2020 How does your garden grow

[Gun Tramp]

Looks like a bumper crop of horse radish coming.

There is nothing without horseradish.

 

[Gun Tramp]

Var. Mandan Red, a parching type I tried this year. Blessed with a perfect growing season here; this is the earliest maturing variety I've grown. Low yield accompanies early maturity and these ears are not typical of what I picked!

 

[Tom A Hawk]

Things are growing big this year. Rutabaga, Beets, Seneca white corn.

 

[Gun Tramp]

Var. Estiva, a hybrid indeterminate type I started from seed in a cold frame. I tried this variety last season with such success that I'm growing it again this year. No trellising or support; closely-spaced plants grow atop each other and the mass keeps most of the fruit off the ground:

Medium size, a very uniform processing type with a particularly rich flavor after cooking. I'd stubbornly grown crappy-yielding determinate types forever due to an unwillingness to cage or trellis. Problem solved.

 

[Carbon 6]

I planted a grape tomato plant this year in the green house and it grew up and out the top, now about 12 feet tall.

 

[Eutycus]

I planted a grape tomato plant this year in the green house and it grew up and out the top, now about 12 feet tall.

I like the flavor of a grape tomato but picking them is a tedious job, like picking berries.

 

[Sean Gadhar]

Ok I'm about ready for a frost, The Wife and I have canned Pickles, Marinara, Tomatoes with Okra, Pear Chutney & pickle relish About done with canning. . .I don't know how people in the past canned SO MUCH

 

[Ames]

They had few other choices. Can, salt, smoke , root cellar or dry.
I'm making vegie roll ups this weekend. Tomatoes, bell pepper, onion, carrot and celery. Simmer 30 minutes with no additional water. Purée and pour onto plastic wrap on the dehydrator screens, 4-6 hours per side. Peel 'em, roll 'em and take them with you. Or store in those canning jars.

 

[Sean Gadhar]

I forgot about the pickled Peppers and Okra (I don't like either, probably why I forgot)

There is quit a bit more that we made, but some has been eaten, some got stored without a photo and quite a bit I've given away. I bet we have canned just under 100 jars of food all out of the garden.

 

[Ames]

Today the first of my super sweet corn went out for sale. It can be tough getting the crop going up here in Maine. Super sweets like the soil VERY warm to germinate. I've had treated seed rot when planted on the 4th of July and had to plant again.
Well, it seems to be worth the wait. We grilled it and it was fantastic. Set it out in the farm stand and already people are coming back for more.
Now if I could just get them to try cooking with tomatillos. I have buckets of those. Nice thing is if they don't buy them I can freeze them whole like marbles and make tomatillo verde sauces, salsas, chicken enchiladas, etc. Nothing wasted. Add the same sweet corn charred on the grill and cut from the cob to your salsa...... Oooohhhh baby! They don't know what they are missing. And when you char the tomatoes before adding to the salsa................oh I gotta go cook something now. Made myself hungry again.

 

[Sean Gadhar]

Just made 18 pints of Salsa everything but garlic was from the garden ( tomatillos were frozen from last years)

 

[Ames]

Did the garlic run out?

 

[Sean Gadhar]

I haven't grown Garlic. . . . . yet.
I don't think of myself as using a lot, though we used a good bit canning.

 

[Carbon 6]

I haven't grown Garlic. . . . . yet.
I don't think of myself as using a lot, though we used a good bit canning.

Easy to grow, homegrown garlic is much more pleasant than store bought crap and a lot fresher too.

Don't know what your elevation is or if garlic is even affected by it, but I recommend a hardneck variety and planting time is fast approaching as you plant it in the fall.

 

[Ames]

Next! Early frost is going to get the tomatoes. We pick the red ones every day, but today had to pull some of the green. I used my ice fishing sled to pull 50 lbs. up to the house. Going back for more. Must be another 200 lbs. down there. And another basket of tomatillos. Mmmmmmmmm. Green salsa!

 

[Ames]

That was 2 layers deep. Now we move into the orchard for some pears. Putting them up in heavy syrup with rum in canning jars. And dried pears for deer hunting snacks.
The pictures don't do it justice. Of all the pears in my orchards this one is an overachiever.
Bought this Bosc pear as a 2 year old bare root. I planted it 16 months ago. This year it hit 10' and gave us over 200 full size pears. Cant wait to see what it can do at 25'.

 

[Tom A Hawk]

My garden is pretty well done from the year. Still have rutabaga and beets in the ground and a few tomatoes on the vine.

I like to cut the corn stalks - with a katana...

 

[Gun Tramp]

I parched some of the Mandan Red corn shown in #242 above:

I let the bare skillet come fully up to medium heat before adding the corn, then stirred a bit. Few kernels actually split open (some visible in photo) but they "pop" internally. The popping sounds stop when they're done, as with popcorn but the fragrance is that of corn tortillas. This is an excellent variety.

 

[Ames]

Grabbed a wicker laundry basket after work. Waddled down to the gardens and came back with 25 lbs. of green chilies. Going to dry the pods in a dehydrator for green chili stew with pork this winter.

 

[Sean Gadhar]

Getting to the end of the summer garden here. Thought I'd throw out some photos from the garden after a heavy harvest.

I am loving these Hakurei turnips!! What a great raw flavor, like a mild radish but kind of succulent inside. I am guessing they won't store well because they are so juicy inside.

I better get back in there we are trying to make one last batch of marinara tonight.