Gardening, Puttering and Adventure Thread, Oct. 29

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, Michigan

Hi, everybody! Happy Halloween Weekend! There's a Zombie Run near the Sleeping Bear Dunes today. Stay away from them! And don't wake the bears!

* * * * *

Edible Gardening/Putting Things By

A couple of weeks ago, By-Tor was fermenting hot sauce with ghost peppers. We have an update:

My ghost pepper hot sauce is done. I fermented the peppers for about ten days, until they were sour and soft.
The base is crushed tomatoes and red pepper paste, salt, vinegar, the fermentation brine, and sugar.
Flavorings are blackberry, honey and roasted garlic.
I would classify this as very hot, but it's a slow burn. A few drops will heat up a bowl of soup nicely.

Ghost pepper sauce. Perfect for Halloween!

One of the advantages of learning a variety of techniques in the kitchen is that people start giving you produce! An easy way to garden! Of course, you can grow these, too. The striped, pink and white ones are also nice. By-Tor again:

Pingtung long, aka Chinese eggplant, which I was given this morning by a Chinese tennis player in our group. She also brought us delicious shrimp and egg dumplings she made.

I stir-fried this with chicken, beef, onion and garlic, in a Korean gochujang sauce. Chinese eggplant has less seeds, and is firmer than what we are used to, so holds up well in a stir fry.

And yet again:

A friend gave us a sack of persimmons. I have never used persimmons but I thought they would make a good spread. They are kind of hard so they took about a half hour simmer, then I pureed them.
This is very similar to apple butter in consistency. The only flavorings I used were sugar, a pinch of cinnamon and a couple drops of vanilla.

It's tart and sweet. Kind of like a pear or pumpkin butter. I like it.

Know anyone with a persimmon tree? American or Asian? The fruits of the two types are quite different from each other. I would guess that these were Asian persimmons.

I have never made Pumpkin Butter. Have you? Here are some detailed directions. The instructions for picking an edible pumpkin are kind of sparse. Go for the Cinderella type or for a type labeled as a cooking pumpkin when picking out pumpkins (or squash) for this kind of recipe. There are detailed instructions for making spiced, maple-sweetend pumpkin butter here. With links to some additional pumpkin recipes.

Roasting a pumpkin (C. moschata type). Take precautions so it doesn't explode.

Pumpkin butter

* * * * *

Ah, Nature

In honor of Halloween, bugs and weeds:

CA Foothills Lurker here. We have two hummingbird feeders that we keep up all summer and one in winter when we're down to just a few birds. Have done it for over twenty years. Suddenly a few days ago they became over run with honey bees! Wowza! Has to "be" a swarm nearby. They ate a whole bottle of sugar water in one day and are even piled up insIde! I'm going to miss watching my hummers out the kitchen window.

Hummingbirds spar with each other, but they can't overcome a horde like that!

From Don in Kansas. Click over to see this image, plus others, in 3-D:

Cenchrus longispinus, one of my least favorite grasses, is abundant in lawns and along paths. All the spines on the nutlets are quite sharp, and they are covered with microscopic barbs. They readily catch on socks and penetrate skin and are painfully hard to remove.

Do you have a name for this grass?

Hi KT, I saw this youngster on a Saturday walk. I think he's a nymph form of a "Green Stink Bug."
I thought his color and markings were quite interesting, much more so than the adult stink bug, which is a solid green with no markings.
He and I are both in East Tennessee.
Thank you for the weekend threads!
BeckoningChasm

See you at the movies, Green Bug.

* * * * *

Puttering

Got some alterations to make on a Halloween costume?

Another way of threading a needle pic.twitter.com/Ro9abQvzwy
— It's Not Stupid if it Works (@easyeducatlon9) October 20, 2022

Hope everyone has a nice weekend and a fun Halloween.

If you would like to send photos, stories, links, etc. for the Saturday Gardening, Puttering and Adventure Thread, the address is:

ktinthegarden at g mail dot com

Remember to include the nic or name by which you wish to be known at AoSHQ, or let us know if you want to remain a lurker.

Week in Review

What has changed since last week's thread? Gardening, Puttering and Adventure Thread, Oct. 22

Any thoughts or questions?

I closed the comments on this post so you wouldn't get banned for commenting on a week-old post, but don't try it anyway.

Posted by: K.T. at 01:22 PM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Stunning photo of fall foliage. The colors are really outstanding this year, I think it's because we had a dry summer.

I have never made Pumpkin Butter. Have you?

No, but I'm going to make some Pumpkin Bread later today.

Posted by: kallisto at October 29, 2022 01:26 PM (dCxaZ)

2 Comments later - I have to go out and harvest potatoes. We had a freeze while husband and I were away for a week (a power failure as well).

Posted by: Pat* at October 29, 2022 01:26 PM (540/r)

3 And once again, Skip is asleep at the wheel.

#Sad!

Posted by: kallisto at October 29, 2022 01:27 PM (dCxaZ)

4 Good afternoon Greenthumbs
Cleaned out compost bin of last year's leaves to make room for the new crop.
Still have tomatoes and peppers hanging on as had no frost yet

Posted by: Skip's phone at October 29, 2022 01:29 PM (xhxe8)

5 Being last nice day clear coating a batch of miniatures.

Posted by: Skip's phone at October 29, 2022 01:30 PM (xhxe8)

6 Show and Tell maybe on hobby thread

Posted by: Skip's phone at October 29, 2022 01:31 PM (xhxe8)

7 The needle threading trick is a keeper for me, thank you.

Posted by: Debby Doberman Schultz at October 29, 2022 01:33 PM (a4EWo)

8 Having trouble getting the main page to come up on Brave. Anyone else?

Posted by: KT at October 29, 2022 01:36 PM (rrtZS)

9 My friend just came back from Longwood Gardens chrysanthemum festival. When I saw her pics, I'd no idea all the design possibilities possible with mums, also the great variety:

https://tinyurl.com/9st65err

Posted by: kallisto at October 29, 2022 01:36 PM (dCxaZ)

10 S. Lynn had some harvest last week in Idaho. Saving. Mmmm.

Posted by: KT at October 29, 2022 01:37 PM (rrtZS)

11 8 Having trouble getting the main page to come up on Brave. Anyone else?

No. I'm having issues with viewing it on Opera.

Posted by: kallisto at October 29, 2022 01:38 PM (dCxaZ)

12 Yesterday I was looking over some English Ivy that I will have to cut back. It is just going into bloom and the bees were at it, I looked closer and realized that the bees were actually yellow jackets, and they were not looking for spiders or bugs to eat but they were actually flying to the flowers.

Has anyone heard of this before? I know they and the paper wasps like the yellow fennel flowers but I never heard of them actually feeding on Ivy.

Posted by: Kindltot at October 29, 2022 01:38 PM (xhaym)

13 Still have tomatoes and peppers hanging on as had no frost yet

I still have summer flowers on my deck, interspersed with the mums. I did plant some autumn pansies too, so it's pretty colorful and happy-making.

Posted by: kallisto at October 29, 2022 01:39 PM (dCxaZ)

14 Thanks, KT!

Dungeon of Discord National Front Porch also has some beautiful fall foliage on view.

Alas, most my flowers are in a state of decay. The snapdragons, marigolds, and mums are holding fast though.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at October 29, 2022 01:40 PM (Dc2NZ)

15 Growing up in S. C. we called that grass larkspur (lockspur was likely more correct). By the end of summer our feet were so tough from running barefoot we ie spurs never bothered us.

Posted by: Eromero at October 29, 2022 01:42 PM (/RDPd)

16 My wife has a persimmon tree. It is the Fuyu type which has pumpkin shaped fruit and are sweet off the tree.
The other, which is pointy-er, is very acid and hard when picked and have to be aged or "bletted" to be ripe enough to eat.
My wife doesn't like those.
Traditionally, in Korea, the fuyu type (which are called something else I know) are peeled and hung to dry in the sun to preserve them for winter.
My wife doesn;t do that because she eats all of them as they get ripe.

Posted by: Kindltot at October 29, 2022 01:42 PM (xhaym)

17 Haven't been to Longwood in decade or longer. Been there many times at Christmas and spring.

Posted by: Skip's phone at October 29, 2022 01:45 PM (xhxe8)

18 Evil sandbur

Posted by: Beth Mortenson at October 29, 2022 01:47 PM (NSXQt)

19 Cenchrus longispinus

We called them Sand Burrs.

Maybe a different plant, but those darn things were hard to get out of clothes

Posted by: Bruce at October 29, 2022 01:48 PM (vd8XM)

20 And for some reason, my cousins that lived in Wisconsin called them Kinny Burrs.

Posted by: Bruce at October 29, 2022 01:49 PM (vd8XM)

21 Grass burrs. I have plucked many from myself and my pets.

Posted by: huerfano, stochastic commenter at October 29, 2022 01:49 PM (dTFZY)

22 I have yellow jackets pollinating my Jujubee tree for the first time this year. They are all over it and seem to like the little flowers. Hopefully it will help me get fruit on it this year.

Posted by: WeeKreekFarmGirl at October 29, 2022 01:50 PM (k/+fq)

23 The grass from hell, we always called them cockel burrs. Satan's boogers works as well.

Posted by: your dad at October 29, 2022 01:53 PM (3zB6p)

24 One football field we played on away games as a Pop Warner team we nick named Sticker Stadium. Ouch ! Gloucester City NJ

Posted by: I'm Gumby Damnit! at October 29, 2022 01:55 PM (+Hs6W)

25 Pat reminded me, I have to go dig potatoes.

Posted by: Kindltot at October 29, 2022 01:59 PM (xhaym)

26 9 Wow and to think all of Longwood Gardens at one time where the DuPont families personal greenhouses. I did some remodeling up that way outside of Kennett Square in a little four corner town called Marlborough. It was a 300-year-old home overlooking the Brandywine Battlefield

Posted by: I'm Gumby Damnit! at October 29, 2022 02:00 PM (+Hs6W)

27 Off topic question-what movie was lead pic on previous thread from?

We had stickers in the grass - and 'no-see-ums' in the air in south Florida......

Posted by: Anonymous Guy in Kalifornia at October 29, 2022 02:05 PM (7SwmH)

28 adding Sleeping Bear Dunes to list of places to visit in retirement.....Thank you K.T.

Posted by: Anonymous Guy in Kalifornia at October 29, 2022 02:06 PM (7SwmH)

29 your dad @ 23-
Cockleburrs (kinda liks sheepburrs) are a pest weed tha infests cotton, soybeans. But not so much corn. Cockleburrs are soft when green, then turn brown and tenacious as hell. Ball up a cow's tail fierce, drop the price of your cotton, and drastically cut soybean yield. A real bitchkitty

Posted by: Eromero at October 29, 2022 02:08 PM (/RDPd)

30 I took the kids leafing in North Carolina two weeks ago. Going for one more trip through Tennessee tomorrow before the colors are gone.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at October 29, 2022 02:09 PM (oINRc)

31 Sad my drive through Chester co Pa yesterday was pre-dawn as I think colors here are about peak season

Posted by: Skip's phone at October 29, 2022 02:11 PM (xhxe8)

32 I think I'll try making my own medium general-purpose hot sauce soon given that the price of gallon jugs of Frank's are already up 25%. If someone amongst the horde has a recommended recipe, please feel free to share/link.

Posted by: antisocial justice beatnik at October 29, 2022 02:13 PM (DTX3h)

33 KT: Having trouble getting the main page to come up on Brave. Anyone else?

~~~

Working here, but i've had to put some filters in and that may help. Are you seeing the "constant reloading" problem?

And yes, I'm running Brave ... forgot to say

Posted by: SecondCityLurker at October 29, 2022 02:14 PM (MEbkQ)

34 We used to have wild persimmons in S.C. They wer small and so bitter turn your face inside out, but very sweet when ripe.

Posted by: Eromero at October 29, 2022 02:14 PM (/RDPd)

35 I guess the persimmon is introduced to South East, maybe wild though?

Posted by: Eromero at October 29, 2022 02:16 PM (/RDPd)

36 9 Wow and to think all of Longwood Gardens at one time where the DuPont families personal greenhouses. I did some remodeling up that way outside of Kennett Square in a little four corner town called Marlborough. It was a 300-year-old home overlooking the Brandywine Battlefield

Yes, three cousins built the mansion/estates of their dreams: Longwood Gardens, Winterthur and Nemours. All three are beautiful places to visit and take one back to a more elegant time and place.

Posted by: kallisto at October 29, 2022 02:19 PM (dCxaZ)

37 Still able to collect a nice array of tomatoes and lettuce in late October! Tastier than the August ones when it was so hot out. My second "crop" of potatoes just lost their flowers and will be collecting those in a week or two. The first batch was caribes, which were tasty but small. The current ones are golden and I've had to add soil a few times so I'm optimistic. I also have a container of beets that are looking good with lush leaves. Maybe there'll be a few nice beets.

I was pretty successful at keeping the red currants and gooseberries watered, so they should crop next year. It's nice to know I can grow a few fruits and vegetables outside. I have returned to sprouting green peas for shoots. These cost stupid money in the local stores and are easy to do in the kitchen

A few polyantha roses are still blooming. I did not get a second flowering of lilacs like last year. Too bad.

Posted by: CN at October 29, 2022 02:19 PM (Zzbjj)

38 25 Pat reminded me, I have to go dig potatoes.
Posted by: Kindltot at October 29, 2022 01:59 PM (xhaym)

I have a week or two to go.

Posted by: CN at October 29, 2022 02:20 PM (Zzbjj)

39 Hey, that needle threading trick is nifty!
I am visiting the family in Virgina. Loving the fall colors. My sis made a quiche this morning, spinach, tomato and bacon. The only ingredients she didn't get from her garden was the flour and the bacon. Everything else, picked this morning.
I have a total of 17 great nieces or nephews here.
So many I had to review all their names and birth dates.
I am just a big wallet with legs.

Posted by: gourmand du jour on the eastern seaboard at October 29, 2022 02:20 PM (/6wX0)

40 I call Don in KS's plant either sand burrs or grass burrs. Its the only burr I've encountered that is on a grass variety rather than broadleaf plant. Even the tumbleweeds seem to die from 2-4-D ester spray. Its not a huge issue for me in the paddocks because the horses will eat it before it gets burrs but its often thick along the irrigation ditch roads.

Posted by: PaleRider is simply irredeemable at October 29, 2022 02:21 PM (3cGpq)

41 hiya

Posted by: JT at October 29, 2022 02:21 PM (T4tVD)

42 Cenchrus longispinus? Sandburrs! They grew all over the sandy roadside where we neighborhood kids used to wait for the school bus. We called the burrs "pickers" and they were most horrible when they got stuck to shoelaces. Oh, the horrible memory of the spikes poking under my fingernails!

My gardening has hit a snag. I cleaned up about half the broken fence between me and the abandoned house. Unfortunately, the garbagemen threw out the cans along with their contents.

Also, everyone and their grandfather is burning EVERYTHING. I need to start lawnwork about 9 am to get anything done before the smoke makes it unbearable.

Posted by: NaughtyPine at October 29, 2022 02:23 PM (/+bwe)

43 Brave is working for me now. Thanks.

Posted by: KT at October 29, 2022 02:24 PM (rrtZS)

44 Decided to plant more yellow and orange tomatoes next year. Squirrels don't like them as well. I do, however, have fewer squirrels now that we have helping coyotes. Fewer deer, too.

Posted by: CN at October 29, 2022 02:24 PM (Zzbjj)

45 I drove through the Shenandoah Valley last week and its early fall colors were gorgeous.

And parts of Tennessee were also spectacular.

I like America...it is so much nicer than NJ.

And I am not talking about the foliage.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at October 29, 2022 02:25 PM (XIJ/X)

46 45. I agree.

Posted by: CN at October 29, 2022 02:25 PM (Zzbjj)

47 I 'picked' a couple of boxes of tumbleweeds to burn in my barrel. The nice thing about being 29, I can go 'this is silly on such a big lot' but shrug and do it anyway just because I get a bit of mwa ha ha pleasure out of burning them instead of letting them spread seed for next year.

Posted by: PaleRider is simply irredeemable at October 29, 2022 02:27 PM (3cGpq)

48 "Pingtung long." Cue Beavis and Butthead laugh.

As in "my pintung is longer than yours."

I have a hummingbird feeder just like that. How are you getting bees inside it? The only holes in it are about a millimeter wide.

Posted by: TB at October 29, 2022 02:27 PM (Ur3df)

49 Off to the Trenton Farmers market. Hoping for something other than the ubiquitous acorn and butternut squash.

Posted by: CN at October 29, 2022 02:27 PM (Zzbjj)

50 Mrs and I took the old convertible and drove the Tail of the Dragon last weekend. We're sifting through photos of us now to decide what to hang on the wall. Fun ride, easier than on the motorcycle...

Posted by: Hawkpilot at October 29, 2022 02:29 PM (bClKu)

51 A hummingbird feeder with bee guards will keep the bees out. It will take some time after you put one up to get the bees away (because they have that location memorized) so that the hummingbirds will come back.

Posted by: cjhmhch at October 29, 2022 02:29 PM (PoYG7)

52 Kimi in Korea, putting up persimmons:

https://youtu.be/BgMV6RwvIAo

There was a large tree of American persimmions, way back when I lived in Turlock. Those are thr puckery ones and they need a freeze to ripen. The trees lose their leaves and you see the bare branches covered with bright orange fruit.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at October 29, 2022 02:31 PM (uz3Px)

53 I have an early persimmon tree in my front yard. Early meaning does not require a hard frost to fully ripen the fruit. The fruit gets ripe and falls off, usually in mid September, when I have to mow around the tree.
We just pick them up and run them thru an old fashioned Foley Food Mill. They are already soft enough for this. Divide the "fresh ground" pulp into 1 or 2 cup containers and put them in the freezer. Whenever someone gets a craving for persimmon pudding or persimmon cookies, the pulp thaws fairly quickly.
Have never tried to make a persimmon butter. Maybe I should.

Posted by: Madamemayhem (uppity wench) at October 29, 2022 02:31 PM (Wy1BU)

54 I have a sweet potato which has sprouted - nice little stems of about 3 inches each - so I'm going to try separating them and planting them outside.

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at October 29, 2022 02:38 PM (llON8)

55 ...or maybe not. The intertubes are telling me they do *not* like frost. Well, I can get a little tub to plant them in.

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at October 29, 2022 02:41 PM (llON8)

56 I miss not having a small row of taters to dig up as needed. Animals won't get at them, next year.

Posted by: dartist at October 29, 2022 02:41 PM (9X/y4)

57 I admit for a western movie fan, always wondered what or where tumbleweeds came from.thought maybe they were just bushes like in east that because in desert died and so broke off from their root base.

Posted by: Skip at October 29, 2022 02:43 PM (xhxe8)

58 Btw, great pic up top KT and I get the gray stink bugs in my house, not a big deal, but they ate the daylights out of my buddy's garden a few years ago.

Posted by: dartist at October 29, 2022 02:45 PM (9X/y4)

59 57. Pretty much accurate Skip but they are an annual bushy weed.

Posted by: PaleRider is simply irredeemable at October 29, 2022 02:47 PM (3cGpq)

60 I haven't had to water my yard and plants for a few days now. The Houston drought has broken with a couple of days of rain. Well maybe not broken but postponed for a bit.

Posted by: polynikes at October 29, 2022 02:50 PM (JFJ0Q)

61 Well, my adventure for today is seeing if I can get a ride to my nieces from Lyft so I can drink beers. Half the price of Uber or so it seems. Worth whatever to see the kids and drink beers with the boys.

Posted by: dartist at October 29, 2022 03:01 PM (9X/y4)

62 I have roses to plant but the ground is harder than I expected. I am going to get potting soil tomorrow and see if I can find something to break this up a bit.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at October 29, 2022 03:02 PM (uz3Px)

63 When we lived in the Mojave Desert (Edwards AFB) we had a concrete block fence around the backyard. When the wind was right, the whole backyard would fill up with tumbleweeds. I mean fully covering the entire yard like a spikey Tribble invasion. The dog couldn't even get around them to do his business.

The next day we would get up and they would all be gone. It was kind of creepy actually.

The wind there was incredible at times. My dad went thru a couple of windshields on the station wagon.

Posted by: fd at October 29, 2022 03:04 PM (sn5EN)

64 Skip, IIRC tumbleweed is a form of Amaranth. They grow normally up and run branches along the ground, and when they get to a certain size the horizontal branches start growing up as well, and it grows to a ball.
When it dies it breaks off in the wind and blows off.

Gorse does that too, and the city of Bandon, Oregon, was set on fire and mostly burned down over a couple of days in the 30's when the invasive gorse blew in with the dry winds, and piled up on the buildings and houses. They still have gorse fires today.

Posted by: Kindltot at October 29, 2022 03:06 PM (xhaym)

65 tumbleweeds

Nothing like entering high speed turn 9 at willow springs (sorta near Edwards AFB) on a motorcycle and have pucker bushes blow across your line.

Posted by: Commissar of Plenty and Lysenko Solutions at October 29, 2022 03:12 PM (x2i4F)

66 I picture tumbleweeds blowing around in Biden's brain.

Posted by: polynikes at October 29, 2022 03:13 PM (JFJ0Q)

67 57 I admit for a western movie fan, always wondered what or where tumbleweeds came from.thought maybe they were just bushes like in east that because in desert died and so broke off from their root base.
Posted by: Skip at October 29, 2022 02:43 PM (xhxe

fascinating history of tumbleweeds - they're not American at all. They're from Russia, sometimes called the Russian Thistle. Very first appearance is believed to be in South Dakota in 1870, their seeds mixed in with some flax seed to be planted. Wildly invasive; by 1885 they had spread throughout the great plains and Canada.

Posted by: Tom Servo at October 29, 2022 03:16 PM (trdmm)

68 Old news probably: Brave opened the front page very quickly just now.

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at October 29, 2022 03:16 PM (NQL1u)

69 They're from Russia, sometimes called the Russian Thistle. Very first appearance is believed to be in South Dakota in 1870, their seeds mixed in with some flax seed to be planted. Wildly invasive; by 1885 they had spread throughout the great plains and Canada.
Posted by: Tom Servo

I thought I read with wheat seeds brought over by Russian immigrants; but, the rest is what I remember too, Tom.

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at October 29, 2022 03:19 PM (NQL1u)

70 And willowed!

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at October 29, 2022 03:20 PM (NQL1u)

71 Mrs and I took the old convertible and drove the Tail of the Dragon last weekend. We're sifting through photos of us now to decide what to hang on the wall. Fun ride, easier than on the motorcycle...
Posted by: Hawkpilot at October 29, 2022 02:29 PM (bClKu)

Fuck yeah... The bikers and racecars on that road are nuts. I go in a big sedan at slow speed, and pull off for those dudes. Not doing the suicide run.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at October 29, 2022 03:21 PM (oINRc)

72 Amaranth is an interesting plant, it has a different carbon fixing pathway, C4, that makes it more efficient with water than most other plants. It (called pigweed here) is also one of the weeds that grow in the garden even when I am doing drip irrigation.
it was also one of the crops cultivated by the Mound Builder culture in the Ohio Valley until the Three Sisters agriculture arrived from Central America

Posted by: Kindltot at October 29, 2022 03:21 PM (xhaym)

73 Btw, great pic up top KT and I get the gray stink bugs in my house, not a big deal, but they ate the daylights out of my buddy's garden a few years ago.
Posted by: dartist at October 29, 2022 02:45
---------------

The last 2 years these have taken up residency in our chimney flu. I'll run the gas logs for a bit and kill 20-50 a day

Posted by: olddog in mo at October 29, 2022 03:22 PM (ju2Fy)

74 Of course my persimmons are just good old Indiana persimmon trees. Native to southern Indiana. The fruit is about the size of a half dollar coin.
Pawpaw trees grow here also. You want delicious? Pawpaw pudding is wonderful. It is said that the Lewis an Clark expedition found them and tried to pack along as many as they could carry.

Posted by: Madamemayhem (uppity wench) at October 29, 2022 03:23 PM (Wy1BU)

75 Persimmons in Texas: Been there quite a few times. Wonderful old family farm. I don't know if they're set up to ship them.

https://www.lightseyfarms.com/
2033 FM 1365, Mexia, TX 76667

Persimmons: Sept – Nov

Posted by: setnaffa at October 29, 2022 03:24 PM (bYETr)

76 Here in SE NC we call 'em sandspurs.

This is what we call a cocklebur...

https://tinyurl.com/y5x9sthr

Posted by: Golfman at October 29, 2022 03:28 PM (rhXTS)

77 I finished digging my potatoes.
I planted a row of German Yellows and French Fingerlings, and I don't think I will plant the French Fingerlings again since they were very puny. I think I got 40 Lbs, from about 60' of row. I think I should do better.

I need to water the potatoes more aggressively than I have been, the plants that were nearest my corn where I watered hard were big, but the others were not. I suppose I will plant a block instead and use a sprinkler instead of trying to flood irrigate by running water down a channel.

Posted by: Kindltot at October 29, 2022 03:32 PM (xhaym)

78 Cliff Clavin trivia. There are over 4000 varieties of Potatoes. Mostly in the Andes region. Still pales in comparison to apple varieties which number about 7500.

Posted by: polynikes at October 29, 2022 03:36 PM (JFJ0Q)

79 The one thing I am doing this year . . . Well another one, is trying to brew apple cider vinegar. It is going very slow, I set up the jars with the apple chunks in the beginning of September, by the end of September it was all alcohol smelling and I am just getting the vinegar mother to form on the top.
I had one jar that I tried to make with grape skins, but it got moldy and I threw it out.
It is starting to get vinegary, so once the mother forms well I suppose I will strain the jars and start using it.

I already took a couple of tablespoons out of it and used it in the Swiss chard I cooked up for greens, and that made them taste nice.

Posted by: Kindltot at October 29, 2022 03:54 PM (xhaym)

80 From Boise area: We were out of town at a family wedding last weekend, got back very late Tuesday. Low temps have been bouncing around freezing, highs in the 50's.

Mice got at the 2 quail seed blocks that I'd left in the middle of the garage thinking they couldn't get there - blocks are now indoors and poison bait is out.

We harvested the poblano peppers on Wed., since plants had been frost-killed. I've cut up some for casseroles already - we need to evaluate the largest ones and decide how many chiles rellenos to set up for the freezer.

Potato yield was awful. One bag had just 3 russets. Only the fingerlings produced a lot more than was planted, and even that harvest wouldn't keep us alive for 3 days... We must do better next year.

Dead stuff includes tomatoes, zucchini, basil, cantaloupes, and final cabbage. A few apples on the new (planted 2020) trees still to go, but I think that's it. I might be able to get a bit more parsley and mint.

We haven't started raking yet - that's for tomorrow.

Posted by: Pat* at October 29, 2022 04:15 PM (540/r)

81 We call the g%#$%^mn things "sandspurs"

They are the bane of every N. Florida beach-goer.

As God is my witness, they lie in wait to leap under bare feet ... F_%#^%#$ng sandspurs!

[You may detect a certain distaste for this species in my post]

Posted by: GR Mead at October 29, 2022 04:45 PM (/ae7J)

82 I have a sweet potato which has sprouted - nice little stems of about 3 inches each - so I'm going to try separating them and planting them outside.
Posted by: Helena Handbasket

Root the sprouts first. 100% take then.

Posted by: MkY at October 29, 2022 05:15 PM (cPGH3)

83 I spent most of my younger years in FL, all parts. Sand spurs is what we called them. Since we were FL crackers, of course we went barefoot all summer and whenever it was warm. Those sand spurs were evil.

Posted by: AlmostYuman at October 29, 2022 06:15 PM (X6EPF)

84 Sweet potato sprouts:

MkY is right about rooting them first. In most of the country, you should also grow them as a houseplant over winter and plant them outdoors in the spring.

Posted by: KT at October 29, 2022 08:53 PM (rrtZS)

Processing 0.02, elapsed 0.0148 seconds.
15 queries taking 0.0054 seconds, 93 records returned.
Page size 65 kb.
Powered by Minx 0.8 beta.