Garden Geeks thread

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Re: Garden Geeks thread

I never had a single summer squash. The varmints ate everything else before it could produce more than the first few pickings. Very sad. I might need to give up for a few years and then start again.

That really sucks. I definitely plan on expanding my garden, and, based on your chronicling of your adventures with Cheever, the expansion will definitely include fortification. I'm wondering if growing hot peppers helped keep the varmints away. I also have an unintendedly "sacrificial" pumpkin plant that's closer to where the groundhog lives; the pumpkin bravely grows new leaves and blossoms, and they're promptly eaten. Possibly that keeps the groundhog sated enough that he doesn't bother the real garden, which is farther away.

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How do you ferment peppers? Just salt water? tried to ferment cukes and got mold. They smelled good but didn't dare eat them

Yep, just salt water. In fact for some vegetables you don't even need to add water. When I make kim chi (main ingredients bok choy and napa) I just cut them up and add the salt. The salt extracts enough water from the bok choy and napa.

The key to avoiding mold is to keep the vegetables submerged. You can do that by weighting the vegetables down with, for example, a ceramic dish or a plastic bag or milk jug filled with water. Just don't use anything metal. You may get some mold on the surface, but you can just scoop it off.

My go-to book for fermentation is The Art of Fermentation by Katz. Also, there's a lot of information available on line. BTW, cucumbers are hard to pickle without their getting mushy. You need to add a source of tannins like grape leaves (always wondered what their function was). I haven't found a good source of grape leaves and I haven't tried any of the other suggestions, like oak leaves. Fermented some salsa this year using tomatoes from a roadside stand, and was very happy with the result. Made it tangy without my having to add any vinegar. Also fermenting the tomatillos I harvested after I made my big batch of salsa verde.

 

[walrus]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

I never had a single summer squash. The varmints ate everything else before it could produce more than the first few pickings. Very sad. I might need to give up for a few years and then start again.

Its so frustrating to get prepped and do all that work for nothing. Imagine when your living is screwed by the weather or varmints like that. Tough business farming is.

I was lucky to see the Tomato horn worm or my tomatoes would have been lunch in a few days. Once I saw some damage I was checking once or twice a day. One year I lost all 30 or 40 plants before I really knew what hit me. Blight has done it also but its usually late so I get something out of it.

I took grape leaves off my grapes vines when I made the fermented pickles. The leaf was out of the salt water so thats probably what molded.

 

[CLS]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

... I feed them to the chickens so what ever they eat at least feeds my hens.

Ah, the ideal solution. Make 'em suffer. They are the most disgusting things I've ever seen.

...
I took grape leaves off my grapes vines when I made the fermented pickles. The leaf was out of the salt water so thats probably what molded.

Ah, you were way ahead of me. Are grape vines difficult to grow? High maintenance? Thinking of planting some for a supply of grape leaves and maybe to start doing a little wine.

 

[Bob Gray]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

We're having a big battle right now with leaf hoppers as they are really taking a toll on our grape vines. Last year it was skeletonizers that were the main grape pest. Other than that, they have done well. Our pumpkin and watermelon plants are doing well and we planted some herbs and a couple tomato plants over the weekend. We'll wait for the big September seed planting until it seems likely that the last real hot weather is in the past.

 

[alfablue]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

Ah, the ideal solution. Make 'em suffer. They are the most disgusting things I've ever seen.

Ah, you were way ahead of me. Are grape vines difficult to grow? High maintenance? Thinking of planting some for a supply of grape leaves and maybe to start doing a little wine.

I've had a small vineyard for almost 15 years- there is a grape that will grow everywhere. And they generally grow well.

If you were interested in wine, I would do just a little research in what will grow in your area- micro-climate wise. I ended up with two hybrids (kind of a cross between an native grape and a french wine grape), and the red one grows and produces the best. But I'm sure that they would not even be close to what Bob can grow in Arizona.

Besides local home and garden stores- there are a number of companies that sell rooted plants for a good price in the country. I would do mail order to get something really cool. One of the best parts of having wine grapes is the jelly you can make. (I just don't have enough to make wine- as I need 5 gal min of juice) So very different than store stuff.

The other thing- as Bob pointed out- the insects. Some really go after the leaves with a vengeance. I have Japanese Beetles that love the leaves over everything else. Have to keep up on that.

But a well done mini-vineyard looks so very cool.

 

[walrus]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

Ah, the ideal solution. Make 'em suffer. They are the most disgusting things I've ever seen.

Ah, you were way ahead of me. Are grape vines difficult to grow? High maintenance? Thinking of planting some for a supply of grape leaves and maybe to start doing a little wine.

My dad planted them, his family grew concords for Welches for many years. I actually bush hogged the grapes as they were doing awful but they keep coming back, so to answer your question, difficult? don't think so, they survive me bush hogging them BTW they were some kind of wine grape not concords

 

[Bob Gray]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

Another challenge with raising grape vines, that we're still trying to figure out, is how to get the grapes to grow bigger. Ours are a small fraction of the size you get in the grocery store, more like the size of a raisin. They do look nice along our fence.

 

[alfablue]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

Another challenge with raising grape vines, that we're still trying to figure out, is how to get the grapes to grow bigger. Ours are a small fraction of the size you get in the grocery store, more like the size of a raisin. They do look nice along our fence.

From what I can tell, that's all a function of what type of grapes you are growing.

My red ones are small, too- with good sized seeds. But the white ones are opposite. Well, when I say ones, I mean one. I wish I had more of them.

 

[Bob Gray]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

From what I can tell, that's all a function of what type of grapes you are growing.

My red ones are small, too- with good sized seeds. But the white ones are opposite. Well, when I say ones, I mean one. I wish I had more of them.

Ours are the flame variety. We were told that they would be decent sized. The small size isn't the end of the world, it's just a bit more work to eat them, but they still taste good.

 

[alfablue]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

Ours are the flame variety. We were told that they would be decent sized. The small size isn't the end of the world, it's just a bit more work to eat them, but they still taste good.

Have you ever made jelly from them? We really like the non-concord flavor of the alternate grape jelly.

 

[walrus]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

Have you ever made jelly from them? We really like the non-concord flavor of the alternate grape jelly.

my grandfather would gain 10 lbs during harvest of concords

 

[leswp1]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

That really sucks. I definitely plan on expanding my garden, and, based on your chronicling of your adventures with Cheever, the expansion will definitely include fortification. I'm wondering if growing hot peppers helped keep the varmints away. I also have an unintendedly "sacrificial" pumpkin plant that's closer to where the groundhog lives; the pumpkin bravely grows new leaves and blossoms, and they're promptly eaten. Possibly that keeps the groundhog sated enough that he doesn't bother the real garden, which is farther away.

Yep, just salt water. In fact for some vegetables you don't even need to add water. When I make kim chi (main ingredients bok choy and napa) I just cut them up and add the salt. The salt extracts enough water from the bok choy and napa.

The key to avoiding mold is to keep the vegetables submerged. You can do that by weighting the vegetables down with, for example, a ceramic dish or a plastic bag or milk jug filled with water. Just don't use anything metal. You may get some mold on the surface, but you can just scoop it off.

My go-to book for fermentation is The Art of Fermentation by Katz. Also, there's a lot of information available on line. BTW, cucumbers are hard to pickle without their getting mushy. You need to add a source of tannins like grape leaves (always wondered what their function was). I haven't found a good source of grape leaves and I haven't tried any of the other suggestions, like oak leaves. Fermented some salsa this year using tomatoes from a roadside stand, and was very happy with the result. Made it tangy without my having to add any vinegar. Also fermenting the tomatillos I harvested after I made my big batch of salsa verde.

Huh. Nothing keeps them sated when there are at least 5. They are the size of a well fed toddler. Soooo irritating!

 

[bigmrg74]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

Huh. Nothing keeps them sated when there are at least 5. They are the size of a well fed toddler. Soooo irritating!

You need to go all Rambo and stalk them all with a bow and arrow. that or find their burrow and start dropping cheap fireworks into their home. Don't really need a big boom, but something that would make a lot of noise with sparks would be enough to make em relocate to somewhere else.

we've got an arrowhead stuck in a barn rafter from when we took out a raccoon with one. Had him cornered there but really couldn't reach him for a finishing blow. Arrow went right through him, was a bloody mess.

 

[leswp1]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

the entrance is under the shed. fireworks would end up a bit messier than a bang

 

[Bob Gray]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

Have you ever made jelly from them? We really like the non-concord flavor of the alternate grape jelly.

No. The vines are still only a few years old so we've limited what we harvest. And the ones we've gotten are pretty small. But maybe one of these times we'll throw some in the vitamixer and try to make a little jelly. That would be fun to try.

 

[walrus]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

You need to go all Rambo and stalk them all with a bow and arrow. that or find their burrow and start dropping cheap fireworks into their home. Don't really need a big boom, but something that would make a lot of noise with sparks would be enough to make em relocate to somewhere else.

we've got an arrowhead stuck in a barn rafter from when we took out a raccoon with one. Had him cornered there but really couldn't reach him for a finishing blow. Arrow went right through him, was a bloody mess.

One year we had Raccoons wreak havoc on our replacement hens. I used to go out to close them in the coop at dusk with a .22 that had a 4 cell maglite duck taped to it. Took out 8 that summer. I had electric fence around the coop that stopped them from getting the hens but they liked the feeder in the yard. Big oak in the yard, up they'd go and then down they'd come

 

[MadTownSioux]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

So, after no response on the food thread, I'll ask here. Does anybody have a recommendation on a good Black Walnut cracker? After no walnuts last year, there are quite a few this year. Thanks for any help.

 

[Carter]

So, after no response on the food thread, I'll ask here. Does anybody have a recommendation on a good Black Walnut cracker? After no walnuts last year, there are quite a few this year. Thanks for any help.

Both my Wisconsin family and my old Iowa neighbor used nothing fancier than a chunk of steel to serve as an anvil and a claw hammer. I'd be glad to lend you our old nutcracking anvil if you'd like to try it.

 

[walrus]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

So, after no response on the food thread, I'll ask here. Does anybody have a recommendation on a good Black Walnut cracker? After no walnuts last year, there are quite a few this year. Thanks for any help.

pair of large vise grips

 

[Bob Gray]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

Garlic came in yesterday from Forever Yong Farm. The kids helped put in the Ajo Rojo yesterday and probably today after work we'll get the Sonoran put in. If all goes well, we'll have an on-going supply of garlic for the foreseeable future.