Did you grow something new in your garden last year?

   / Did you grow something new in your garden last year? #1  

cmhyland

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Hi Guys,

Did anyone grow something new in the garden last year that was a a winner they will plant again?

I'm starting the new garden plan and going to make up my seed orders this weekend.

Thanks,
Chris
 
   / Did you grow something new in your garden last year? #2  
We planted kohlrabi for the first time. It was really good and we will include it in our future gardens.
 
   / Did you grow something new in your garden last year?
  • Thread Starter
#3  
We planted kohlrabi for the first time. It was really good and we will include it in our future gardens.

Thanks Ted,

How did you prepare it.... Raw or cooked... Looks like something out of Star Trek.. LOL

Regards,
Chris
 
   / Did you grow something new in your garden last year? #4  
It was our first time planting it. We ate it fresh sliced as appetizers with our favorite dressings/dip. We didn't cook it. It has a slightly sweet taste with a light turnip or radish taste.

Of course we had corn, green peas, snap peas, crowder peas, Limas, potatoes, green beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, okra, cabbage, broccoli, peppers, squash, greens, beets, cantaloupe, and watermelons. But we have planted these things for years. We can or freeze a ton of this stuff.
 
   / Did you grow something new in your garden last year?
  • Thread Starter
#5  
It was our first time planting it. We ate it fresh sliced as appetizers with our favorite dressings/dip. We didn't cook it. It has a slightly sweet taste with a light turnip or radish taste.

Of course we had corn, green peas, snap peas, crowder peas, Limas, potatoes, green beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, okra, cabbage, broccoli, peppers, squash, greens, beets, cantaloupe, and watermelons. But we have planted these things for years. We can or freeze a ton of this stuff.

Thanks Ted,

Let me ask you about the logistics of canning and preserving all that produce. Freezer I suspect is a must. do you have an upright or chest and do you have more than one? Also I think were searching for good pickle recipies, I love the half sour garlic pickles at the jewish deli but I think they are cold brine pickles.

I'm wondering with brine pickles how cold they have to be to keep well. I have a nearly 300 yr old house, the basement is in the 50's most of the year.

Thanks,
Chris
 
   / Did you grow something new in your garden last year? #6  
Chris,

Logistics of canning and freezing I can talk a bit about. Recipes for pickles is my wife's department. If you can help me remember, I will ask her for her pickle recipes.

Since you asked about the logistics - I've stopped to think about it. We have a lot of space for the storage of our produce.

We do have two upright freezers. One because we needed one quickly and that was what was available the other we got from my parents who broke up housekeeping and moved to a retirement village. One of the freezers is mainly for vegetables and fruits (blueberries, blackberries, apples, peaches). The other freezer is a combination of stuff including vegetables, fruit etc and meats from the grocery store. We also have three refrigerators with freezers. One has nothing but venison in the freezer and the refrigerator side is for vegetables from the garden to keep them until we can freeze or can them. One is in the basement for beer, party platters etc and over flow in the freezer. The third refrigerator is in the kitchen (of course).

Corn, okra, peas, crowder peas, peppers, squash, limas/butter beans, blueberries etc get frozen. The vegetables get blanched, drained, packed, cooled and sent to the appropriate freezer.

We can several dozen jars of tomatoes, green beans, pickles and juices when we have the fruit. This year we were in the 80 + jars of beans and in the 60 + range for tomatoes. I have built a large sturdy shelf in the basement for our canned goods. We make "chow-chow" or a type of squash relish and we pickle okra which has become my favorite pickled item.

We don't do cold brine pickles since we don't have a way to keep them - too hot here in the summer. All of our pickles are hot water bath canned.
 
   / Did you grow something new in your garden last year? #7  
Yes we did, we planted peanuts. We harvested about three gallons. I probably will not plant them again they take too long but it was fun to watch their shooters going out and down and turning into peanuts.
 

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   / Did you grow something new in your garden last year? #8  
Not new last year, but "new" to us when we first planted it a few years ago was Swiss Chard. It's a green for "all seasons" in a way; it makes a great salad green in the manner of lettuce, and it's great for Oklahoma because it is very heat resistant and will hang on when leaf lettuce succumbs...but the big plus is that it makes an excellent spinach-type cooked green. It holds it bulk surprisingly well when cooked; spinach as you know, and other greens likewise, you have to start with a bushel to get a quart (exaggeration noted).
 
   / Did you grow something new in your garden last year? #9  
Last year???? How about now? ;)
I have broccoli and cabbage in the first pic and taters in the second pic.
I have cucumbers coming up now too. A couple years ago I got 576 cucumbers from a 20' X 20' plot. That was two 5 gal buckets full every two days!
 

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   / Did you grow something new in your garden last year?
  • Thread Starter
#10  
My mother has always grown Swiss Chard.... She uses it as a cooked green. She also makes a kind of bread with it... Think pizza dough rolled out and a mixture of the swiss chard sauted with garlic and sweet itialian sausage. Place filling mixture on half the dough and fold the other half over and pinch the edges.. Think Calzone. Brush top with olive oil and and put on a baking sheet with a little oil on it and bake in the oven...

Thanks,
Chris
 
 
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