Garden thread

Brigit02 wrote: »

mtaratoot wrote: »

enlightenme3 wrote: »

mtaratoot wrote: »

I took a picture of my artichoke patch the other day, but I decided not to post it because it looks like so many other pictures of my artichoke patch I've posted over the years....

I may have missed it in your earlier artichoke posts, but do you normally eat them plain or with a dip of some sort? I enjoy grilled artichokes, but feel like they are mostly a vehicle for fat since I usually make some sort of lemon/mayonnaise sauce to go with it.

Easiest thing I do is just steam them. Note; put them upside down in the pot! I sometimes make a dip of lemon garlic butter, but they really don't need it if I cook them right when I harvest. They have so much flavor! I can par cook them and then roast them if it's cool enough to run the oven. For a while, I'd steam them to half cooked, slice in half, and then put them in the smoker. My smoker died. Roasted in the oven is really nice; it does help to briefly steam them first.

No, mostly I steam three at a time and dig in. The ants give a little spicy flavor, but I don't like the earwigs. The come swimming out when I immerse them in water before I cook them. I don't use pesticide.

And OK -- a picture from the other day:




Looks like raspberries will be ripe in two weeks. Mmmmm.

Love this picture! Only growing herbs, cucumbers and blueberries this year. Maybe I'll grow artichokes next year? They're amazing.

That artichoke patch was planted from seed maybe ten or 15 years ago. In my climate, they come back. Every few years, I dig them up, divide them, give some away, and plant some back. One fall I dug them all out and just left the clumps sitting on the ground while I covered the bed in plastic to try to kill weeds. Spring came. I divided them and put them in categories of "Will grow for sure, probably will grow, might grow," etc. Unfortunately, they all survived so I'll have to thin them again sooner rather than later. There were, I think, originally two varieties. I can almost no longer tell them apart; I think they have morphed into a more "wild" cultivar. I just have a very few plants that have the traditional globe shape. Most look more like a thistle, with big, sharp spines that stick OUT instead of in. That said, their flavor is really intense. Quite tasty. I might do my first harvest today.

kshama2001 wrote: »

AnnPT77 wrote: »

enlightenme3 wrote: »

mtaratoot wrote: »

I took a picture of my artichoke patch the other day, but I decided not to post it because it looks like so many other pictures of my artichoke patch I've posted over the years....

I may have missed it in your earlier artichoke posts, but do you normally eat them plain or with a dip of some sort? I enjoy grilled artichokes, but feel like they are mostly a vehicle for fat since I usually make some sort of lemon/mayonnaise sauce to go with it.

I'm not mtaratoot, and I like them plain like he does or with just a little lemon or a light vinegar, but if you prefer a dip and are willing to experiment, I had some once in a restaurant that had a roasted red pepper dip that was really nice. The roasted red peppers were pureed, I'm sure there was salt, not sure what else - I'll bet a web or Pinterest search would turn up some light dip recipes. Here's one simple example I found that way (that I haven't tried making, just an example):

https://theskinnyfork.com/blog/roasted-red-pepper-dip

I have two jars of roasted red peppers that didn't get used last Christmas so checked that link out for inspiration. I'd like a recipe with more calories, and found this, which has too many calories, but I can lighten it up by using less walnuts and bread crumbs:

https://www.themediterraneandish.com/muhammara-recipe-roasted-red-pepper-dip/comment-page-5/

I do have pomegranate molasses, might have sumac, and see a suggestion for Aleppo pepper substitute, but am considering getting that for my ridiculously large spice collection.

ETA: I've been down an Aleppo pepper rabbit hole for almost an hour - time to get outside and work on my new garden bed!

Haven't made it out to the garden yet, lol. Made the muhammara dip and lunch.

I subbed 3/4 t ancho pepper and 1/4 Atlantic chipotle chili powder for the Aleppo pepper and really liked that. Turned out I did not have sumac, so used a little lemon.

I wasn't crazy about this recipe just tasting it plain or on a tortilla chip, but I added 50 grams to my chicken, rice, and spinach, and it was amazing! It has a sweet, sour, tangy, spicy flavor profile thing going on that I love.



We are having spaghetti and meatballs tonight. My partner will have our usual Newman's Sockarooni sauce and I will have this. (Just a little, because the olive oil and walnuts really bump up the calories.)

Had about seven squashes growing, prior to first harvest, and they were all eaten off. Went out to my tomato bush to find five or six birds flying out, then looked at my juicy eggplants and realized that on the smallest, something helped itself to a hearty bit. I'm irritated. How would you keep birds and rodents out?

@Fuzzipeg I'll pick some up tomorrow. Thank you for the suggestion.

Back to critters...they got into my squash, and whatever it is, scratches the fruit assumably with teeth. Would you throw the whole squash away or wash and cut that part out and cook it? I hate the idea of throwing it away.

LoveyChar wrote: »

Back to critters...they got into my squash, and whatever it is, scratches the fruit assumably with teeth. Would you throw the whole squash away or wash and cut that part out and cook it? I hate the idea of throwing it away.

I'd absolutely wash it, cut off the damaged part, and cook the rest, as long as it's not totally mangled.

Right now I'm working on the last gardening project before it gets too hot and I lose interest until the late summer/early fall. I just finished digging out the grass from what's going to be a mixed flower/edible bed and used the sod to patch parts of the lawn where the grass had been killed by having something stored on it. Someone here recommended the Root Slayer shovel which is the tool with the red handle. Although digging out the grass was still quite the task, the Root Slayer made it possible.

I found someone on Facebook giving away horse manure and today made my second trip there to collect some. There is also 1/2 - 3/4 of a bale of peat moss mixed in.

I found some free plants in my Facebook gardening group and am looking for more.

kshama2001 wrote: »

(snip)

I found some free plants in my Facebook gardening group and am looking for more.

Too bad you're not close, @kshama2001 - boy, have I got a lot of things that need dividing or volunteers that need relocating.

And so it begins... Only got about a half pint this morning, but the bushes are full of ripening berries.

Lucky both of you. Our spring was so dry when the fruit should have been thinking of flowering, now we've had no rain for 6 weeks or more so any fruit there is is not swelling. I fear my grape is not going to perform either, our ground has dome real cracks in it. Last year the blackberries all shrivelled on the plants. I'm trying to work out what to do to improve things, extra water butts and probably deep mulch.