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Post by michelle on Jun 4, 2014 10:24:28 GMT -5
I love pickled okra!
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Post by Valerie on Jun 4, 2014 18:06:19 GMT -5
Me too! I have to stop after 3 or 4 at a time with all that salt, but oh they are soooo goood!
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Post by Cyngbaeld on Jun 8, 2014 9:54:56 GMT -5
Bethany loves pickled okra. She ate the whole jar. I didn't get any. LOL
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Post by Valerie on Jun 8, 2014 17:46:59 GMT -5
Oooh, if I ate a whole jar, my fingers and toes would probably pop! It's so addictive, though.
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Post by Valerie on Jun 21, 2014 7:33:44 GMT -5
Well, the green beans are just starting to come in. Soon as the leaves dry from last night's rain, I need to go out and pick some. It won't be enough for supper or anything like that, but I think that day is coming soon. There are tons of baby beans, and two fat bees who just go blossom to blossom all day long. The Seminole pumpkins are insane! They're like a giant sea of green! I was out this morning early, and there were probably 10 blossoms wide open, and half a dozen or more bees having a blast in them. They get right down in the middle and just lay there, drinking nectar. It's funny to see. I'll probably grow these ever year, even if they never make a pumpkin, just because they draw so many bees! The tomatoes are just starting to ripen. We've eaten a few and they were yummy. That heirloom rainbow mix had some kind of orange tomato in it. They're small, a bit bigger than a large cherry tomato, and oh so good! I need to save seeds from one of them and grow lots next year, just because they're so tasty! A couple squash and zucchini are still plugging away. Borers only got three this year! The banana peppers (only three plants) are loaded with babies in the making. Got a couple eggplant making, too, and three watermelons! The little sweet melons are cranking along, although they're not ripening yet. The cucumbers didn't do so well this year. They're real small again, kind of stunted looking. I have such a hard time with them. Becky's are big and making long cukes. I'm glad for her, though. Oh yeah, sweet potatoes, cow peas, and Choctaw sweet potato squash all seem to be coming along good, too. We've brought in a little over 15 lb of stuff, so far this year.
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Post by Valerie on Jun 22, 2014 6:16:42 GMT -5
Kim, I can't wait until you can garden again.
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Post by Valerie on Jul 14, 2014 9:18:47 GMT -5
In a nutshell, we've now harvested 40 pounds of stuff from our small garden. This has definitely been a good growing season for us, thank the good Lord!
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Post by Cyngbaeld on Jul 14, 2014 17:01:34 GMT -5
I'm going to plant an orchard asap. Have to have an area cleared and good tight fence first. The goats and deer have all 38 acres and the deer can go in all sorts of other places, but they will be sure the orchard MUST taste best! LOL
I really want a greenhouse.
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Post by susan on Sept 19, 2014 20:28:25 GMT -5
Val, I was wondering how your seminole pumpkins did. I planted mine in the corn and it's a big mess out there. I've got to go out sometime before frost and see if there's any pumpkins hiding. The Choctaw Sweet Potato squash didn't do anything. Last year we fed some of the squash and pumpkins to the chickens as a treat when there wasn't anything growing in the winter. I told the girls a while back that it looks like they won't have any this year. They got quiet and I swear they hung their heads like they understood what I said. We got a dozen ears of dry corn It's the first time I've ever gotten any corn to grow. Now I need a grinder. Our crowder peas (field peas with snaps) did the best. I canned 13 pints along with what we ate outright. Got quite a few tomatoes, zucchini and squash before the blights and powdery mildew did all of those in. I still have green bell peppers growing, plants are nearly 3ft tall and a handful of blooms. Haven't had a single pepper yet. Our potatoes and sweet potatoes did fairly well also.
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Post by Valerie on Sept 20, 2014 21:54:10 GMT -5
I got one pumpkin from the pumpkin vines. With any kind of squash or pumpkin, it's a race to see which will happen first, the borers killing the plant or the fruit ripening.
The choctaw squash never have even produced a female flower. They were slow getting started but are growing fairly well now.
I've given up on growing corn and potatoes in our soil. We're only about 1/2 a step up from being in a swamp, and there are a lot of nematodes or something in our soil.
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Post by Valerie on Mar 18, 2015 19:48:01 GMT -5
Well, I'm doing a whole different thing on the garden this year, so hopefully the nematodes and junk won't be such a problem. My two rows of green beans (yard-long asparagus beans) are up and I'm working on making a trellis/arbor for them to grow on, out of PVC. I love stuff you can walk under. I have about half of the tomatoes planted, with herbs and flowers sprinkled in among them, like the permaculture people recommend. I think it's all going to be pretty once it gets up and going.
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Post by michelle on Mar 19, 2015 8:55:48 GMT -5
Our ground is still half frozen around here.
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Post by Valerie on Apr 5, 2021 11:19:55 GMT -5
Well, this year, I'm having 'tomato surprise' and trying to share it with as many people as possible! LOL! I decided to start some tomato seeds, and figured I should use some of the stash rather than indulging my addiction and buying more. So I picked four heirloom varieties, and put them in two dishes of soil in the kitchen window. And didn't label any of them. I figured they were 2 or 3 years old and most probably wouldn't germinate, so I sowed pretty thickly. Well, they sprouted. Probably ever single one. I potted them up in 4-packs and other seed tray things, and wound up with about 60. I figured some of them would probably die, especially since they were going outside on the porch, with just a piece of plexiglass to protect them from frost. Not a single one died! So I repotted them into 16-oz plastic cups a couple of weeks ago, and took a laundry basket full to church and gave them all away. I've put 11 in the garden so far. Becky said she wants 8 or 10, and a couple coworkers will take a half dozen or so, I'll probably have another dozen or so in the garden. This should be interesting! LOL! I put 10# of red seed potatoes in back in Feb, and they're up and doing well. I have a few cukes and cantaloupes in, too. I have about 6 more seedlings that were in the 2nd sowing that will go in the ground this week, I hope. We had that pre-Easter cold snap last week, so I'm glad I hadn't put them in yet. It's my intention to plant beans this week, and get all of the seedlings moved to the garden.
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Post by upnorthlady2 on Apr 8, 2021 11:32:22 GMT -5
Valerie I had to laugh about your "tomato surprise"! I sometimes think a person can't kill a tomato plant. I have planted seeds 3 or 4 years old and they never died either. I've had hail damage tomato plants right down to just a stem (no leaves at all, just a stem), and they still survived! Sounds like the rest of your garden is doing well. I do the same with petunia seeds - I gather seeds from all my flowers and mix them all up in a container, and then I am surprised at what I get the next year. Makes for interesting hanging baskets with different colors of petunias. You guys are lucky down in the south. You get to start your gardens a lot earlier than we can, and go a lot longer, too. Happy gardening!
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Post by wvfarmgirl on Jun 17, 2021 20:22:43 GMT -5
I just had my first picking of peas yesterday. Been enjoining lettuce and spinach for about a month now.
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