Adult Content Warning

This community may contain adult content that is not suitable for minors. By closing this dialog box or continuing to navigate this site, you certify that you are 18 years of age and consent to view adult content.

The Gardening Thread

Discussion in 'Permanent Threads' started by bewildered, May 27, 2017.

  1. bewildered

    bewildered
    Expand Collapse
    Deeply satisfied pooper

    Reputation:
    1,199
    Joined:
    Oct 26, 2009
    Messages:
    10,949
    Your experience is not unusual. And, you know what, neither is Kub's. I had to really talk myself into the extra $$ because I am a cheap ho but reading such a wide range of experiences helped push me into the higher priced box models. I really do use it a lot and feel that I came to the right decision for my use and situation.
     
  2. bewildered

    bewildered
    Expand Collapse
    Deeply satisfied pooper

    Reputation:
    1,199
    Joined:
    Oct 26, 2009
    Messages:
    10,949
    Gardening thread? Cooking thread? Meh whatever.

    I have SO many beefsteak tomatoes ripening from when I pulled green fruit before it froze. I don't typically like to cook down beefsteak for sauce because they are so watery but I've found a way to do it that I really like.

    I've been fire roasting them under the broiler and then juicing them with the KitchenAid attachment. I season with smoked salt, smoked hot paprika, garlic powder. This is some bomb ass pizza sauce. I'll portion it out and freeze it.

    I'm not sure how many lbs of tomatoes I used but it was 2 very full broiler pans full and made 5 cups of very thick sauce. IMG_20221119_075154_(1500_x_1200_pixel).jpg IMG_20221119_075602_(1500_x_1200_pixel).jpg
     
  3. Kubla Kahn

    Kubla Kahn
    Expand Collapse
    Emotionally Jaded

    Reputation:
    710
    Joined:
    Oct 19, 2009
    Messages:
    11,278
    Like everything these days there is a bunch of cheap Chinese crap and then stuff that works. They’re all made at the same factories though just depends on the American companies’ willingness to spend extra on better components (temperature regulators and fan motors mainly).

    Yes I think usage probably explains my experience more than anything else. I use it maybe 6-7 times a year tops. Much more frequent use and it might have more troubles. I’ve just been so happy with it I’ll be sad when it craps out since I’m sure it’s a discontinued model.
     
  4. Nettdata

    Nettdata
    Expand Collapse
    Mr. Toast

    Reputation:
    2,863
    Joined:
    Feb 14, 2006
    Messages:
    25,731
    That is awesome... I did something similar last year. I really love the kitchenaid attachment, it does such a good job... and you've hit on the same key ingredient that I found, the smoked paprika. Between that and adding a few small ancho peppers that were also fire roasted/peeled, it really leveled up the sauce in my opinion.
     
  5. binx bolling

    binx bolling
    Expand Collapse
    Average Idiot

    Reputation:
    44
    Joined:
    Nov 18, 2009
    Messages:
    98
    Location:
    Malaise
    Well, it's the seed catalog season. Who's ordering? I would certainly appreciate any and all recommendations.

    I have ordered so much from Baker Creek in the past, but just want to do something different this year. Slightly overwhelmed.

    I've been looking at these two places:

    Sow True Seed

    Hoss Tools
     
  6. walt

    walt
    Expand Collapse
    Emotionally Jaded

    Reputation:
    411
    Joined:
    Oct 21, 2009
    Messages:
    2,225
    I'm a fan of Joe Lamp'l and his gardening shows, so my wife bought me his book for Christmas. Jesus, the garden this guy has:

    Screen Shot 2023-01-14 at 3.25.19 PM.png
    Sixteen of those raised beds!

    While I don't need 16 of them, I'd like to update the three I have to be taller and more of the 4x4 type construction. I've looked at the corrugated tin raised beds, and then read about building them with cement block, which sounds cool, but I always come back to the treated lumber. Ideally I can replace all three and add a fourth this year, but with the cost of lumber, I doubt it.

    I'm easing out of raising animals, and I think gardening is going to take their place. I have a lot of little things and ideas I'd like to try this year, including putting in a row of grapes for shits and giggles.
     
  7. SouthernIdiot

    SouthernIdiot
    Expand Collapse
    Emotionally Jaded

    Reputation:
    116
    Joined:
    Oct 24, 2017
    Messages:
    2,111
    Maybe I'm wrong, but treated lumber around food crops sounds like a bad idea. Wouldn't they leach chemicals into the ground?
     
  8. Popped Cherries

    Popped Cherries
    Expand Collapse
    Emotionally Jaded

    Reputation:
    143
    Joined:
    Oct 26, 2009
    Messages:
    1,712
    Location:
    NY
    @walt You know what works really well instead of treated lumber, cedar fence pickets. You can get them here, https://www.homedepot.com/p/Outdoor...H-Cedar-Dog-Ear-Fence-Picket-327357/314521365

    What we did was buy a 4x4x10, non treated, to make the corners and then cut the dog ear off the fence picket and ran two picket wide and two picket high. You could go higher if you felt the need to, but it's a good height for almost all types of veggies. Ours have lasted two seasons so far without a hiccup.
    Here's the finished product. It's about $30 for each bed, which to me isn't very expensive.

    IMG_4395.jpg

    We are finishing the whole area and making it more of a formal English garden with a fountain in the middle. This past year we have been working to get the inside of the house finished and this upcoming year we will be getting a bunch of the outside projects wrapped up.

    Definitely go for grapes! I planted 4 vines, 3 black table grapes and 1 white table grape. They grew pretty quickly this past year and are cold hardy and should actually produce some grapes next year. Highly recommend.
     
  9. walt

    walt
    Expand Collapse
    Emotionally Jaded

    Reputation:
    411
    Joined:
    Oct 21, 2009
    Messages:
    2,225
    Oh that’s a great idea, and your beds look great!


    We’re a stones throw from the Finger Lakes wine country, and while the weather patterns here aren’t exactly the same as around the lakes, it should still suffice. I want to start with Concords for the preserves.
     
  10. walt

    walt
    Expand Collapse
    Emotionally Jaded

    Reputation:
    411
    Joined:
    Oct 21, 2009
    Messages:
    2,225
    The beds I have now are treated lumber and it was a concern when I got the lumber for them. However I’m pretty sure they changed how they’re treated, as evidenced by how fast this lumber rotted out on me. I don’t go totally organic, and I’m not too worried about it.

    But still, @Popped Cherries idea is a really good one, so I’ll be looking into that for sure.
     
  11. Popped Cherries

    Popped Cherries
    Expand Collapse
    Emotionally Jaded

    Reputation:
    143
    Joined:
    Oct 26, 2009
    Messages:
    1,712
    Location:
    NY
    I think we are in similar growing zones, so I went with Black Monukka, Thomcord, and Saint Theresa for the black grapes and Neptune for the white grape. Our back fence is made out of 16' sections of hog panels from Tractor Supply, so I just planted them close and trained them onto the fence once they started growing.
    I would definitely advise, if you want fruit any time soon, to buy more established plants. They are usually about $10-20 more expensive per vine, but you'll actually get fruit without having to wait 2-3 years.
     
  12. bewildered

    bewildered
    Expand Collapse
    Deeply satisfied pooper

    Reputation:
    1,199
    Joined:
    Oct 26, 2009
    Messages:
    10,949
    I'm thinking about grape Vines too, but I'd have to rip up some shrubs so it's not an immediate plan. My neighbor has a 2 vines for white table grapes and they produce SO SO much. More than they could use or give away. I made jellies and juice from Concord grapes a couple years ago too, from a different neighbors vines. That fake grape smell in candy? Go stand among some Concord grapes and tell me they don't smell just like that.

    Right now we are still planning on fruit trees, then blueberry bushes if we have time and energy after the fruit trees. I am thinking apple and cherry. Plums do great here with no spraying. Surprisingly, people have peach trees here, which honestly just throws what I know about growing peaches out the door.

    Not much growing outside except grass right now. My Christmas cactus is doing it's thing. Hubs says it looks like flea legs and now I cannot unsee.

    IMG_20230115_082127_(2000_x_2000_pixel).jpg

    I've got seed catalogues already but won't be purchasing from burpee or park seed. I'll pick up some spinach seeds locally and am looking online for Mr Stripey tomatoes. That's the new variety I want to try this year.

    I also dug up some mature peppers in the fall. A lesya sweet pepper, a monster yellow bell, and a scotch bonnet. The scotch bonnet got slapped by the cold but is growing out at the base. The bell died, I think I tried shoving the roots in too small a pot. The lesya was doing great, then got smacked by aphids, but is now coming back and looks like it wants to fruit... So cool!

    IMG_20230115_083208_(1500_x_2000_pixel).jpg
     
  13. Popped Cherries

    Popped Cherries
    Expand Collapse
    Emotionally Jaded

    Reputation:
    143
    Joined:
    Oct 26, 2009
    Messages:
    1,712
    Location:
    NY
    @bewildered
    Peaches surprisingly grow just about anywhere. They are going into our orchard this spring and we are zone 5. They've really done a lot with selectively breeding and cross grafting plants to remove a lot of the obstacles from growing in most areas. There are so many cold hardy plants now, you aren't lacking for options.
     
  14. bewildered

    bewildered
    Expand Collapse
    Deeply satisfied pooper

    Reputation:
    1,199
    Joined:
    Oct 26, 2009
    Messages:
    10,949
    I guess citrus is the main fruit that isn't cold hardy? People grow figs around here too. Pretty nuts. I would love for all my landscaping to be edible.
     
  15. Popped Cherries

    Popped Cherries
    Expand Collapse
    Emotionally Jaded

    Reputation:
    143
    Joined:
    Oct 26, 2009
    Messages:
    1,712
    Location:
    NY
    Yeah citrus is one of the few fruits where they haven't figured out an actual way to grow outside of warm temps. There are some varieties where they will survive in zone 6 if you winterize them, but beyond that, they don't deal with cold at all.

    I have two fig trees! I will say though, they are in very large planters as it does get too cold to reliably keep them outside all winter. If I wanted to go through the exercise of digging them up every year and burying them, they could technically live outside year round, but I'd rather just move them around as needed. Fig trees are actually deciduous, so they need to go through cold hours otherwise they don't fruit as well, but it's the near/below freezing that kills them.

    It doesn't look like much at the moment, but it's starting to get more leaves as it comes out of dormancy. It was in our breakfast room which is a 3 season porch, but I brought it back inside the house a few weeks ago to get it ramped up for putting back outside in a month or two.

    IMG_4655.jpg
     
  16. Kubla Kahn

    Kubla Kahn
    Expand Collapse
    Emotionally Jaded

    Reputation:
    710
    Joined:
    Oct 19, 2009
    Messages:
    11,278
    I want to start an orchard as well. I want to do some chestnut trees, peaches, apples, cherries, and pawpaw. Pawpaws are something I just learned existed a few years ago and that there were a couple of patches already on our farm. Like the idiot want to be green thumb I’m trying to grow them from seeds I’ve gotten from the fruits I’ve foraged. Supposedly hard to grow and takes years to get to fruit. Like most fruit trees they recommend grown and grafted varieties that have proven to produce.

    Around here you have to wrap everything in mesh lest the deer eat the bark and saplings to the ground. Taken my mom a number of tries to get trees established.
     
  17. bewildered

    bewildered
    Expand Collapse
    Deeply satisfied pooper

    Reputation:
    1,199
    Joined:
    Oct 26, 2009
    Messages:
    10,949
    Oh yeah, I started hearing about paw paws a few years ago. They are great but finding seeds is easier than finding trees for sale, and fruit trees take awhile to mature. They are a North American plant though and are supposedly easy, hardy and prolific.
     
  18. bewildered

    bewildered
    Expand Collapse
    Deeply satisfied pooper

    Reputation:
    1,199
    Joined:
    Oct 26, 2009
    Messages:
    10,949
    I'm listening to a podcast about starting onions from seed. They say they can be started just about anywhere in January by seed. I'm still listening to the podcast but it has my interest piqued. I think I'll pick some seeds up and try some this year. They are supposed to be done by early summer. I have a spot I may try the onions, and then switch over to okra when they are harvested. It takes awhile here to have nights that aren't too cool for okra.
     
  19. binx bolling

    binx bolling
    Expand Collapse
    Average Idiot

    Reputation:
    44
    Joined:
    Nov 18, 2009
    Messages:
    98
    Location:
    Malaise
    8F92D784-B09C-4F8D-888D-492D6FE31D2C.jpeg

    I have heard so much about this tomato variety, I had to try it. Somewhat surprised that I found seeds to purchase, actually. We’ll see, but excited about this one. A trendy tomato, what a world.
     
  20. bewildered

    bewildered
    Expand Collapse
    Deeply satisfied pooper

    Reputation:
    1,199
    Joined:
    Oct 26, 2009
    Messages:
    10,949
    I proplift succulents from home Depot all the time. This last summer I sold off as many mature succulents as I could. Here's one that didn't sell. I caught her blooming today. I have a ton of succulent babies that are coming along nicely too.

    IMG_20230131_144112_(1500_x_2000_pixel).jpg