Garden Geeks thread

[alfablue]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

So just had something special- on my grill, I roasted tomatoes and onions from my backyard (added some garlic- next year), with some basil, blended that into sauce. And on the nice warm stone - made my backyard pizza.

The science project worked great, so I plan to expand as well as tweak next year.

[FreshFish]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

A busy weekend making tomato sauce: 10 quarts.

Tucking quart freezer bags here and there throughout the freezer. Have to defrost a roast soon to get all the sauce bags together in one place.

[St. Clown]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

My brother's mother-in-law posted a link on Facebook yesterday about black (purple?) tomatoes. You cut open the fruit and it looks just like a normal tomato. I had no idea those existed. I'd be curious to see the growth cycle, to see if they start green before ripening to the color of death.

[FiveHole12]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

My brother's mother-in-law posted a link on Facebook yesterday about black (purple?) tomatoes. You cut open the fruit and it looks just like a normal tomato. I had no idea those existed. I'd be curious to see the growth cycle, to see if they start green before ripening to the color of death.

They start out green, then turn deep dark purple. Never really look red at all. Same color inside as well. Good flavor, very sweet. My first year growing them.

[johnnypohlfan]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

Not necessarily gardening, but didn't know where else to post my excitement. I went mushrooming this past weekend for the first time ever. Walked the woods around the lake house, looking for chanterelles, and was excited enough to find a cluster of 4 perfect ones. Enough for a meal. Then yesterday, got permission to explore a different wooded property, and found 75.

Going to wait a week or two and head right back there. Should be another bounty! And no, I'm not telling you where they were either.

Anybody else do this? Like I said, I'm new to it, but I thought it was a blast!

[CLS]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

Not necessarily gardening, but didn't know where else to post my excitement. I went mushrooming this past weekend for the first time ever. Walked the woods around the lake house, looking for chanterelles, and was excited enough to find a cluster of 4 perfect ones. Enough for a meal. Then yesterday, got permission to explore a different wooded property, and found 75.

Going to wait a week or two and head right back there. Should be another bounty! And no, I'm not telling you where they were either.

Anybody else do this? Like I said, I'm new to it, but I thought it was a blast!

Used to do it with my dad. When we'd come back from mushroom hunting, my mom would boil the 'shrooms with a silver dollar. Supposedly, poisonous mushrooms would cause the silver dollar to turn black. Don't know if it was really true or not, but I'm still alive and my dad died of natural causes. He used to tell me that mushrooms the squirrels had nibbled on were safe, but I'd reply "Yeah, but what if we come across a dead squirrel?"

[leswp1]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

Used to do it with my dad. When we'd come back from mushroom hunting, my mom would boil the 'shrooms with a silver dollar. Supposedly, poisonous mushrooms would cause the silver dollar to turn black. Don't know if it was really true or not, but I'm still alive and my dad died of natural causes. He used to tell me that mushrooms the squirrels had nibbled on were safe, but I'd reply "Yeah, but what if we come across a dead squirrel?"

After something ate my aconite, hellebore and something else supposedly deadly poisonous I don't trust that concept.

[MadTownSioux]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

Not necessarily gardening, but didn't know where else to post my excitement. I went mushrooming this past weekend for the first time ever. Walked the woods around the lake house, looking for chanterelles, and was excited enough to find a cluster of 4 perfect ones. Enough for a meal. Then yesterday, got permission to explore a different wooded property, and found 75.

Going to wait a week or two and head right back there. Should be another bounty! And no, I'm not telling you where they were either.

Anybody else do this? Like I said, I'm new to it, but I thought it was a blast!

My Step-son brought over about a pound of Morels back about 2 months ogo. We fried them up - OMG they were ssoooo good.

[CLS]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

Got a nice batch of Thai chilies yesterday. Pickled almost a quart -- pretty good for only four plants. A few habaneros are turning orange. Looks like I will have a good crop of those also. Tomatillos are disappointing. If I remember right I'd be harvesting at this point in previous years. Plenty of blossoms, but few decent sized fruits. I suspect it has to do with the drought. I've been hand watering, but I think all I've been doing is keeping the plants from dying.

[FreshFish]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

Planted the first seeds of the year for indoor germination....

[leswp1]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

Planted the first seeds of the year for indoor germination....

I haven't bought seeds yet.

[jen]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

Daffodils starting to come up.

No big plans for this year, except what I didn't do last year. Still haven't gotten around to that lawn re-seeding.

Might transplant the astilbe and put some plants more appropriate for a sunny, dry spot in their place.

[FreshFish]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

Last week, we planted some peas, shallots, and onions.

Over the weekend, we put 20 everbearing strawberries in one of the strawberry beds. That bed had contained June bearing strawberries for years, but they get worn out after awhile.

[FreshFish]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

Many of y'all have probably already heard this warning....2017 is supposed to be a banner year for ticks. On top of that, so far this year, testing done by the state of Connecticut also finds a higher proportion of ticks infested with Lyme disease compared to other years (link not readily available; I heard it on the news).

Apparently 2015 was a banner year for acorns, and so 2016 was a banner year for mice feeding on those acorns, and so 2017 will be a banner year for ticks feeding on those mice (I've read this story in multiple places).

So, as Phil Esterhaus used to say, "let's be careful out there."

[FreshFish]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

The peas from three weeks ago have germinated and are growing nicely.

This past weekend, we started transplanting some of the tomatoes we grew from seeds from indoors to outdoors. We have these pop-up shelters we bought from some garden supply place to protect them from wind and cool weather.

We tried drenching the soil with a fungicide this year before planting.