Vegetable Gardening

[OakLeaf]

w00t!

(she types as the zucchini pancakes fry in the background...)

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

w00t!

(she types as the zucchini pancakes fry in the background...)

You are too funny!

Thanks!

[smilingcat]

Lisa's garden is so pretty. The close up shots of the seedlings... Speckled greens, carrots all look so yummy and pretty.

This year we are not growing any spuds. Last few years we've grown purple fingerlings, red potato, yellow fingerling (arrggghh can't remember the name...) it was buttery in taste.

Well my cukes have been wiped out with the mildew. I don't think we have enough potassium in the soil. do have new seedlings. So tomorrow I will test the soil again for NPK.

Did I post this?? I went to a grocery store for Eureka/Lisbon lemon. I'm out of Meyers lemon for the season. Lemon is needed to make a tomato jam. And I nearly keeled over at the price. Then saw the price of sad looking tomato and nearly had a heart attack. OMG!!! I didn't want to see the price of any other groceries. I'm afraid to see. Next one might kill me

Made some refridgerator pickles. so--so. Needs more dill and more garlic. tomato jam is interesting but I want to make it bit more tart and spicy. Green tomato jam (yes the fruit is ripe and green).

[OakLeaf]

I've had excellent results with Mildew Cure. It pretty much eradicates powdery mildew on all my cucurbits. It's OMRI listed, but the downside is that it's based on cottonseed oil (30%) which is not organically grown, therefore grown with extremely toxic chemicals; it also contains garlic oil (23%) and clove oil (30%) for which the oil base isn't listed on the label, but Johnny's catalog suggests it's corn oil, which again, is not organic and therefore extremely likely to be GMO.

The Mildew Cure label lists sodium bicarbonate as an inert ingredient; but after I bought it three years ago (it works really well and goes a long way!) I've seen lots of recipes for mildew control using baking soda and hort oil only, and studies confirming that it's effective. Typical recipes call for 3-4 tsp of baking soda and 2-2.5 tbsp of horticultural oil (any lightweight vegetable oil - corn or safflower e.g.) in a gallon of water. Sometimes they'll add 1/2 tsp of dish soap as a surfactant as well.

[NoNo]

w00t!

(she types as the zucchini pancakes fry in the background...)

Last night I tried a new zucchini recipe and it was fantastic! Zucchini chips

Heat oven to 425. Cut zucchini into 1/4" slices. Dip in egg whites and bread with a mixture of bread crumbs and grated cheese. Put on a rack and place in the oven for 20-30 min, until brown and crispy. So tasty!

[smilingcat]

I've had excellent results with Mildew Cure. It pretty much eradicates powdery mildew on all my cucurbits. It's OMRI listed, but the downside is that it's based on cottonseed oil (30%) which is not organically grown, therefore grown with extremely toxic chemicals; it also contains garlic oil (23%) and clove oil (30%) for which the oil base isn't listed on the label, but Johnny's catalog suggests it's corn oil, which again, is not organic and therefore extremely likely to be GMO.

The Mildew Cure label lists sodium bicarbonate as an inert ingredient; but after I bought it three years ago (it works really well and goes a long way!) I've seen lots of recipes for mildew control using baking soda and hort oil only, and studies confirming that it's effective. Typical recipes call for 3-4 tsp of baking soda and 2-2.5 tbsp of horticultural oil (any lightweight vegetable oil - corn or safflower e.g.) in a gallon of water. Sometimes they'll add 1/2 tsp of dish soap as a surfactant as well.

I've read similar concotion at an organic gardening web site. My concern is that where I live so close to the ocean and arid climate, any addition of sodium to the soil is not a good thing. sodium bicarb isn't all that different than potassium bicarb so I'm thinking maybe its the Na+ or K+ that's killing the mildew.

What's really interesting is that mildew is only affecting just small portion of my garden while the rest are healthy green. Sooo how can a strain of plant is free on one area and overwhelmed in another area.

Anyway, I'm going to be testing for NPK in the bad area and also in the good part. Maybe this will tell.

Oh potassium carb can be had at a local ceramic store under potash. Sodium carb is listed as soda ash. The difference between carb and bicarb in this application is their solubility I think. It's not the carb or bicarb that is killing the mildew.

anyway if you know more I would love to hear from you. I just the problem to be resolved.

smilingcat

[GLC1968]

Massive plum picking going on here. Big red ones - delicious eating...but there are just too many to eat before they go bad.

Does anyone have an tried and true plum recipes they'd like to share? I did a search and picked out some good ones..but I figured I'd ask here, too.

Our tree is heavily laden and was *almost* ripe when we just got our first rain of the summer. Now - the fruit is splitting so it must be picked and used STAT.

[shootingstar]

Massive plum picking going on here. Big red ones - delicious eating...but there are just too many to eat before they go bad.

Does anyone have an tried and true plum recipes they'd like to share? I did a search and picked out some good ones..but I figured I'd ask here, too.

Our tree is heavily laden and was *almost* ripe when we just got our first rain of the summer. Now - the fruit is splitting so it must be picked and used STAT.

Sounds so gooood!! Cooking Light magazine has a good website which includes some plum recipes. You could do what I did the other day:

Plum focaccia/pizza- I make the dough from scratch. But since you're rooting around in your garden bounty these days , do this:
See my photo of a focaccia/pizza with yellow plums and blueberries:
http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showt...ight=blueberry
1) Use premade pizze dough.
2) Stretch /roll it out on a generously oiled large cookie sheet(s).
3) Embed large slices of pitted plums all over surface of dough. Use half plum sizes. Your plums are so ripe they are juicy.
4) Sprinkle with: grated ginger root, cinnamon, cardamon/ground cloves and crushed aniseed.
5) Drizzle honey all over as a sweetener.
6) You can embed fresh blueberries at the same time, you embed plum slices into dough.
7) Bake in 450 degree F oven or higher. Takes only maximum of approx. 20 min. to bake or less.
8) Eat while still warm/nearly hot.

Slices also keep in airtight container for 2-3 days. Or you can freeze for a month or so.

______________________________________________

Bring a bowl of fresh ripe plums to workplace. You will be surprised how much people appreciate this over donuts! Especially when people are more health conscious. In my last workplace, another woman in our dept. had a plum tree. She brought in over 30 yellow ripe plums. They were snatched up by employees from the common kitchen.

[GLC1968]

Thanks, shootingstar - that's a great idea! I can even use the 5-minute bread dough for the dough without losing too much 'harvest' time! Excellent!

Yeah, I'm definitely going to bring some in to work. I just don't feel right bringing in the split ones, so there will be lots that I'll need to use up myself at home.

My dinning room table is covered with zucchini, tomatoes, cukes and now plums and soon to be apples! If the fridge weren't filled with eggs and goats milk, I'd not feel so pressured to use everything up immediately!

Bounty's a b1tch, ain't it?

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

GLC- can you cut the plums into big chunks and just load them into zipper freezer bags and freeze them? Then you could use them in all kinds of ways later on.

[shootingstar]

Sprinkling with a bit of finely grately lemon rind all over the plum focaccia/pizza about half way during baking, is a lovely touch too.

[GLC1968]

GLC- can you cut the plums into big chunks and just load them into zipper freezer bags and freeze them? Then you could use them in all kinds of ways later on.

Yep, this is on the agenda for tonight. We will be cutting up plums and tomatoes to freeze for when I have more time for processing, oh and shredding more baseball bat zucchini too.

And I'm a bit scared as the blackberries are ripening already and it looks like another bumper crop. Eeeek!

[smilingcat]

Yep, this is on the agenda for tonight. We will be cutting up plums and tomatoes to freeze for when I have more time for processing, oh and shredding more baseball bat zucchini too.

And I'm a bit scared as the blackberries are ripening already and it looks like another bumper crop. Eeeek!

congratulation on your bounty.

[Jolt]

Yep, this is on the agenda for tonight. We will be cutting up plums and tomatoes to freeze for when I have more time for processing, oh and shredding more baseball bat zucchini too.

And I'm a bit scared as the blackberries are ripening already and it looks like another bumper crop. Eeeek!

Sounds good! As for the plums, you could probably can them--cut in half with the pits removed. I'll be doing that with pears pretty soon...

[GLC1968]

congratulation on your bounty.

Thank you!

Sounds good! As for the plums, you could probably can them--cut in half with the pits removed. I'll be doing that with pears pretty soon...

Yep, we'll definitely be doing some canning. I just don't have time at the moment and they need to be picked NOW. Actually, maybe I can do a load or two this weekend?

I knew the end of the summer was going to be harvest-overwhelming, but reality is worse than I imagined! Luckily, goats and chickens love overripe/spoiling fruits and veggies - so nothing truly goes to waste....