the gardens are humming along now that we've had
more sunshine and more rain. nothing like a good
soaker to help this clay out.

the field to the NE of us had four beehives added
which puts them within a few hundred feet of us -
so when i say humming along that is about how it
sounds out there with all the bees at work. we're
tempted to leave the hive owner a note saying we'd
appreciate a few lbs of honey from the harvest...

the gardens are full of blooms. this is the time
when the lavender is out, along with the birdsfoot
trefoil and many of the rest of the plants. the beans
are starting to bloom, squash and onions, tomatoes,
etc.

our first four cucumbers were big enough that you
needed two hands to carry them. they soaked for a
little bit last night in salt water and now they are
(according to Ma) very yummy in her mix of mayo,
vinegar, sugar and onion. i might have some for
breakfast...


songbird

On 7/22/2015 6:28 AM, songbird wrote:
> the gardens are humming along now that we've had
> more sunshine and more rain. nothing like a good
> soaker to help this clay out.

Very little rain here of late so we're hose watering again
>
> the field to the NE of us had four beehives added
> which puts them within a few hundred feet of us -
> so when i say humming along that is about how it
> sounds out there with all the bees at work. we're
> tempted to leave the hive owner a note saying we'd
> appreciate a few lbs of honey from the harvest...
A several hundred home subdivision is going in behind us so all the bee
hives and other types of bee homes have been destroyed. Have seen very
few bees this spring and summer.
>
> the gardens are full of blooms. this is the time
> when the lavender is out, along with the birdsfoot
> trefoil and many of the rest of the plants. the beans
> are starting to bloom, squash and onions, tomatoes,
> etc.
Cucumbers, and some of the early plants are done and will be pulled
soon. Temps are approaching 100F almost daily now. Still have tomatoes
and sweet chiles producing and we're preserving them in a few ways daily.
>
> our first four cucumbers were big enough that you
> needed two hands to carry them. they soaked for a
> little bit last night in salt water and now they are
> (according to Ma) very yummy in her mix of mayo,
> vinegar, sugar and onion. i might have some for
> breakfast...
>
>
> songbird
>
We generally plant pickling cucumbers and they did a good job for us.
Miz Anne makes something similar to your Mom's recipe but I don't care
for it to much so she gets to eat it all. I need to hit the green beans
with some fast acting fertilizer so they can do more than produce two or
three beans a week. Also need to thin the lima beans as the sun can't
even get into the vines. There's always something that needs doing
around here. And I thought I had retired in 2007, go figure!

Not putting up much of anything but sweet chiles in the freezer right now.

George

In article >
songbird > writes:
>
> our first four cucumbers were big enough that you
>needed two hands to carry them. they soaked for a
>little bit last night in salt water and now they are
>(according to Ma) very yummy in her mix of mayo,
>vinegar, sugar and onion. i might have some for
>breakfast...

I had about a week of one cucumber being ready every 2-3 days.
Yesterday there were 4. I'm thinking that I'll be ready to try
some dill pickles early next week (this weekend is too busy).

Hopefully I can get a batch of relish too. Still finishing the one
from two years back. It tastes fine, but I let the cucumbers get
too large, so the relish ended up a bit watery. I prefer it crunchy.


--
Drew Lawson For it's not the fall, but landing,
That will alter your social standing

On 7/22/2015 7:58 AM, Drew Lawson wrote:
> In article >
> songbird > writes:
>>
>> our first four cucumbers were big enough that you
>> needed two hands to carry them. they soaked for a
>> little bit last night in salt water and now they are
>> (according to Ma) very yummy in her mix of mayo,
>> vinegar, sugar and onion. i might have some for
>> breakfast...
>
> I had about a week of one cucumber being ready every 2-3 days.
> Yesterday there were 4. I'm thinking that I'll be ready to try
> some dill pickles early next week (this weekend is too busy).
>
> Hopefully I can get a batch of relish too. Still finishing the one
> from two years back. It tastes fine, but I let the cucumbers get
> too large, so the relish ended up a bit watery. I prefer it crunchy.
>
>
I learned my lesson on large cukes some years ago. I still use them if
that's what I have but I now put them in a colander and let the liquid
drain off a good bit.

This year we planted a different pickling cuke from our usual and they
have been prolific, get about five inches long and maybe 1.5 inches in
diameter and are crunchy. Ended up not needing to pickle any of them so
we just ate them and gave a bunch away. Will probably grow this variety
again when we do some pickling.

We're still trying to eat last year's pickles, grands and great grands
haven't been wanting jars of pickles this year.

I generally make my relish with the recipe from "So Easy to Preserve",
available at the U of Georgia food safety site. Very tasty and easy to do.

Drew Lawson wrote:
....
> I had about a week of one cucumber being ready every 2-3 days.
> Yesterday there were 4. I'm thinking that I'll be ready to try
> some dill pickles early next week (this weekend is too busy).

it's been a lot too busy here too, i'm getting
a bit behind on some things i'd not like to let
go further. once the weeds start dropping seeds
it makes the next season harder (or garden prep a
little harder as then i have to scrape and bury
some of the topsoil).

as for cucumbers, we had four nice ones which we
gave two away and i didn't know it that Ma was going
to give away the sliced and mayo'd cucumbers too so
when i opened up the container there wasn't much left
for us. i had a few for breakfast for a few days
and now we have to wait again for a few more days.

it wasn't vinegar or sugar added to these like i
thought she was doing either, but they were still
good.

to make them less watery she scooped out the middle
of the cucumbers.


> Hopefully I can get a batch of relish too. Still finishing the one
> from two years back. It tastes fine, but I let the cucumbers get
> too large, so the relish ended up a bit watery. I prefer it crunchy.

i've never tried to make pickle relish of any kind,
but i do like sweet pickle relish once in a while on
tuna salad. by mistake Ma bought dill pickle relish
once and i turned it into sweet pickle relish by
adding brown sugar. it was different, but edible, a
small jar will last me about three months.

is the recipe that George mentioned similar to the
one you used?


songbird

George Shirley wrote:
> songbird wrote:

>> the gardens are humming along now that we've had
>> more sunshine and more rain. nothing like a good
>> soaker to help this clay out.
>
> Very little rain here of late so we're hose watering again

you had quite a spell there of heavy rains so
this at least gives things a chance to drain off.


>> the field to the NE of us had four beehives added
>> which puts them within a few hundred feet of us -
>> so when i say humming along that is about how it
>> sounds out there with all the bees at work. we're
>> tempted to leave the hive owner a note saying we'd
>> appreciate a few lbs of honey from the harvest...

> A several hundred home subdivision is going in behind us so all the bee
> hives and other types of bee homes have been destroyed. Have seen very
> few bees this spring and summer.

it's really too bad that they can't leave some
areas wild. those kids won't know what any sort
of natural habitat can look like.


>> the gardens are full of blooms. this is the time
>> when the lavender is out, along with the birdsfoot
>> trefoil and many of the rest of the plants. the beans
>> are starting to bloom, squash and onions, tomatoes,
>> etc.

> Cucumbers, and some of the early plants are done and will be pulled
> soon. Temps are approaching 100F almost daily now. Still have tomatoes
> and sweet chiles producing and we're preserving them in a few ways daily.

100F and humid would be siesta weather during the
mid-day for me. we're in the high-70s to mid-80s
most days here now with a few pokes towards 90,
i try to get things done earlier and go out again
later for another round, but if the breeze is nice
enough i can stay out longer.

trying to get the north garden weeded and cleaned
up a bit, it's coming along, but will take a few more
days to get it done and by then i'll have to get back
to the other gardens to keep up with the purslane i
missed from the previous round. i don't mind missing
some of it as it makes a good mulch plant, i just
don't want it taking over the whole garden and out-
competing the beans for moisture.


>> our first four cucumbers were big enough that you
>> needed two hands to carry them. they soaked for a
>> little bit last night in salt water and now they are
>> (according to Ma) very yummy in her mix of mayo,
>> vinegar, sugar and onion. i might have some for
>> breakfast...
>
> We generally plant pickling cucumbers and they did a good job for us.
> Miz Anne makes something similar to your Mom's recipe but I don't care
> for it to much so she gets to eat it all.

i didn't know it when she was doing it that she was
just doing a bit of mayo and nothing else in this batch.
sometimes it is just a little water, apple cider vinegar
and sugar to marinate them in. i guess it's whatever
she's in the mood for. i like them all, the more onions
the better too.


> I need to hit the green beans
> with some fast acting fertilizer so they can do more than produce two or
> three beans a week. Also need to thin the lima beans as the sun can't
> even get into the vines. There's always something that needs doing
> around here. And I thought I had retired in 2007, go figure!

hahaha, i consider gardening a part-time job, as the
food raised is money that doesn't have to be spent and
when you consider what a low-pay part-time job ends up
netting after taxes, hassles, transportation, time spent
going back and forth, etc. it often isn't worth all that
much. i figure when i quit working part-time at the
library i saved a few hundred a month.


> Not putting up much of anything but sweet chiles in the freezer right now.

we have a nice crop of red-peppers coming along, the
green peppers (what you call sweet chilis) are a bit
slower to grow this season. it's been interesting
because both were planted next to each other in the
exact same soil with the same soil treatment (worms
and worm castings underneath). in previous years i
didn't usually put anything under the peppers and
they've always done fine, but this year i decided to
try something different. the old reliable green
peppers (California Wonder) apparently do not like
it so rich to start with. the red peppers on the
other hand have done much better than they did last
year. so now i know to not put anything under the
greens and to put some under the reds.

we'll have to do a transport run as we live-trapped
another raccoon last night.

good reading weather George!


songbird

On 7/24/2015 8:25 AM, songbird wrote:
> George Shirley wrote:
>> songbird wrote:
>
>>> the gardens are humming along now that we've had
>>> more sunshine and more rain. nothing like a good
>>> soaker to help this clay out.
>>
>> Very little rain here of late so we're hose watering again
>
> you had quite a spell there of heavy rains so
> this at least gives things a chance to drain off.
>
>
>>> the field to the NE of us had four beehives added
>>> which puts them within a few hundred feet of us -
>>> so when i say humming along that is about how it
>>> sounds out there with all the bees at work. we're
>>> tempted to leave the hive owner a note saying we'd
>>> appreciate a few lbs of honey from the harvest...
>
>> A several hundred home subdivision is going in behind us so all the bee
>> hives and other types of bee homes have been destroyed. Have seen very
>> few bees this spring and summer.
>
> it's really too bad that they can't leave some
> areas wild. those kids won't know what any sort
> of natural habitat can look like.
>
>
>>> the gardens are full of blooms. this is the time
>>> when the lavender is out, along with the birdsfoot
>>> trefoil and many of the rest of the plants. the beans
>>> are starting to bloom, squash and onions, tomatoes,
>>> etc.
>
>> Cucumbers, and some of the early plants are done and will be pulled
>> soon. Temps are approaching 100F almost daily now. Still have tomatoes
>> and sweet chiles producing and we're preserving them in a few ways daily.
>
> 100F and humid would be siesta weather during the
> mid-day for me. we're in the high-70s to mid-80s
> most days here now with a few pokes towards 90,
> i try to get things done earlier and go out again
> later for another round, but if the breeze is nice
> enough i can stay out longer.
>
> trying to get the north garden weeded and cleaned
> up a bit, it's coming along, but will take a few more
> days to get it done and by then i'll have to get back
> to the other gardens to keep up with the purslane i
> missed from the previous round. i don't mind missing
> some of it as it makes a good mulch plant, i just
> don't want it taking over the whole garden and out-
> competing the beans for moisture.
>
>
>>> our first four cucumbers were big enough that you
>>> needed two hands to carry them. they soaked for a
>>> little bit last night in salt water and now they are
>>> (according to Ma) very yummy in her mix of mayo,
>>> vinegar, sugar and onion. i might have some for
>>> breakfast...
>>
>> We generally plant pickling cucumbers and they did a good job for us.
>> Miz Anne makes something similar to your Mom's recipe but I don't care
>> for it to much so she gets to eat it all.
>
> i didn't know it when she was doing it that she was
> just doing a bit of mayo and nothing else in this batch.
> sometimes it is just a little water, apple cider vinegar
> and sugar to marinate them in. i guess it's whatever
> she's in the mood for. i like them all, the more onions
> the better too.
>
>
>> I need to hit the green beans
>> with some fast acting fertilizer so they can do more than produce two or
>> three beans a week. Also need to thin the lima beans as the sun can't
>> even get into the vines. There's always something that needs doing
>> around here. And I thought I had retired in 2007, go figure!
>
> hahaha, i consider gardening a part-time job, as the
> food raised is money that doesn't have to be spent and
> when you consider what a low-pay part-time job ends up
> netting after taxes, hassles, transportation, time spent
> going back and forth, etc. it often isn't worth all that
> much. i figure when i quit working part-time at the
> library i saved a few hundred a month.
>
>
>> Not putting up much of anything but sweet chiles in the freezer right now.
>
> we have a nice crop of red-peppers coming along, the
> green peppers (what you call sweet chilis) are a bit
> slower to grow this season. it's been interesting
> because both were planted next to each other in the
> exact same soil with the same soil treatment (worms
> and worm castings underneath). in previous years i
> didn't usually put anything under the peppers and
> they've always done fine, but this year i decided to
> try something different. the old reliable green
> peppers (California Wonder) apparently do not like
> it so rich to start with. the red peppers on the
> other hand have done much better than they did last
> year. so now i know to not put anything under the
> greens and to put some under the reds.

We're growing a common green bell and the yellow Gypsy. Gypsy generally
does well for us but this year they are uncommonly small but still good
to eat. Put up a mixed tray of green and yellow chiles yesterday after
chopping a small bucket of them. We do LOTS of sweet chiles as chopped
and frozen as we cook nearly everything with chiles, onions, and garlic.
>
> we'll have to do a transport run as we live-trapped
> another raccoon last night.
>
> good reading weather George!
>
>
> songbird
>
I'm reading a David Weber series right now, have two more in the series
to go. Weather folk say heat index today will be 108F, wife is out
mowing the backyard again. Since that's where the raised bed gardens are
that area gets more fertilizer and water than the rest of the small
property. I figure if I want to move to a bigger property in this area I
had better start betting on the lottery. We bought this house in
December 2012 and the value here has gone up about $50K since then. Saw
on the news last night that another large subdivision is going in
nearby. Pretty soon there will be no wilderness anywhere here.

The !@#$% people mowing the retention pond area behind us sprayed
herbicides along our fence line and killed part of our herb garden,
sage, flat leaf parsley, oregano, and our small rosemary bush. There may
be more vegetation dying too.

In article >
songbird > writes:
>Drew Lawson wrote:
>...

>> Hopefully I can get a batch of relish too. Still finishing the one
>> from two years back. It tastes fine, but I let the cucumbers get
>> too large, so the relish ended up a bit watery. I prefer it crunchy.
>
> i've never tried to make pickle relish of any kind,
>but i do like sweet pickle relish once in a while on
>tuna salad. by mistake Ma bought dill pickle relish
>once and i turned it into sweet pickle relish by
>adding brown sugar. it was different, but edible, a
>small jar will last me about three months.

I grew up never encountering dill pickle relish, only sweet. I
first bought it by accident, and it was a wonderful mistake. I
love the stuff.

> is the recipe that George mentioned similar to the
>one you used?

Yep, the UGa recipe, though I bought the printed book of their stuff
a while back (I like paper), so I tend to forget where things are
on the website.

Well, it is mostly that recipe. As I recall, I doubled the dill and
garlic when I made that batch. After some adjustment time, I liked
that a lot. Just need to get into the garden every day to keep the
cucumbers from getting too large. They do an amazing job of hiding
behind the leaves.


--
Drew Lawson
"Please understand that we are considerably less interested
in you than you are."
-- Madeleine Page, on the deep truths of alt.folklore.urban

On 7/27/2015 9:44 AM, Drew Lawson wrote:
> In article >
> songbird > writes:
>> Drew Lawson wrote:
>> ...
>
>>> Hopefully I can get a batch of relish too. Still finishing the one
>>> from two years back. It tastes fine, but I let the cucumbers get
>>> too large, so the relish ended up a bit watery. I prefer it crunchy.
>>
>> i've never tried to make pickle relish of any kind,
>> but i do like sweet pickle relish once in a while on
>> tuna salad. by mistake Ma bought dill pickle relish
>> once and i turned it into sweet pickle relish by
>> adding brown sugar. it was different, but edible, a
>> small jar will last me about three months.
>
> I grew up never encountering dill pickle relish, only sweet. I
> first bought it by accident, and it was a wonderful mistake. I
> love the stuff.
>
>> is the recipe that George mentioned similar to the
>> one you used?
>
> Yep, the UGa recipe, though I bought the printed book of their stuff
> a while back (I like paper), so I tend to forget where things are
> on the website.
>
> Well, it is mostly that recipe. As I recall, I doubled the dill and
> garlic when I made that batch. After some adjustment time, I liked
> that a lot. Just need to get into the garden every day to keep the
> cucumbers from getting too large. They do an amazing job of hiding
> behind the leaves.
>
>
Our cukes are about done as is the whole garden. We're getting temps in
the high nineties daily and very little rain. Earlier this year we got
about eighteen inches of rain in a few weeks, now, NADA. Soaker hoses
are working right now. Weather heads are predicting a heat index of 108F
this week, I'm happy we have AC that works well.

Saw a field rat in the garden yesterday, our Rat Terrier just looked at
it and went on about her business. I think it is the first rat she ever
saw, probably need to train her. <G>

I've drawn the plans and have a material list for this fall. I am going
to make my own drip system for the raised and other beds in the backyard
with half inch PVC piping. Keeps old backs and knees from getting worse
dragging the hoses around plus should save on buying new soaker hoses as
none of them last a season.

Drew Lawson wrote:
....
> Well, it is mostly that recipe. As I recall, I doubled the dill and
> garlic when I made that batch. After some adjustment time, I liked
> that a lot. Just need to get into the garden every day to keep the
> cucumbers from getting too large. They do an amazing job of hiding
> behind the leaves.

yeah! yesterday i was out watering and had to laugh
really hard because Ma said there were four coming along.
after watering i came in and said that we needed buckets
as there were a few dozen. most of them were as big
around as my forearm.

we'll be making some kind of pickles this afternoon or
evening. i'll probably scoop the seeds out. we have a
pretty sturdy ice-cream scoop that works well for cleaning
out melons and squash seeds.


songbird

On Sun, 2 Aug 2015 09:07:20 -0400, songbird >
wrote:

>Drew Lawson wrote:
>...
>> Well, it is mostly that recipe. As I recall, I doubled the dill and
>> garlic when I made that batch. After some adjustment time, I liked
>> that a lot. Just need to get into the garden every day to keep the
>> cucumbers from getting too large. They do an amazing job of hiding
>> behind the leaves.
>
> yeah! yesterday i was out watering and had to laugh
>really hard because Ma said there were four coming along.
>after watering i came in and said that we needed buckets
>as there were a few dozen. most of them were as big
>around as my forearm.
>
> we'll be making some kind of pickles this afternoon or
>evening. i'll probably scoop the seeds out. we have a
>pretty sturdy ice-cream scoop that works well for cleaning
>out melons and squash seeds.
>
>
> songbird

I refer to those cukes as "the ones I missed yesterday."
--
Susan N.

"Moral indignation is in most cases two percent moral,
48 percent indignation, and 50 percent envy."
Vittorio De Sica, Italian movie director (1901-1974)

The Cook wrote:
....
> I refer to those cukes as "the ones I missed yesterday."

haha! we double checked yesterday as we had to go
out and get enough onions for putting them up.

we were up a little late yesterday between the storm
rolling through and one of Ma's shows ending up two
hours long instead of one.

yet in the end we put up six quarts and ten pints of
bread and butter pickles. as they have no spices added
to them other than the cider vinegar, salt leftover from
draining and the sugar they are what i would call very
bland, but the onions and cucumbers are always good.

we've not done these in a long time so we hope they'll
turn out ok. i'd say not much risk of them being
inedible, but Ma won't do anything like Pickle Crisp so
they may be a little less crunchy than she'd like.

all plinked last night sealing up well.


songbird