Gardeners of AW, unite

Fenika

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My books did say to wait until the frost, but we're going on holiday and I didn't want to come back to them and find them damaged (it also said they suffer from sitting in soil below 50 degrees). Last year we went away this time of year and we had a whopper of a storm: hail, rain, and winds. We lost a maple tree in that one, and two more in the unseasonable snow later that year.

I garden mainly by benign neglect and that worked well for the sweet potatoes. The vines were truly lovely, though, I think next year I'll plant them somewhere that they can be more like edible landscaping. I did put them in a little earlier than the russets (around St. Patty's day is good for my area) but they survived a few frosts.

For butternut squash recipes, this is my favorite
http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/1216

Oh, looks simple and yummy. Cheers. And edible landscaping also sounds nice.

Next year get yourself a chicken or two, to control the bug population, fertilize the garden and lay eggs. :)

Next year I'm going to have my own farm and far more than a chicken or two! I'll make sure to let the ladies have some supervised time in the garden. And I'll see if I can convince my friend to get some.
 

icerose

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Congratulations on those yeilds!

As for the butternut, I've heard they make better pumpkin pie than pumpkins. I have two butternut squash waiting for me to figure out what to do with them as well. Thankfully they keep very well.
 

Fenika

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Ohhhhhh, pie. I haven't had pie in forevar.
 

SPMiller

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Squash bread is always good. Pick one and adapt it to your taste.

I still have kilos of frozen pumpkin puree. It'll be pumpkin bread and muffins all winter long.

I don't make pumpkin pies anymore because I found that sweet potato pies are better.
 

Fenika

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Squash bread is always good. Pick one and adapt it to your taste.

I still have kilos of frozen pumpkin puree. It'll be pumpkin bread and muffins all winter long.

I don't make pumpkin pies anymore because I found that sweet potato pies are better.

:drool

Now I really have to do some baking.

Also, had more of the free squash tonight. It was fabulous.
 

icerose

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I made a stir fry and sweet and sour gluten free chicken. The carrots, cabbage, and broccoli were from the garden. :D It was very yummy.
 

Fenika

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Oh, post the recipe please :)
 

icerose

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For the stir-fry I did chopped garlic and ginger in some olive oil. When they started getting fragrant I added carrots, broccoli until they started to get tender, then added in fresh bean sprouts, chopped water chestnuts, and bamboo shoots and let them fry up for another five minutes. Every so often I'd all a little soy sauce for a soft flavor. Then I added some chopped bok choy and mushrooms and sauted them in another five minutes then removed it from heat and served it over cooked rice.

For the gluten free chicken I chopped 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts into small pieces no bigger than 1 inch.

Then I combined 1 cup of gluten free all purpose flour, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp baking powder. In a separate bowl I whipped up 1 egg, 2/3 c of soy milk until it was frothy then added it to the flour mixture. (Rice or regular milk would work fine as well.) Then I mixed it in with the chicken until each piece was coated, which doesn't take much. Then dropped the pieces into the fryer one batch at a time.

The sweet and sour sauce was really simple. 1 cup sugar, 1 cup vinegar (white), 1 c ketchup, 1 c water, 1 T soy sauce. Combine in a sauce pan and cook over low heat for 1 hour until thick and bubbly.

It was really quite good and the breaded chicken stood up very well, even my husband didn't notice it was gluten free. :D
 

Fenika

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Nice. I will have to try that next week :)
 

icerose

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Well my crookneck squash plants are done for. It froze pretty good last night. The zuccinis might continue producing because they were very close to the corn and the potatoes and the banana squash so they had a lot of shelter. The corn is done for as well, all of it is red so the smaller ears won't produce. Two of my pepper plants froze but the three that were nestled in with the banana squash plant are doing fine. The broccoli plants also did fine of course they are more frost tolerant. I picked the watermelon but unfortunately it hadn't grown enough and crossed with one of the squash so it tasted like a cuccumber.

My MIL tented her tomatoes so they didn't go to waste which is good. I was able to get a 13 gallon sized bag worth of garden veggies. The frost thankfully wasn't hard enough to damage any of the veggies on the stocks so I got a dozen peppers as well as tons of squash, broccoli and even a handful of potatoes. They are baby potatoes because they didn't get enough season but they sure are tasty. My herbs have all gone to seed due to the frosts so I won't be getting any more of those but hopefully I will get some seeds as they loosen. My MIL also gave me about a dozen carrots. I'm sad to see the summer gone and the frosts killing everything off but I'm so happy I got a garden this year. I'm waiting for the pumpkin vines to die as well as the banana squash vines before I pick them. Hopefully it'll buy me enough time so the kids can carve the pumpkins they grew for Halloween.
 

Fenika

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A watermelon that tastes like a cuke? That's kinda odd. And I can't even think of a bad joke for it. ;)

I am glad to be moving to NC with these frosts coming upon us. Rose, you can come visit!
 

Fenika

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Bump.

My beets are growing okay. The newest two sets of basil are looking very nice. I used seeds from the oldest basil, and I'm guessing they cross pollinated a bit b/c not only were they growing in close proximity, but where I planted only green sweet basil, there's a purple one coming up :D

Half the pepper plants still look REALLY pathetic and I'm at a loss as to what's wrong... Old age maybe?
 

jennontheisland

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Basil and parsley are still alive. Only ones of the dozen or so herbs I attempted to grow in my dungeon. They didn't grow much, didn't bloom, and all together I got maybe 8 leaves from them. The Boy nibbled most of the parsley, but there are still a couple leaves on each plant.

I'm contemplating whether it would be cruel and unusual punishment to try to keep them alive over the winter or if I should just pull the plug now and dump them into the pile with all their dead friends.
 

Fenika

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well, u know what they say about livestock in vet med- If you can't treat them, eat them.

:)
 

icerose

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I will be checking my garden tomorrow. Been getting my little one ready for preschool. Yay, time all to myself four days a week.
 

Fenika

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Oh, time to yourself is good :) Let us know how the garden looks.

I've got some lettuce seeds here. I think I might start them and then put them under the grow light when it gets cold. I've got so much other stuff though, I'll prolly wait until after I move...
 

Stlight

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I realize this isn't food, but it is outdoors and it's part of the yard /garden I need to deal with. The next door neighbor, who is not an expert, said a vine climbing up one of my trees is poison ivy. It doesn't exactly look like the poison ivy in pictures on the puter. So I've waited all summer to see if it turns red.

It is fall today, however it is also still 92 degrees for the high which is 10 above normal. It has been very humid and unusually hot, so this may affect the outcome. The leaves on the vine are turning yellow, not red. Does poison ivy every turn yellow in the fall?

hopefully
 

Fenika

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Do you have pictures you can post? I'm sure someone around here could ID it...
 

jennontheisland

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I will be putting one of the basil plants out of its misery at dinner time tonight.

One basil and 2 parsley remain.
 

Fenika

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Let us know how it tastes :)

Some bird or something sampled my beets today. Among the victims was my strongest beet, which had two nearly inch long leaves. The damn thing didn't even want the tender leaves and I found them wilted and sad in the pot, so it wasn't even worth me eating it. I was a bit pissed. I know wild animals have to eat to, but if you're gonna kill my plants, effing eat them! Or take the cotyledons and leave the leaves. Grr.

Luckily I have a few extra beets I can try and transplant. And I need to transplant some basil-lings too.
 

Fenika

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Transplants have survived the day, though one beet looks a pinch dehydrated. I pushed the soil down around it and will see how it goes.

I've got a few peppers coming in, which is nice. I also harvested some slightly old basil that didn't do so great growth-wise (didn't like the heat waves???). Time for more pesto :)
 

Fenika

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We've been spammed!

Morning folks. Almost all the beets in the large pot are dead and eat-ed. Grr. I think I'll try some late season lettuce with seeds from my sister... And COVER THEM WITH HARDWARE CLOTH! Oi.
 

icerose

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I'm told I have bunches of broccoli that I need to go pick. I just had to get through my daughter's birthday party. I might go today or tomorrow if I'm not feeling good enough today to do it.
 

Fenika

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Mmm, broccoli. Get the cheese while you're out :D