Today's harvest

[pepperhead212]

I don't have enough room to grow enough garlic to plant my own, though I would like to, since I could grow the best every year, and improve it. Plus, ordering it lets me try new ones - the only way to find better ones! I always try at least one new one every season. I'm looking mostly for long storage - usually something in porcelains, in the hardnecks, which is all that I grow.

 

[blissful]

Dave, is it possible your priorities are messed up?
You make room for peppers but not enough for garlic? (joke)

 

[larry_stewart]

Last year I did save a few to plant ( which were offspring of the ones I got from the garlic farm). I Enjoy going to Open Farm Day, and to me , getting some seed garlic there is like my Souvenir. When you consider the cost of the seed garlic, along with me taking a day off work and the expense to travel, it doesn't make financial sense lol, but its a fun day ( or two days) for me so its al worth it.

 

[salt and pepper]

Morel mushrooms

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[bbqcoder]

For about 10 years, I had a patch of parsley that just kept coming back. Parsley is a biannual. I would get mostly 1st year and some 2nd year parsley and the next year it would be the opposite. I also had some coriander that came back for about 3 years. My chives come back and that's probably been going for 15 or 20 years. I planted scallion seeds one year. I only ever cut those plants. They came back for about 5 years.

I can't imagine your parsley surviving the winter and coming back. Mine does not. It survives part of the winter but dies sometime in January.

Is yours right next to the house where it's sheltered and warmer? Or do you cover yours with hay/straw?

I did have a few where the leaves and stem separated from the head of garlic. And its not like the ground was tough and it separated during the harvesting process, the leaves and stem literally just slide right off leaving the head under the ground. Im wondering if I left them in too long or something else was going on.

I think as long as it does not look like the head is separating, I think you're ok. The more layers of skin on the garlic, the longer it will keep in storage.

 

[taxlady]

I can't imagine your parsley surviving the winter and coming back. Mine does not. It survives part of the winter but dies sometime in January.

Is yours right next to the house where it's sheltered and warmer? Or do you cover yours with hay/straw?...

No straw or other stuff to cover it. It is about a metre from the house and right next to a fence. There aren't any leaves that survive. The plants just sprout in spring.

 

[taxlady]

Nice looking haul S&P. I'm envious of all those morels. They are my favourite mushroom.

 

[larry_stewart]

Morel mushrooms

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Very Impressive
I tried one year to make a morel patch, but it didn't quite work out. That was many years ago. Now I have more experience and maybe a little brighter, so I should give it another try.

 

[taxlady]

Very Impressive
I tried one year to make a morel patch, but it didn't quite work out. That was many years ago. Now I have more experience and maybe a little brighter, so I should give it another try.

You could even ask S&P if he has any tips.

 

[blissful]

S&P, I'm guessing you hunted those down. If you actually have an area you cultivate them, then that is the first time I'm heard of that. From what I've read, it's tough to actually cultivate them.


Still, you are quite the hunter. I love them. If I'm off base about it, I apologize in advance.

 

[larry_stewart]

I Get some mushroom magazine that sells all kinds of mushroom inoculated products . I ve done a few of them with luck, but the Morels didn't quite work out. I know it takes time to create the right environment/ conditions ( if even possible). Id be willing to give it a go again, last time I did it had to be at least 10 + years ago.

 

[blissful]

Last year i harvested some wild mushrooms, oyster. Then I inoculated some 'canned substrate', gosh I can't remember what it was now at the moment. I started some mycelium, it was a white fluffy web like stuff. Then I mixed the working mycelium (spelling) into pasteurized straw, (and pasteurizing straw is not easy) holding it in the basement (good temperatures and humidity), and I got nothing. ha ha.


A few years ago, maybe 10, I had a fairy ring in my yard. It was 15-20 feet across, fully a circle, it happened all on it's own. Cool stuff, totally not edible.


I hope you can do it Larry.

 

[pepperhead212]

I've gotten mushroom spawn, and grown a few different kinds, but I also didn't have any luck with the morels. I figured that it must be too warm here, but I was just guessing.

I got a bunch of smaller tomatoes today, and my first 3 cukes! Also more eggplants - I had so many in there (even after using 3 of them Friday, that I fired up my dehydrator for the first time this year, with 2 shelves of cubes on it. And I still have two that I didn't cut up. Usually, it's the peppers first, but those EPs are going nuts!

 

[larry_stewart]

I got a bunch of smaller tomatoes today, and my first 3 cukes! Also more eggplants - I had so many in there (even after using 3 of them Friday, that I fired up my dehydrator for the first time this year, with 2 shelves of cubes on it. And I still have two that I didn't cut up. Usually, it's the peppers first, but those EPs are going nuts!

You dehydrate the Eggplants ?
Ive never done that.
I primarily use the dehydrator for tomatoes .
I grow this variety ( not sure specifically what ) but they are larger than grapes and smaller than the Roma, so they are perfect size for dehydrating. I didn't grow them last year ( but stil working off the dehydrated tomatoes from the year prior). Came across the seeds early in he spring and decided to give it ago, and got 100% germination.

 

[pepperhead212]

I'm still working on the dehydrated EP from 2017! I am always putting them in curries and sambars, and some Italian and creole dishes, and I still haven't gotten to the end of the 2017 batch! Last year wasn't as good, since one variety was not a good one, but I still got easily 1 1/2 gallons. So this year I only grew 4 plants, instead of my usual 6. That Indian variety, that I bought two of, due to some seeds not germinating, I was expecting to be one of the smaller varieties, and I was expecting to see a lot of seeds when I let it get to about 5" diameter, and 1 lb. But when I cut both of them open, they were almost white, with no seeds yet, and not at all spongy. I'll see how it goes the rest of the season, but it's definitely not as productive as the other two yet.

 

[bbqcoder]

Anyone have experience with garlic from the Creole family? A couple of years ago, I bought the Northern Favorites Fall Garlic collection from Burpee. Recommended for people in zones 3-6. I'm in zone 6. One of the garlic provided is Ajo Rojo.

Fast forward to a year after planting, I pulled them out and had the smallest heads ever. I planted them again in the community garden thinking that maybe getting more sunlight would make a difference. I pulled a few today and they're still small.

Based on my reading of Ajo Rojo from other sites (https://www.mmmgarlic.com/types-of-garlic/ajo-rojo-garlic/), it seems that it's better suited for hotter locales. Makes me wonder why Burpee includes it in their Northern collection.

 

[blissful]

bbq-no experience with the rojo type.
I'm in 4b, 5a, and I've tried russian red, german red, our first year of music is this year, rose du var (small), german mountain, oregon blue (small), a local variety that twinned, and grocery store soft neck, over the past 8 years.


The smaller ones are sometimes stronger flavored. Our garlic is 90% full sun, the areas of garlic in the partial shade are not as big.

 

[pepperhead212]

I grew a couple of creole type garlics, but wasn't impressed with them. They weren't very large, and smaller, more numerous cloves, than I like, though I will say that the flavor was intense. And they are usually grown in the hot areas, where the hardnecks don't do real well. Maybe that Rojo variety is a type of creole that is better for the colder areas, and they are trying to provide a sample of the different types of garlic in the collection? Or maybe, somebody just screwed up!

 

[larry_stewart]

Just checked my artichoke and it turns out it has a baby brother and sister !!!
Gotta look really close to see them. The one on the right is no bigger than a grape.

 

[larry_stewart]

I got a Pepper question.
My wife loves those little sweet peppers that come in multiple colors.
I decided to grow some for her ( this way she can snack on them and leave my garden alone).
I found a sweet yellow variety, A sweet oranger variety and a sweet red variety.
( See pic of labels of what I purchased, I purchased them as seedlings)

(Tangerine Dream, Pimento and Lemon Dream, all claim to be sweet varieties)
They are growing well and starting to produce.
One variety is starting to turn colors, but is turning purple ( which is not a variety that I selected).

So my question is, when ripening, do peppers go through a series of colors before reaching their final destination color, or did someone pull the old switcheroo in me ???