Saturday Gardening Thread: Tropicana Edition [Y-not, KT, and Weirddave]

Y-not:

Good afternoon (evening?) gardeners! Today's late edition of the Saturday Gardening Thread is brought to you by Fess Parker:

Another light week of posting from yours truly, I'm afraid, owing to some unexpected travel. Fortunately as you will see, KT came through #LikeABoss and I think even Weirddave has something for us this week.

Long-time moron Gordon tipped me off to this excellent website that might be of interest to many of our tropical morons, Florida Survival Gardening. It looks like a great site, chock full of helpful and interesting content.

Gordon goes on to say the following about the proprietor of Florida Survival Gardening:

A friend of mine, David the Good, has published a book called Compost Everything. You can find it on Amazon as an ebook or paperback. David, while he may not be aware of it, is kind of a supporter of the moron lifestyle. His book is funny, entertaining and very educational.

As you'll see on David's website, he also has another booklet, Create Your Own Florida Food Forest that I bet would interest many of the horde. (Make sure to use Ace's Amazon store thingy if you order one of these books. Flea dips are quite pricey these days and the alternative, dipping in kerosene followed by exposure to a flamethrower, is not very pleasant!)

I hope we can get David to comment here and perhaps set up a future guest post or two on some topics of interest to the horde. Please let him know of your interests in the comments. (And be gentle because he may be a noob!)

And now, let's see what KT has for us this week:

Summer!

This year, Summer Solstice was on Fathers Day, July 21 -- the official start of summer. Midsummer Day was on June 24. Does this make sense to you?

Ever wonder why June is the month of weddings, how Groundhog Day got started, or why we hold elections in the fall? The timing of present-day rituals and holidays may be based on the calendars of the ancient Celts and other cultures. These divided the year into four major sections, called quarter days, and then divided each of these in half, creating four cross-quarter days . . .

Most of the action in A Misummer Night's Dream is set on the night of the Summer Solstice. Were the forests Shakespeare knew frightening or beautiful?

The Old Farmers Almanac also has quite a bit of information concerning the summer solstice, including a link to a sunrise/sunset calculator for your area, so you can plan your garden activities.

Sometimes the relationship between the Summer Solstice and Midsummer Day can be sort of ambiguous. Fun fact: In Sweden, summer solstice is celebrated by eating the first strawberries of the season. "In Sweden the Midsummer is such an important festivity that there have been serious discussions to make Midsummer's Eve into the National Day of Sweden, instead of June 6."

Around here, the first (and last) strawberries of the season are long gone before Summer Solstice. It is way too hot for strawberries now.

Currants growing on the North Face

We may not have strawberries, but we currently have fruit on plants that depend on getting a little sun around the time of the Summer Solstice. We have been enjoying Clove Currants. Back in January, I briefly mentioned this plant as an edible landscaping choice for a north wall at our latitude (with a photo of the fruit) in a segment on planning your yard based on where sunlight hits as the sun moves in the sky during the year.

Did anybody remember to check where sunlight hits in the yard, especially with regard to windows, at summer solstice? If not, you can still get a good idea where the sun hits in summer by checking this weekend -- morning, noon and early evening.

Y-not did a great segment on gooseberries and currants back in February. It reminded me of the strongly-flavored black currants that grew in our garden as I was growing up. They imparted an exotic, wild flavor to raspberry or raspberry/peach preserves. A neighbor from Finland who had Type 1 diabetes always came by to pick some because of the purported benefits of the fruit for her condition. Another neighbor grew large gooseberries. They were generally very tart, but sometimes when she invited us over I was able to find a few really ripe ones that were fairly sweet. They were wonderful. I cannot grow either European black currants or gooseberries here.

For our climate, the only good edible currant/gooseberry choices I know of are Ribes aureum and the closely related Ribes odoratum, AKA Ribes aureum var. villosum. They are remarkably drought tolerant for currants. We are certainly in a drought.

Alternate common names are "Buffalo Currant" and "Golden Currant". Fruit color ranges from golden to black. The name "Clove Currant" refers to fragrant yellow blossoms. Some cultivars are more fragrant than others. The most fragrant wild plants are from the Midwest rather than the West.

The most common cultivar for culinary use is Crandall, released in 1888. It has large, sweet black fruit. I suspect that it is sweetest where the weather gets hot, with some water restriction as it ripens. Ours are quite sweet this year, especially considering that they are currants. They taste best a few days after they turn black.

This cultivar is shorter than many wild plants, usually seen at three to four feet in height, though it can get taller. Our plants would be taller if they were not so droopy. Since they are against the north wall of our house, they only get part sun in summer, with no direct sun at other times of the year. We have to prop the stems up with strings and T-bars, set at about 3 feet in height. The plants are gangly enough that they are not particularly attractive. But they produce good fruit in the side yard where we seldom go. They are easy to care for. Here is an embarrassing photo of bare-stemmed, floppy branches against the wall. They would probably look better if grown in an eastern exposure.

This currant is also cold tolerant. There is a nice, representative photo of a plant growing in Wisconsin. The Missouri Botanical Garden has an informative profile on this cultivar, though it will grow in parts of Zone 9, too. At least in the West. Some cultivars were developed in Canada, and amateurs continue breeding and selection. I think a cross-species hybrid of a sweet Ribes Aureum with a distinctively flavorful European black currant could be interesting.

Will the real Brandywine tomato please sit on my sandwich?

As Weirddave has attested in his own unique way, summer is the season for all kinds of tomato sandwiches. Many heirloom tomatoes just seem made to feature on a sandwich. You might be interested in perusing 17 ways to build a better tomato sandwich. I generally go for "simple", but tastes and aspirations vary.

"Brandywine" is the most famous name in heirloom tomatoes. Sometimes it is hard to tell the real deal from the impersonators.

The most celebrated Brandywine of all is a dark pink beefsteak, saved for future generations by tomato enthusiast Ben Quisenberry. The strain he saved is known as the Sudduth Strain. This potato-leaf cultivar is the standard against which other beefsteak tomatoes are judged. It is notoriously finicky about growing conditions. It is not productive for many people.

There are several other strains of pink Brandywine tomatoes available now. One that is reputed to be more productive than the original is Cowlicks. Some seed houses carry their own strains.

Things get more confusing when it comes to Red Brandywine. The first published record of a Brandywine Tomato described a regular-leaf red slicer. A "Red Brandywine" fitting that description is now often designated as the Landis Valley Strain, though it did not originate there. A museum in Landis Valley, Pennsylvania maintains this strain, along with other heirloom tomatoes, beans and other crops.

Tomato Growers Supply also sells potato-leaf and regular-leaf beefsteak versions of "Red Brandywine" in addition to "Landis Valley", but true tomato nuts generally reject the beefsteaks as misnamed tomatoes. Unless you know which strain your nursery sells, you may not get what you expect when you pick up a Red Brandywine plant.

Yellow Brandywine is a beefsteak. There is a popular selection called the "Platfoot Strain".

My Tomato of the Week is Brandywine OTV. The initials stand for "Off the Vine", a defunct tomato newsletter. It is a red beefsteak -- the stabilized offspring of Yellow Brandywine and an unknown red tomato. It has a reputation for being more heat tolerant than other Brandywine tomatoes. But I have planted it a couple of times before without much success. The third try worked.

Two fruits are seen at the top in the photo below, along with (clockwise) Lemon Boy, Sungold, Stump of the World (dark pink, gnawed by a grasshopper, apparently), Large Red Cherry and Sweet Tangerine (including the green one from a broken branch). Stump of the World is better than Brandywine OTV in our garden this year.

I like the mild Lemon Boy VFN Hybrid when it starts to turn a little bit golden, with some water restriction. It has a different character than the heirloom beefsteaks. It is great for visually striking (and tasty) salsas and for salads. It is favored for fried green tomatoes. It is one of the more heat tolerant tomatoes around.

Sungold Hybrid shows the greenish coloration typical of its ripe fruits in our hottest weather. The little cherries still taste good. But their unique, fruity flavor comes out best in a little cooler weather, and their color is more appealing then, too.

Large Red Cherry has a nice, sweet tomato-y flavor in the heat -- considerably better than in cooler weather. Interesting how various tomatoes taste best in different weather conditions.

I suspect that tomatoes sold under this name are quite variable. I have no idea where my strain came from. Ben Quisenberry canned them whole. I cannot even imagine peeling all those little tomatoes. But if you want his heirloom strain of Large Red Cherry, Brandywine or Stump of the World, buy seed from a source that keeps track of where its tomato strains come from.

Hope some good things are happening in your garden, or that you get to eat a good tomato sandwich. Or both.

Y-not: Thanks, KT! Weirddave is back from his two weeks vacay from the Gardening Thread, so let's see what he has for us today:

I was in Mexico while I was away, and the resort I stayed at had impeccable landscaping. A crew of gardeners was always hard at work to keep it that way.

If you look closely, you can see the sprinkler heads for the irrigation system. LOTS of water is needed to keep things looking like this, Baja California Sur is basically a desert. The slopes were planted in a lush, green ground cover that seemed to be everywhere.

There was one plant that I especially liked, but I never could find out exactly what it was. None of the gardeners spoke enough English to help ("Como se llama that thing?" wasn't cutting it) and none of the staff that spoke English knew what it was, and I was never able to bring the two together next to the plant. I did take pictures though, can any of the Horde help me out?

Purple and green spiked leaves, side by side in a plant about the size of your average Hosta. Does anyone know what it is and if it'll grow in the Mid-Atlantic? While the landscaped areas were cool, the raw desert has a beauty all it's own.

It's especially striking by moonlight, but I have no pictures of that. So that's where I've been. Back to you Y-not.

Y-not: To wrap things up, how about some Bluegrass Calypso?

What's happening in YOUR gardens this week?

Link to the Archive of the Saturday Gardening Thread, through May 30th.

Comments

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1 to much ran now and take this hit, never grow spaghetti squash unless you have 1/2 your garden with nothing else to grow.

Posted by: Skip at June 27, 2015 06:08 PM (kTWpM)

2 What do you do with your spaghetti squash, Skip?

Posted by: Y-not at June 27, 2015 06:11 PM (RWGcK)

3 Mexican ground cover looks like a variety of rhoeo .
Apparently it does NOT like freezing or near-freezing temperatures.

Posted by: carlv at June 27, 2015 06:13 PM (Senbz)

4 dang, this is so outside my wheelhouse. and since I am as beered up as I care to get on any given day, I will leave you guys to it. you find a way to grow your own beer or bacon, somebody please email and let me know, eh? xoxo

Posted by: Peaches at June 27, 2015 06:16 PM (EgOr3)

5 My garden this week was hot sand.

Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at June 27, 2015 06:16 PM (GpgJl)

6 Spahetti squash is *very* productive, lol Skip.

Posted by: JeanQ Flyover at June 27, 2015 06:17 PM (rhjQp)

7 Thank you for the link - I'm honored. BTW, the gal in the tropical outfit? Everyone dresses like that down here. If anyone has any crazy gardening questions, ask away.

Posted by: David The Good at June 27, 2015 06:20 PM (m5KwY)

8 Welcome aboard, David The Good!

Posted by: Y-not at June 27, 2015 06:20 PM (RWGcK)

9 @Skip

I feel your viney pain. We will likely try spaghetti squash again next spring. This year the garden is covered with Seminole Pumpkin and calabaza vines. Those suckers must grow a foot a day.

Posted by: David The Good at June 27, 2015 06:21 PM (m5KwY)

10 >>BTW, the gal in the tropical outfit? Everyone dresses like that down here.

Oh, and since you're new around here... the standard response to that is:

useless without pictures

Posted by: Y-not at June 27, 2015 06:21 PM (RWGcK)

11 Couple of years ago, we had *more than enough* spaghetti squash-- I was baking them 4 at a time, then teasing out and cooling the 'spahetti' for portioning/freezing.

Pop the frozen block out and steam it until heated thru, served with butter and brown sugar or treat like pasta...yum...(until you OD on it...)

Posted by: JeanQ Flyover at June 27, 2015 06:21 PM (rhjQp)

12 My red potatoes have finally died off. This has been a noticeably cool spring for these parts. Potatoes usually burn off around the end of May. I'll need to get out there and harvest tomorrow.

Posted by: Grump928(C) at June 27, 2015 06:22 PM (rwI+c)

13 peaches, had a new crop of 6 bacon this week.

Now for the garden, uggh. Starting over essentially, 18 days where the temperature never dropped below 75, most days were above 95 and nights over 80. Took it's toll

Posted by: traye at June 27, 2015 06:22 PM (lasFK)

14 Wow. NDH is actual Carmen Miranda?

Posted by: Kindltot at June 27, 2015 06:22 PM (3pRHP)

15 BTW, the gal in the tropical outfit? Everyone dresses like that down here.

Good grief, the 'rons will be in a frenzy trying to figure out where your "down there" is.

Posted by: Peaches at June 27, 2015 06:22 PM (EgOr3)

16 I always microwave my spaghetti squash in a covered dish w/ a little water. Then tease it out with a fork. I avoid using my oven whenever possible, especially in summer!

Posted by: Y-not at June 27, 2015 06:24 PM (RWGcK)

17 Vic, aren't you close to me, across the line in ne sc?

Posted by: traye at June 27, 2015 06:25 PM (lasFK)

18 A tropical moronette. I can neither confirm nor deny that this is Niedermeyer's Dead Horse.

****

HA!!!!! I can confirm, it is not. This is a closer approximation:

http://bit.ly/1fWHJQy

Posted by: Niedermeyer's Dead Horse at June 27, 2015 06:27 PM (PMlgt)

19 LOL, NDH!

Posted by: Y-not at June 27, 2015 06:28 PM (RWGcK)

20 Some of my tomatoes have blooms on them. If lucky may have a ripe tomato by middle of September.

Posted by: Ronster at June 27, 2015 06:28 PM (NMV/A)

21 HA!!!!! I can confirm, it is not. This is a closer approximation:



http://bit.ly/1fWHJQy

Posted by: Niedermeyer's Dead Horse at June 27, 2015 06:27 PM (PMlgt)
Oh, that is just boasting!!

Posted by: Peaches at June 27, 2015 06:28 PM (EgOr3)

22 Holy nieds, those are huge melons

Posted by: traye at June 27, 2015 06:29 PM (lasFK)

23 17
Vic, aren't you close to me, across the line in ne sc?

Posted by: traye at June 27, 2015 06:25 PM (lasFK)

Middle North about 50 miles from the NC border.

Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at June 27, 2015 06:30 PM (GpgJl)

24 Some of my tomatoes have blooms on them. If lucky may have a ripe tomato by middle of September.
--

The early tomatoes, "sub arctic maxi," that I'd planted have a few ripe fruits. But they had a rough start b/c of our very wet and very cloudy Spring. I tasted one before the critters got it and was not impressed. I have two other varieties planted that I hope will be better.

My snap peas are ready to start harvesting. Unfortunately, with the slow start, they're now hitting the really hot dry weather, so the pods aren't as plump as I'd like. Still good for stir fry, I expect.

Posted by: Y-not at June 27, 2015 06:31 PM (RWGcK)

25 Ace up

Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at June 27, 2015 06:31 PM (GpgJl)

26 Hey, David the Good, can you tell us a little bit about yourself? What's your background? How did you get started?

Posted by: Y-not at June 27, 2015 06:31 PM (RWGcK)

27 That's close enough, sure your heat was close to hell too.

Monday when piglets were born and I was outside with momma until 5am, the coolest it got was 82.

Posted by: traye at June 27, 2015 06:34 PM (lasFK)

28 Funny you should mention Fess and gardening!

A couple of nights ago I watched an episode of "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour" on the oldies TV channel, wherein Fess Parker (a small-town sheriff) was investigating Gerry Merrill because he was doing gardening at night and his wife was nowhere to be found.

Brilliant show! It also starred Phyllis Thaxter (Martha Kent from the old Christopher Reeve "Superman" movie) as the nosy neighbor who suspects the worst.

Posted by: RKae at June 27, 2015 06:34 PM (WP9EM)

29 My timing is lousy... but I imagine we'll get some gardeners back to this thread in a bit. Normally this thread goes up in the early afternoon, David the Good, but I was running very late today.

Posted by: Y-not at June 27, 2015 06:34 PM (RWGcK)

30 Y-not, I have no idea what variety of tomatoes I have. The wife picked the seedlings.

Posted by: Ronster at June 27, 2015 06:35 PM (NMV/A)

31 >>Funny you should mention Fess and gardening!

I was in Kentucky last week.

It's funny, I kept getting Daniel Boone and Davey Crockett confused. Now I know why -- Fess Parker played both.

Posted by: Y-not at June 27, 2015 06:35 PM (RWGcK)

32 Since Peaches is here, and that can be rare these days:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=neFzQ-vBXm0

Every time I listen to this, I think about Miss Peaches.

Now, back to your gardens. And I'm going back to my drink and joint...

Posted by: the bourbon cowboy at June 27, 2015 06:36 PM (9Cfy9)

33 Composting is the way to go. The work is not that hard and the earthworms are a bonus. Of course ever so often the armadillos will get in and eat your worms. But we never use commercial chemical fertilizer in our garden.

Posted by: Eromero at June 27, 2015 06:40 PM (go5uR)

34 I designed and parted (will put it together tomorrow) a new hydroponic system to finish lettuce in my house. I can start it all outside and move it in just before it would start to bolt. I can finish about 40 heads every week or two. I have that many ready to move indoors right now. The two things that people lose their minds over at the farmer's market are eggs and butterhead lettuce. Giving the people what they want.

Posted by: traye at June 27, 2015 06:41 PM (lasFK)

35 Made another air plant project this week: the Living Door! You've heard of "Living Walls", where plants are grown in little wall pockets so they cover the whole wall? Well, mine is a magnetic coaster with plants embedded in it, stuck to the door: http://tinyurl.com/qhkme5m

I'm going to make some more and line them up down the middle and across the top.

Posted by: Dr. Mabuse at June 27, 2015 06:41 PM (VBbCO)

36 Posted by: Y-not:

There was a special on the history channel (years ago, when they used to cover, y'know, HISTORY!) that showed the differences in the lives of Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett.

The reason for the existence of the show? They admitted it: Fess Parker played both of them in a coonskin cap! (For the record, Daniel Boone never wore one.)

Posted by: RKae at June 27, 2015 06:41 PM (WP9EM)

37 Welcome, Dave the Good! I have bookmarked your blog, and bought your book (Kindle version). I will try to pimp it on the book thread tomorrow, too.

It feels so faincy to have a published author here on the garden thread! Please stick around!

Posted by: Tammy al-Thor at June 27, 2015 06:42 PM (BVDFs)

38 Posted by: traye at June 27, 2015 06:41 PM (lasFK)

Is Romaine hydroponicable?

Posted by: Tammy al-Thor at June 27, 2015 06:43 PM (BVDFs)

39
Posted by: the bourbon cowboy at June 27, 2015 06:36 PM (9Cfy9)

Oh, shweet! Turned it up. Love it!

Posted by: Peaches at June 27, 2015 06:43 PM (EgOr3)

40
I planted 5 currant bushes in back. I didn't know what grew best so I got a variety pack. One grew well, and darned if I know what variety it is to get more

Currants require yearly pruning to do their best, I am told, and the cuttings can just go into to the soil where they root on their own. I will most likely be digging the poor performers out and putting in rootings of the the one that works
I envy you all who have tomatoes already. I have small green ones right now and I planted as early as I dared. My Melons, by the way, are sprawling and blooming. I hope to have melons sometime this summer. Yum.

I am having gopher problems right now. I tried gassing them out of the tunnels, and that didn't work, so I am resorting to setting boobytraps.
I wish I could get my hands on a gopher-snake right now, but you can never find one when you want it

Posted by: Kindltot at June 27, 2015 06:45 PM (3pRHP)

41 >>Posted by: Kindltot at June 27, 2015 06:45 PM

There is so much great fodder in that comment: melons, snakes, booby traps...

LOL

Posted by: Y-not at June 27, 2015 06:46 PM (RWGcK)

42 Hey, David the Good
I thought you were supposed to plant Seminole Pumpkins in dead trees. What are your Calabazas like?

Posted by: KT at June 27, 2015 06:46 PM (qahv/)

43 Hi KT! Glad you're here. Sorry again for the very late post.

Posted by: Y-not at June 27, 2015 06:47 PM (RWGcK)

44 Straight squash isn't to bad cooked with a few spices. My uncle makes pie with them. Spaghetti plants were sort of a mix up and have invaded 1/2 the garden.

Posted by: Skip at June 27, 2015 06:48 PM (kTWpM)

45 Dave the good, you said on your blog you didn't know how good you had it as a kid growing up in a tropical location, I've tried to explain that to people before. I lived in Belle Glade when I was little and it seemed that everything around was edible. In our yard we had oranges, grapefruit, kumquat and tiny bananas, plus across the street was a sugar cane field, now that was heaven.

It was the same living in Hawaii, you'd go on a hike and there was fruit growing everywhere.

Posted by: traye at June 27, 2015 06:49 PM (lasFK)

46 I have black, red and white currants growing in the garden. The black currant bushes never get as big or productive as the other two, so I have 3 black bushes and just one of each of the others. They're all ripening now, and I'll start picking them next week (it's going to rain tomorrow). I did buy 2 ribes odoratum last year - they're black currants, but with yellow flowers that are said to be fragrant, but I didn't notice any smell. They're also getting fruit this year. They're not as upright as the other currant bushes; they sort of flop over a bit, but they made it through the winter and seem to be doing alright.

Posted by: Dr. Mabuse at June 27, 2015 06:49 PM (VBbCO)

47 >>My uncle makes pie with them.

That's interesting.

I just use it like pasta, but I should try some innovations. It's very good... but sort of pricey in the grocery store and I don't have any growing in my garden.

Posted by: Y-not at June 27, 2015 06:49 PM (RWGcK)

48 The black currant bushes never get as big or productive as the other two,

presented without comment.

Posted by: Peaches at June 27, 2015 06:51 PM (EgOr3)

49 Tammy, I'll see, I'll order some seeds and give it a try. I'll report what I find. Probably take about a month to know for sure, but I'm into experimentation.

Posted by: traye at June 27, 2015 06:51 PM (lasFK)

50 Oh, shweet! Turned it up. Love it! 

Posted by: Peaches

Yeah, I've been around a while. Just under the radar now. I remember that you liked that. Hope you're doing well, ma'am.
Another good one for ya:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xVxCtt3s_1M

Posted by: the bourbon cowboy at June 27, 2015 06:51 PM (9Cfy9)

51 I was raised never to complain about too much rain, because you never know when God or Global Warming!!! will turn off the spigot again, but I'll note that there are new species of fungus growing on the mildew on the moss on our front walkway.

I'm counting on the continued rain to keep my container plants alive while I'm here in Jackson, WY on vacay. I did put a bucket dripper thingy on the limes and peppers though.

My aji limon peppers finally produced and they're quite tasty with that citrus flavor, especially in a pico de gallo.

Posted by: Stace at June 27, 2015 06:52 PM (+sO7w)

52 I'm counting on the continued rain to keep my container plants alive while I'm here in Jackson, WY on vacay.
--

Oooh, how do you like Jackson? It's driving distance of us. Had planned to go this Fall, but now that looks like it won't be happening. Kind of bummed.

Posted by: Y-not at June 27, 2015 06:55 PM (RWGcK)

53 My tater is huge, I may have new potatoes for trail riding trip will take in about 3 weeks. Zuccinni are tiny and will probably just be starting when we leave.

Flower bed is a pretty sight when I close the windows and curtains in the morning. Goat heads are making me crazy as normal -- I really want to eliminate them from the whole place and that is not easy on a sandhill and with horses tromping and eating some things that would crowd them out.

Of course being me I keep expanding my goal, years ago, I was good with just having a clear zone where the horses eat hay and getting them out of the yard and now I want to reclaim all 9.5 acres from those nasty burrs -- and I want to still do some riding and fun stuff. I am thankful for 2-4-d herbicide and well made backpack sprayer.

Posted by: PaleRider at June 27, 2015 06:58 PM (iA/+T)

54 Y-Not, my eggplants are blooming now, and the cut-rate asparagus starts I got for free are actually growing.
AAAND my deep red indian corn that I planted have some plants that the leaves shade to dark red at the base near the stalk.

There are a lot of plants that I don't grow because I don't like to eat them, and there are plants I grow because I figure I should try them. Lettuce and spinach did very well, but I need to learn to eat more salads.

Posted by: Kindltot at June 27, 2015 07:00 PM (3pRHP)

55 but I'm into experimentation.
Posted by: traye at June 27, 2015 06:51 PM (lasFK)

Ya wanna watch how you phrase things around these reprobates!

The mushrooms in our lawn had algae on them two weeks ago. We have thankfully dried out a bit from that.

Posted by: Tammy al-Thor at June 27, 2015 07:03 PM (BVDFs)

56 If you are going to use spaghetti squash as a substitute for spaghetti, I think it is nice before it is fully ripe - when the fruits are full-sized but haven't colored up yet. You can simmer halves and flake out the flesh, which looks more like spaghetti or yam noodles at that point than it does when the fruit is ripe.

Posted by: KT at June 27, 2015 07:04 PM (qahv/)

57 Weirddave,
The ground cover you showed in close-up is a type of iceplant. It looks eactly like the one that was widely planted at the sides of California freeways, but it can die out in patches. I think it helps control erosion, but I can't find my Sunset Western Garden Book right now, with its extensive rundown on the various species of iceplants.

Yours might be the one that is edible: Hottentot fig or Pigface.
http://pjmedia.com/eddriscoll/2015/06/06/dear-reader-the-editor-hates-your-f-ing-guts/

Posted by: KT at June 27, 2015 07:11 PM (qahv/)

58 Hey Y-not, my whole family goes here every summer for 10 days to cool off. It's a gorgeous playground and we love it. Great food and shopping, and of course tons of outdoor activities.

Not to bring politics into everything, but Teton county is the only WY county that votes Democrat, because of the ski bums and rich Californians and Northeasterners here. There are still a lot of locals who live the cowboy way though, so there's a balance.

I've told this story before, but we stay near Dick Cheney's house, and years ago his Secret Service detail rescued my mom's old dog who had wandered off in the night.

We were all drunk and split off in pairs looking for her, dodging sprinklers going off all over the place, but we were at least sober enough to stay away from Cheney's house with its armed detail. My SIL called the sheriff, and the Secret Service monitor local law enforcement, so right after we all had staggered back to the house empty handed, two agents showed up with the wet and freezing dog. Yay!

Posted by: Stace at June 27, 2015 07:16 PM (+sO7w)

59 Kindltot at June 27, 2015 06:45 PM

I saw a techique for increasing the rooting area on cuttings (like the currants you plan to plant) by removing some bark from the stems. Maybe I should write about it.

Posted by: KT at June 27, 2015 07:17 PM (qahv/)

60 Nice story, Stace. I liked Jackson Hole better when it was a cowboy town.

If you ever drive there, Y-not, check to see if you can still get fresh buttermilk and a Swiss-on-Rye sandwich at the Star Valley Cheese Factory (one the way). Maybe a little apple pie, too.

Posted by: KT at June 27, 2015 07:20 PM (qahv/)

61 Had another surprise in the garden this week. I mentioned the dill that self seeded, without my knowledge or permission, in a lot of last year's container soil and is now threatening the neighborhood. We have two very healthy stalks growing in the container closest to the bird feeders. We had no idea what they were. This week they were revealed to be some kind of sunflower or what looks like one. Best we can figure out is they were the result of clumsy birds who dropped them. Oh well, at least they are pretty.

It's salad time with leaf lettuce, spinach and arugula and plenty of herbs. It's hard to keep up with the stuff. (But I'm managing.) All the tomato plants have sprouted little green ones which gives me hope for a decent crop this season.

Picked up a book on year-round vegetable gardening. I want to try to extend the gardening year over the next few seasons.

Posted by: JTB at June 27, 2015 07:21 PM (FvdPb)

62 Canning the results from your garden?


Use Ball Mason jars: Moron lifestyle approved.



https://youtu.be/WRhWKxqkbrg

Posted by: Country Singer at June 27, 2015 07:27 PM (nL0sw)

63 KT. Thanks for the ID, but it looks like the ice plant is the first ground cover. Is the purple and green plant ice plant too?

Posted by: Weirddave at June 27, 2015 07:29 PM (WvS3w)

64 Lampranthus

Posted by: MA at June 27, 2015 07:31 PM (zWdiy)

65 Weirddave,
Sorry about the bogus iceplant link at 57. Here's a more applicable one.
https://tinyurl.com/o32kx3a

Posted by: KT at June 27, 2015 07:34 PM (qahv/)

66 I love that clip, Country Singer.
Of course, I'm an immature Moron, so that may explain some of it.

Posted by: the bourbon cowboy at June 27, 2015 07:35 PM (qseA3)

67 Lampranthus
Posted by: MA at June 27, 2015 07:31 PM (zWdiy)

Don't those come up from the frozen depths to drag hapless Norwegian Cod fishermen to their watery deaths?

Posted by: Kindltot at June 27, 2015 07:40 PM (3pRHP)

68 ...Unlurking
Great thread as always Y-Not, KT, WeirdDave. Never miss it. I garden here in Surface of the sun. Last year I got a total of Two tomatoes out of five plants. So this year I took KT's advice and planted plums and cherries. I have never had so many tomatoes! I have about 30 and am thrilled to death!

Posted by: Geraldina Winter at June 27, 2015 07:42 PM (M3vz/)

69 @Y-not

I started gardening in Kindergarten after sprouting a bean in a cup. I was enthralled and starting looting Mom's pantry for beans and other seeds, then planting them in pots. I asked Dad for a garden and he tore out a patch of the backyard and threw in some amendments. No one else in my immediate family knew anything about gardening so I researched on my own. As a homeschooled kid, I learned to read non-fiction early and spent a lot of time at the local library and in my garden. I mostly killed plants back then but over the years I got a lot better. We gardened in Tennessee for a few years and now garden in N/C Florida, right in between the tropics and the temperate zone. For the last few years I've been teaching gardening locally and doing a lot of talks, plus I run a little rare edible plant nursery. I used to be a radio producer but now spend almost all of my time writing gardening books and articles as well as doing horticultural consulting. My current project is breeding a better tropical pumpkin, though I'm also simultaneously playing around with grafting cultivated stone fruit onto wild native plums, testing out a dozen different apple varieties that aren't supposed to grow here, experimenting with strange Asian vegetables such as bitter gourds and loofahs, etc. As I experiment, I document results on my blog. It keeps me writing and recording, since I'm rather a mad scientist with little organizational skill.

Posted by: David The Good at June 27, 2015 07:50 PM (m5KwY)

70 The green ground cover is ice plant. * Cue happy memories of living in Southern California while young and single. *

Posted by: Furious George at June 27, 2015 07:52 PM (HpEBw)

71 @Tammy al-Thor

Thanks for buying the book. <i>Compost Everything: The Good Guide to Extreme Composting</i> has really been a good seller thus far, mostly because it tosses out all the hard work and restrictive rules on composting. After years of experimentation with Native American methods and various other techniques, that book almost wrote itself. And it's funny, which is more than one can say about Ag Extension composting guidelines.

Posted by: David The Good at June 27, 2015 07:54 PM (m5KwY)

72 The purple and green one doesn't look like ice plant to me, Weirddave. I would go with the Rhoeo suggestion by: carlv at June 27, 2015 06:13

Posted by: KT bar the door at June 27, 2015 07:56 PM (qahv/)

73 @KT

We've grown Seminole Pumpkins on trees and on the fence; however, I have had great luck just letting them run through the garden. Some cultivars seem to climb a lot more than others - ours aren't really much on climbing. The fruit are also huge compared to some of the other strains. 8-12lbs is common.

@traye

Yes. I could grow a better variety of food on one acre in the tropics than on 10 acres elsewhere. It's truly incredible. There are about 20 common temperate zone fruit trees. In the tropics, there are literally thousands of fruit trees. It's a baffling array.

Posted by: David The Good at June 27, 2015 07:58 PM (m5KwY)

74 MA at June 27, 2015 07:31 PM

Thanks for the Lampranthus suggestion. That is the kind of ice plant that makes brilliant sheets of color when in bloom. Some will clash with relatives in different colors. But hey, this seems to be rainbow week.

The closeup photo Weirddave posted looked like another kind of ice plant to me, but it depends on how close he was to the plants. Lampranthus generally has smaller, finer leaves than the one I am thinking of. If could be Lampranthus if he was really close to the plants.

Posted by: KT bar the door at June 27, 2015 08:03 PM (qahv/)

75 New currant bushes are almost a nuisance. I find that the lowest branches have only to rest on the ground and they put down roots and create new plants! For a while, I'd cut them off the main bush and move the new, rooted cuttings somewhere else in the garden, but now I just leave them where they are. If I wanted to create new plants, I'd just pin some low branches to the ground and wait for nature to take its course. I think some roses can be propagated that way, too.

Posted by: Dr. Mabuse at June 27, 2015 08:08 PM (VBbCO)

76 Wow, David The Good,
So many interesting projects!
Do you have to open your Seminole Pumpkins with an axe?

Does the Tahitian Melon Squash thrive where you are? Have you tried crossing them?

Posted by: KT bar the door at June 27, 2015 08:10 PM (qahv/)

77 Best tomato sandwich this week:

Jetsetter tomato (peeled) on white toast with butter, salt and pepper.

Posted by: KT bar the door at June 27, 2015 08:11 PM (qahv/)

78 to much ran now and take this hit, never grow spaghetti squash unless you have 1/2 your garden with nothing else to grow.
Posted by: Skip at June 27, 2015 06:08 PM

Your not alone w/ vining problems Skip. In my VegTrug (raised bed on legs) I planted 4 vining types at the ends. Well 3 of them came up and they are indeed spilling out of the limited space as planned. However the huge leaves are croding everything out before they spill over.

I just measured them, the dang leaves are 10-12" wide. Guess I used the right amount of extended release fertilizer when I prepared the soil!

Posted by: Farmer at June 27, 2015 08:11 PM (o/90i)

79 Geraldina Winter,

What region are you in? Glad you are having better luck with tomatoes this year.

Posted by: KT bar the door at June 27, 2015 08:13 PM (qahv/)

80 Kindltot at June 27, 2015 07:40 PM

Sounds right. Heh.

Posted by: KT bar the door at June 27, 2015 08:14 PM (qahv/)

81 So many great reports this week. Except for the goatheads, PaleRider. I hate that you are having to deal with those.

Posted by: KT bar the door at June 27, 2015 08:17 PM (qahv/)

82 >>Posted by: David The Good at June 27, 2015 07:50 PM

Neat background! Thanks for joining us here!

Posted by: Y-not at June 27, 2015 08:22 PM (RWGcK)

83 Don't know the green/purple plant but pic of succulent triangular-blade hillside plant above green/purple pic is, I think, called Iceberg something. I think. They plant that in SoCal to prevent hill erosion. Tastes like shit though.

Posted by: Corona at June 27, 2015 08:30 PM (jNCu+)

84 Oyster Plant?

Posted by: Burnt Toast at June 27, 2015 08:31 PM (NaeCR)

85 Oh God! The Brandywine/Avacodo/BACON/Artisanal-Heavy-Grain-Bread sandwich is NIRVANA!
Try it with Wasabi-Mayonaise....

Posted by: De-La-Were at June 27, 2015 08:31 PM (g3M3J)

86 @KT bar the door

No, our pumpkins can be cut with a regular knife... though it takes some arm strength. Haven't tried the Tahitian Melon Squashes yet. One of these days. I've been cataloging Seminole Pumpkin varieties here: http://www.floridasurvivalgardening.com/p/the-seminole-pumpkin-project.html

Posted by: David The Good at June 27, 2015 08:37 PM (m5KwY)

87 KT,
Sunset garden guide zone 11. Las Vegas. I have a raised bed on the north side of the house. You said to grow the smaller tomatoes in hot regions because they were closer to wild tomatoes and boy were you right!

Posted by: Geraldina Winter at June 27, 2015 08:38 PM (M3vz/)

88 Wow, Geraldine,
That is a challenging gardening environment.

Posted by: KT bar the door at June 27, 2015 08:42 PM (qahv/)

89 David the Good
Thanks for the Seminole pumpkin link. I have looked at them in catalogs before, but they sounded a little to close to wild types for me to consider planting for food.

Posted by: KT bar the door at June 27, 2015 08:44 PM (qahv/)

90 Good Oyster Plant pic in nic.

One of the first hits using Bing...

Posted by: Burnt Toast at June 27, 2015 08:44 PM (NaeCR)

91 My hop garden is sadly overgrown, I have been busy and haven't had time to tend to it. They're growing up the siding and...well anything else they touch including the weeds.

Posted by: tsrblke, PhD(c) rogue bioethicst at June 27, 2015 08:45 PM (s92xH)

92 Tomato sandwich?

I know it sounds gross, and nobody here will try it, but -
Garden fresh tomatoes on buttered toast with a schmear of creamy peanut butter.
I swear, it's really good. Maybe better than the standard of Duke's mayo with S&P on wonder bread.

Posted by: the bourbon cowboy at June 27, 2015 08:47 PM (qwftM)

93 That it is. Fortunately the garden only gets limited morning and afternoon sun and is shielded by the house from most of the wind.

Posted by: Geraldina Winter at June 27, 2015 08:49 PM (M3vz/)

94 About our friend who was lost in the high country: After search teams had been unsuccessful in finding him, an expert at locating people lost in forests was hired.

He correctly predicted where our friend would have gone each day he was lost, based on his psychological profile, age and physical condition. Searchers found him exactly where the expert said he would be. Pretty amazing.

I was in the car with our friend's wife when she got the call that he had been found safe.

Posted by: KT bar the door at June 27, 2015 08:51 PM (qahv/)

95 tsrblke;

It is surprisingly easy to get overgrown hops. Heh.

Posted by: KT bar the door at June 27, 2015 08:53 PM (qahv/)

96 Fathers Day was June 21, not July.

Posted by: Carol at June 27, 2015 09:03 PM (sj3Ax)

97 Yeah, that's iceplant. We called it pickleweed in San Francisco.

Posted by: Bob's House of Flannel Shirts and Wallet Chains at June 27, 2015 09:08 PM (yxw0r)

98 I know it sounds gross, and nobody here will try it, but -

Garden fresh tomatoes on buttered toast with a schmear of creamy peanut butter.

I swear, it's really good. Maybe better than the standard of Duke's mayo with SP on wonder bread.
Posted by: the bourbon cowboy at June 27, 2015 08:47 PM (qwftM)

Oh, for the sake of the whole pantheon of several cultures:

Bread, mayonnaise, fresh lettuce, Thin sliced, garden fresh, fully ripe tomatoes, and thinly sliced Spam.

You can do corned beef straight from the can, but Spam is where it is.

Posted by: Kindltot at June 27, 2015 09:08 PM (3pRHP)

99 David the Good :

For future use, you want to use these brackets [ ] with yours tags.

And welcome. Really good folks here.

Posted by: the bourbon cowboy at June 27, 2015 09:11 PM (ab+NL)

100 Thanks, Carol. Heh.

Posted by: KT bar the door at June 27, 2015 09:13 PM (qahv/)

101 Great thread. I will be ordering your book David! We are eating and pickling a lot of cucumbers, but still waiting for tomatoes to ripen. We've eaten small zucchinis and volunteer lettuce. Peppers, tomatillos and eggplants are finally flowering and we've got melons showing up on the vines. We've had lots of heat and lots of rain so the plants have definitely been challenged.

Posted by: OldDominionMom at June 27, 2015 09:31 PM (GzDYP)

102 The stuff with triangular leaves - I used to see it all over So-Cal -- I thought it was called ice-plant. A neighbor of ours, downhill from my parents' place in the 1980s and 1990s had it growing all over the hillside below their house - when it flowered, it was a sheet of brilliant magenta.

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at June 27, 2015 09:37 PM (95iDF)

103 My corn got blown over by a hellacious straight line wind thunderstorm on Thursday. Some of it might stand back up but I'm not holding out much hope.

Yellow and red cherry tomatoes are producing, my beefsteak would if I get a clean shot at the dang squirrel that keeps eating them. It had not rained all month till Thursday and the little SOB would eat them for moisture.

Its a very off year for my strawberries and black berry plants, dunno why.

Late starts on my pepper and eggplant plants mean blooms but no fruits yet.

Mint is just starting to bloom so I'm cutting it all down and drying it inside tomorrow. Should have a lot for flavoring drinks and deserts.

Posted by: Gmac- 'all politics in this country now is dress-rehearsal for civil war' at June 27, 2015 09:40 PM (4CRfK)

104 ...haven't checked in for a while...here's my report from NE Ohio.

Picked a bad year for overloading peppers (chocolate and peach habanero, thai, jalapeno, hybrid salsa and chili, chocolate blocks and anaheim). Way too wet, cool and gray for what I planted...tomatoes are also behind (Jet Star, Brandywine and Roma). Only Jet Star has produced so far. Past ten days have seen 8" (yes, of rain at my home...we've had crazy microbursts of rain...last Thursday saw 5"in two hours...insane.

On a brighter note, I've scads of blackberries...already ripening, small and sweet. All flowering plants (Spring) were crazy good this year...blackberries have held up. Also, my garden flower borders (dahlia's) have held up...so there's that, too. If we continue this wet trend, I may end up rotating early for Fall...



r

Posted by: billygoat at June 27, 2015 09:56 PM (Mj3Lx)

105 GMAC, you may be able to prop some of it back up. The books say that when the brace roots start showing you can mound dirt up around the base of the plant for extra stability.
I have never done this, but where you are it might be worth a try

Posted by: Kindltot at June 27, 2015 09:58 PM (3pRHP)

106 My vegetable garden is, literally, a washout this year. Last year was difficult, but this year's deluge plus my overall lack of energy and ambition make it near impossible. I have learned over the years how to get around the unpredictable weather here, but it involves a lot more work than I can put forth this year.

FWIW, the greenish purple spikes look like a bromeliad which are almost exclusively tropical.

Posted by: bergerbilder at June 27, 2015 10:00 PM (+jijM)

107 My corn got blown over by a hellacious straight line wind thunderstorm on Thursday. Some of it might stand back up but I'm not holding out much hope...
Posted by: Gmac- 'all politics in this country now is dress-rehearsal for civil war' at June 27, 2015 09:40 PM

Know the feeling since I farmed for 32 yrs. Always a bummer when corn goes down and you just have to hope. Where are you at, IL? Sounds like our weather, tho our straight line winds were Tues. Lost a ot of trees near work.

Posted by: Farmer at June 27, 2015 10:29 PM (o/90i)

108 GMAC, you may be able to prop some of it back up. The books say that when the brace roots start showing you can mound dirt up around the base of the plant for extra stability.
I have never done this, but where you are it might be worth a try
Posted by: Kindltot at June 27, 2015 09:58 PM

I've done that w/ downed corn, it can work. Just a matter of how much downed corn you have, how much time and the subsequent weather.

Posted by: Farmer at June 27, 2015 10:36 PM (o/90i)

109 I read "Compost Everything" last week. Great read, thanks, David the Good! Love your blog, too. (I lurk.)

DH and I just bought our dream property, a modest house on eight acres, half of the acres are forest. I'm hoping to find a morel patch or two... We plan to grow lots of mushrooms, chickens, and fruit. Probably basket willow as income. We have about 50 mature black walnut trees on the property, too. Unfortunately, I can't grow a food forest in Florida, since our eight acres are in the Midwest. But I have studied permaculture, so I can grow a food forest suitable for this area...

So, we will be composting everything, the book came into my hands at just the right time.

Anything David the Good wants to post here is, in my opinion, welcome.

Posted by: Flyover Pilgrim at June 27, 2015 11:35 PM (YHP5A)

110 I live in Chicago, about a mile west of Lake Michigan. We have your typical city lot, 25'x125', with a yard that's about 40' long. However, we're on the west side of a N-S street, so the yard gets full sun practically the entire day. Also, the house is sided in white aluminum, so at midday, it can get like a kiln back there. Perfect for drying clothes, and gardening. I plant it intensely: potato patch, vegetable garden, three pear trees, a dwarf apple, four grape vines, and a raspberry patch.

The compost pile is the engine that pulls the train. I can't say I've made a systematic study; I just throw in vegetable scraps, fruit peels, coffee grounds, weeds, what have you, with a spadeful of dirt as a starter and enough water to keep it moist. Stir it up every so often, to give the bacteria oxygen, and let them do their thing. One sign of spring is when I sink my spade into the pile, and a puff of steam comes out. It's a beautiful thing.

Posted by: Brown Line at June 28, 2015 06:21 AM (a5bF3)

111 Brown Line, lucky you in terms of your sun exposure. Here in Minneapolis I get good sun on the front yard, but very little on the back due to trees. I dug up a side yard this year for food, but it seems that only about half of it gets decent sun.

Compost, on the other hand, man does that work. Even before reading Compost Everything I got a lot just from the leaves--they fall a foot deep in back. But I'm spending less on mulch, because I realized there were little twigs and other tree detritus that I used to bag up for the city to take. Now that stuff is in the garden, helping retain moisture and smothering weeds. It doesn't come in mauve like the expensive bagged stuff, but I think the tomatoes will forgive me.

Plus, David's tips on how to use carcasses really help. When the hobos start piling up, turn them into fruit!

Posted by: Gordon at June 28, 2015 09:06 AM (rP6bw)

112 Nobody said anything on-topic about Fess Parker, winemaker.

Posted by: Otto Zilch at June 28, 2015 10:56 PM (5uQlQ)

113 Thank you, all.

Posted by: David The Good at June 29, 2015 03:30 PM (m5KwY)

114 I'm gone to say to my little brother, that he should also pay a visit this website on regular basis to take updated from latest news.

Posted by: Max Man Supplement at June 30, 2015 11:06 AM (O/It4)

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