The Gang of Five
Beyond the Mysterious Beyond => Hobbies and Recreation => Topic started by: Mirumoto_Kenjiro on April 12, 2010, 11:21:05 PM
-
For the past while, I've been blabbing about my gardens that I've been working on for the past year, so I thought a separate thread on gardening might do, at least for my ramblings. But everyone else is welcome to share stories on fruits, vegetables, flowers, and similar stuff.
Anyway, recently I have just harvested some of my kohlrabi (which never looked like any of the pictures before they bloomed flowers) to make dinner. I used both bulbs and the leaves to make a dish like spinach on top of pasta. Overall, there were a few minor adjustments to be made for next time, but it was very good nonetheless.
-
I don't have a garden, but my grandmother used to grow tomatoes in her garden. I always liked that. :)
-
It's funny how different your own food tastes compared to what you buy in a supermarket. Tomatoes were the first kinds I grew, and it had a home-grown natural flavor to it. I'll be growing some more after I get my raised garden cleaned up.
-
Sounds like my grandmother. She use to grow many plants including pots as well as a small garden with some tomato plants.
-
Just because I'm growing a garden it doesn't make me a grandmother. :exactly I find it rather useful in many ways: having to spend less during this crappy economy, furthering my knowledge & palate in my professional cooking career, and it keeps working while I'm unemployed. MY grandmother grows orange trees where she lives. She used to have a very delicious tangerine tree, but it died when a major cold front hit her home town...
-
Update: I just bought a new timer to keep my plants alive while I'm gone. I won't be planting anything new until after I get back, but we got a list of what I'll be getting: a new tomato plant, leeks, garlic, bell peppers, onions, and a red apple tree.
-
I'd personally would like to grow my own food when I get my own place. Sure would safe A LOT of $$$ from going to the super market.
Or at least shop at the most healthiest, greenest health food stores ever. Yes, I'm a health nut. :p
-
I don't eat fruits/vegetables. Even if I did, I wouldn't have time for something like gardening. I'll leave it up to the farmers to do that sort of thing. It's worth paying a bit more to not have to waste my time doing things outside. I just hope that people will remember how to grow food so we can still eat in the event of a calamity.
-
My family and I love keeping a garden year after year. This year, we are growing the following: Tomatoes, grape tomatoes, green bell peppers, cucumbers, jalapeno peppers, lettuce, cabbage, onions, cantaloupe, and asparagus. We also have an orange tree and two peach trees that have yet to bear edible fruit. We also grow our own rosemary and basil :yes.
-
Update: Just about all of my kohlrabi that have not bolted (means flowering and no longer could be used for eating) have been harvested, and some of my Brussels sprouts are starting to develop buds (the stuff we actually eat). While I was gone, however, cabbage moths planted some eggs on the plants and the larvae began eating the leaves. I just got rid of those I could find (I think the spiders got the rest).
My blackberries have already sprouted flowers while we were gone, and now berries are developing. :D
My herbs are generally fine. My cilantro plant sprouted flowers, so much of the usable leaves are gone. My peppermint is growing into a bush, so I'm looking for more recipes and ways to use them. I'll try using some for tea one of these days...
My pomegranates grew a lot of flowers, but some of them were blown off by wind. Hopefully this time I'll get to the fruit before the birds.
As I'm almost done cleaning out my raised garden, I made a list of new plants to grow. Tomatoes, Onions, Leeks, Bell Peppers, Strawberries, Rhubarb, one apple tree (I'll need another to cross-pollinate and produce fruit), and a plum tree (works like the apple, but we already have a plum tree that came back to life recently).
-
Update: I still have a lot of weeds around my raised garden, so I won't be growing veggies or trees for a while. HOWEVER, I got some new plants for my front garden!
Now I got Spicy Globe Basil, Fennel, Garlic Chives, Italian Parsley, and Strawberries added to my growing garden.
The only garden pests I have are a few uncaptured cabbage moths, and some pests hanging around my dill alot. I need to research this soon.
Other good news is that my blackberries are developing by the droves and are changing colors!
-
Update: Good news and bad news.
Bad news. My dill and cilantro are dead, I don't know why.
Good news. I have just harvested my first blackberry and strawberry, and much more to come!
-
UPDATE: Good news and bad news...
Bad News. My dad has been a jerk lately and was constantly meddling with my work on fixing the raised garden. So until he gets off my work and my back, I'm not touching anything on that garden. I hope to use that garden for more commercial purposes, but it's hard to stay on track when your father keeps butting in, sabotaging everything I do, and then tells me I'm lazy, not committed to finding a job, and slow in my work. And this is all AFTER he promised me that I am the only one who's truly running the gardens... Talk about a major backstabber...
Good News. This means I'm now focused on the front garden. I just bought some new plants, some for cooking with and others for visual beauty. And I'm still harvesting more blackberries and strawberries.
List of new plants:
Salvia (hummingbird-attracting flowers)
Hibiscus (shrub)
Rosemary
Basil
Majoram
Rhubarb
Society Garlic
-
Update: So far, I haven't been able to get back to working on the raised garden, but I hope to get a broken hose fixed there to at least get an apple tree growing. But most of the time, I've been working on the front gardens with mulching, pruning and harvesting.
It's come to the point that I've got a lot of herbs and it's getting close to the winter, so I'm getting stuff and ideas to save as much of my herbs. My mom's done some work already in drying herbs, and I froze the last of my berries for storage. We hoped to get to a class of making jam, but the class was canceled for lack of an available kitchen, so we'll try it ourselves via book.
Now, I'm finishing up a watering system that my grandfather had started over ten years ago.
On weirder news, I've been finding creatures I haven't seen before, and there's been an increase of flybys by hummingbirds in that area... :blink:
-
UPDATE: I completed some major gardening milestones these past few weeks. I finished my grandfather's irrigation system and got some new herbs growing in it. Another milestone I got done is repairing the hose in my raised garden, and now a red delicious apple tree is growing there.
The next step is re-cleaning the rest of my raised garden for vegetables. :D
-
UPDATE: Even in AZ, we still get frosts, and it wasn't too long when the frost killed all my basil and strawberry plantings, and dried up leaves on a bunch of other plants. I think those plants are still alive, though. First thing I still need to do is harvest the Brussels sprouts and fix some hoses.
-
UPDATE: I harvested a decent number of Brussels Sprouts to do some cooking with! Also, I've been back to work on the raised garden and got some paver stones laid down around the garden beds!
-
UPDATE: Half of my raised garden has been cleaned of all weeds, and one of the beds is ready for planting! I know I'm putting tomatoes, shallots, garlic, & onions, and room for another vegetable that I can't think of yet.
I've already bought a pair of new herbs and a goji berry shrub, and they're growing in the front of the house now!
-
UPDATE: I now have a collection of fruits, vegetables, & herbs:
Red Delicious Apple
Monukkah Seedless Grape
Apache Thornless Blackberry
Strawberries
Yellow Onions
Garlic
Shallots
Rhubarb
Yellow Pear Heirloom Tomato
Patio Tomato
Black Prince Heirloom Tomato
Solar Fire Heirloom Tomato
Chocolate Mint
Stervia
German Thyme
Common Sage
Chives
Garlic Chives
Society Garlic
Sweet Marjoram
Sweet Basil
Triple-Curled Parsley
Rosemary
Lemon Balm
Spearmint
I'm thinking of adding eggplant to the garden later.
-
I see I haven't updated this in a while...
UPDATE: This year, I will see if all my hard work of three years will finally pay out. This will be the season I begin growing foods for a profit at the local farmer's market.
I have my garden plots cleaned, soiled, manured, & covered for planting in April, plus maintenance in keeping my growing farm watered.
Also, I bought and planted a new companion apple tree, so in a few years we should start producing apples.
ONE MORE THING... I replanted two cottonwood trees into a part of our yard that has been without shady trees for 20 years!
-
UPDATE: One more month, and I start planting in the gardens! New herbs & veggies, and the majority of last year's fruits and herbs are coming back for a new growing year! In a little more time, I shall be putting my first business to work! It's not a high-paying job as I used to, but it's a start!
-
UPDATE: I got a lot of new plants, but not as much, since I found out I'm more strapped for cash than I realized. So far, I have only my herbs, some new and others a year or two old, to use on the market, and I'm using my money more wisely to get everything I needed to set up my booth. It's slow, but I'm getting there.
-
UPDATE: Big news! I am now officially a vendor in the local farmer's market! My main products to sell are herbs, though in the future I could have other produce, depending on what else I'm growing and how much I make them. My first day was awkward, but pleasant, and I'm already making plans to make the next event better!
-
Sounds great. I hope things continue to look well for you and continue to improve, good luck.
-
UPDATE: Nearly three months now, and I'm feeling great with my new business! Since then, I added a few new herbs, and I'm starting to sell some of my extra vegetables that we couldn't use before they spoil. I'm also getting the knack into bartering between vendor, which I got some good vegetables for dinner last weekend.
As for vegetables, I've harvested all my radishes, currently harvesting blackberries and tomatoes, and I'll be getting pumpkins, carrots, and peppers in the very near future.
Also, I'm learning how to propagate new plants through various techniques, maybe even enough to sell as well.