Southern Spirit Hunters
Gardening => Vegetables and Fruit => Topic started by: bestofour on Mar 20, 2011, 02:56:39 PM
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Jiffy, I'll give that a try. We love squash and it would be nice to have it throughout the year. Do you blanch it first? I like squash more than I like green beans.
I don't think Johnny had ever gardened before he met me and I had never before I married my first husband. It's not to late for Scott to learn to love it. (not that Johnny's so happy about it either :smile:)
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From what I understand it can be refrigerated for as long as 4 months.
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tammy, you are right, it keeps a LONG time in the fridge. but if you are going to freeze, do it right after picking.
sheri, i didn't. i didn't think to. i mostly use it in stir fry, so that is how i cut it up. like i would for stir fry. and then just froze it. it was good.
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Have you tried the Squash Risotto? I did it once but I wasn't particularly thrilled with it. Now my friend juanita like it.
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i have not. pretty much if it takes more than 15 minutes or 5 ingredients, i don't mess with it. i'm a plain jane kind of person.
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That's why I love my breakfast stools. I can sit on it and stir a pan of risotto until it is done.
My first two plantings of radishes have sprouted, yippee!
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I found 2 more tires at the dump so now I just need one more and I'm done collecting tires. Now I just need more compost and garden soil toted up there and put in them. No problem lol.
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have you ever kept squash in the frig for 4 months? I think it would get either too soft or too hard.
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yes it was fine.
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I tried freezing it and it was yuk.
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I'm going to try it anyway Aunt Bonnie. For some reason I don't trust you. Maybe it's because you're trying to convince everyone that little angel is you. It's not quite right when you have to write "This is me" and draw an arrow.
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The rabbit got 9 of the heads of romaine lettuce. He's got six to go.
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I am so sorry, Tammy.
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Well to protect my last two heads of romaine I went out this morning and sprinkled them with the red and black pepper mixture. I hope it works. Those heads are now very expensive. I see that the swiss chard has started to come up so I sprinkled them too. Then I took the two tomato starts that were getting to leggy and transplanted them into taller pots and buried the excess stem. So far so good. Although they are not going to be the size I expected come the 15th.
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The rabbit got 9 of the heads of romaine lettuce. He's got six to go.
Oh no!!
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I'm going to try it anyway Aunt Bonnie. For some reason I don't trust you. Maybe it's because you're trying to convince everyone that little angel is you. It's not quite right when you have to write "This is me" and draw an arrow.
I don't know what you're planning, Sheri, but I always cook squash and freeze it. It tastes just as good as freshly cooked and is a nice treat through the winter.
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Yeah I got to get out there and put down more pepper the rain washed it all away.
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I don't know what you're planning, Sheri, but I always cook squash and freeze it. It tastes just as good as freshly cooked and is a nice treat through the winter.
do you completely cook it or just blanche it?
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All the romaine is gone. I'm going to have to come up with a better plan before I plant lettuce of any kind again.
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Might be ok if you liked boiled squash. YUK
Oh, and by the way, sure that little angel is me. It's okay for you to admit it. Everybody else already knows it.
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duh, I don't know how you'll keep the rabbits out of the lettuce patch without putting a top over it some how.
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I think I'll just buy my lettuce at the grocery store. That experiment didn't work at all well.
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Well some of the swiss chard is comming up. I wonder if rabbits like swiss chard. They leave the radishes alone. I've decided that I'm going to give the peppers and the tomatoes another week before I put them in the ground.
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Well I transplanted the tomatoes into taller pots and covered them up right to their first leaves. By next week they should be sturdy enough to handle outside. At least that is the hope. If they aren't then I'll just keep them inside until payday.
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I've brought in two bunches of radishes so far. They're so good. I'm going to reseed tomorrow. Some of the lettuce will be ready this week and I'll reseed it too. I hilled the potatoes tonight for the first time. Everything is looking good.
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sounds good to me sheri. i'm really regretting not making a garden this year. i might put one in yet.
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Awesome, Sheri!
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Excellent, Sheri..........i cant plant anything out here yet.....especially if we keep getting snow!!
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That's great that you are harvesting already.
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Today I planted tomatoes, they were getting too big so I hope it's not too soon, basil around the tomatoes and dill where the squash will go. Hope the dill will help with squash bugs. I also put out a bunch of marigold seeds. We all have a good life compared to a lot of people.
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I cant wait to get my maters outside, they are getting really big in here.
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Mine are real short. I think I waited to long to start the seeds. But they are strengthening up so they should be nice healthy plants when they finally get out there.
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I got 4 tomato and 4 bell peppers planted. I added powdered egg shells to the tomato planting holes. Made a big dent in my bottle of powdered egg shells. I may have to start washing egg shells again and crushing them in my spice grinder. I found out the hard way that they had to be washed. Whew was that jar smelling the first time I tried it without washing them before storing. lol. The swiss chard has sprouted. Now weather the rabbits will leave that alone or not I have no idea. There is one radish plant that has started to bud out. Funny thing about that is it isn't even in the first group. I figure I'll let it go to seed and harvest next years seeds from it. None of the radishes have topped the ground yet so I figure they have about another 3 weeks or so until the first batch is ready to harvest. I'm looking forward to trying them out.
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Planted the first session of scallions. They are late getting into the ground but I do what I can. That snake really messed up my planting schedule lol. Before I planted I used some of the last bag of manure/humus to amend the soil.
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I got all of mine planted, Onions, red potatoes, broccoli and Garlic have been in the ground a while and looking good, my cabbages died?, last Saturday I planted butterbeans, squash, zucchini, cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, eggplant and randomly planted some sunflower seeds throughout the garden. So now I'm waiting :542:
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I envy you. I'm going to have to find yellow squash plants because I didn't indoor sow any of the seeds. I've never had any luck with garlic although I've tried it a number of times.
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If you like I could mail you seeds...I have plenty left over.
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That's a very kind offer but I think I'm to late to start them from seeds. Thank you again for offering.
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Tammy, could you not just direct sow them? That is what we do. Of course I realize you are in a different area, so that may not help... :unsure:
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Yes I could direct sow them I'm just not sure they would produce a harvest before the weather turned bad. I mean today we're having hail just to be entertaining I guess. This weather is so messed up it's unbelievable. When or if it stops raining I'll go out and check the tomatoes and peppers but I'm thinking they may be gonners at this point. Who knew the tornado cells were going to drop hail on us in late April?
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I planted squash today - plants that is. And some cucumbers. It's so windy I hope they don't get blow away or broken.
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Great minds think alike. I bought and planted 4 yellow summer sqash plants yesterday too. I also got some sweet peppers that are suppose to ripen quicker than normal. I'm thinking to get really sweet bell peppers may be a matter of soil condition. What does everyone else thing?
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I plant sweet bell peppers too and they do ok. I don't amend the soil, just plant and hope for the best.
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two of the bell peppers have bit the dust and one tomato. I don't know what happened there. Could it be to hot?
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Could be, Tammy....did you add anything to the soil when you planted them?
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Before I planted them I amended the soil with the humus compost at 1 part amendment to 8 parts garden soil. I was thinking more along the lines of Temperature hot rather than amendments hot but that's another possibility.
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The potato, tomato, pepper and squash looks good but I'm going to have to replant a few cucumbers. Not sure what happened, maybe the wind, maybe the heat, maybe a rabbit. The lettuce is good but it will soon be too hot to replant and I have beets coming up. I planted them for fun and have no idea what I'll do with them if they make. I'm not eating them. I didn't replant radish seeds again. It's just too hot already.
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my first group or radishes are ready to harvest. I'll probably get out there today and get them. They are going in the salad.
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I just had a salad from my garden lettuce.
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:good2:
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I don't know what you're planning, Sheri, but I always cook squash and freeze it. It tastes just as good as freshly cooked and is a nice treat through the winter.
do you completely cook it or just blanche it?
Sorry, Sheri. I just saw this. I am doing this with winter squash. I guess I should have asked what kind you are growing. I do it with butternut, acorn, etc. I cook it all the way and freeze it.
do you completely cook it or just blanche it?
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I can't figure out how to get that quote right.
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Way to go bestofour. The rabbits have taken over the yard. I think they are waiting for the blueberries to rippen. The can ignores them can you believe that. I should trade him in on a new model lol.
I harvested the radishes and weeded the radish row. Now I just have to figure out how to save the radish seeds. A whole section of the row of radishes went to seed. I'm not at all sure why.
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Garden is looking good everything has come up....probably want make any onions...live and learn...could use some rain though.
The raising meat birds experiment ended today, my last meat bird got into pen with my RIRs and they killed it :Vent:..the other was killed by my big Buff Orpington. :crying: I will try again later.
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i'm sorry your meat bird experiment went badly. I hope your garden makes up for it. Have a great growing season.
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Sorry you lost Extra Crispy and Original Recipe, Lagree. :( You need to tell your other birds that the meat birds are for your tummy, not theirs...
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For lunch I'm having a salad with my lettuce and radishes and some GREEN PEAS. I'm so excited that they're starting to make real peas. I'm not even going to try and replant radishes and lettuce though because already the radishes are getting tough and some of the lettuce is bitter.
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Ok, we can not cover our potatoes anymore unless we start trucking in dirt.
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Jim started tilling our little potato and sunflower patch the other day and potatoes started flying everywhere. He had given up on the taters because of potato bugs, but they didn't bother what was already underground. He grabbed a shovel and started digging 'em out. I scrubbed those taters and turned them into homemade mashed and they were sooo good... :licklips:
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What a nice surprise! Congrats on your unexpected harvest. My squash vines have finally started to grow alittle bit which I'm happy to see. I was afraid they were going to die on me.
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I have my very first open squash blossom. That was very exciting for me this morning. The vines are still so short I wasn't expecting to see any blooms yet.
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Congratulations, Tammy!
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Thanks Tina. Since I only have one blossom should I store that one in the refrigerator until another one comes along or are more likely around the same time?
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We have a lovely stand of grass in our gardens. Johnny tillered and I pulled today. I hate to say this but I think I'm going to have to use roundup in a few places I can't reach by hand.
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I have one squash growing and several more blooms now. How great is that?
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that's wonderful tammy!
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Thanks Jenn. I'm excited. This is my first veggie garden here and really my first veggie garden since I was a kid. At first with the rabbits and all I didn't think that it was going to be a go but maybe I just had to make some changes.
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The yellow squash are putting out blooms and making baby squash like there is no tomorrow so I guess they are happy. I'm happy to. No tomato blossoms yet but they may be determinate and I'll get them all at the end of he season.
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Our cucumbers, squash, and tomatoes are blooming... :grinnnn:
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That's really exciting isn't it. I love seeing the veggies blossom out. Now if I can just keep them watered I'm in good shape.
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I'm having squash and red potatoes for dinner tonight. We've got lots of tomatoes but they haven't ripened. Maybe there'll be one when I get home today.
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Is that ninja rabbit waiting for my squash to get big so he can eat them? He's in the yard most mornings now. I think he nibbled one of the radishes. I did not know that radishes create pea pods for their seeds. I don't think I'll plant them though because the radishes really were not the kind I wanted. Now I've got to research which brand I want to have. Or maybe I shouldn't plant any since I really can't eat them.
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Me too....i have blooms on my tomatoes, and peppers....the beans and peas are doing great as well!
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I'm glad to hear your garden is doing so well.
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I am sitting here eating cucumbers in Italian dressing... :licklips:
Just picked 11 cucumbers out of the garden... :BigGrin:
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Yummy. That sounds so refreshing. 11 that's really good. Will you also do pickles? I love bread and butter pickles.
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I haven't tried pickles yet, Tammy. I get swamped with all the tomatoes and peas at one time and I worry about them first. :wink5: The convenience store owner really enjoys the vegetables I carry him every year when I am overrun... :BigGrin:
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:grinnnn: Sounds good, Dianna.
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I'll bet he is really please. My AA group has already requested my overage if I have any. I didn't tell them there was already a line.
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Oh wow really, thats great that you are able to do that, Dianna......not ready here....yet.
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Bless his heart (https://www.southernspirithunters.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fpic20.picturetrail.com%2FVOL145%2F2152270%2F23822506%2F397182824.jpg&hash=d84778a8c6bfdacbb36625d42a1ba1d0020bbe9e)
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yes, bless his heart.
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Looks like he is happy puttering in the garden...:)
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Very nice.
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The grass is all gone now and the tomatoes turned red.
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Good space to work with there.
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Well one of the tomatoes disappeared completely. One of the pepper plants did the same. Another tomato plant is turning yellow and dying. And of the the squash plants completely wilted pretty much overnight. Lets say as a farmer I'm a complete failure.
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We've still only gotten two big tomatoes and a handful of cherry from the garden. We have plenty of green ones but it seems they're taking their sweet time ripening.
The squash and cukes are coming in just fine though and we have lots and lots of potatoes.
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My tomatoes are getting scorched!!! and whats not getting scorched have blossom rot. Not looking like a good harvest.
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have you added epsome salts to the soil around the tomatoes?
I have some little tiny peppers growing and more blooms on the pepper plants so there is hope that I will have enough to freeze come harvest time for those. At least that is the hope.
I have one yellow squash that is getting pretty big. My question is when do I know whether it is ripe or not?
I have one tomato blossom so far.
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We normally don't let the squash get too big. I always plant straight neck summer squash so when it gets about as big around as a tennis ball it's getting picked.
You may need to spray the tomatoes with calcium chloride UNCLEG. I had to my first year. Now I put down lime every other year and that seems to have eliminated the need for the calcium.
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We don't let our squash get big either Tammy. Look at some in your grocery store and judge by that. The bigger the tougher it gets. We've put down lime for tomatoes before too.
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Thanx, i will try the Calcium Chloride.
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I know I'm crazy I add powdered egg shells to my compost. it's quite a process too. I found out early on that I had to get that inner "skin" out of the shell or it would smell something awful. Then I use my onion chopper to "powder" it.
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I think it must be time to harvest my very first squash then. I'm looking forward to that.
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I did it. I harvested my very first yellow squash. It is sitting on the counter waiting for dinner. I'm going to fry it up with onions and some mild italian sausage. That's going to be so yummy.
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That sounds good, Tammy.
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It was it was really good and there is so much of it that I can have it again tonight. And I'm going to lol. There are more blossoms on the plant and I hope that means more squash through the summer.
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We had squash last night too. I boiled it with little, red potatoes and butter. Love it.
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I'll have to try that. Isn't it great eating from your very own garden?