Garden 2012

[freshtiva]

Unearthed 12 gallons (one row ) of onions this morning. They are understandably small since we are in an EXTREME DROUGHT !!! I planted three different colors, purple, yellow, and white. The heat has made them extra strong and pungent. They are solid and disease free, should store well.

[freshtiva]

Also dug some potatoes for canning. I ordered a 16 quart pressure cooker for canning last week. I bought the optional 5/10/15 lb rocker to use in place of the pressure guage so I wont have to bady sit the burner.

[drddan]

When's dinner? :p

[freshtiva]

When's dinner? :p

Its too hot to eat... I had a bowl of "home made from home grown" cole slaw for lunch. Heading back out to dig carrots. Shouldnt take long since most of them have shriveled up. Once I get the carrots dug Im tilling that plot up and not looking back till next spring. This has been one hateful summer. Im looking forward to fall !!

[freshtiva]

[turbokid]

heres whats going on in my world.

first of the berries coming off


elephant garlic getting tall. almost looks like corn.


more berries than i can pick


still comin'


garlic harvest. next year im gonna pull these up sooner





6 tomato plants, 2 zucchini plants, and 1 cucumber vine !!!



i started prepping my new spot for the fall garlic planting but the weeds clogged up my tiller, gonna rent a bobcat.

[freshtiva]

Good stuff turbokid ! You gonna make some jam with those berries ? I put out some thornless blackberries last spring, couldnt find anywhere to get garlic sets . Looks like you just weaved them togather for storage ? I tilled up 2/3s or my garden this morning creating a lot of dust. Id like to plant some fall crops if the drought situation changes but it seems unlikey.

[turbokid]

yep just need to find a spare weekend to make some jam. we still got last years crop in the freezer. we are gonna make one big batch. i wished i would have got thornless blackberries we planted 10 starts and they are taking over the place with lots of thorns and very few berries.
seems this year was rough for drought everywhere, according to the locals utah is the second driest state this year, lots of fires but we caught a break a few weeks ago and had lots of rain for about a week.
do you have any plans for a rain cistern? or any options for secondary water? hauling in water seems like a huge pain.

[turbokid]

oops just read back a few pages, saw that you got water tanks... looks good.

[freshtiva]

Yeah I built the rain water catch system below, hasnt rained since. 93% of Missouri is in a extreme drought now. See link below. Its real bad, lots of dried up farm ponds and fish kills.

http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/DM_state.htm?MO,MW

[drddan]

Drought? What drought?

I went to a creek I visit, usually can swim and play in the water. It was so low, there was only a trickle of water coming over the low water bridge.
I walked downstream about 70 yds and the creek disappeared!!! :eeeeeek:

In 20 yrs I hadnt seen that happen to that creek.

Man, those berries make me think shortcake and whipped cream. drool

[freshtiva]

I've got fifty pounds of potatoes to peel so I bought the handy little peeler in the video below. It works on most fruits and veggies. Probably have to cut a cucumber in half first. Should be a real time saver if you are a canner. I also ordered a hands free electric one called the "Rotato" :^) The video shows how it peels, cores, and slices. Niffy eh ??

[sc72]

Fresh pie

Fresh, that little peeler would be great for making Apple pie, it's peeled quickly, put the apple on end and run a knife through it, now you have your pie wedges, hmm the Iowa state fair starts this week, maybe i'll find one there.

[freshtiva]

Fresh, that little peeler would be great for making Apple pie

One of the first things I thought of. Since it slices a uniform thickness it would be good for dehydrating quanities too.

[sc72]

if i remember correctly, you have a dehydrater, how is that working for you and what kind of quantities do you process.