Re: [gardeners] This week
George Shirley (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Tue, 15 Sep 1998 12:03:01
At 08:53 AM 9/15/98 -0600, you wrote:
>things are quiet on the list now. I trust you're all harvesting like mad,
>preparing for the coming frosts. I've picked all of the colored tomatoes
>from my big patch, and now have to strain muscles to pick more cucumbers,
>then harvest eggplants. Unfortunately I ran into several packets of
>eggplant parmesan in the freezer, so I won't make that again this year, but
>will have to stuff and bake a large zucchini and make eggplant moussaka to
>freeze. I don't like lamb, never have, so I use ground beef instead.
>(Question: why is it that lamb is very expensive at meat counters but it's
>in most pet foods? Are they using sheep afflicted with scrapie (BSE?) for
>pet foods? I don't feed my dog that stuff).
I put up a good bit of frozen caponata using eggplant. Stays tasty even
after a few months in the freezer. I also don't care for lamb or mutton but
will eat goat and venison. Always make my moussaka with beef. It seems
strange to hear you speak of harvesting tomatoes, cukes, etc when we've
already harvested and plowed under the spring garden and are waiting on the
fall garden to produce.
>
>Then I'll have to harvest a cabbage and see if it tastes any good after a
>summer of scorching temps. Last spring Ed Hume gave a lecture in Boise, at
>which he demonstrated how to keep cabbage from going to seed. Take its
>"face" in both hands and twist 1/4 to 1/2 turn. I did, and I have two or
>three large heads sitting there. And after that, it's don surgical gloves
>to harvest hot chiles.
When you told us about the method of keeping cabbage from going to seed
before I printed it out and added it to my garden calendar. Hope to try it
this fall, we tend to plant too much cabbage, must be because we like it so
well.
>
>I was given some heirloom beans late in the spring when nearly all parts of
>the garden were planted, and I failed to ask if these were bush beans. I
>planted them in a tight space, and when they began wandering, we put up a
>hasty makeshift fence. Now vines, wire and one pole are on the ground, and
>the beans are nigh impossible to pick. But they are outstanding in flavor!
> Wow! If I can beat the voles to mature pods, I'll more than happily save
>seeds. Put up a proper trellis next year.
>
>We've given away a ton or so of Bartlett pears, and have a good supply of
>Asian pears too. I finally picked the last of the Elberta peaches
>yesterday, and now I'm faced with golden delicious apples dropping from
>high in the tree in the front yard and good-tasting apples dropping from
>the tree in the back yard. Can't remember whether that's a Fuji or a
>Criterion. The latter, I think. Worms in most, but a lot of my teeth are
>capped anyway, so I cut up apples for eating. Usually our autumns see a
>few nights of light freezes, then an Indian summer that can't be equalled.
>After a few weeks of that, we start into winter with a vengeance. One of
>our minus 25 degree times occurred in November. After about a week of
>sub-zero temps it warmed up, and the rest of the winter was quite moderate.
Get so jealous hearing folks up your way speak of all the fruit they get
and how good it is. Only a few varieties of fruit can be grown here and we
have to spray umpteen times a year to combat the various bugs and diseases
that come with high heat and humidity. If my blood wasn't so thin I would
move north and west.
>
>Speaking of which, why in the world do the news media keep talking about
>the icy waters off Iceland? I "met" a fellow on another list who's in
>Iceland, and that country has a very temperate climate. We're so
>brainwashed to think it's like the North Pole that I even looked it up in
>the encyclopedia. Annual mean air temperature at Reykjavik is 3.9 degrees
>C (39 degrees F.), the mean temp in January is minus 1.2 degrees C (29.8
>degrees F.) and in July it's 10.9 degrees C (51.6 degrees F). Chilly, but
>not icy.
Having been aboard a ship in those waters long years ago I can say that the
water is icy. Iceland is temperate because the whole thing is underlain by
volcanos. Parts of the island steam all year, a beautiful place to visit,
and the fishing is excellent. Most crops are grown under glass from what I
saw. Things may be different now than they were in 1959, but then, most
things are.
>
>Must have been a cheeky cat crossing the deck. Dog wanted out in the worst
>way, and he really spun rubber getting across the deck. Actually, he could
>use some help controlling voles, but he'd never admit it. Margaret
>
Enjoyed your post Miz Margaret.
George