official veggie gardener's thread

[snoopdoug1]

Picked an overflowing bushel worth of tomatoes today. Along with 20 peppers hot and sweet varieties. 2 cantaloupe, 10 more cucumber, a gallon + a quart bag full of green beans, and a half dozen more onions.

Also of note, I've made 2 gallons worth of slow roasted tomatoes in the last week that are now dated, sealed and frozen.

Friday will be canning tomatoes. Should probably have nearly 1.5 bushels by then. My dad will also contribute at least a bushel of tomatoes. Then probably labor day weekend we'll both have another bushel EACH of tomatoes for canning.

What do you use the slow roasted ones for?

 

[spidey07]

Halleleujah! My brandwine and cherokee purple tomatoes finally have ripe ones. They take a good deal longer at 85-90 days. Remember I took them all out because of early blight and had to replant. Still thinking that was a smart move. Some of the best tasting tomatoes you'll ever have. These I don't give away, no way, no how...all mine.

 

[rpanic]

I planted pumpkins (big max I think) about 3 months ago. I have about 4 three of which are about 40 pounds, one is already orange when do I pull them out of there, do I need to shade them its been very sunny every day here in S. Cal. where I live. I wanted to wait till we got close to holloween to pick them.

 

[mmntech]

My mom planted Beefeater tomatoes this year and keeps giving them to me. The things are the size of both my fists. They're good though. I find a lot of the store-bought tomatoes have thick, almost woody cores these days. Plus they don't have as much flavour, especially the field varieties. You don't seem to get that with home grown ones.

She planted beets as well, which I'm told turned out very well. I'm not a fan of pickled beets tough.

 

[spidey07]

My mom planted Beefeater tomatoes this year and keeps giving them to me. The things are the size of both my fists. They're good though. I find a lot of the store-bought tomatoes have thick, almost woody cores these days. Plus they don't have as much flavour, especially the field varieties. You don't seem to get that with home grown ones.

She planted beets as well, which I'm told turned out very well. I'm not a fan of pickled beets tough.

You will never get a good tomato from a store. Ever. I've got a farmer less then a mile from me with a stand. His are good enough, but not like mine. They don't travel well.

Pro-tip: If you must get them from somebody else, get them grown locally and put them in a paper bag to keep ripening.

<---mater master

 

[TraumaRN]

What do you use the slow roasted ones for?

Everything from pizza to pasta sauce to salads. Very easy to use in various dishes. And the taste is incredible...

Pure tomato goodness!

 

[TraumaRN]

You will never get a good tomato from a store. Ever. I've got a farmer less then a mile from me with a stand. His are good enough, but not like mine. They don't travel well.

Pro-tip: If you must get them from somebody else, get them grown locally and put them in a paper bag to keep ripening.

<---mater master

I can add a small little asterisk to that. We do buy some of our tomatoes from a local farm for canning some years and they are just as good as homegrown. Because...they are homegrown...at a local farm. And if you arrive at 8am you'll literally get tomatoes fresh picked. Otherwise I agree with you and the only good tomatoes you'll ever get are homegrown.

 

[spidey07]

I can add a small little asterisk to that. We do buy some of our tomatoes from a local farm for canning some years and they are just as good as homegrown. Because...they are homegrown...at a local farm. And if you arrive at 8am you'll literally get tomatoes fresh picked. Otherwise I agree with you and the only good tomatoes you'll ever get are homegrown.

For canning, absolutely agree.

I'm talking about the slicer that makes your eyes roll back in you head it's so good. I kid you not, this time of year we have a half sliced tomato sitting on the cutting board 24x7 and just slice off of it/them when we want.

Here are my mater master tips:

Never put in fridge
A half sliced mater is fine to leave on the counter for a day or two or three, that's where it belongs
No sun on picked fruit, sun ripened is bad....mmmkay? Put in paper bag, no sun, ever.
Not quite ripe enough for you? Put in paper bags and eat a few days later, yields amazing results

 

[NetWareHead]

My tomato plants are beginning to ripen. In NH, the tomatoes seem to be ripening late. I have only begun to start gathering a few tomatoes here and there. Nearly all of my tomatoes are still green and yellow. The few that have already grown have been marvelous, juicy and some of the best I have ever tried. Some of the tomato plants are almost 6 feet tall, still growing and budding. We easily have hundreds of tomatoes. We are preparing for canning by hopefully the end of August...

On the other hand, in the last 2-3 weeks, we have begun gathering huge amounts of cucumbers, zucchinis, broccoli, broccoli rape, string beans and eggplants. I had posted a thread with pics earlier

We actually canned a batch of dilly beans and preserved a bunch of eggplants under olive oil. Canning was fun...cant wait to do it again with tomatoes soon.

 

[IceBergSLiM]

Two questions:

1) How do I save my garden from this hurricane?

2) What the f do I do with all this eggplant?

 

[NetWareHead]

Two questions:

1) How do I save my garden from this hurricane?

2) What the f do I do with all this eggplant?

Not sure what to do with the Hurricane. Manchester NH here, hopefully the trees and garden arent blown around too much. I'm going to stake my tomatoes and try to secure any loose branches so they dont snap.

Re: eggplant. Slice it and fry it up with a breading and layer in casserole dish with tomato sauce and cheese and make eggplant parm. I just pickled a bunch of eggplant as well. I also like to marinate raw thick slices (as well as zucchini) with olive oil and spices/herbs and then grill the slices on the bbq along with burgers etc...

 

[BoomerD]

Two questions:

1) How do I save my garden from this hurricane?

2) What the f do I do with all this eggplant?

No telling how the hurricane will affect your garden. It might get destroyed...or it might just get wet and a bit wind-blown. Only time will tell.

As for the eggplant...share with your neighbors...

 

[meltdown75]

lol wow... i haven't been on a forum in ages...

so yeah i grew a garden this year... it has been producing quite well. ~200 jalapenos from 4 plants seems pretty good... tomatoes aplenty... several varieties. some just sprouted from seed from last year as well, which was pretty cool.

i have pics but am probably not going to upload them.

hope you're all enjoying a nice growing season

 

[GoodRevrnd]

At what point do chile pepper plants die out exactly? Last year they just died out from heat but now that I have them in the ground they just keep growing... I need to figure out how to increase the quality of the fruit though. They're rather small with thin flesh.

 

[spidey07]

At what point do chile pepper plants die out exactly? Last year they just died out from heat but now that I have them in the ground they just keep growing... I need to figure out how to increase the quality of the fruit though. They're rather small with thin flesh.

Really only a cold freeze will kill them or maybe you're getting some from the fruit/seed on the ground from last year?

 

[Ms. DICKINSON]

Are these edible mushrooms? If so, any common or sci names? They just randomly pop up in the garden.

 

[Elbryn]

if anyone is looking for some seeds for next year, this site has lots of seeds for 50 cents each with cheap shipping.
http://www.averagepersongardening.com/index.html

look at the store link partway down. saw this on fatwallet a little bit ago, thread said the pricing expires today (sunday)

 

[marvdmartian]

if anyone is looking for some seeds for next year, this site has lots of seeds for 50 cents each with cheap shipping.
http://www.averagepersongardening.com/index.html

look at the store link partway down. saw this on fatwallet a little bit ago, thread said the pricing expires today (sunday)

Thanks for the link! Picked out 5 packets (various veggies) to try. Mostly stuff I couldn't find seeds for around here. :thumbsup:

 

[spidey07]

Welp, I'm done on my precious maters. Frost coming tonight. Going to yang every single fruit left. Not bad still having them produce this late, still kills me to pull the baseball greenies. Damn pepper plants are still flowering.

Yank every pepper or not?

 

[GoodRevrnd]

I vote for just yank the peppers that are close enough to being done and see how the rest fair.

 

[BoomerD]

If it frosts very hard, it'll just kill the plants anyway...

I pulled all 8 cherry tomato plants today. I've had all the fucking cherry tomatoes I can stand...and I think my neighbors have had their fill as well.

I picked several hundred of those little orange bastards today. Gave away MOST of them...along with about 3-4 dozen jalapenos, fresnos, and serranos.

I still have a couple of roma tomatoes and one better boy. They're still doing fine, and I probably won't pull those until after Thanksgiving. (as long as the fruit continues to ripen)

 

[NetWareHead]

In NH here, also facing first frost soon. Eggplants and peppers still have ripening fruit on the vine, hopefully they are hardier plants than my tomatoes. Tomatoes have produced enormously and still many green ones (mixture of San Marzanos, Early Girls and Romas. We may end up doing something with the green tomatoes, maybe frying them or green tomato relish. Regardless, Im going to keep the garden running for as long as possible.

 

[spidey07]

I vote for just yank the peppers that are close enough to being done and see how the rest fair.

I pulled just about everything that was even close including tomatoes. I'll put the maters in paper bags to help ripen them up. There are still some HUGE brandywines that I just couldn't pull and hope they make it.

Word to the wise - 4 jalepeno plants produce more than you can ever eat.

 

[GoodRevrnd]

But how did the plants fair?

 

[spidey07]

But how did the plants fair?

They look pretty stressed. I'll know more in a day or two if it got them. It wasn't a strong frost so the may be ok.