What's with those wimpy carrots? I really don't know. I've never been able to grow a decent carrot or beet. I'm still trying to figure that out. The squash borer annihilated my squash and zucchini so I replanted a late crop to see what happens. I think the cucumber beetle is wreaking a little havoc on my cucumbers too but they are still producing so we'll see who wins the day... me or the cucumber beetle. No wagering please.Other than those few problems the garden is growing and producing like mad! I get about this many tomatoes, green beans and cucumbers PER DAY! Whew! We also get about 5 eggs from the ladies a day so that makes for a LOT of omelets... even for our big family!
I am a gardener! Who knew?
12 comments:
are you thinning your carrots?
Up here we do not harvest our carrots till late fall. You may just be picking em too soon. Tehy made need more growing time.
That's some pretty looking okra though.
What a haul!! If you need help with the tomatoes I know of the perfect household!!!
Congratulations! Was that okra? What do you do with okra?
Happygeek, I'm not thinning them. Do you think that's the problem? Mine have always been squatty like that. I might try another planting and thin them out. I harvested them after 45 days because that's what the seed packet said. Maybe I should let them go longer?
Hi Robin,
Well, down here in the south we bread and fry our okra and it is heavenly! But, I've been trying to feed my family a little healthier so we've been using them in saute and soups. We don't really like that because okra is a little slimy when cooked that way. I think I won't plant it next year thus taking away the temptation to fry. :-D
I do thin my carrots several times because the seeds are so tiny and I am a bad sower. So, we thin them out to give them more room. In the past (when I had a proper garden) I planted my carrots the second week of May and didn't harvest till Sept or so, just before frost. You can harvest sooner, but I think they will be smaller than if you wait.
Those carrots look better this year than last though. The big question is, how do they taste?
If they taste like a carrot should (rather than the cardboard things we buy in the store) than it really doesn't matter what they look like.
In answer to your question the other day, Canadian flour is different because it is made from much harder wheat. In my humble opinion ours tastes better, but it is probably what you are used to. However, because our wheat has to be tougher to withstand the cold weather and shorter growing season it mills out differently and thus needs different quantities of yeast and salt.
What are you doing with all those tomatoes?
My mom used to freeze hers (just wash them and sticky them straight into a freezer container) and then she would use them in place of canned stewed tomatoes. The texture was the same, but the taste far superior.
Maybe you could sell the Okra to less health conscious neighbours:)
Your veggies look awesome! That is a lot of beans. Are you canning? I put up a few tomatoes in the freezer this year and I am quite excited about it! If you remember we talked about the squash borer gettting my squash. I did not get to mine in time. I am curious if yours will turn out this go around. Any okra you don't want pass my way. I love stewed okra--but DH and children prefer fried of course!--Ashley
Those Cherokee Purple tomatoes are beautiful! We have had a lot of trouble with our tomatoes cracking in this very wet summer.
It all looks great!!
Love the produce! I've crammed mine in between my flowers and the windowsill is lined with tomatoes. I've never been more thankful for the miracle of life even if planted by me. I used to say I had a black thumb.
Anyway, the vine borer got my zucchini last year, but has not yet this year (slightly different place in ground). And I read it can't get the hard squash and I have 3 plants and am going crazy trying to figure out when to pick them. None of my friends have grown them. I compared them to the ones in the store yesterday and they look similar but the web said to harvest in fall (we're in northern Indiana). Confusing!
And maybe that beetle is getting my cucumbers--they are dying and I didn't know why.
Lois
Lady Why,
I'm Carlene Henderson. I was looking through Mom's and Dad's things and found a couple of things that I thought you might want. They had a tomato jucier that they used to make make tomato juice to can or freeze and they have a really old-time pressure cooker Mother used for years to process our fresh vegestables. If you would like to have either or both, they are yours. I enjoy your garden! Carlene
Carlene! I would LOVE that!!! I'll email you!
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