Victory Garden 2015

[HOOKED ON HISTORY]

That's not bad, Cracker Barrel has good fried okra. For breakfast, I love Cracker Barrel's "Uncle Herschel", eggs and ham steak. You being from down South, I'm sure you remember Quincy's Restaurants and Po Folks, they both had great okra as well for a restaurant. RT

Po Folks Oh yes. As to Cracker Barrel. The okra was good but they barely provided enough for that determination to be made. Portion Police strike again.

[jmoore]

I buy hot pickled okra but haven't tried doing it at home.


The pepper plants usually wither and die in my garden. No idea why!

[Merle]

Don't let them get too old, as they get tough & chewy......
Sounds like that won't be a big problem for you!

---------- Post added at 12:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:45 PM ----------

That's not bad, Cracker Barrel has good fried okra. For breakfast, I love Cracker Barrel's "Uncle Herschel", eggs and ham steak. You being from down South, I'm sure you remember Quincy's Restaurants and Po Folks, they both had great okra as well for a restaurant.

RT

Oh yeah, I remember Po Folks from when I lived in Newport News, VA.....

[vintage hunter]

The pepper plants usually wither and die in my garden. No idea why!

Two things come to mind. First off you may have a Vole problem, the little buggers will chew the tap root off if it get in the way of their tunneling operations causing the plant to wither and die in a few days. Second you could have a soil pH imbalance. Peppers like a fairly acidic soil where pH levels are around 5.5-6.5. Send a soil sample to your county extension office for an analysis.

Don't let them get too old, as they get tough & chewy......

No problem there, just cook them in the pickling brine until the skin starts to peel off(8-10 minutes normally) and they'll be good and tender.

[Merle]

Two things come to mind. First off you may have a Vole problem, the little buggers will chew the tap root off if it get in the way of their tunneling operations causing the plant to wither and die in a few days. Second you could have a soil pH imbalance. Peppers like a fairly acidic soil where pH levels are around 5.5-6.5. Send a soil sample to your county extension office for an analysis.


No problem there, just cook them in the pickling brine until the skin starts to peel off(8-10 minutes normally) and they'll be good and tender.

thanks for the tip - I didn't know that....

[jmoore]

Got back from Vicksburg, MS to find the first volunteer "mystery" melon had been gnawed upon:





Turns out it's for sure a cantaloupe. Not too bad, but could have used a bit more ripening.


Also brought back some good hard V'burg pears:





Have been drying the damaged ones. The good pears get wrapped in newspaper. Seems to help them keep longer.



Saves lots of space to boot! I freeze the extra dried pears. still have some from last year and they're still mighty good trail food.

[Aragorn243]

My garden is not the best this year. I don't put as much time in it as I should and lose control over it easily. Weeds took over the red beet patch, cleared them out and rabbits wiped out all the leaves in two days. They did come back somewhat but only about 1/4 what I started with. I had a lot of wild squash from last year that I left in and one is some sort of a yellow squash/zuchinni hybrid. Tastes fine but looks odd. Squash coming in faster than we can eat it as usual but didn't get cucumbers in until late and it's now too dry for them. Tomatoes are a disaster, they rot on the vine before they get ripe. Might be my last year for a bit. I grew okra a few years ago and it was a good/easy plant to grow. I'm the only one that likes them though.

[vintage hunter]

Tomatoes are a disaster, they rot on the vine before they get ripe.

That's caused by a calcium deficiency. Agricultural gypsum(a.k.a. land plaster) is the remedy. Put at least a quart to each plant and work it into the soil good. The growing season is shorter up your way than down here so it may not have time to take effect this year. Next season get it out as soon as possible BEFORE the plants start blossoming. In fact spread it over the entire garden plot if you like, it's good for everything. It's a must for growing peanuts, they won't make without it.
As for keeping the rabbits and other critters from eating all your produce milorganite does the trick. Available at any well stocked feed and seed store. Sometimes sold under the name ''shake away''.