# Garden 2015



## the_rayway (May 22, 2015)

Hey everyone!
After the snow last weekend, I'm hoping to finally get my garden planted this weekend. Things seem to be warming up, and Dad stuck his feet in the mud an pronounced it "time".

In the last couple of years, I've been doing what is basically Square Foot Gardening, and I've really been interested in Heirloom seeds. I'm a total novice with gardening, but am enjoying the ride!

So...I thought I would post the fun things I'm planting this year, in the hopes that some of you will share what you're doing!

*Tomatoes *(the focus of all things heirloom)
Weissbehaarte (white tomato)
Black Plum
San Marzano
Black Krim
Jersey Devil
Banana Legs
Forme de Coeur
The first two are some of the best tasting tomatoes I've ever eaten. The flavour literally explodes in your mouth and you can hardly believe you've grown something so fabulous. I'm hoping I'll get enough of each this year for both fresh eating, and to do a dedicated black and white tomato sauce.

*Peppers*
Ancho - I'm hoping to smoke these once they're ready
Jalapeno
Habanero
Big Chili
Cayenne
Matchbox
Hungarian Hot
Hungarian Sweet
Peter's Pepper (Seriously, google this one. It's entirely for discussion purposes!!)

I like to get as many jars of tomato sauce, chunks, marinara, and salsa into my cupboard as possible. We go through those like other people eat (insert pantry staple here). We even found an amazing corn salsa recipe a couple years ago that is incredibly addictive. SO good.

After these, it's the usual complement of onions (white, yellow, red), beans (green, gold, and purple), peas, baking beans, a rainbow of heirloom beets and carrots (red, purple, white, orange), and a ton of herbs (thyme, cilantro, dill, sage, rosemary, savory, lemon verbena, oregano, chives, 3 different basils, etc.)

A couple of exciting ones for this year are the melons and pumpkins. 
Icebox Heirloom Watermelon (various colours)
Minnesota Midget Melon
PMR Delicious 51 Melon
Orange Smoothie Pumpkin (did this last year and it was amazing for pie and muffins!)
Aaand, for the kids: Atlantic Giant Pumpkin. I have no idea if this will grow well, but thought I would give it a go! Even if it only gets to a large-ish pumpkin size, the kids will love it.

I've been also starting fruits over the last few years, apricot trees, tart cherries, blueberries, haskaps, white currants, strawberries, etc. They're all really small, but one cherry, and both currants have flowers this year!

Anyhoo, what's everyone else growing? Anything to recommend for things to try or things you've had great success with?


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## JohnT (May 22, 2015)

Wow rayway, your garden must be something. Can you post some pictures? Perhaps you could also post some later in July, and then again in August? It is a lot of fun to compare when first planted to how it end up.

In seeing all of those tomatoes, I have suggestions on what else to plant ..

More Basil, 
More Basil, 
and even More BASIL!!!! 

How about some cucumbers???


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## seth8530 (May 22, 2015)

I can't offer any advice. ... but I would be willing to "inspect" your harvest for mill worms when the harvest comes around.


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## JohnT (May 22, 2015)

*Here are photo's of mine*

We have too many deer, so I deck-garden. Herbs in pots, veggies in Earth Boxes (seriously cool deck gardening system)

First Picture - A tomato plant in an earthbox plater
Second and third pictures- my herbs, flowers up on the railing. Cucumbers and hot peppers are in the large earthbox planters. 

Fourth Picture - I had this "topsy-turvy" that I though I might try out on a cucumber vine. We will see....


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## Angelina (May 22, 2015)

Hi Ray, I to am a novice gardener doing raised beds this year. Last year I did rows and I didn't fair so well. So I took my approx 80x40 garden and put 34 - 4x4 raised beds in. I have about 3 foot walkways, ground cover and completely mulched ( courtesy of the electric company from last year) I am determined to not let the weeds get the best of me this year! We also have been spending the last few weeks building a coop next to the garden for several beneficial reasons. Chicken dung is awesome for the garden and now it is close by. We also built a chicken tunnel all the way around the perimeter of the garden and this serves as our bug control. In the non growing season we will open the tunnel and let the chickens have all the space in addition to their regular pen and duck pond we put in for the malard and yellow duck we just got. We also have grown this year from 4 to 21 chickens. I swear those chicks are like potato chips, you just can't get one. Lol
This year we have planted 
Tiger melons (cantaloupe)
Beans- purple,green and pintos
Peppers- banana,jalapeno,sweet and rainbows
Tomatoes- purple, mortgage lifters, beef steak, and cherries
Cabbages
Potatoes
Cucumbers pickling 
Brussels sprouts
Pumpkins- small and large
Watermelons -sugar babies and a larger variety
Corn- sweet white and yellow
Squash- yellow breakneck, zucchini, and butternut
Spinach
Lettuce
Cauliflower
Broccoli
And something new I am trying is Virginia Peanuts! I'm not sure how this is going to turn out but I'm giving it a whirl.


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## Matty_Kay (May 22, 2015)

I am mostly a container/bucket Gardner due to deer but we planted celebrity and better boy tomatoes as well as a few patio princess in pots. As for peppers, a few poblano but mostly fish peppers. I have been growing fish peppers for a few years now and we absolutely love them. Usually I'll dry them and make a powder and put it in everything. They have the perfect amount of flavor and heat for us. Love the fish peppers!


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## Angelina (May 22, 2015)

John they look good! I would like to do some herbs as well. Your rosemary is looking good! My garden is so full, maybe too full, I might grow herbs on the deck as well, if I can find the time.


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## JohnT (May 22, 2015)

Angelina said:


> John they look good! I would like to do some herbs as well. Your rosemary is looking good! My garden is so full, maybe too full, I might grow herbs on the deck as well, if I can find the time.


 
I got my herbs right by the grill. So nice to just "snip a bunch" as I cook.


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## quiltertoo (May 22, 2015)

I have a large garden area but nothing is planted yet. Most Missouri gardens are well on their way but mine is still too wet to plant. I live in a valley and after it rains it continues to drain down into my garden for many days. This year it has been frustrating because we have had so many heavy rains. I think I should try some gardening on my deck. I do have lots of herbs in pots and they always do well. But I do love okra and green beans and neither of them would work on the deck. Thankfully I have friends and family that garden and share with me.

Mary Lou


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## WVMountaineerJack (May 23, 2015)

Hi Rayway, very ambitious garden! The deer around here are like rats, so many and the folks running the DNR seem to see them as money to sell to hunters and the heck with the people who have to live with them. I was putting in an 8 row cider orchard but reconsidered and gave my wife 3 of the rows for her to move her garden into the deer fenced orchard. You are going to scold us but we are anti heirloom tomato, they do not do well here for us, and plant a lot of hybrids, Big Daddy from Burpees saved our summer a couple of years ago following a Derachio wind storm, all of our vacation we spent cleaning up trees that were blown over and it was so hot that when we harvested the first ones of these the sun had baked into them incredible flavor and sugar and balanced acids, like a good wine We are also finally planting some sweetcorn again, last couple of times we planted it there was 100% crop loss to racoons and deer. We are also going to put up an electric fence outside the high deer fence, some little freak gnaws thru the plastic fence for fun but we are going to shock that little sucker. We have a bunch of peppers ranging from Marconis to roast to Scorpions to roast us. We take old horse fence and form a 7 foot tall cage by folding it around itself and put in pole beans and yard long beans, groundhogs have climbed the cages to eat every bean years past, not this year if I get the eletric fence up in time. The wife also loves basil so she has Italian and lots of Thai basils, the bees really like the flowers so we use basil as our flowers in the garden to attract the bumble bees that pollinate the tomatoes. Wife is also experimenting with putting her squashed under fabric tunnel this year, we have a host of borers and squash bugs that usually wreck the plants so we would get a small harvest vs having to fill wagons lots of zuchins, we dont like to spray because we keep bees and we are surrounded by fields and forrest with lots of hosts for our bugs to overwinter in. If I could I would plant an acre of basil for the bees, all the native bees and the honey bees swarm over the Thai basils and complain when we interupt them to do a little harvesting WVMJ


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## fabrictodyefor (May 23, 2015)

I planted potatoes, onions, radishes, lettuce, kale, sugar snap peas and spinach on Good Friday, ole' wives tale about planting on Good Friday, but it works for me. But I have a hybrid green house, somewhere between a hoop house and a green house, to help protect against our unpredictable weather. But it has been soooo cold I have yet to plant anything outside. We had snow just 4 days ago. I now have green beans, spaghetti squash, beets and cucumbers coming up in the "green" house. I've given up on the heirloom tomatoes, just a lot of trouble with them, they are touchier, got fungus one year, they don't produce as much fruit....had to give up on those also. But what a list rayway! How many acres do you plant??? I do like this green bean heirloom I plant. I just leave a few pods on the plants then gather them up right before the first freeze and plant them in the spring, haven't bought green bean seeds in a while. If I had my way, I would do without the yard and have my green houses instead! I also fight deer and antelope, so the green houses are great at keeping them out....and I have 55 gallon barrels that gather the rain water from our roof. But this cold weather has been great for my rhubarb and I already have 35lbs in the freezer!


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## drumlinridgewinery (May 23, 2015)

We also do lots of heirloom veggies. Lots of tomatoes. We like Hungarian Ox heart, Mortgage lifter, San Marzano, Italian Heirloom. And a yellow one that I dont recall the name of now. 

Also Carrots, radishes, onions, kohlarabi, zucchini, peas, green beans Lettuce, spinach , and lots of herbs and garlic. Our 2 vegi gardens are about 50x50 each. Lots of raspberries and Strawberries also. We also have chickens and use lots of compost. Finished planting today. The picture is of the garden last July. The grapes are at the top of the photo


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## WVMountaineerJack (May 23, 2015)

Comeon, thats a photoshop job, not a single weed in the picture, nobody is going to beleive that! WVMJ


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## drumlinridgewinery (May 23, 2015)

Well if you ever get to Madison Wi. Give a shout. We love to show it off. I do spend alot of time down there. It feeds us for 6-7 months sometimes longer. 

And no photoshop WVMJ. I can barely navigate this site let alone photoshop.

Rayway We get a lot a seeds from a place in Iowa called Seed Savers Exchange. They have lots of interesting stuff. We also save a few of our own. Got to keep those old varieties going.


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## the_rayway (May 23, 2015)

Wow! I sounds like we've got some real gardeners here! I have a very small area for square foot gardening = basically a 4'x12' in a "U" shape, the new box is 4'x12 as well. No acreage for me, I'm right in the city! I'm trying to get rid of my grass by planting fruit trees and bushes. My sister in law is letting me plant some of my beans and root veggies in her garden. She's got a couple of acres (jealous!)

@JohnT my best friend has a yard that looks similar to your deck. She pretty much does only pots with a couple of little boxes.

@Jack I totally understand about using what works in your micro-climate. I'm learning a lot these days and have nearly as many failures as successes.

@fabrictodyefor and @drumlinridgewinery I'm super jealous of your setups. I wish I had access to a greenhouse or nice large plot.

I've attached pics of the newly expanded boxes we're working on (pre-filling and planting), so you see I have very little space to work with!


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## fabrictodyefor (May 24, 2015)

drum, that looks beautiful. I, too, rayway, live in town and am somewhat limited. I love the looks of your raised beds, rayway. Will probably never attempt grapes, not sure they would make it in our inconsistent weather, although I have heard the despair of several grape growers on the forum this spring. I am able to "put up" a lot, but would love to do more. My husband is prepping to build a deck and move our pond, so in the process yesterday, in order for things to work, he had to build another "bed" on the outside of the greenhouse...I told him I would have no trouble planting something in there!


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## drumlinridgewinery (May 24, 2015)

It looks great rayway.


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## Larryh86GT (May 24, 2015)

I have grown a veggie garden for 25+ years. It is a raised bed on the south side of my house measuring 28' long by 8' wide. With the nice weather this spring I planted on May 1st which is about a month earlier than usual. This year I have a row of snow peas with a 2' fence in place for them to grow on, 1/2 row of Japanese daikon radishes, 1/2 row of leaf lettuce, 1/2 row of bunching onions, 1/2 row of carrots, 1/2 row of chinese cabbage and 1/2 row of spinach. I have some cherry tomatoes started that will be transplanted shortly. This last Friday night they were predicting a hard frost into Saturday morning and I put this sheet plastic in place to protect the garden. It worked well and I did not lose anything. Hopefully that is our last frost of the year.


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## Runningwolf (May 24, 2015)

Ray I just built two raised gardens like you and added hoops so I can quickly cover if I have to due to frost.I just bought a new Canon SX60 so I was practicing shooting a few pictures around the yard.


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## WVMountaineerJack (May 24, 2015)

RW, there are no dandelions in your yard for the bees? WVMJ


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## Runningwolf (May 24, 2015)

You're right! I treat my lawn for weeds.


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## the_rayway (May 24, 2015)

Lol, Dan your yard is stunning. I could only wish ours looked like that.

FYI Jack - I have lots of dandelions in my yard - easy access for making mead!


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## Boatboy24 (May 24, 2015)

Since we just moved, I missed my window for this year. But the new owner of our old house is inheriting some 'second' heirloom tomato plants. These were the ones dropped by squirrels and/or deer that were left on the ground and the seeds have brought new life to the garden with no help from me. I was tempted to dig them up and bring them with us to the new place.


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## Jimyson (May 25, 2015)

Here is my spot for this year. We have:

King of the North Pepper
Jalapeño
Ring-o-Fire Cayenne
Feher Ozon Pepper
Hot Purira Pepper
Snap pea
Carrot
Pickling cucumber
Cherokee Purple Tomato
Sweet Thai Basil
Genovese Basil
Thyme
Spinach
Blend leaf lettuce

We have a 20x20 spot at the community garden




My little helper. As you can see, empty Chilean juice buckets come in handy in the garden too!


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## drumlinridgewinery (Jun 9, 2015)

it is that time of year here. First bucket today


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## corinth (Jun 10, 2015)

*garden 15*

So Ca here:
I look at some of your pictures of your green trees, rolling hills and what appears to be forest land and all I can say is "wow" and "sigh!"

Corinth


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## Boatboy24 (Jun 10, 2015)

drumlinridgewinery said:


> it is that time of year here. First bucket today



Oh, man! I can taste the shortcake already!


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## JohnT (Jun 10, 2015)

Wow, What I would give to be able to have a garden like that!!!! 

Here is my pathetic (by comparison) deck garden. Herbs are coming along nicely and the 1 tomato and 4 cucumbers are also coming along..


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## ibglowin (Jun 10, 2015)

Wow, great pics everybody! The master gardeners club here in Lost Almost will host their annual Garden Tour this weekend. 2 of the 8 houses on the tour are on my street only 2 houses down from us. I will snap some pics and post what can be done garden wise down here in the desert southwest.


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## ffemt128 (Jun 10, 2015)

Well here is my meager little garden. We have 3 pepper plants, 3 tomato plants, beans, peas, lettuce, zuchinni and cucumbers. I also started 2 potato buckets as an experiment. In pots on the patio are our herbs. Sorry for the sideways pics.


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## the_rayway (Jun 10, 2015)

You all are so much further ahead than me! A lot of mine hasn't come up yet that I planted from seed. I'll try and get some pics this evening to post.


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## drumlinridgewinery (Jun 10, 2015)

Yours all look great also. Mine is to much damn work. I wouldn't trade it though. I love it.


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## barbiek (Jun 11, 2015)

All your gardens look lovely! I'm currently working on my strawberry patch getting an order of rhubarb and asparagus coming in soon so I've been working my A off trying to get strawberries in so my rows aren't as straight as yours! But trying to do it in an orderly fashion! Will post some pics up when it looks good enough to do so lol


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## Jlars72 (Jun 11, 2015)

here is my spinach patch and my main garden. I have about 40 pepper plants, 60 tomato, 2 rows of raspberries, 5 golden raspberry plants, 8 blueberry plants, corn, beets, carrots and squash.


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## Julie (Jun 12, 2015)

Gee I don't know how I missed this thread!!!! I use to have a garden and did a lot of canning. Well I found out that I can buy from the local farmers for about the same price it cost me to put in all these veggies! So I planted grape vines,  This will be year five of the vineyard and my niagara has a handful of grapes but my catawba and fredonia are not doing that well, this past winter took it's toll on these two. 

Anyway, I miss having a garden so I did a raised garden and have just a few veggies and I have two potato barrels I am trying out this year. Been wanting to that for a long time.http://www.winemakingtalk.com//www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/


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## Runningwolf (Jun 12, 2015)

Julie I agree about buying it from farmers when you have them near by. Corn is the last thing I would plant only because it is so cheap to buy along side the road and usually better quality. I still enjoy planting a few tomatoes, peppers and potatoes though. The Catawba and Fredonia also took a bad hit up here. Let the suckers come up then keep the best one or two and retrain them, if you lost the entire vine.


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## drumlinridgewinery (Jun 12, 2015)

I agree with Dan that it is just as cheap or sometimes maybe cheaper to buy from local farmer but I believe the satisfaction and sense of pride you get with every bucket you bring into the house out weighs all costs. And you know exactly what went into your food.

I also do not do corn. My in-laws do 5 acres so It is cheap and takes all kinds of room. It also attracts raccoons.

Jeremy


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## fabrictodyefor (Jun 17, 2015)

Yes, corn would take up more room than I have! And we don't have any "farmers" here. But I do take a trip to SD in late summer to get my corn! I was late with a lot, but my potatoes, onions and sugar snap peas are going great....although I've had trouble with aphids.... on my potato plants. When I went out this morning I did not see any new ones, but I'll be spraying with the Neem oil again today. Every year I try and buy a new seed or two, this year I got "Olive-Leaved Sylvetta" a type of Arugula lettuce from Johnny's Seeds. Much to my surprise it tastes like black licorice or anise!!! And I am one of the few that likes black licorice. MMMM wonder if I grew enough of it, could I make it into wine???


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## JohnT (Jul 20, 2015)

*Update - july 20th*

How about some new pics of our gardens? I think it would be nice to see how everybody is doing...

Here are my planters. I already have cucumbers, tomatoes, and a TON of basil.....


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## ibglowin (Jul 20, 2015)

And a thumb still in the way……  

Looking good!


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## Boatboy24 (Jul 20, 2015)

ibglowin said:


> And a thumb still in the way……
> 
> Looking good!



It doesn't appear to be green though...


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## the_rayway (Jul 24, 2015)

Yikes! I meant to update this awhile back - sorry! (Yaay me for being the on-the-ball thread starter!!)

Here's what our garden looked like today when we got back from holidays. It sort of...exploded. I was afraid I might not make it out of there until fall!


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## WVMountaineerJack (Jul 25, 2015)

Looks like someone did a little weeding when she came back from vacation They straw we used this year wasnt thrashed as well as usual, we have a good crop of oats coming in, I call it green mulching, wife calls me something I cant post What kind of trees do you have in the beds? WVMJ


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## the_rayway (Jul 25, 2015)

Lol, the weeds were very well established after a whole week away! those little guys are my apricots. I hope one day they will give me some fruit, but they're still pretty tiny.


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## barbiek (Aug 12, 2015)

Tomatoes are starting to come everyday now, cucumbers out the wazoo! Peppers are still on the plants getting bigger for stuffing, eggplants are beautiful! I've been giving away a lot of cucumbers to the neighbors! Next year I think I'll go with the heirloom tomatoes preparing my soil finally no blight!


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## ibglowin (Aug 13, 2015)

Picked this last week when we got back from Seattle. Picked almost that much yesterday (a week later). Time to make some salsa I think this weekend!


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## the_rayway (Aug 13, 2015)

Mine are just starting to turn - and it appears I've got blossom end rot on my romas, but not my heirlooms! Darn it!


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## Matty_Kay (Aug 13, 2015)

I have been able to pick about 10 ripe patio princess tomatoes, Celebrity still waiting to turn. My fish pepper plants are absolutely loaded with peppers, a handful are starting to ripen. Both tomatoes and pepper crops should exceed expectations.


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## Steve_M (Aug 13, 2015)

Just picked these now.
The tomatoes have been awesome!

Thanks
Steve


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## the_rayway (Aug 13, 2015)

I just tried my first ripe "Mortgage Lifter" heirloom tomato today - incredible. I'm going to save some seeds if I can - plant a dozen next year!


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## Steve_M (Aug 13, 2015)

That's a good idea. Maybe I'll do the same


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## JohnT (Aug 14, 2015)

Holy Zucchini SteveM!

I have a bunch of tomatoes, both hot and sweet peppers, and some cucumbers. Time for... 

B A C O N B R E A D ! ! ! 

This is only once a year (so it wont harm much) and a bit of a family (Hungarian?) tradition when the fresh home grown vegetables are in. 

Steps...
1) Dice up veggies into separate bowls. 
2) Render bacon in a pan (on the grill), 
3) take 2 slices of rye bread, dip into the rendered fat, and grill until brown and crispy. 
4) assemble sandwich with crunchy bacon, diced veggies of choice. 
5) eat and wash down with good red wine or (even better) some good brandy. 
6) repeat until your arteries harden or until the defibrillator comes out.


Funny: My dad always said that you should have brandy with this. The alcohol (he claims) will dissolve the cholesterol. 

We think that he does not actually believe that and he is just trying to justify having some brandy!


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## fabrictodyefor (Aug 14, 2015)

I've barely gotten some cherry tomatoes, but have canned lots of pickles and pickled beets and there are green beans in the freezer. My Yukon golds got ready early, so I dug them up and planted more beets in hope they'll make before it gets too cold. Your garden looks amazing, rayway, must be all the extra sunshine!


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## Steve_M (Aug 14, 2015)

JohnT said:


> Holy Zucchini SteveM!
> 
> I have a bunch of tomatoes, both hot and sweet peppers, and some cucumbers. Time for...
> 
> ...



I know what I am having for lunch tomorrow!
Thanks JohnT

Steve


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## JohnT (Aug 14, 2015)

Steve_M said:


> I know what I am having for lunch tomorrow!
> Thanks JohnT
> 
> Steve


 

Just remember, Pictures or it never happened!


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## barbiek (Aug 14, 2015)

rayway use a lime slurry for the blossom end rot. Put about 1 or 2 handfuls pellotized lime In a gal of water use a couple gal of slurry for each garden planted plant. You have a calcium deficiency. At planting time next year mix 1 tablespoon of pulverized egg shell to 2 tablespoon of vinegar in put in planting hole. Make sure you nuke the egg shells first for 2 min to kill possible pathogen this makes calcium readily available the slurry is to use when you already have blossom end rot and vinegar and egg shells are preventative. Try it! Good luck hope this helps


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## the_rayway (Aug 14, 2015)

a) I'm SO having baconbread. That's incredible.
and
b) I've been supplementing my tomatoes with seaweed and epsom salts, which I thought gave more calcium. Have you heard of this @barbiek ?


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## JohnT (Aug 14, 2015)

Just remember, you need to apply the rendered bacon fat to the bread before you grill it. I gives more bacon flavor and is more "fried" than toasted.


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## barbiek (Aug 14, 2015)

Epsom salt is good for magnesium deficiency are you using calcified seaweed?


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## JohnT (Aug 17, 2015)

*My gosh, the cucumbers!!!*

The cucumbers seem to have produced well this year. I ended up with 20 or 30 pounds of them. 

Time to make pickles!!!

Ran out to the local Tracker Supply and picked up some Mrs. Wages Pickle Mixes (2 Kosher Dill and 2 Bread and butter). I used these mixes last year and simply loved the result. I also picked up some pint jars.

I hand slice them rather than use a mandolin. I find hand slicing makes much cleaner cuts. 

The final result was 24 jars total. 12 are bread and butter, and 12 are kosher dill. I had just a couple of cucumbers left, and not enough for another batch of pickles, so I made some Hungarian cucumber salad to go with dinner.

I only used half of the mix I bought, so hopefully I will get more cucumbers.

We also stopped off at the local farm stand and got a box of peach "seconds". These are peaches with slight blemishes and are good enough to eat, but not good enough to sell as whole fruit. The seconds are perfect for pies or jam and is only $10 for a 25 lb box. We got to know the owner of the stand, and she always holds a box for us. Tuesday, SWMBO will be making peach jam. I can not wait!!!!

Here is a couple of pictures. Bread and butter pickles are the front 2 rows and Kosher dill chips are in the back two rows.


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## the_rayway (Aug 17, 2015)

barbiek said:


> Epsom salt is good for magnesium deficiency are you using calcified seaweed?



Hey there,
I'm using this: Organican 2-5-2: Organic Seaweed. Punches up the quality of all plants and makes other fertilizers work better. Contains natural growth enhancers, amino acids and micro-nutrients. Punches-up blooms, crop yield, taste, disease and insect resistance , germination rate, frost resistance. It is that good! 30 gram package will make 20 litres of concentrate, which in turn will make 300 litres of usable fertilizer. Easy-to-mix. 

Lol, can you tell I'm new to the whole "fertilizing" thing? Historically I just added manure and compost every year!

@JohnT
Those pickles look fantastic! I'm a total pickle addict - but no bread and butter for me. I've somehow never acquired a taste for them, but I make them for others


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## barbiek (Aug 18, 2015)

Ray Im trying To go organic as much as possible this is the first year 
using seaweed no blight, don't know if that has anything to do with it or not but I was a mother hen always picking the lower leafs off and making sure there was good air circulation and Burned all the plants last year instead of leaving them to fertilize the soil or poison it lol Might do the same this year just with the tomatoes and maybe pepper plants chop and drop everything else for nutrients Did notice a big difference in my crop this year


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## the_rayway (Aug 18, 2015)

Interesting! I've found that since I started spraying with the epsom/seaweed a few weeks ago the new tomatoes are looking ok on the plants that had started developing blight. So that might be the ticket.

Also, I was always told never to till under the tomatoes into the soil. Always throw away in case of blight diseases or bacteria. Peas and beans I was told to always till under for nutrients.


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## fabrictodyefor (Aug 18, 2015)

I've never put my tomato or potato plants in my compost. Read it somewhere, just can't remember where!! 

JohnT, the pickles look great. I also use Mrs. Wages, but I do like the Zesty B&B, not a lot of zing, but just the right amount. I've got 3 gallons of "old fashioned" dill going. Put them in a crock with salt, vinegar, water, dill, garlic and let them sit for several weeks. I made these for the first time last year and we really have enjoyed them. This is the way my mom made them all the time! Back to Basics!


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## JohnT (Aug 19, 2015)

fabrictodyefor said:


> I've never put my tomato or potato plants in my compost. Read it somewhere, just can't remember where!!
> 
> JohnT, the pickles look great. I also use Mrs. Wages, but I do like the Zesty B&B, not a lot of zing, but just the right amount. I've got 3 gallons of "old fashioned" dill going. Put them in a crock with salt, vinegar, water, dill, garlic and let them sit for several weeks. I made these for the first time last year and we really have enjoyed them. This is the way my mom made them all the time! Back to Basics!


 

I always wanted to make pickles that way. If not too much trouble, the next time you make a batch, could you take pictures and post a step-by-step??


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## the_rayway (Aug 19, 2015)

fabrictodyefor said:


> I've got 3 gallons of "old fashioned" dill going. Put them in a crock with salt, vinegar, water, dill, garlic and let them sit for several weeks. I made these for the first time last year and we really have enjoyed them. This is the way my mom made them all the time! Back to Basics!



This is the same that I am doing with 2 gallons of cukes! I'm 1.5 weeks into it and it appears to be going well  It smells like heaven!


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## JohnT (Aug 20, 2015)

OK, 

So now I have "Pickle Envy".


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## the_rayway (Aug 20, 2015)

JohnT said:


> OK,
> 
> So now I have "Pickle Envy".



Bhahahahaha!!!!


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## JohnT (Aug 20, 2015)

the_rayway said:


> Bhahahahaha!!!!


 

OK, 

So that REALLY did not sound good!!!


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## the_rayway (Aug 20, 2015)

JohnT said:


> OK,
> 
> So that REALLY did not sound good!!!



Here JohnT I'll help you out  This is the basic recipe that I'm using for mine:

Deli Dill Pickles

INGREDIENTS

3 to 4 lbs pickling cucumbers (Kirby, Northern Pickling, etc), washed and ends trimmed

Brine

8 cups filtered water
1 cup white vinegar (at least 5% acidity)
3/4 cup of pickling or canning salt

Flavorings

1 head garlic (about 12- 16 cloves), cloves peeled and left whole
scant 1/2 cup pickling spice
1 large dill flower head, or 4 tsp dill seed, or 2 fresh bunches dill

METHODS

Pickling

Day 1. Add water, vinegar and salt to a medium stockpot and bring to a boil over high heat. Stir to dissolve salt; remove from heat and cool to room temperature.
In a large glass or ceramic bowl or crock or clean plastic pail (avoid metal, as it can turn garlic cloves blue), add about half of the flavorings. Add cucumbers. Pour brine over cucumbers to cover. Scatter the remaining flavorings over the top. Weigh down cucumbers with an inverted, clean plate. Cover bowl with a clean kitchen towel or cheesecloth. Let stand at cool room temperature (70 – 75 degrees F).
Days 3 -21. Every couple of days, check your pickles and skim off any scum that rises to the top of the bowl. The pickles will bubble as they ferment; when the bubbling ceases, after about 3 to 4 weeks, fermentation is complete, but you can pull the pickles any time during the process, whenever they taste the best to you. If not canning, move pickles to the refrigerator to stop fermentation: pickles will last for months refrigerated.

Canning

Prepare canner, jars and lids. Be sure to sterilize jars with a full 15-minute boil prior to filling.
Strain brine into a large saucepan, reserving pickles and flavorings; bring brine to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat and boil gently for 5 minutes.
Pack pickles into hot, sterilized jars with a generous 1/2-inch head space. Add a few pickled garlic cloves and a spoonful of spices to each jar if you wish. Ladle hot brine into jar to cover pickles, leaving 1/2-inch head space. Process in a boiling water bath for 5 minutes.

Yields 3 to 4 quarts, or 6 – 7 pints pickles.


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## fabrictodyefor (Aug 20, 2015)

I used this http://www.almanac.com/content/how-make-dill-pickles, I think it is about the same as rayway's. The 2 gallon container has a pot in it that seems to almost cover everything up, and I don't seem to get as much "scum" on the top of that one. I put the pot on top to keep the cucumbers immersed. Because I ended up with dill on the top of the one gallon container, I just take the dill weed out and rinse it off and put it back in. I've also stirred around the ones in the gallon container as this one seems to have "scum" floating around! It usually brings the scum to the surface. These are usually covered up with a cotton cloth. As my instructions were not detailed as far as the dill goes, I probably use a lot more dill than rayways instructions! But as far as I'm concerned these are the best dills I have ever made!


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## roger80465 (Aug 20, 2015)

An easy way, I have found, is when you empty a jar of your favorite pickles, simply add fresh ones to the brine. Leave them for a week or 2 in the fridge then chow down. Quick and tasty refrigerator pickles. Yum!


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## JohnT (Aug 21, 2015)

Fabric, 

Man, I need to invest in some crocks! 

The only question I have is this.. If the container is kept open, how can you tell if some nasty bacteria didn't work its way in? Is it a case where bacteria can not thrive in the brine's environment??


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## fabrictodyefor (Aug 21, 2015)

JohnT said:


> Fabric,
> 
> Man, I need to invest in some crocks!
> 
> The only question I have is this.. If the container is kept open, how can you tell if some nasty bacteria didn't work its way in? Is it a case where bacteria can not thrive in the brine's environment??




I do keep a cotton cloth over the top. The fruit flies don't seem to bother it. I'm guessing the bad bacteria can not grow in this environment. That is why you can just water bath anything with vinegar or acid and it does not have to be pressure canned. The first time I skimmed off the scum I was skeptical! But we've been eating the dills since last year and we still feel fine! I got the 2 gallon glass crock at Wal Mart, it was not that expensive. I have also used it for making wine. You can use crockery or glass, but I don't think anything else.


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## fabrictodyefor (Aug 22, 2015)

It is supposed to get to 37 tonight...what the heck, very late spring and now an early winter! If the smoke doesn't kill everything green, the cold will.


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## Larryh86GT (Aug 22, 2015)

The sunflowers in my garden are now over 11 foot tall. There will be lots of seeds to roast soon.


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## fabrictodyefor (Aug 22, 2015)

Larryh86GT said:


> The sunflowers in my garden are now over 11 foot tall. There will be lots of seeds to roast soon.



Nice, but how do you keep the birds away?


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## Larryh86GT (Aug 22, 2015)

They haven't been bothering them yet but if they do start I will net them.


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## the_rayway (Aug 25, 2015)

Score from last night:
Striped German, Roma, Mortgage Lifter, Pineapple, Black Krimm, Green Zebra, Black Cherry, Yellow Pear, Amish Paste, and Indigo Blueberry.


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## fabrictodyefor (Aug 26, 2015)

nice tomatoes rayway...mine are very slow. getting cherry tomatoes, but no big ones yet. 

Larry, I usually grow sunflowers just to watch the birds get the seeds! They are quite limber creatures as they attempt to sit on the top of the flower and pick out the seeds!


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## Larryh86GT (Aug 26, 2015)

My golden delicious apple is loaded this year. I have started to give them away as fast as I get takers for them.


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## the_rayway (Aug 26, 2015)

Wow! I wish we could grow apples that big!!


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## barbiek (Aug 26, 2015)

Larry I love that platform you built around the tree! How old was the tree when it was built? That's exactly what I'm wanting!


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## Larryh86GT (Aug 27, 2015)

I planted the tree when it was just a little whip around 25 years ago. I built the platform this past May. 

http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=50020


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## ibglowin (Sep 8, 2015)

We have had a wonderful wet Summer and the Dahlia's are loving it. Was going to buy flowers for SWMBO's BD yesterday but why bother when I have these beauties growing in the Garden!


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## quiltertoo (Sep 9, 2015)

Larry don't you have birds in New York or squirrels? I'm green with envy.

Mary Lou


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## Rocky (Sep 9, 2015)

Larryh86GT said:


> I planted the tree when it was just a little whip around 25 years ago. I built the platform this past May.
> 
> http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=50020


 
Larry, wouldn't it have been a lot easier just to get a ladder? 

Seriously, very nice work!


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## JohnT (Sep 9, 2015)

I would post another update, but my garden is currently in that ugly "given it's all" stage. 

Got about 20 pounds of tomatoes, 60 (or so) cucumbers, a nice crop of basil and other herbs.


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## fabrictodyefor (Sep 9, 2015)

Mine too is about ready to give up for the year. Tomatoes however are still going strong, cukes and green beans have given up the fight. I still have a lot of carrots and beets in the ground...and potatoes, and I do have a lot of peppers, Anaheim and regular, hoping they'll make before we get too cold. We had a frost in Aug!!!! Glad I could close up the green house, many lost a lot of their produce with that early frost. What a great tree platform...what am I thinking....what a great tree!!!! We don't have too many trees out here on the prairie! BTW, Mike, those are beautiful flowers!


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## Larryh86GT (Sep 9, 2015)

Rocky said:


> Larry, wouldn't it have been a lot easier just to get a ladder?
> 
> Seriously, very nice work!



I have many ladders but now I don't have to drag one out to pick apples.


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## Larryh86GT (Sep 9, 2015)

quiltertoo said:


> Larry don't you have birds in New York or squirrels? I'm green with envy.
> 
> Mary Lou



Lots of critters here, squirrels, birds, etc. Right now the yellow jackets are enjoying a lot of my grapes.


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## the_rayway (Sep 9, 2015)

My garden is getting ready to quit as well. I still have tomatoes and peppers ripening and beets and carrots in the ground, but most else is all done. I've processed around 100Lbs of tomatoes so far this year, give or take a few pounds. 50ish of those came from *one* picking at my parent's garden. Lol, figures!

I'm a bit sad that I wasn't able to get/pick any apples this year  no cider or apple wine. Although I might buy some fresh cider from Fruit Share this year to support the cause. Then I can at least make a gallon!

Larry, that apple tree is gorgeous.


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## Runningwolf (Sep 9, 2015)

ibglowin said:


> We have had a wonderful wet Summer and the Dahlia's are loving it. Was going to buy flowers for SWMBO's BD yesterday but why bother when I have these beauties growing in the Garden!



So you're back at it again, huh? I love Dahlias, I just don't like the idea I have to dig them up every fall.


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## Larryh86GT (Sep 9, 2015)

the_rayway said:


> Larry, that apple tree is gorgeous.



Last year there were only a few apples. This year there is a bumper crop. I have given away hundreds of them and made very little dent in the tree so far. But I have been picking from the bottom up and the apples on top of the tree look awesome. The bees are making holes in some of the apples also.


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## ibglowin (Sep 9, 2015)

LOL Yea I have been growing every season but I started to press the "easy button" a few years ago. I just pick up a couple of big bags from Costco each Spring and plant them. I was spending $$$ on heavy duty gallon freezer bags, cedar shavings etc. and only having 25-40% of the tubers survive the Winter. They were either mush or dried up raisins. They do take longer to grow as they have to start basically form zero but it sure is easy to pop open a bag and IIRC you get like 12-15 tubers for ~ $24-$30 and they have been good quality.









Runningwolf said:


> So you're back at it again, huh? I love Dahlias, I just don't like the idea I have to dig them up every fall.


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## Larryh86GT (Sep 17, 2015)

I started harvesting the sun flower heads and have put them in my shed for drying and to keep most of the critters away from them. 

Larry


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## fabrictodyefor (Sep 18, 2015)

That looks like quite a chore! Is it hard to harvest the seeds? My garden is winding down, but I still have some spaghetti squash, green chilies, bell peppers, potatoes, beets, carrots , cabbage and onions to get out sometime soon! I've had so many cherry tomatoes lately I've begun to dehydrate them. The peppers aren't quite ready and I'm hoping this cold spell doesn't get to them, supposed to get to 38 tonight. :<


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## Larryh86GT (Sep 18, 2015)

It is very easy to harvest and roast the sun flowers. My biggest problem will be what to do will all I have. I will be giving a lot of this away and let others roast and enjoy the seeds. My cherry tomatoes were a lot more than we could use this year and I was roaming around my neighbors almost every day with a bag of them. My carrots were slow this year probably because of the row of giant sun flowers right next to them. I will not put the sun flowers in the veggie bed again. Lesson learned.


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## Larryh86GT (Oct 16, 2015)

Today was the last picking of the apples. They were awesome this year.


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## Runningwolf (Oct 16, 2015)

In addition to what I already have I planted 8 more apple and pear trees this fall I bought for 50% off at Lowes and I just ordered a honey crisp and and a candy crisp apple trees from Stark Bros. I am hoping they will be producing nicely when I retire some day.


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## Larryh86GT (Oct 16, 2015)

Runningwolf said:


> I am hoping they will be producing nicely when I retire some day.




Old Chinese proverb: "The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now."


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## quiltertoo (Oct 17, 2015)

We had our first frost this morning. I spent yesterday picking the last of the tomatoes, okra and jalapenos. I also picked enough flowers for several bouquets.
That's the end of the growing season for me. Then I went fishing with my hubby and grandson in our neighbors small lake and caught a 5 lb. bass. A very nice day!

Mary Lou


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## fabrictodyefor (Oct 17, 2015)

Nice catch, quiltertoo! I keep thinking about trying some fruit trees...my zone 3 makes it a tough call for what will make it! We are having a very mild fall, only a couple of light freezes, so my greenhouse tomatoes, spaghetti squash, peppers, brussel sprouts, and a few other tasties are still hanging on. Now if my DH will just come home with that promised elk we will be all set!


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## fabrictodyefor (Oct 27, 2015)

Anyone know how long spaghetti squash will last if kept in a cool dark place? We are supposed to hit 27 tonight, so I pulled what was left...that is 8 of them. I have cooked them and dried them and that works well, but fresh is always better!


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## barbiek (Oct 27, 2015)

Not sure how long it depends on if any moisture gets to it wrap very tightly in couple layers of newspaper and place in a dry cool dark place


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## barbiek (Oct 27, 2015)

fabrictodyefor said:


> Anyone know how long spaghetti squash will last if kept in a cool dark place? We are supposed to hit 27 tonight, so I pulled what was left...that is 8 of them. I have cooked them and dried them and that works well, but fresh is always better!



You'll get a good 3-4 months out of them see my first reply to see how


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## Larryh86GT (Nov 2, 2015)

Today I picked the last of the carrots in the garden. About 3 lbs. The only thing left is some green bunching onions.


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## JohnT (Nov 3, 2015)

They look good enough to eat. 

I already miss my deck garden. I moved some of the herbs inside and will continue to enjoy them for the next couple of months. 

Next year, I plan to revive my father's garden. My Dad's house is now owned by my brother and I though that this might me a nice thing that we brothers could do together. I have just been waiting for the right time to pitch it to him...


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