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Author Topic: Growing food - The Garden Thread  (Read 223482 times)

Offline kmccaf

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Re: Growing food - The Garden Thread
« Reply #855 on: May 29, 2015, 07:40:22 am »
Bok choy is delicious and easy. I usually use it in stir fry. It goes in at flameout with the addition of noodles. :)
Kyle M.

Offline pete b

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Re: Growing food - The Garden Thread
« Reply #856 on: May 29, 2015, 07:55:42 am »
That garlic patch probably has filled in a bit by now Pete?  Mine look like they might try and scape out here pretty quick.  What type do you grow?

I used your burlap mulch on yellow beets because I have a heck of a time getting good germination with them - every one came up! 
I was giggly piggly and then two days later some white crowned sparrows came through and feasted on the nice regular buffet of fresh cotyledons. Son of a...

 Glad I am not trying to make a living out of this.

Who knows how to eat bok choy?
Yes, the garlic is knee high. I expect it to scape in a week or two, can't wait! I like to grill the scapes like green beans as a veg but the majority get made into a simple pesto. I like to use the scape pesto (just scapes, olive oil, salt) on pizza when we fire up our outdoor oven. I use it in place of tomato sauce on some of the pizzas. We grow Music, German White, and Russian Red. 200 plants is enough to eat all year (I'm still using last year's from the root cellar) and use as seed so we don't ever have to buy any.
Glad the burlap trick worked. Until 2 days ago we were unseasonably dry so it was a life saver for the germination of our carrots.
I use baby bok choy in salad, in stir frys, and like most vegetables I sometimes grill it. I bet the white crispy part would be good tempura.
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Offline 1vertical

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Re: Growing food - The Garden Thread
« Reply #857 on: May 29, 2015, 10:41:53 pm »
Pinnah,
you got bok choy?  I had mine sprouted under a black fabric, pulled the cover off
and here came the rain....next time I looked at em, they were gonzo.  :'( :'(

Anyhow, I just chunk up the bok choy stems and toss em in the stir fry.  The
green leafy part can go in your salad or the stir fry also think the meaty stalks
may make for a good fermented veggie as in lacto. YMMV
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Offline euge

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Re: Growing food - The Garden Thread
« Reply #858 on: June 09, 2015, 10:55:49 am »
The rain jacked up the plants. It was a real pain and has put me behind considerably. Now though, it's dry as a bone after a 10 days and no rain. Hot.

I have 13 young tomato plants, oregano, thyme and marjoram that would have all died without my constant vigilance.
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Offline AmandaK

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Re: Growing food - The Garden Thread
« Reply #859 on: June 09, 2015, 01:46:19 pm »
The rain jacked up the plants. It was a real pain and has put me behind considerably. Now though, it's dry as a bone after a 10 days and no rain. Hot.

I have 13 young tomato plants, oregano, thyme and marjoram that would have all died without my constant vigilance.

I we didn't have raised beds, we would be so royally f'd right now in the garden. We had a 30' wide river running straight through the backyard after 4" of rain in less than 4 hours a few weekends ago. Weatherman says it's rained 34 of the past 40 days. They are showing pictures of an ark on the forecast. I'd like to move out of Seattle please!  :D
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Offline kmccaf

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Re: Growing food - The Garden Thread
« Reply #860 on: June 14, 2015, 04:17:45 pm »
Still a ton of rain around here, with rain in the forecast everyday this week. Feels like soup outside. I did see my tomatoes are coming in. Swiss Chard is gigantic, and the kohlrabi is finally looking edible. Going to put those in the stir fry tonight. All of our brambles and ribes are looking good as well.
Kyle M.

Offline pete b

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Re: Growing food - The Garden Thread
« Reply #861 on: June 15, 2015, 05:59:32 am »
We're getting a nice soaker as I write. We have had about 3 good rains in 2 weeks after a dry spring. Things are really taking off. There's more lettuce than we can eat and peas and radishes. Radishes eaten the french way, with butter and salt , are a refreshing snack to eat on the deck with a homebrew in the afternoon after a hard days work. The bees have some honey in the supers and this rain will help them get more nectar so I'm hopeful we will be a good honeyflow.
« Last Edit: June 15, 2015, 06:01:31 am by pete b »
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Offline euge

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Re: Growing food - The Garden Thread
« Reply #862 on: June 16, 2015, 05:23:40 am »
We finally got a soaker 2 days ago- the ground was already beginning to crack; even after all the rain we had in the previous months. Rained so hard the pump turned on in the backyard.

Now with tropical storm Bill coming in there might be more rain than we can handle.


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Offline pinnah

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Re: Growing food - The Garden Thread
« Reply #863 on: July 13, 2015, 04:20:59 pm »
oh yea. eating from the garden now.

Amazing wet spring and now already into the monsoon.
Green Green!

I did enjoy the bok choy - although it was very fleeting in my garden and early to bolt.
Had the peas in the garlic patch - seemed to be a little competition there but now the peas are done and gone and the garlic is liking all the sun.

Question about scapes. Typically I would snip off all flowers as soon as the appear because they are only taking NRG from the head development. But I love to eat half formed bulbuils...

Just wondering what you garlic folks do. Do you snip right away?....or wait to harvest your scapes so there is something to eat?

I like them right about here:  some nice bulbuil formation but not hardened. Good fodder for early season garlic in a stir fry.  That is Mt Hood on the horizon.  ;)


Offline pete b

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Re: Growing food - The Garden Thread
« Reply #864 on: July 13, 2015, 04:51:40 pm »
oh yea. eating from the garden now.

Amazing wet spring and now already into the monsoon.
Green Green!

I did enjoy the bok choy - although it was very fleeting in my garden and early to bolt.
Had the peas in the garlic patch - seemed to be a little competition there but now the peas are done and gone and the garlic is liking all the sun.

Question about scapes. Typically I would snip off all flowers as soon as the appear because they are only taking NRG from the head development. But I love to eat half formed bulbuils...

Just wondering what you garlic folks do. Do you snip right away?....or wait to harvest your scapes so there is something to eat?

I like them right about here:  some nice bulbuil formation but not hardened. Good fodder for early season garlic in a stir fry.  That is Mt Hood on the horizon.  ;)


I snip mine about that length. I do pretty much everything with them. In the past couple weeks I have grilled them a couple times, the other day I tempura battered and fried them and some broccoli from the garden, and I sauted them with other garden veggies including fava beans and zucchini and served with grilled halibut. I like them best raw though, they keep their garlic flavor better. I always process some with olive oil and use like a pesto including as a replacement for sauce on pizza and they can replace garlic in caesar dressing.
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Offline kmccaf

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Re: Growing food - The Garden Thread
« Reply #865 on: July 13, 2015, 08:44:59 pm »
+1 to what Pete b says. Garlic scapes also make very tasty pickles. Of course, I have pickles on the mind, as I just got done with pickling several pounds of green beans. Used some homegrown dill and coriander as well.

I still wish it would stop raining.
Kyle M.

Offline 1vertical

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Re: Growing food - The Garden Thread
« Reply #866 on: September 25, 2015, 10:57:00 pm »
going to hafta put these together with some type of yeast...
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Offline pete b

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Re: Growing food - The Garden Thread
« Reply #867 on: September 28, 2015, 01:35:23 pm »
going to hafta put these together with some type of yeast...
Are those apricots?
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Offline 1vertical

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Re: Growing food - The Garden Thread
« Reply #868 on: September 28, 2015, 10:44:59 pm »
No Pete, they are smallish wild plums. Between the size of a dime and a quarter.
 Mostly seed but HUGE flavor and goodness. They are in primary fermenter as I type. 
The bouquet they give off is intoxicating in and of itself.
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Offline pete b

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Re: Growing food - The Garden Thread
« Reply #869 on: September 29, 2015, 05:58:01 am »
No Pete, they are smallish wild plums. Between the size of a dime and a quarter.
 Mostly seed but HUGE flavor and goodness. They are in primary fermenter as I type. 
The bouquet they give off is intoxicating in and of itself.
Very nice. I just bottled a batch of plum mead with lavender. I bet those little buggers are packed with flavor. What exactly are you making with those?
Don't let the bastards cheer you up.