What did you do in the garden today?

[Egger4me]

Picked a tomato and cucumber.

 

[Egger4me]

Here are few pictures of my plants this year

 

[Acre4Me]

Picked one soybean plant - cooked the pods in salted water to eat with dinner. Picked one bean plant - Calypso. For dried beans.

Calypso beans.

A Few Melons growing.

 

[Mr Spot]

Nothing

 

[pennyJo1960]

I got nothing also another little roma both very small and green.

 

[chickengr]

The pods from the mesquite tree? You can dry them and grind for use as flour. I haven’t tried them yet, but our trees are young, ten years old or so, and I expect we’ll have more pods out there this year. Last year was the first year the largest of the two bloomed.

are all mesquite tree pods edible? can we use them to feed chickens and other animals as well? that would be a great solution for the years to come.

 

[ChicksnMore]

Just picked some zucchini flowers, I'm pretty excited to try them once I prepare them. Only six, there were a few more tightly closed ones that I didn't pick.

There was also a nicely-sized carrot that I pulled up earlier, but the leaves broke and I needed to use a garden fork to help get it out of the ground.

How do you fix the flowers? Dipped and fried or...?

You'd be better layering it, as wisteria grown from seed can take 7 years upwards to flower. Layered cuttings can flower the next year.

O wow. Still sounds fun to try. I have baby saguaros growing from seed...talk about slow growing!

Picked one soybean plant - cooked the pods in salted water to eat with dinner. Picked one bean plant - Calypso. For dried beans.

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Calypso beans.
View attachment 3209806


A Few Melons growing.
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I've never tried soybeans either...sounds yummy. Those beans are just beautiful... artistic.

are all mesquite tree pods edible? can we use them to feed chickens and other animals as well? that would be a great solution for the years to come.

I believe all are. A friend in Hawaii was telling me about a type of mesquite that grows there ...I looked it up and yep, it's edible!

We have honey mesquite at our house and even the ducks try to eat them when they're soaked. Chickens too. We always bag some as horse treats and we do the flour every year. Not a lot though because we have to store it in the freezer to preserve the flavor. Goats also love them.

They're hard and woody. Horses can colic on them if they eat too much at once or if they can't chew well... so I actually rake most of them up as they fall and compost them. Chickens love mesquite pods partially composted

If I remember right, I read an article about the military trying to use them as fodder and something not working with it though. It's annoying me that I can't remember exactly what I read! I'll have to see if I can find it again.

 

[igorsMistress]

are all mesquite tree pods edible? can we use them to feed chickens and other animals as well? that would be a great solution for the years to come.

I’m not sure. I can tell you that not all mesquite trees have the edible pods. To eat the pods they have to be dried and then ground into flour. It would take a lot of work, but if you didn’t have a full time job and lived off the land I suppose you’d likely have more time on your hands lol.

I know my chickens enjoy the leaves from the mesquite from time to time, so when we trim the trees we leave a branch out for them to nibble from. My sons goats like it also.

Here’s some more info about it

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/trees/mesquite/are-mesquite-trees-edible.htm

 

[TJAnonymous]

Wow... I don't think I've ever seen a mesquite tree so I looked it up. I want to try some of the pods....

 

[Duckpip]

How do you fix the flowers? Dipped and fried or...?

Yup, I dip them in a batter of flour, egg, salt, and water, put them in a pan of hot oil until they're cooked, and they're done.
Pretty simple, and they taste pretty good. There's a lot of good recipes, if you're interested.