Mumsy's Romantic Garden Advice

[MumsyII]

Is it too late to plant a late planting of kale for the fall?

I'm not familiar with the weather and planting patterns in Northern Indiana. I would plant if you knew when your first frost of Fall is. If you plant starts, there is enough time for them to take root and grow some. If you get early frost, they will stop growing but may continue again if the weather and soil remain warm.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Usually we're good until at least the end of october. I think we're zone 6 because I'm on the West side of Lake MI

 

[Jessica Lynn]

I never heard of it until this moment. Had to google it. Looks like an interesting take on raised bed using the French intensive gardening method in a very small space. Anything that gets people growing things to eat is great in my view. If a person had access to free bricks or rocks then this is an awesome way to build a bed. As far as spending $ to do this for a permanent garden that is kind of like a monument? Not for me. Rectangle beds made with cheap fence boards go up faster and can be taken down or moved faster. A key hole garden seems to give you fewer options at crop rotation for problem things like potatoes, tomatoes, and the root crops. A key hole garden bed like this would take a whole lot of soil to fill. If I lived on a postage stamp lot with few choices to grow vegetables in the sun, this might be a solution.

They are especially useful in areas w/ very hot dry conditions, that is where the shine. In an area where there is plenty of rain it wouldn't be worth the effort, but for dry areas where every drop counts it would be worth the work.

It's very hot and dry here most of the summer! I think I may have to give it a try next year!
Thank you both!

 

[Jessica Lynn]

Those ornamental kale are beautiful. I've never grown them but my mom loves them and plants them with chrysanthemums every fall.

I love acorn squash with butter and brown sugar. That's how I prepared the Sunshine Butter cup tonight for dinner. That one squash made four cups in the processor.

After it cooled a bit I scooped the seeds out and then scooped the soft flesh into my little hand crank food mill. Two cups went into a little Pyrex dish dotted with butter and sprinkled with brown sugar. Heated back up in a 350' oven. It was delicious! Two cups went into the freezer. The soft cooked remains with seeds went out to the compost pile and the flock went nuts over it all.


Dinner from the garden tonight. Baby orange and purple Caliope carrots sauteed' in butter and olive oil with a bit of dill and celery seed. Twice baked Butter cup squash with brown sugar and butter. And fresh cucumber slices. Pork chops and a glass of red wine and we have enjoyed the first fall meal from the garden. Though its the last of August, it's been raining for two days. I feel a change in the weather coming on.

Oh YUM!

 

[midnightroo]

I'm not familiar with the weather and planting patterns in Northern Indiana. I would plant if you knew when your first frost of Fall  is. If you plant starts, there is enough time for them to take root and grow some. If you get early frost, they will stop growing but may continue again if the weather and soil remain warm.

We are zone 6 also and I am just trying to gets cool weather seeds to grow. It has been warm and dry here so only a few came up. I will probably try again next weekend or the weekend after that. I put lettuce seeds down last year and none came up for a long time. It seemed like a month or more later they finally started growing. I think things grow when the conditions are right for them.....if the chickens or birds haven't eaten the seeds. : - p

 

[midnightroo]

Mumsy congrats on your garden this year! Everything looks so good. Things aren't as good as they have been in the past, but I am getting tomatoes and my neighbor is getting none.

Maypop

Oh, we went to the state fair and they took fencing and poles to create something tomatoes could grow up into. I need to upload my photo because I forgot the camera, but I will try to explain. They took the posts ( the green posts) and put them in a square or shape of the piece of fence in the ground. The fence went parallel to the ground on the post so they made layers for the plants to grow up into holding the branches and tomatoes that grew. I hope that explains and one of these days I will upload my phone so I can post a picture of it.

 

[MumsyII]

Mumsy congrats on your garden this year! Everything looks so good. Things aren't as good as they have been in the past, but I am getting tomatoes and my neighbor is getting none.

Maypop

Oh, we went to the state fair and they took fencing and poles to create something tomatoes could grow up into. I need to upload my photo because I forgot the camera, but I will try to explain. They took the posts ( the green posts) and put them in a square or shape of the piece of fence in the ground. The fence went parallel to the ground on the post so they made layers for the plants to grow up into holding the branches and tomatoes that grew. I hope that explains and one of these days I will upload my phone so I can post a picture of it.

Love that flower on the Passion Vine. Never knew the name 'Maypop' until this thread. I'll be very anxious to see pictures when you get them of this set up for tomatoes.

Yesterday I made home grown chicken enchiladas. I butchered a HRIR cockerel. Skinned, cut up, and soaked in buttermilk over night. Then I cooked him the Chinese method in boiling water/poached.
Shredded and mixed with homegrown salsa and cream cheese in a big pan.




Harvested vegetables and made my own salsa.


Minced tomatillas from the garden.


Small onions and garlic from the garden.


Homegrown salsa.


Made a nice homegrown enchilada sauce.


Home made chicken enchiladas my way. From scratch and all homegrown.

A few sliced olives, a dollop of sour cream, and a spoonful of homegrown salsa. It was as good as it looks.

 

[mlowen]

[quote name="MumsyII"

It was as good as it looks. 
[/quote]

We may need a new thread: "Mumsy's Romantic Garden Recipies"

 

[MumsyII]

Quote: HAH! Or "Garden to Table" thread.

 

[armorfirelady]

Looks so hunny Mumsy