Garden thread

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  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 31,966 Member
    LoveyChar wrote: »
    I've mentioned this before but I've never eaten a fresh artichoke (only the ones in the can to make spinach and artichoke dip) before as some things are more/less popular in different regions. I was raised in PA. I remember one year when I was very young, my aunt baked a rhubarb pie one Thanksgiving and I didn't eat it, still have yet to try that one also. We did eat potatoes and onions, radishes, cucumbers, and Butternut Squash most of the time.

    Anyway, I never ate okra until I moved to Texas. People I know fry it here; at least that seems to be a popular way to cook it. My ex-husband's mother cooked every single green vegetable she ever had in bacon grease, super delicious, very good country cooking. Anyway, Bush's Chicken has the best deep fried okra and most local country cooking restaurants serve it like that. Anyway, my fifteen-year-old daughter asked me if I would grow okra for her because she wants to pickle it.

    So I'm going to order some seeds, because I love her, and she can pickle it. Next time my husband cooks bacon, I'll save the grease. Maybe we'll have some fried okra this fall and some pickled, too.

    Here's delicious Anaheim Peppers cut straight off the plant for my nachos tonight:

    of589dedzv95.jpg

    Personally, I think roasted okra is also good, or lightly steamed. People cook it long, like in gumbo, as a thickener, and that can be OK. There's an in-between stage where - to my taste, which I'm sure is idiosyncratic - it's just slimy. Fried, especially battered or breaded and fried, can be good.

    Here in Michigan, okra is marginal: Variety matters, because our season is short. If you're in a warmer/long-season climate, that's great. They have a bit of richness/umami to them that's lovely, to my taste.

    BTW: I envy your Anaheims!

    P.S. Really nice fresh artichokes, with a dip (I like roasted red pepper, pureed, with seasonings) is delightful, IMO. It's slow to eat, which is nice - lets satiation sink in. Sybaritic! I've had lovely artichokes out on the California coast, but they're hard to get, here. The thick leaves, not dried-out, very green (or maybe a little purple-ish) and lush looking, are ideal. @mtaratoot's look delish! Here, in stores, they're often depleted-looking, thin, dried out, spotted. If good looking, I snap them up, steam them, and enjoy.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 31,966 Member
    edited June 2022
    mtaratoot wrote: »
    The artichokes in jars are just the heart. You have to do some pulling and eating work through the petals of the flower before you "eat the heart out."

    Pickled okra is awesome. In Texas, you can grow it. I can't. I've heard rumors of people finding ways to get enough growing degree days to make it work, but it's tough here. That's OK.

    One thing I miss from the south is boiled peanuts. Maybe this October I'll get someone to ship me a bushel bag of green peanuts (not dried). I'll boil 'em all and have a big party.

    Johnny's Selected Seeds has some shorter-season okra varieties. I've had luck, here, with those - under very iffy conditions. In general, Johnny's niche is not your niche . . . but maybe the okras might work?

    Tasty!

    I've never had boiled peanuts. We can grow peanuts here (the idea that they're Southern is more about subsidies - my dad did great with them, if he could protect them from the deer/rabbits) . . . but I haven't grown them myself, or tried them boiled elsewhere. They're a bit rare to find raw (not roasted) here.
  • spinnerdell
    spinnerdell Posts: 231 Member
    I enjoy eating okra roasted, fried, steamed, and raw straight off the plant, but the bonus is its majestic presence in the garden, especially the older, really tall varieties (Cow Horn, Long Pod). The hibiscus-like flowers have an amazing ornamental wow factor. The okra also seems less bothered by the rabbits, ground squirrels, birds and insects that decimate my vegetable garden here in rural southern Nevada.
  • SuzanneC1l9zz
    SuzanneC1l9zz Posts: 451 Member
    Those look great @mtaratoot! Berries are my favourite fruits, especially raspberries and blackberries. Have to wait a bit longer for mine though. Raspberries that is - I don't have a good spot for blackberries.

    After dealing with the tree that came down, the guys were cutting some large branches that might cause an issue later. Someone not only dropped one right on top of my potted veggies, but didn't try to move it, or even say anything. I found it the next morning when I went to toss the cat litter scoopings in the dumpster. Thanks to weightlifting I was able to move it... more awkward than anything... but he definitely got... spoken to! Miraculously somehow no damage. It's amazing how resilient plants can be!
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 13,126 Member
    Sigh.

    Well, the ants are back. Apparently they have never left. It's a super-colony I've been fighting for a few years. Two years ago I bought a GALLON of Terro. I had tried many kinds of home-made baits using peanut butter & bacon grease plus borax. They just kept coming.

    I never EVER thought I'd be concerned about ants outside. Well, that changed. These ants destroy my artichokes. I had sort of been wondering if they had anything to do with my plants falling over. They may not have, but I think they have. I know they were growing fast and tall this year, then we had extended very rainy weather. Between the soil being super saturated and the artichokes being full of water, I figured the weight, and wind, might have been the culprit.

    I did another round of weeding out there this morning. Some of the fallen-over stems were barely attached to the main clump. They just pulled off. I salvaged the artichokes that were remotely edible. I may go out and cut the stems off soon so they can re-grow. I usually leave them so that the sugars can migrate back into the roots after the fall. This year there's already some regrowth, so I may take advantage of that.

    Anyway, the plants are COVERED with ants. The ants are using the root clumps as part of their homes, and as far as I know, they may be using the stems themselves. There are a few artichokes left in the main garden, and I have three small plants in another location that ripen a bit later since they're in the shade. But alas - my artichoke season is coming to a halt faster than I had hoped. The good news is that I've been able to harvest a LOT of them. I've eaten many many of them myself, and I've been able to share with other people who are VERY appreciative. I enjoy sharing.

  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 13,126 Member
    @goldenxbeauty

    Looks like you have some nice space to work with!
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 13,126 Member
    Help me with an ongoing seasonal issue - Grazing.

    One of my favorite things to do, and something I'll have more time to do now that I don't have to go to the office anymore, is to take some of my garden "chore" time to just graze. It's starting now. Blueberries and raspberries. Soon there will be marionberries. The cherries... well, if the birds leave any for me. And now with me helping the neighbor, strawberries and peas.

    I just like to go graze.

    The taste of a just-picked berry or sugar pea isn't even matched by one that was picked three hours ago. I obviously don't use a food scale. I don't even use any kind of measuring utensil like a bowl. I just pick and eat, pick and eat. I'm not going to stop.

    If you're like me, what is your strategy when you log this free-for-all in your food diary?
  • spinnerdell
    spinnerdell Posts: 231 Member
    mtaratoot wrote: »
    Help me with an ongoing seasonal issue - Grazing.

    One of my favorite things to do, and something I'll have more time to do now that I don't have to go to the office anymore, is to take some of my garden "chore" time to just graze. It's starting now. Blueberries and raspberries. Soon there will be marionberries. The cherries... well, if the birds leave any for me. And now with me helping the neighbor, strawberries and peas.

    I just like to go graze.

    The taste of a just-picked berry or sugar pea isn't even matched by one that was picked three hours ago. I obviously don't use a food scale. I don't even use any kind of measuring utensil like a bowl. I just pick and eat, pick and eat. I'm not going to stop.

    If you're like me, what is your strategy when you log this free-for-all in your food diary?

    I'm an avid garden grazer, too. Mostly I pretend my gardening activity cancels out the munching, but with fruit I take a wild guess and log that.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 31,966 Member
    mtaratoot wrote: »
    Help me with an ongoing seasonal issue - Grazing.

    One of my favorite things to do, and something I'll have more time to do now that I don't have to go to the office anymore, is to take some of my garden "chore" time to just graze. It's starting now. Blueberries and raspberries. Soon there will be marionberries. The cherries... well, if the birds leave any for me. And now with me helping the neighbor, strawberries and peas.

    I just like to go graze.

    The taste of a just-picked berry or sugar pea isn't even matched by one that was picked three hours ago. I obviously don't use a food scale. I don't even use any kind of measuring utensil like a bowl. I just pick and eat, pick and eat. I'm not going to stop.

    If you're like me, what is your strategy when you log this free-for-all in your food diary?

    If you find the true USDA entries*, they often have a count option for the serving size (e.g., one berry). I'd be approximating the count, though. 😉

    *"Raspberries, raw" (1 C is default quantity, 10 berries is on the list)
    "Blueberries, raw" (1 C is default, 50 berries is on the list)
    etc.
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 13,126 Member
    edited June 2022
    I think I would be better off doing a "seven minutes of eating berries" as an option....

    I probably will just estimate or put in an adjustment or... just not worry about it. It's not like I'm out there for an hour. Just something that's hard to estimate.

    Today's strawberries should be easier. I picked two pints and ate one of them.
  • Fuzzipeg
    Fuzzipeg Posts: 2,298 Member
    Could you simply allow it as "medicinal", I've been reading antioxidants are good for chemical sensitivity, (there are other things for me to try as well). I'm thinking, you could be protecting yourself, ensuring you do not develop this situation.
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 13,126 Member
    @Fuzzipeg

    Medicinal? You mean like Fried Chicken?

    Blueberries are very high in antioxidents. So are raspberries. Both also have other purported benefits beyond other fruits. Tasty too! I can call them medicine. All food is medicine in some respect. It's just that this time of year I tend to.... go nuts in the garden. Berry berry nuts. And I'm not going to stop.

    I'll just add an adjustment.

    I usually freeze some on cookie trays then vacuum seal for later in the year. I would sometimes add them to my yogurt and oats for my work-day breakfast. They hardly had any calories, so probably no big deal. I do still want to be honest with myself, that's all.
  • Fuzzipeg
    Fuzzipeg Posts: 2,298 Member
    @maratoot, (I don't know how to do the fancy thing.)

    I commend your requirement for honesty. I was offering a possible escape. (My chemical sensitivity is driving me mad, its no joke. I can have issues in our garden!)

    Fried chicken is controversial, giggle. (I'm being light hearted) The fats/oils its cooked in can be inflammatory for many reasons from toxins some release at too high temperatures, how long the oils been about could be an issue. I've discovered what makes breakfast cereals any foods extrudable, lecithin's! They are something I've been aware of in the last few years. From something I was listening to the other evening, they are found in highly processed foods and can be the cause of weight gain. The object of the programme gained much weight living eating a months worth of highly processed meals. Yet having the same meals unprocessed over the same period, lost similarly or more weight.

    This is a garden thread and my levity might not be appreciated here. I am serious in my mention of chemical sensitivity I'm looking for answers.

    Might I ask what marionberries are please. Do they have another name I might know.

    Time wise I've not been able to do much in our garden this year. Your 2lb of strawberries sound a wonderful luxury, all the other posters have wonderful crops too. Our Tay berries and Logan berries are doing better than in many years, only 8 ounces yesterday and less today between them! (They got their own back on me today, picking them I've aggravated my knee arthritis could hardly get back inside.)

    I'm trying to decide if a veg plot is viable here. Even the improved clay goes from sodden to dried out so very quickly after the winter. Our winters are dryer now, our spring was also dry. I do collect water but moving it about is hard going. Not having a veg plot makes me sad. I love my own vegies.
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 13,126 Member
    @Fuzzipeg

    Marionberries are a type of blackberry. It was developed at Oregon State University in the '50s. I don't remember how I ended up with mine. It produces prolifically. It's not thornless, but the thorns are not nearly as nasty as the wild Armenian blackberries that grow around here (previously called Himalayan blackberry).

    The strawberries are not from my garden. I'm taking care of the neighbor's garden while they are away tending to family. I was told pick as much as I can. There's enough to feed several people. Another friend has a CSA and has been giving me produce. I am going to be eating a LOT of produce the next several weeks. Breakfast was a stir-fry with onion, garlic, garlic scapes, zucchini, sugar snap peas, snow peas, some celery and some seafood. Mmmmm.

    The fried chicken thing... that was a particularly hilarious episode of South Park that now is only available behind a paywall.

    A co-worker's partner had bad chemical sensitivity. It sounds awful. I hope you are able to find a way to manage it so it is less impactful on the enjoyment of your one and only life!
  • Fuzzipeg
    Fuzzipeg Posts: 2,298 Member
    Thank you for the information. Thank you, deeply.

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