Garden fresh ...

[Skyweir]

I'm not sure where to put this .. but ... Mary Mary quite contrary how does your garden grow?

Or what do you grow in your garden?

We're growing veggies, herbs, nuts and a variety of fruit trees ... and of course flowers, shrubs, grasses and trees. There is nothing that compares to picking ingredients from the garden, taking them in cooking with them and .. eating them.

Tonight I made our dinner with every ingredient from our garden.

Thought this would be a good place to share ideas on freezing, storing, drying and preserving foods that you grow.

Also bought an interesting book on foods that are bad for you and foods that are good for you. Haven't read it all yet ...

[Menolly]

I don't have a plot, but, thanks to Stonemaybe, I've grown tomatilloes in a couple of Topsy Turveys a couple years ago. I tried tomatoes last year, but I think the plants were too large for transplanting, and I started too late. I also tried to reuse my soil from the tomatilloes, but didn't enrich it in any way, so that may have led to failure as well.

I'm still adjusting to the growing season here in the Pacific Northwet; I had much better luck in Gator Town, despite the semi-tropical bugs. But, I'll keep trying and learning each season.

[Skyweir]

It is definitely a learn as you go process. Especially given the variety of different growing conditions and climates. We're in a temperate zone now.

I tried to grow Jacaranda trees. In Adelaide where we hail from its hot and dry and they are prolific there.

I bought 12 Jacaranda seedlings but lost every one. The frost got them all.

We cant plant tomatoes or any summer veg till November and even then it can be a bit touch and go because of late frosts. And the crop is just now coming in.

This year has been a lot wetter than usual too. Which has been great for the fruit trees which are close to being harvested but not good for other plants, like my egg plant.

[Avatar]

Jacaranda's are a noxious weed here.

I don't have a garden. Not of my own, anyway. There's a "communal" garden and pool for the block of flats, but I leave it well enough alone.

--A

[Skyweir]

hahahahaha



How wonderful to have such a delightful weed/tree

Must be a lavender paradise

[Savor Dam]

Menolly did not mention her flourishing pot of rosemary out by the back deck.

[Vader]

Herbs, rhubarb, carrots, chili peppers, beans, tomatoes, zucchini, squash, apples, berries, sweet cherries, flowers, scrubs, grass (the other, but actually it's more moss).

[Avatar]

hahahahaha



How wonderful to have such a delightful weed/tree

Must be a lavender paradise

So many of them that Pretoria is known as The Jacaranda City.

Look beautiful, sure. But they stop indigenous plants from growing underneath them. And the flowers they shed on the roads are known to cause accidents 'cause they make it slippery.

--A

[Skyweir]

Well I never .... I never heard of their accident causing capability

They are just things of beauty here .. if you an grow 'em that is

[Skyweir]

Menolly did not mention her flourishing pot of rosemary out by the back deck.

Fresh cut herbs are the best .. what do you guys use your rosemary in? With lamb?

[Skyweir]

Actually its nice with roast veggies too .. a few sprigs of rosemary can tart up any roast

[Skyweir]

Actually its nice with roast veggies too .. a few sprigs of rosemary can tart up any roast

[Skyweir]

Also nice to fragrance oil and garlic .. and bottle. Makes nice gifts too .. who would screw their nose up at a bottle of oil?

[Skyweir]

Herbs, rhubarb, carrots, chili peppers, beans, tomatoes, zucchini, squash, apples, berries, sweet cherries, flowers, scrubs, grass (the other, but actually it's more moss).

Do you keep on top of your harvests or do you store excess? Freeze? Bottle? Dry?

We always get too many apples, so we bought a dehydrator and make apple chips. They are yummy. Take them to work - as an alternative to the chocolate box treats .. hahahahahaha ..

My goats just decimated half my thornless black berry vines! Wee devils! Still got plenty for pies though

What herbs you growing?

[Vader]

Excess apples are turned imto puree or jam. I hardly freeze anything, apart from the chili peppers. Herbs are dried and vegetables end up in my dishes or are given to freinds and family.

[Avatar]

At work they've literally got hedges of rosemary, so whenever I'm roasting, I just cut a handful.

Also like to chop it up very fine and add to mashed potatoes. (Tip: Make mash with plain yoghurt, not milk.)

--A

[Skyweir]

oooooh ... nice tip Av - will try that.

I guess it'd be a compromise between using sour cream or milk ..

Def worth a try ..

I'm living away from home for a couple of weeks so it'll be on my list of things to do when I get home, probably right after laundry and hug the goats, dogs, cats, rabbits, horse, alpaca and sheep .. and yeah and my better half

[Avatar]

Have fun.

--A

[Skyweir]

.. the fun has already begun

[SoulBiter]

I grow a vegetable garden every year.

Green Beans
tomatoes
Yellow and Zuccinni squash
Butternut squash and Spaghetti squash (winter squash)
cucumbers
Several sweet and hot pepper varieties.

I also have a herb garden that I grow
Basil ( a few different varieties)
Orageno
Rosemary
Mint
Parsely

I eat out of the garden when its fresh. I 'can' and freeze what I have an abundance of to be used during the winter.

I use the herbs during the months when its growing so that my spices are fresh. I have not dried herbs often. Although I did make Pesto one year when I had such an abundance of Basil that I didn't know what else to do with it.