Garden 2012

[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.

[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]

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]

[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 !!

[drddan]

When's dinner? :p

[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.

[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]

Looks like you'll have lots of good salsa with those peppers. I've never had an heirloom. Do they taste like a traditional tomato?

There are hundreds of heirloom varieties, I dont pretend to know them all. They come in all shapes and colors. ( see pic below ) There are subtle differences in taste. I wouldnt do well in a blind taste test though. The main difference I notice is in the texture of the meat. I guess we've lost 90% of the varieties that were available 100 years ago. Commerical growers only grow the few type that are the most marketable, store well, disease resistant. etc. Making us vunerable to a new disease that may target the few marketable varieties.

[M3NTAL]

I'm curious as well ^^
Looking
Great
Marcus

[gottafesty]

Looks like you'll have lots of good salsa with those peppers. I've never had an heirloom. Do they taste like a traditional tomato?

[drddan]

300,000 Scoville heat units....

:eeeeeek:

Lookin' good Markus! Especially with all this dry weather. Looks like you've been busy keeping everything from drying up!

[freshtiva]

This "green" tomato is a very ripe heirloom



300,000 Scoville heat units....

[freshtiva]

Made a couple of gallons of salsa last weekend. Picked some more ingredients this morning. Should have enough to make four more quarts at least. Our drought rating was changed to D3 ( Extreme ) this week. drought link below

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

[Safety Guy]

You just need a good rain dance now.

I hear ballerinas work best, followed by mosh pit aces.

Karl