Re: [gardeners] Saturday in the garden
George Shirley (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Sun, 04 Jun 2000 14:35:03 -0500
margaret lauterbach wrote:
>
> >
> >The Hungarian Paste have such large tomatoes that one plant broke the
> stake it
> >was tied to. Had to drive in two new stakes and then retie the plant. I
> counted
> >16 very large tomatoes on the plant. One green one that fell off while I was
> >messing with the plant weighed 1.5 lbs and one of the largest ripe ones
> weighed
> >2.2 lbs. Thassa lotsa sauce mater. These things are so meaty that I love a
> >tomato sandwich made out of them, little Miracle Whip free, little
> lettuce, lots
> >of tomato, little pepper, two very thin slices of bread. Chomp, chomp, gone.
> >Sleepy even likes them.
>
> IMO a slice of sweet onion would improve your sandwich. Are the big Texas
> sweets ready yet?
Nope, haven't seen the first 1015Y Texas Grano in the stores yet. The yellows
and whites that are in are too hot and the reds have an off flavor, probably all
cold storage onions. Looking forward to the sweets though.
>
> >
> >Do you can or freeze all the produce off your garden or pass it on to
> friends,
> >neighbors, etc. Curious minds want to know.
> >
> I used to can tomatoes, but I still have an abundant supply. I give away a
> lot, and the rest I give to the Idaho Food Bank. We do freeze some.
> >>
> >
> >I'm only growing 6 varieties of chiles this year and thought that was a lot.
> >Wanna know how to make hot sauce? <VBG>
>
> Well, now that you mention it, yes. I have a ton of last year's chiles to
> extract seeds from and pulverize for powder. I wear a light mask, and even
> so, do a lot of coughing, etc. Have to work someplace that Chuck is not
> expected to be. He's pretty sensitive. I have a huge variety of chile
> seeds, some I'm re-growing to refresh the seeds. Have accumulated a lot
> through Seed Savers' Exchange, and I also do a lot of seed swapping
> internationally. How would you like seeds for an annato tree?
Don't use annato much anymore. Used to get it at the ethnic food stores in
Houston. Try wearing the air-purifying respirator I sent you to use when
cleaning the greenhouse, should keep the chile powder from bothering you too
much. I do mine in the blender or food processor to make powder and leave it sit
until the dust settles.
> >
> >I don't care for the taste of kale but Miz Anne likes it. Her dad grew a
> lot of
> >it and an old Southern Maryland recipe calls for stuffing a ham with kale.
> >Sounds like a waste of good ham to me. I'll see if she's got any recipes for
> >kale when she gets back. Either that or I'll email my 4 sisters-in-law and
> see
> >what they have.
> >
> Please do.
>
> >
> >I've been wanting to try growing leeks but just haven't done it yet. My
> >excursion into shallots ended in no shallots so I'm a little concerned about
> >leeks. I can grow "bunching" onions but not the kind that make a bulb.
>
> George, you might have done better with the shallots had you had them to
> plant in what passes for fall at your place. They need some cold. Chill, or
> whatever you can manage.
>
> >Well, better go back and water all the potted plants again and the stuff
> in the
> >front yard needs water too. I think I'm gonna buy some more soaker hose
> and put
> >it in the front flower beds. The ones I have in the back work really good. I
> >have them just barely dripping and leave them on for two or three days, get a
> >really good soak into the ground and no water on the leaves to burn. It's
> been
> >in the low eighties here this morning and I have already run through three
> tee
> >shirts and six bandannas. A breeze has finally come up and I just finished
> >mowing the back yard. I do love the smell of fresh mown grass, preferably if
> >someone else mowed it.
> >
> >Lonesome George
> >
> I love my soaker hoses, but replaced most of them this year. I don't like
> the way Chuck has laid them out in the tomato patch, and it doesn't work.
> But I wasn't consulted on that. We have calcium carbonate that gums up the
> works, as they say. Margaret L
We do too, our water is heavy with calcium hardness. So far haven't had a
problem with the hoses. I have over 300 feet of them hooked up to three
different faucets. The blueberries and brambles seem to appreciate the long slow
watering more than the other plants.
George