Hot Chili Peppers) I was too full to hold ice cream hahaha all-in-all it’s been a successful culinary experience. Thanks for the recommendations!

We have a meteorology department at work and I know one of the guys that works in it. He also runs memphisweather.net. He said usually spot-in with his short range forecasts and he reluctantly makes a 5-day forecast. He won’t really say much beyond that because it is too unpredictable. I have been involved with forecasting (our business related things and not weather) and I can understand his reluctance. There are far too many unknknowns and uncontrollable variables.

jacob do any of the geese stay there year-round? We have had some in this area set up homesteads and just stay all year long!

Kevin - I've never frozen the already made up popper wontons. I'm not sure it would work well since you bake the wontons in the muffin cups first before adding the cheese/bacon/pepper mix. Making them a few hours ahead of party time and reheating them works well.

Cindy - Looks like you are in for another wet day :-( Are you felling OK...I think I'm hearing a quack in your voice. LOL

Jacob - I going to hold off planting my garlic until the last weekend of October. I don't want much if any top growth this fall. I had 8-10" of top growth last year planting Columbus day weekend. I still have spent tomato plants in the garlic bed.

It was 41 degrees at my house this morning....Brrrr! I'll be pulling all of my tomatoes except the Sungold this weekend. Most of the peppers are coming out too, Then i'll mix in some compost into the vacant beds. Sweet Potatoes will also be harvested so I will have a couple weeks to cure them before I go on a planned fishing trip the second weekend of October. I want to make some sweet potato fries to go with the fish fry.

Jamie - A lot of Canada Geese stay here year round but the snow geese don't. Jacob is probably seeing snow geese migrating now. They fly a lot higher then Canada geese and have squeaky voices.

I'm kind of glad the Chiefs don't play until Monday night this week so I can dedicate all weekend to the garden. The hard part will be staying up for the whole game Monday!

Jamie, I am not sure if the geese stay here year round or not. I am sure that if the Canada geese stay at Jack’s year round that they would stay here year round as well! I didn’t actually know the difference between a snow goose and Canada goose before.

Jack, that’s chilly! It’s been overcast and rainy here at night so it hasn’t been able to drop quite that cold yet, only 47 this morning. We haven’t had a whole lot of sunshine lately.

My garlic will probably go in at the time of our first frost. That could be anytime from now to the beginning of Nov. depending on the year. I see many people who recommend planting garlic in August here locally....That seems WAY too early to me.

I’m thinking I won’t have to buy compost next year, which will be great. I have about 2 yards rotting for use in the spring at the moment. I could probably make another yard or two but I’m going to start mixing stuff straight into vacant spots in my garden instead. I’ll give the food scraps to the chickens since food will be getting rarer soon.

Although it wasn’t quite ripe, I had to pick my siamese cantaloupe on the weekend because the vines had totally browned. Last night I cut it. There were 2 distinct seed cavities and a section in the middle that was solid from rind to rind.

Brrr...the local weather guy said we hit a low of 43 this morning. When I checked it was 49 on my deck. Relating to such cool temperatures and tomatoes I have a question. I have plants with quite a few tomatoes still growing. What do you tomato experts say... Will these tomatoes be any good when they ripen now that they’ve been exposed to such cool temperatures?

Tony - What’s the latest with your “topped” determinate tomatoes? My plants that independently started putting out new growth about the time you cut yours back are now starting to produce a few nearly ripe tomatoes.

Jacob- I will be planting garlic. I just ordered some, Inchelium Red, Brown Tempest, and Georgian Crystal. I already have some Music and a no-name that I picked up at the local Farmers Market. I am working on a new bed for garlic this year. I will be planting at the end of October.

Itsmce - good to hear from you! That siamese cantaloupe looks interesting. I figured it would have 2 seed cavities. How did it taste?

I think your tomatoes should be fine. Maybe not as good as the ones that ripen in hot summer weather but still good. We have some more 80+ degree weather coming up and hopefully most of them will have time to ripen before it cools off again. If not you could make some fried green tomatoes or Salsa Verde using green tomatoes instead of tomatillos.

I'll be interested in how the Georgian Crystal does for you, I've been wanting to try it but just haven't pulled the trigger on buying some. I'll be growing German White, Music, Spanish Roja, Chesnok Red, and maybe a Silver skin softneck if I can make it over to a farmer's market on Saturday.

Jack - My melon taster informed me that it was still “good“...not as good as they were in the height of the season, but still worth eating.

Hi, Guys Still Here

Jack

Do You Blanch the Bell's Before Freezing?

Thanks

WOW!

On the Siamese Cantaloupe Itsmce Thank You For Posting.....

My Pepper is Growing and has Buds, Flowers and a Maybe Pepper on it, I'm Glad as I Did Cut Him back quite hard....

Will Have to Remember to get a Photo for You All...

Mushrooms Are Going Along I Think Things May be Happening, But Not Sure so that's another Photo to Fire off to the Seller....

Ninecrow - No I don't blanch any peppers before freezing. Peppers and alliums (onions, leeks, etc) are a few of the veggies that don't require blanching before freezing. The moisture content is very high in peppers so vacuum sealing is best to keep their quality longer.

I hope your mushrooms start doing their thing soon. A few of my favorite wild mushrooms are now or will soon be in season around here. Oyster, Lobster, Lion's Mane, and Hen of the Woods. Though if we don't get more rain soon there may not be a fall mushroom season at all.

Hey all. I find that the best way for me to keep peppers when there is an excess is to dehydrate them. I then use a coffee grinder to make them into powder which basically lasts forever ( years anyway). It is great for spicing up any dish

I got the seeds, Cindy! Thanks!

Richard - I've been drying some Guajillo peppers this year and I might grind some up. I use the dried guajillos when I simmer chicken or pork for tacos, burritos and enchiladas. They really give a great flavor to the meat.

Sweet peppers I always chop or slice and freeze for use in cooking.

You all are funny with your duck jokes!

It's sunny here!!! And there's a nice north-west breeze. It's supposed to be dry for the next four days. Yippee.

However, in the past 24 hours we received 2.2" more of rain. It came down in buckets over night. The grass in all of the swales is laying down flat.

I started a tray of micro greens today and spent some time outside finishing up the garden beds for fall and winter. I planted a full bed of chard and one of spinach, chard and mustard greens. I’m also attempting to grow some peas this fall.

Hello, all, it rained 5 inches here on Friday and my back yard looked like a lake. I have all my plants in containers on top of cement squares and two or three bricks and some had water on the sides of the containers. I have just about given up on the plants that grew over the summer especially the ones that were 10 feet tall (Bolsenos might have been even taller)-the cherry-grape-currant strains are still producing hundreds of tomatoes-about 40 to 50 ripe a day. I have about 100 tomato plants that are about a month and a week old that I am going to transplant in the next two days (trying to dodge another big rain). It doesn't get cold here anymore until about the middle of December (if then) so I should be okay-last year I just moved them inside when it got cold and had fresh tomatoes most of the winter. I will post some pictures of the cherry tomatoes and some of the rest this week.

Happy October, everyone https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/5496663/veggie-tales-october-2018

Norm - Sorry, I can't help with the bean issue.

Jamie - Thanks! Happy October! That means fall is coming, right?

RD -- which tomato varieties are you growing this fall. Post some pics on the October thread. Thanks,

Tony

On Monday evening, a neighbor from down the street went to yoga with us. We dropped her off at her house and were heading back to ours when I got a good look at the side of the house. I have my grow lights set up by a large window on the second floor and didn’t really realize how bright they look from the outside Hahahaha it was almost like a parking lot.