Oh yeah, there nearest Amish are... ????
Mexico, maybe. LOL
I'll give a look see at the shee-shee food stores in Santa Fe.
Old pear trees
Laughing, no, I don't think any live nearby. I feel pretty lucky to have them so close.
Ever had coconut or pecan jelly?
Never even heard of them!
Do tell....
A lady back home makes all kinds and sells them at "The Country Market". It's an old train depot they turned into a market for artisans (sp?). Lots of different kinds of things in there. The different kinds of jelly were amazing. Pepper Jelly is good if you microwave it, pour it over a block of cream cheese and eat it with crackers. My Mom is making jelly the last week or so. Mayhaw, plum, grape and strawberry. She always makes some sugarfree jelly for DH who is a diabetic.
Hah! NM invented chile pepper jelly... LOL We smear it on our morning toast with homemade lemon cheese.
and prickly pear jelly... well, we didn't invent that, I think AZ did, but we've got them and it's good stuff. Great syrup for pancakes.
SU made from scratch almond cheese last night with jalapeno in it.
What in tarnation is a mayhaw?
My experience with mulberries is that they are fantastic fresh (if you don't mind blue teeth!), but very blah when canned, frozen, etc. Here in NW Arkansas, we can't grow wine or bunch grapes without alot of spraying - too humid - but I do have a golden scuppernong and a blue Cowart muscadine grape on my grape arbor and they bear every single year. They bloom quite a bit later than the fruit trees (that get frosted many years around here.) These grapes are sooooo good - fresh, as juice, and probably as wine too. For juice, I just fill the jar about 1/3 of the way with grapes, add a little sugar, cover with hot water and can.
Scuppernong is my favorite grape. My Mom makes her grape jelly with them. I love purple muscadines too.
Jay,
A Mayhaw is a fruit you find growing wild in the south. They have domesticated varieties now but I don't know how far North they grow. They are smaller than a silver dime. They are red and mushy. The small amount of dark yellow pulp surrounds mostly seeds so they are not often eaten raw but I love them raw and will eat a gallon if I can get them. They grow near swampy or boggy areas. The blooms are white and they bloom before any leaves come on the tree. The bark of the trees are usually a dark gray so the contrast of trunk to bloom is very pretty. You can google them. I know i am not explaining them very well.
I haven't tasted too many different jellies. I found blueberry and huckleberry bland. I had marmalde once. It was ok. Never had any kind of pepper jelly. Unless I go to kalona, it's hard to find the odd ones. We did get the pear butter there, but no one made it again, so we make our own now.
I like jelly or jam that is made with less suagr so I can actually taste the fruit rather than just "sweet".
Me too, especially on toast made from homemade sweet dough!
I've been looking thru the seed catalogues and have a hankering for strawberries. I'd like DH to make me a tower and plant the everbearing.
I bought Red Wonder Wild Strawberry and Yellow Wonder Wild Strawberry seeds from Baker Creek. I hope they do well. I love strawberries.
Those sound like they have some flavor. I think my Dad just turned his old patch under. Too many weeds and grass got in. I wish I had at least an acre of land!
I have to do all my gardening in my few flower beds but I try to make the most of it. I am going to do some verticle gardening this year.
I had DH put in a pea and cucumber fence. I like it! It's easier to keep both watered. I used to waste so much space planting spinich in rows. Now I really plant close. I don't need a lot of turnips, kohlrobi, daikon radish, or red radish, just enough to share, so I can plant less than I was. 52 years old (in April) and I'm still learning.
The 4 year old grandson wants to help plant this year, so he's going to be a big help - smile! I don't think he or the 2 year old can hurt peas and beans, but I can't wait to see the carrot row. His other grandparents have truck farmed most of their life, so he had her help sow watermelons the other day. If you can teach them to feed themselves, it's a great thing to do!
I'm going to grow my cukes in containers hanging from shepherd's hooks in my front yard.
Now that is a different idea! I think that would look very interesting too! Easy to water and pick!
I'm going to grow Lemon Cukes in the hanging containers. I also have some bush cukes I think I will try the same way. Have you ever tried a Sikkum cuke? I got it from Baker Creek this year and I am looking forward to trying it.
I just sent for the Baker catalogue two years ago and ordered last year. I had free seed from somewhere for a white cucumber. I didn't care for it. I usually grow the same one I grew up with. Straight Eight. I've seen the lemon's, but have never tried them. Baker's does have many odd things to try!
My two favorite cucumbers are Painted Serpent and Armenian cucumbers. Armenian cucumbers are much dryer than regular cucumbers, so the fact that they grow to 3' long is OK - you just cut off what you want and put the rest in the fridge, where it will keep for at least a week or two - they don't get slimey like cut regular cucumbers.
I built a strawberry tower two years ago - I went to Home Depot and bought a roll of 12" flashing - the towers for sale in the catalogs seem to be only about 5-6" tall. Unfortunatly, the first year I did not put plastic on the ground before I put the dirt in and the bermuda grass grew up through 3' of dirt and took over the whole tower. The next year I put down plastic, shoveled all the dirt over to the new spot and THEN planted my strawberries. I think they love the deeper dirt that the flashing provides - things dry out here in a jiffy during the summer and the deeper dirt helps. The flashing cuts your hands easily, so if you have any left over 1" black plastic hose, you can cut it along its length and slip it over the top of the flashing for safety.
Cucumbers are my turtle's favorite food.
Luannewolf, flashing is what I had in mind. Thanks for all the tips! I like the hose idea! I also thought about making it a long half moon since the north side wouldn't get sun any way, and making it taller than those in the catalog. It may not get done this year, but you've inspired to to ask DH to do it!! Big question is where an I going to put it ?? :o)
Cajun, smile! What type of turtle and how old?
The free seed was Pearl. It was ok, but nothing great. I couldn't keep up with it.
She is an Eastern Box turtle. I don't know how to tell how old one is but she is just a tiny thing. Doesn't fill my palm and I have a small hand. Her name is Hinge.
Awww, I love the name. She must not be too old. Do you have a place set up for her? I was on a thread with Kassia and she had about 5 that were tiny. She kept us updated and fixed them a place outside finally.
Yes, one thing I forgot to mention about the circular tower is that the back (north facing) side of the circle didn't have near as many strawberries as the south side that got the sun all day. If I was going to build it again, I would maybe make it just a straight east/west "wall" 12'-18" wide and about waist high (I would build it out of rocks) so I wouldn't have to bend down to weed or pick. Fill the bottom up with rocks and put dirt into just the top foot or so.
Laughing Luannewolf, I also thought of a straight wall. I guess I'm on the right track. If I had any sidewalk left I would have done a strip down it. All my flower beds are a foot from the walk so that won't work.
This is at my Dad's house and I always wanted one to plant in. It was an old gas lantern supply box. The only one in town that I know of. It has the same petunias my Mom planted when I was a kid. They reseed every year. It would be perfect for a raised garden.
