What did you do in the garden today?

NewBoots said:

I'm going to try some experimentation with making tomato based drinks. I looked at a couple of sites that said blend the sauce 1 to 1 with water, or strain the sauce through a cheesecloth lined sieve. I'll try the blended with water (but less water) one first and add a little vinegar, jalapeno, worcestershire sauce, maybe a little onion and celery. I'll play with it.

Click to expand...

Dandelion and Clover said:

Picked these ugly ones I labeled as Pineapple Tomatoes today... I may have mixed up the Pineapple & Purple Cherokee? Or the person I got seeds from got a unknown cross breeed? They came from different plants. I don't think I have any others that are supposed to keep green shoulders. Whatever this ugly things are they ate very well as a tomato sandwich, meaty center.

View attachment 2773569

My cheery tomatoes have out grown their 6ft stakes and are testing the limits of our new 8ft stakes. I have cherries coming out my ears. Need to trim up once the sun chills out here.
View attachment 2773573
In non-garden news, but comes from my yard news, most of my hens hit 18 weeks this week and I've got my first egg! So excited! Got a couple soft eggs so mixed in layer pellets and moved the calcium holder out in the open. I think I have 3 of the 5 older girls are laying. My two SS are only 15 weeks, so it will be awhile on them.
View attachment 2773592

Click to expand...

Dandelion and Clover said:

Picked these ugly ones I labeled as Pineapple Tomatoes today... I may have mixed up the Pineapple & Purple Cherokee? Or the person I got seeds from got a unknown cross breeed? They came from different plants. I don't think I have any others that are supposed to keep green shoulders. Whatever this ugly things are they ate very well as a tomato sandwich, meaty center.

View attachment 2773569

My cheery tomatoes have out grown their 6ft stakes and are testing the limits of our new 8ft stakes. I have cherries coming out my ears. Need to trim up once the sun chills out here.
View attachment 2773573
In non-garden news, but comes from my yard news, most of my hens hit 18 weeks this week and I've got my first egg! So excited! Got a couple soft eggs so mixed in layer pellets and moved the calcium holder out in the open. I think I have 3 of the 5 older girls are laying. My two SS are only 15 weeks, so it will be awhile on them.
View attachment 2773592

Click to expand...

Wee Farmer Sarah said:

Have you considered freezing half a loaf of the fresh bread you buy, then less is wasted. Bread is not all that good for the chickens or even wild birds. Apparently you don’t compost your kitchen scraps, I save vegetable and meat scraps in the freezer to make stock with. I haven’t bought chicken stock in years and only rarely need beef stock. ( I don’t eat a lot of red meat) Homemade stock like the bread has much better flavor than what you find on the grocery store shelves and there are no added chemicals. JMHO!

Click to expand...

Sooner Magnolia said:

School supplies give me a sense of dread....

Click to expand...

Sueby said:

I plant garlic & shallots in the fall, onion (plants, not sets) in the spring. Fall planted garlic is done here around July, give or take. You pull them when like 3 of the leaves have turned brown, but there are still a good 3 leaves green - that's what gives them a good paper on them. Spring planted onions are done around August here. You pull them when they pop out of the ground & then the greens fall over looking like someone walked on them. Fall planted shallots are done about now - you also pull them when the tops fall over. Of course I'm in New England so we may be completely different from you. & I don't do potatoes so I can't help with that!

As @Sally PB said, it's when I can collect my pension & retirement funds with no penalty. Lordy I can't wait! 9 more years!

That is horrifying! I'm so anti chemicals that this makes me cringe. Just nuke everything? Ugh!

First, can you explain the salt & cukes thing? How much salt & how long? Do you refrigerate while soaking? Do you rinse? & then yea, I fermented hot sauce last year - I'm not sure it was worth the extra work for me, DH couldn't tell the difference. But he doesn't have a very picky pallet - he just stuffs everything in his mouth & swallows - he doesn't savor anything or try to actually taste it. So, he's not a good judge. A lot of people on the pepper sauce website I use swear fermenting adds a little sour savory tang that some want in their sauce. It wasn't complicated to ferment, I just bought the burping lids & did them in canning jars. If you have a lot of fruit flies, expect to be infested. I didn't have an issue, but the burping lids keep them at bay.

ETA: fermenting it makes it last a lot longer too without canning it. That's a bonus.

Anyway, hi all. Did some weeding & trimming of the cukes. My neighbors came over to check everything out as they'll be collecting eggs soon for us when we go away. They were shocked at what we've done to the yard since moving in, they loved the garden, flowers & chicken run. It was nice to hear since we sometimes feel like we annoy the neighbors with the chickens & our rock crawling hobby & all the heavy equipment & tools that comes with it. Course I gave them eggs & cucumbers to buy them off. They did ask us to not move any time soon.

Click to expand...