What did you do in the garden today?

[BReeder!]

I watched a show this weekend about high tunnel growing (I'm getting that bug), and he had a 100 foot long row of a fist sized tomato that was black as pitch, and looked like a giant nightshade berry (which tomatoes are a relative of) and as they fully ripen they go towards red, but retain some brown black splotches. He fully admitted that they were grown and picked unripe as they looked the novelty and people loved how weird they looked taking them home.
But that ripened they look battered and bruised, and don't taste the best. But sells them hand over fist.

I wouldn't mind the unripened bit of I was told they were unripened. In love fried green tomatoes and would eat a fried black tomato too or make black salsa instead of green salsa.

 

[WthrLady]

Right. We all know GOOD tasting tomatoes can look wonky,
My problem is will him knowingly selling a poor tasting fruit, just because it looks cool.
I'd never tick off my customers like that.

 

[Acre4Me]

I tried to grow different coloured tomatoes. although they look great I find that only red and orange tomatoes are tasty and yellow pear are good for fresh salad as well. the same thing with broccoli and lettuce. I find only the green ones are tasty while the purple ones are somewhat dry. is there anyone that agrees or it is me only?

yes and no. Tomatoes - I have had some tasty "black" tomatoes, but for the most part, red tomatoes are best and some yellow cherry or pear ones are good, we've also had some good pink ones...never tried any orange ones. The white ones do not look appetizing, so I am not inclined to try them. The striped looking tomatoes do not rank high in interest for me, but we grew some "atomic" cherry or plum tomatoes that were pretty, but literally ROCK HARD throughout the entire season....we tried them throughout the season, and they just stayed rock hard...it was weird, even though they changed colors and were plump. Purple in lettuce tends to indicate higher likelihood of bitterness. I've never grown broccoli.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Maybe have to do hoop houses to stop the bugs here.
So prolific .. I use lettuce, spinach and mustard in salads. Broccoli and cauliflower get eaten as young plants ...

 

[BReeder!]

Maybe have to do hoop houses to stop the bugs here.
So prolific .. I use lettuce, spinach and mustard in salads. Broccoli and cauliflower get eaten as young plants ...

Have you tried floating row covers? I've never tried them but may get add them to the garden supplies this year since I'm wanting to try cabbage but getting paranoid about loopers. LOL. I am also considering interplanting aromatics with the cabbage: dill, lavender, marigolds, etc..

 

[Acre4Me]

Have you tried floating row covers? I've never tried them but may get add them to the garden supplies this year since I'm wanting to try cabbage but getting paranoid about loopers. LOL. I am also considering interplanting aromatics with the cabbage: dill, lavender, marigolds, etc..

A floating row cover will sit on the plant. The looper moth will still be able to deposit eggs on leaves through many covers. We ended up buying thin conduit pipe in 10 or 12’ lengths and bending them to make a support for the netting. We bought netting wide enough for the bed and supports, and for it to be weighed down on the ground. The cover really helped.

 

[vall]

Pruned the fruit trees this weekend. Figs needed the most pruning as usual. Planted a few daikon, turnip, and kohlrabi starts that had been in the greenhouse. Pulled some weeds.. plenty more to go. Started just a few seeds inside - tomato and eggplant. Picked a little bit from the garden, not bad for January.

 

[Sueby]

Evening all.

@Acre4Me what kind of netting did you use for row covers? I'm thinking about it for my squash bed this summer, I have plenty of hoops that I use for my hoop houses.

I see some of my seed order have shipped. Too cold out there to be too excited about it. I'm seeing -11 on the news right now for tomorrow (gotta be windchill).

So my plucked chicken grew most of her feathers back so I put them all back together yesterday & promptly saw Green picking at her sister. Looks like Green will be separated for good now, & by herself, I won't put the 'friend' in with her again. She doesn't much mind from what I can tell, she doesn't pace the fence like the other one did or squawk up a storm. Maybe when I integrate the littles in with the big girls in the spring I'll try Green again. Would have been nice, but oh well.

 

[TJAnonymous]

Maybe have to do hoop houses to stop the bugs here.
So prolific .. I use lettuce, spinach and mustard in salads. Broccoli and cauliflower get eaten as young plants ...

I found that my hoop house did stop vine borers but did not stop the squash bugs or aphids. The squash bugs figured out how to burrow under the hoop house to still get to my squash. The aphids & whiteflies just managed to get through the mesh even though I had really really fine mesh. I'm debating if I want to try to cover it again. If I do, I might actually bury the bottom of the hoop house in the ground instead of just allowing it to sit on top of the ground.

 

[TJAnonymous]

Pruned the fruit trees this weekend. Figs needed the most pruning as usual. Planted a few daikon, turnip, and kohlrabi starts that had been in the greenhouse. Pulled some weeds.. plenty more to go. Started just a few seeds inside - tomato and eggplant. Picked a little bit from the garden, not bad for January.
View attachment 2956140

Very nice! My kohlrabi never looked that good....