What did you do in the garden today?

[Elyrian1]

I find the walk in cooler idea fascinating because my tiny pantry is so full the shelves are... sagging. Sheesh. Also, even if we garden hard next year, I won't have anywhere to put the canned goods. Additionally, a root cellar would likely not be possible here for a variety of reasons. I feel an extra fridge or freezer wouldn't go amiss, but currently have no place to stick one that doesn't get blazing hot during the day. Lots to think about.

 

[Iluveggers]

Got my dehydrator today! My DS helped me harvest a few things. I know the tomatoes aren’t totally red, but they will be in a day or two on the counter! Finally, finally, I can see the light! I am definitely doing garlic & onions in the dehydrator. Has anyone done zucchini? What else keeps well?

 

[Sally PB]

I am definitely doing garlic & onions in the dehydrator. Has anyone done zucchini? What else keeps well?

What kind of dehydrator did you get? How exciting!

I have dried gobs of fruit. Apples, cherries, bananas, muskmelon, peaches. I did some cherry tomatoes last year, and I'll probably do some this year too, when the plants go gangbusters, like cherry 'maters do.

I want to hear how the onions and garlic go. I would be concerned that my DH would stage a rebellion with the smell. Fortunately, those two things keep well for me in my basement.

I did a cucumber a few years ago. It tasted great, but it gave me terribly painful gas. Like I needed to burp, but it was too far along. So I never did any more. Maybe it wasn't a burpless cuke?

I want to dry some potatoes this year. They keep well, but I had so many last year, we didn't eat them all before they sprouted. So this year, I planted even more... Gonna have to eat more taters!

 

[Acre4Me]

I killed a lot of squash bugs. I hate them.

We had a lot (as did @Sueby ). But, I learned a few things. First, they don’t kill your plants (unless really high numbers), they don’t spread any diseases (unlike the $!@# cucumber beetles and their bacterial wilt they spread), and you can scan leaves for eggs snd remove them. You can scan for the several nymph stages and kill those too. Basically, kill all that you see this year. Next year keep an eye out for their eggs and remove (squish, or cut away the whole leaf, or just cut away that portion of the leaf). This year the squash bug population is less in our garden-a few, but not too bad. Of course, we’ve had more tomato hornworms and Colorado potato beetles, both of them are voracious eaters and quickly defoliate plants!

 

[Acre4Me]

Oooh! Good idea, might try this myself!

 

[Isadora]

We had a lot (as did @Sueby ). But, I learned a few things. First, they don’t kill your plants (unless really high numbers), they don’t spread any diseases (unlike the $!@# cucumber beetles and their bacterial wilt they spread), and you can scan leaves for eggs snd remove them. You can scan for the several nymph stages and kill those too. Basically, kill all that you see this year. Next year keep an eye out for their eggs and remove (squish, or cut away the whole leaf, or just cut away that portion of the leaf). This year the squash bug population is less in our garden-a few, but not too bad. Of course, we’ve had more tomato hornworms and Colorado potato beetles, both of them are voracious eaters and quickly defoliate plants!

We had a garden in Virginia a few years ago and had such high numbers that they killed our whole garden. They started off with our squash and zucchini and killed everything else. It was so disheartening. (A friend who had a very large garden was letting us have part of it and it was a 25-minute drive, so we weren't there every day) I don't think I couldn't help myself from killing them if I saw one, just because of all the bad memories. Nice that they don't spread diseases, at least. I have been removing eggs from the undersides of leaves and killing babies whenever I find them.

 

[Sally PB]

Here's a mystery. Yesterday, I saw my one sugar baby watermelon had had its stem broken from the plant. It was probably not quite ripe, but nearly so. My hands were full, so I planned to get it today. I figured that it could be a cold snack for the chickens if nothing else.

Today I went up there to weed, and that melon is gone. No rind, no wet spot where the juice would have leaked out. Unless someone stole it (don't really think so, but who knows?), I don't know what animal would have taken it away. It was not quite the size of a basketball.

Any ideas? The only other melon on that plant is about the size of a baseball right now. I don't know if I'll get anything.

 

[BReeder!]

Pepper lovers out there, any thoughts on what to wash hands with to remove capsaicin? I washed a few times with soap already. Hands are not burning, but iching my ear and more recently rubbing my eye (it has been 3 his at least since I finishec messing with peppers, so I didn't think my have were still biohazards) proved to be terrible ideas.

 

[Iluveggers]

Pepper lovers out there, any thoughts on what to wash hands with to remove capsaicin? I washed a few times with soap already. Hands are not burning, but iching my ear and more recently rubbing my eye (it has been 3 his at least since I finishec messing with peppers, so I didn't think my have were still biohazards) proved to be terrible ideas.

Soak hands in milk. Sorry, that’s super uncomfortable.

 

[WthrLady]

Pepper lovers out there, any thoughts on what to wash hands with to remove capsaicin? I washed a few times with soap already. Hands are not burning, but iching my ear and more recently rubbing my eye (it has been 3 his at least since I finishec messing with peppers, so I didn't think my have were still biohazards) proved to be terrible ideas.

Highest fat dairy you have in the house, milk, cream, sour cream. Can rinse eye with milk.