Growing your own food: April 2012

[cravenchx]

farmingwifenz, here is the recipe we found for sauerkraut.
1. Remove outer leaves,wash and drain. remove core and shred cabbage.
2. Weigh 5 lbs cabbage
3.measure 3 Tbs. kosher salt and sprinkle over 5 lbs. Of prepared cabbage. mix well and allow 15-20 minutes for cabbage to wilt slightly.
4. Pack cabbage into a one gallon jar. Press firmly until juice is drawn out to cover shredded cabbage.
5. Put a heavy duty plastic bag on the cabbage In the jar and fill with water until it sits firmly,allowing no air to reach cabbage. Ferment for 5-6 weeks at a temperature between 68 and 72 degrees Fahrenheit.(20+22 C.

This is pretty much the recipe I use. After it has fermented, I pressure can.
I did use too much salt last year

and had to rinse before using.

 

[cva34]

Its been the mildest winter and spring I have seen on the Mid TX Coast.We been eating G beans ,Y and Z squash ,Lettuce ,Bok Choy for a few weeks now..Red potatoes are about ready to dig.Got lotsa big green tomatoes ,just ain,t turning yet.Green and banana Peppers are starting to bear too.Just to let You'll know how its gong on down here....cva34


Compost is probably the best thing you can put in your garden ..Other than Sweat and Time....cva34

 

[flgardengirl]

Some of my tomatoes are getting fruit already. In addition to all the regular maters, I am growing the OSU Blue tomatoes this year. They are pretty neat and just putting some fruit on.
I also planted green beans, okra, tons of hot pepper varieties, corn, tomatillos, lettuce&collards (still have some left), cucumbers, squash, gourds, and melons.
I 'had' onions doing well until my Olive Eggers decided they loved onions and they ate the green stems to the ground but didn't dig up the bulbs grrrr so maybe they will come back. I noticed in the places that I had interplanted the onions with genovese basil the chickens didn't eat them so I went and planted a bunch more basil in there. I guess the chickens didn't care too much for that basil.
I also interplanted the rest of the garden with 8 different kinds of basil, oregano, borage, dill, marjoram, tarragon, mint, thyme, rosemary, lemon verbena, lemon balm, etc.
I decided this year I would create a little variety -with a little bit of an Asian flare to the garden so planted grocery store ginger (Zingiber officinale) , bananas, papayas, red orr asparagus beans, and some other vegetables that I can stir fry with. I also planted some Amaranth 'Tigerleaf', Malabar tropical climbing Spinach, and some blue clitoria pea vines that I got from Echo Seeds' seed bank.
I never realized that the clitoria peas were edible and the blue flowers are so pretty in the garden and will last through the heat of the summer. The flowers are used to give rice a blue tint and the young pods can be eaten like string beans. The trick to germinating these seeds are to soak overnight in really hot water and sometime nicking the seed coat prior to soaking. They can also be used as a cover crop.

I also put in Hibiscus sabdariffa (for making hibiscus tea from the flower calyxes) and okra hibiscus (Abelmoschus manihot). I really like to trying new things in the garden every year to keep it interesting!
Dh has some potatoes in a barrel. He had to put a wire tepee over it because apparently chickens like potato foilage. You would think they wouldn't eat them being in the nightshade family and all lol. They don't eat the tomato foilage....go figure. They don't really bother anything else in the garden except for trampling things and knocking over small pots of things I have in there like my theobroma cacao seedlings.

 

[cracked egg]

Its been the mildest winter and spring  I have seen on the Mid TX Coast.We been eating G beans ,Y and Z squash ,Lettuce ,Bok Choy for a few weeks now..Red potatoes are about ready to dig.Got lotsa big green tomatoes ,just ain,t turning yet.Green and banana Peppers are starting to bear too.Just to let You'll know how its gong on down here....cva34


Compost is probably the best thing you can put in your garden ..Other than Sweat and Time....cva34

The mildest winter here also, jealous of you southerns, froze hard here yesterday after the snow storms. my radish apeas are just starting to emerge and tomatoes,they are still either in the pots or in walls of waters and 6" tall.
I can see those tomatoes in my mind,and it makes me hungry for homegrown tomatoes.

 

[albert w]

I planted tomatoes (we usually can and freeze about 5 gal each year), we grow about 50lbs of potatoes, 40 lbs of carrots, 20 gal of bush beans, tons of loose-leaf lettuce, some peppers, watermelons, cucumbers, cantaloupe, pumpkins and squash. We also gather a few bushels of apples and make apple sauce and we can a couple bushels of peaches (which we get cheap at an Amish store).

 

[GhislaineDel]

We're still getting frosts here so I've only planted radishes, spinach, lettuce, kale, peas, and parsley. Oh, and today I separated and transplanted the garlic bulbs that I missed harvesting last summer! The ones I planted last fall look really great! Yesterday I built two more raised beds that I plan to plant with asparagus and Jerusalum artichokes. Carrots, Beans, Corn, Squash, Shallots, Peppers, Cukes, Cilantro, Cabbage, and Beets are also in my future. Tomatoes might happen too but the blight is really discouraging!

I also have a dehydrator and if all that garlic does really well I just might be giving everyone garlic powder for Christmas this year!

This year all my seeds are coming from High Mowing Seeds (local to me, organic, heritage). In years past I've also ordered from Comstock and Baker Creek. I just wasn't on top of it this year.

 

[kmatt87]

my rhubarb is going and i have planted
sugar snap peas
radishes
onions
several herbs
and my raspberries are going

my 9 varieties of tomatoes are started
5 diff types of peppers are started
2 tomatillo plants are started
i need to start some
green beans
zucchini
kale
and maybe cucumbers
i also have sunflowers planted (i roast the seed if the chickens and squirrels don't get them all)

 

[jbschickens]

Starting to grow in raised beds for the first time this year. Tomatoes, cucumbers, watermelon, and various herbs. Looking to expand next season if all goes well!

 

[Kathryn4629]

do some of you order from seed catalogs? If so, which ones do you like? I'd like to try vegetable garden next year.

I love SeedSaversExchange.com I bought most of my seeds from them this year. I got all organic, heirloom, open pollinated. I am really going to try to save more seeds this year. I saved enough green beans and sugar snap peas from last year to not have to buy any this year. yay!

 

[MI chickens]

Starting to grow in raised beds for the first time this year. Tomatoes, cucumbers, watermelon, and various herbs. Looking to expand next season if all goes well!

We have been adding raised beds each year - up to 13 3 X 30' with 8 more 50' going up in next couple of weeks for tomatoes, peppers and potatoes. They are so much easier to keep up with weeding, wish I'd done it years ago! Love that we don't have to keep tilling- just add a little more dirt and compost as they settle a little each year. We have lots of lettuce, spinach, beets, chives and peas up and growing. Potatoes going in as soon as rain lets up! Lots of seedlings growing bigger by the day that will go out as soon as it ever warms up. Seems strange that we had so much warm weather earlier and now it's colder than normal. We're running a little behind because we put a lot of time in building a greenhouse that will also have a couple of raised beds in it for winter harvesting.
My favorites to order from are Fedco, Johnny's, Pinetree, Select Seeds for flowers, and Territorial.
Happy Gardening to you all!