General Discussions - Chapter 22

The carpet idea sounds great. I just have a few weeds in my hoophouse that I can sit down and pull. Now that is the lazy way. But, I really don't have that many.

Red; Strange as it may seem, I have a large container of Preen.
I just didn't think of putting it on while I was planting. I've had such good luck with using grass and paper, I just didn't think of it.
Guess now that I have the weeds out of the tomatoes and sweet corn, I should put some down where I haven't put anything down yet.

Digger; That sounds like it would work but I have a problem with a really tough grass. The rhizomes of it are as sharp as needles. About the only thing it won't penetrate would be a heavy plastic or steel. I had a roll of a sound deadening black foam rubber. I laid it down, and culdn't pull it back up. It had went straight through it and the roots held it firm. It was the heavy duty stuff and 1/4" thick, so I couldn't just run the tiller through it. I used an old butcher knife and cut the roots as I pealed it back.
Now I use old pieces of vinyl siding I had left over to use as edging for the garden. The fence to the south I put down cardboard, and put wood chips on that about 2 feet wide, then a line of the vinyl siding along the edge of that. I also have something else I could use that might be more permanent. I have some 60 mil. rubber roofing, I could cut into 2' wide strips. But I don't think I would want to use that between the rows in my garden. It wouldn't let any moisture soak through.
I may try to see about some carpeting and give it a try. But I think I have this year covered now. as I have a big pile of grass clippings and another large pile of stump grindings. (a very coarse saw dust)
I am running low on old news paper though I like to put it under the mulch. It seems to keep the weeds at bay for one season. By then the worms have it digested and I just till it under and start over the next year.

Hey Kent; I went to Sears and Roebuck but they said they no longer sold drivers license, LOL

Russ: they quit selling them at the store; you have to get'em online now from the Sears website! :-)

Oh I did get one set of cattle panels up for one row of Tomatoes, now I need to go get some new ties to hold the toms up.
I think I will have to use old hog wire fencing for the majority of the rest of the tomato rows. Including the ones in the row of bales. For those I will have to use the old 4x4s Or I could use some of the long limbs from a tree that I cut down. Should work for one year.

OK ; Kent but I think after this year I'll be walking any way. Don't know what I'll do with the vehicles though, maybe make another
CAR HENGE. of course when they finally decide they are loosing too much in taxes by the loss in gas tax revenue maybe the government will do something constructive for a change and get the price within range. I might need one or two of the vehicles again.

i'd like some rubarb. or plants or seeds, wonder if it does good here in 7a. i am in the foothills of the mountains.tastes like sweet and sour cherry pie. love the preserves. made that when i was in mich. many yrs ago . sally

Digger; Send me a D-mail with address, I will dig up a couple clumps. That should be enough for a good row of it. Should really wait till closer to fall though. But if I pack it good enough and send it UPS it should be OK. Wouldn't want it to arrive already cooked!

I think you said you had plenty trades you could come up with. Otherwise just for shipping would be OK.
Russ

Jeanette;
I am wishing that I had waited a few days more to send the sweet potatoes. And been able to send you the Vardamans. I'm really liking the way they are looking. The Centennials and Georgia Jets and Beauregards, are all coming along and starting to run. I'm mounding the dirt up around them. The Vardamans are still growing more like a bush, getting taller. They have bigget leaves than the others, also I like the coloration too. I am mounding around those plants too.
I sure hope they come back true. so I can start more for next year. I think to be safe. I will order more of them next spring.

Sally:

I'd think you should do fine with rhubarb down there- do you have a freeze at all in the 'winter'? It grows great here in PA. (Here's a rhubard pie I made last Spring- just to whet your appetite) Wish I had some growing on my property. I DID learn last year about the toxic nature of rhubarb's foliage, though. I'm always amazed when I learn that stuff like rhubarb leaves and buttercups are poisonous! How'd we live this long??

xox Suz

Suz, why did you ask if it freezes there? Do you mean if it freezes she can't grow it? Or did you mean it has to freeze to be good?

Reason I ask is that it does really good here and we are zone 5, going on 4.

Jeanette

suz is wicked. sally

Suz, pie looks wonderful. I had lovely rhubarb earlier this spring, it is past its prime now. Made lots of sauce.

Russ do take care of yourself, especially back. I too have arthiritus all through my body. Have to take a couple of Tylenol every morning to get going.

Got my little second planting of corn weeded, fertilized with 9-3-4 organic and cultivated , yesterday before it got too hot for me outside. Weatherman says it is going to be hot the rest of the week so I must get outside and get sprinklers & soakers going.

Donna

Jeanette;
Rhubarb does require a cold dormant period to sustain good growth.
A good freeze should do. There are a few tricks Sally can do to help with this. with shallow planting and mulch in the summer.
Russ

about 8 years ago , we had almost a week of zero at night. it wont have any trouble resting over winter. i'll have to remember what ruth said tho and keep an eye on it to harvest at prime or b-4. see, i thought you gathered it all summer, i didn't know.lol sally

oh Suz, I miss rhubarb pie & yours looks sooo good!

Foggy

Russ
Which of your heirloom tomatoes did you like the best? How did their production compare to hybrids? This is the first year I am relying on them as my main source for tomatoes.
RED

Yes, I know that rhubarb does good where it is cold. I wasn't sure if that is what Suz was getting at or not.

Rhubarb cake is about the only way I like it. I have a great recipe for that. Which I am sure everyone does.

Sally, I get some from my sister when it is ready and freeze it in the amount the recipe calls for. I only put up 3 or 4 because of the above. Cake only.

I'll bet you could find it in the freezer section of the grocery store. I have found that a lot of things like vegetables, i.e. brussel sprouts, broccoli, etc. are better in the frozen section than in the fresh produce and normally cheaper. You see, the large companies have contracts and they get the best produce from the farms for cans and frozen to sell in the supermarkets. When they ship fresh produce it normally is picked green.

Red; That is a toss up.
Boxcar came up with one odd shaped one, but then the rest were nice round ones. Mule team, was all nice round ones, large like Boxcar.
Dr. Wyche's yellow was a large tomato as well, of course less acid, but still a nice flavor. The sweet Charlott probably out performed the rest and had a wonderful flavor but a much smaller tomato but larger than the grape or cherry tomatoes. Cherokee purple done great, and I really liked the flavor it is not a large tomato , about the size of a tennis ball.
I had an Arkansas Travler but I don't remember that one standing out for some reason. I think I would pick the Big beef, as it did give more tomatoes but the Giant beef did have the larger tomatoes.
Sorry I loved them all.

jnette, this is general discussion, so you can sneak in that recipe. heck, i'm tired, going to sleep . nite all , sally

Sally's counting sheep now ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Yes, Sally- that's what I was wondering . . . if the rhubarb doesn't do better in an environment where it gets a freeze in the winter. I think it does. Kinda like daffodils (my favorites!)

Zzzzz . . .Suz

well, i'm up and have to get out there and start watering deep on some shrubs and new trees i put out this spring. sally

I had a tomato give up the ghost yesterday. Peppers still look puny as do the yellow squash and pumpkins. The other tomatoes look OK, but these 2 italian squash are unbelievable. The lg. one is 4 feet tall and still growing.
RED

I finally got help today to retie my pea/bean teepees and in the process discovered 4 little yummy snow peas!!!! My garden's a joyous place, and grows in beauty every day!

Here's a shot of the world's most magnificent zucchini plant! (There's a little 2" zuke on it already!)

Jeanette, I sure would like to have your rhubarb cake recipe- sounds lovely! Speaking of good recipes, I made a Bisquick buttermilk pie (you can Google the recipe- it's GREAT!) last night, to take to a friends' house for dinner, and roasted grapes and raspberries in balsamic/raspberry vinegar to put on top, and then reduced the juices that remained with a Tblsp. of butter and one of sugar 'til it made a syrup to put over the roasted fruit. Oh YUMMM!

Namaste- Suz

Ok Sally & Suz, I am having to type this here. Normally I can cut & paste them but for some reason it won't work with this.

And this is not really the place for this, but I don't want to have to do it again if someone else wants it. So, here goes:

Rhubarb Cake

Topping:

1/2 Cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 T. butter

1/2 cup shortening or butter
1 1/2 C brown sugar
1 egg
2 C flour
1 tsp. soda
1 C commercial sour cream
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 C rhubarb cut in 1/2inch cubes
1/2 C nuts ( optional)

Cream shortening and sugar. Add egg and blend well. Combine soda and sour cream and add alternately with flour. Stir in rhubarb and vanilla. Pour into a greased 9x13 inch baking pan. Sprinkle with topping and nuts.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. If using glass pan check at 40 min.

Serve with whipped cream or ice cream.

Jeanette

you'r so sweet,jnette, thank you. i have enough tomatoes for fried green t. now. i love this growing in bales.four squash plants are going to have plenty for the freezer. sally

Sally how do you freeze squash?

Doug

I'm not Sally or Suz. But I will also thank you Jeanette. I enjoy cooking and making pastries.
Russ

Hey Doug. I'm not Sally. But All I do Is cut it open, take out the seeds , peal and cut into small chunks. You can spread the chunks on a cookie sheet and freeze individually or just bag it in what you think is portion size bags. I like using a vacuum sealer and the bags that go with. Then I try to make it a portion for 2 people as there is just the two of us now.
Russ

hi, doug, i'm sally and the only thing i do a little different than russ is , i don't peel or take seeds out. they need to be very tender to leave that undone , i don't cut in chunks, just slice, either around, or long ways, that gives an easier way to dip and fry.can also boil or steam ,then package . the vacum sealer doesn't work so good if they have moister in them , but there is a double bag , zip lock type bag that is ideal for moist stuff. then they are ready to make casseroles, pie,(yeh, it's good)or whatever you use cooked squash for.when i get lazy, i saute onions,dump cooked squash,add corn meal ,and fry like hash browns.so, no matter how you put them up , everything works. sally

Well I just never thought of freezing such a tender vegetable. I am having tons of them come on right now and they sure would taste good in the dead of winter!!! Thanks to you and Russ!

Doug

Hey Russ we need to get together. You enjoy making and I enjoy eating pastries!!!

Doug

PS: I thoroughly enjoy cooking too. My beautiful wife just loves having her own personal chef!

One more thing I like to do with zukes is grate them up for bread, squeeze the water out and measure out 2 cups each loaf and put in ziplocks and freeze. Ready for bread in the dead of winter. All measured for each recipe.

We use the vacuum packer for almost everything too Russ. It certainly is worth buying. We found one tho brand new at a yard sale with the canisters, bags and everything for $35. Now it kills me to have to pay so much for bags. We do split the bags with my sister so not as bad as it could be. We get them at Costco. Anyone found them for better? I just don't like having to get all those big bags when we use mostly small ones. Bob does finangle around with the big ones and makes small out of them but a real pain.

Jeanette

when i first married my dh , he told me he'd fix us a bite for supper . Allrrriiiiight ! i sat down to a meal that consisted of a can of chili with beans over hominey. guess who does the cooking now ? picture this, ex husband, camping in the mountains in colorado. a pickup truck with a top and a platform and matress across the back and milk cartons with cooking supplies and clothes packed in them under the bed . wanted to show that city boy what roughing it in GODS country was all about. better than his vacations at best western , sitting around a pool, looking at fat seniors in swim suits.(like me now) gonna cook birthday breakfast for each other . his birthday,aug 30 th ,homemade biscuits,ham steak , eggs , refried beans , ribbon cane syrup for the biscuits for desert, and fresh perked coffee , all cooked on the campfire .his birthday breakfast ! my birthday sept 1st , a weiner on a stick over the campfire .thats another reason he's my ex., at least ,this one knows how to flip the button on the coffee pot .lol sally

i try to buy the bags in the roll so that i can custom size them.this will be the first year to have enough garden to use them, usually put up my venison and fish in them , and any meat bargins at the store. sally

Jeanette; Ours uses the roll. and you just cut them off where you want but your right you then have to seal one end, stuff the bag then seal every thing in.
I have bought the doubble roll box at Wal-Mart. It does seem to cost more than a box of zip-locks. I do use both. The vacuum and the zip locks. The vacuum sealed seems to last longer in the freezer than the ziplocks, before showing signs of freezer burn.
I don't know for sure what I paid for the rolls of bag material.
I will have to look into the doubble thick zip locks.
Zip lock also has the reusable, containers with lids that seal pretty good. I'll have to try some of those. they would stack much better.
Oh well, DW and I were in town today, with the car. I saw that one of the farm home stores had all plants @ 40% off.
Taking the pickup back in to get a couple trees and a small bush. And I'm going to check out gas price out too. I got an $.08.per gallon discount slip, at Hy Vee. Their price was $3.79 .09. I'll take my lawn mower cans along just in case.
Russ

Yep; Sally, We watch for the meat bargains too.
I quite often get the 10lb tubes of 96% lean hamburger from Gary at the resturant he can get it cheaper by the case, so it helps him too.

i don't have any contacts any more at the restaurants , but 93% lean is pretty dry ,think i'd mix some cheaper , fatter hamburger with it . i bought a grinder a coupla years ago, can grind my own sausage and other meat now from chuck and cheaper cuts of roast. gotta cut the gristle out it works great on venison , can also dehydrate the lean meat into jerkey. sally