Summer harvest

You could ship all extra garlic & cabbage to me. Seriously. I adore sauerkraut & have been experimenting with kimchi.

Thanks for your compliments!

beebonnet, what was wrong with the Italian Big Leaf Basil?

mauryhillfarm, don't forget the issue that when you buy the seeds and plant them, there is always a 100% germination rate. So, those extras you planted "just in case" get added to your total.

summerkid, how is sauerkraut different from kimchi? I never had kimchi.

I'm afraid to go into the garden...zucchinis turning into baseball bats...glub glub...drowning in squash... ;-)

I planted very few veggies this year, mostly in pots on my back deck. I think I'm going to have to actually pollinate my squash manually. How weird is that?

Momlady, kimchi is essentially spicy Korean sauerkraut with other vegetables added. Brussels sproutz, for instance.

Bonehead, just think of it as being a plant midwife.

I'll have to look up a kimchi recipe. It sounds good, and we will need a bit of variety.

Summer, if you come visit, I'll provide cabbage, garlic, oregano, and any other foodstuffs available at the time, though my garden is not as productive this year as usual since I didn't plant a whole lot (except for cabbage).

O I would love that, Maury.
Once Jack is finally done working on Sept. 28, he is coming out here for 3 weeks. Maybe a Seattle visit can be worked in there.

You are welcome to come. Just drop me a d-mail if you decide to visit. I'm free on most weekends in October.

Will definitely throw that into the mix. I'm sure your island is worth a visit under any circumstances.

Momlady...Nothing is actually wrong with Big Leaf Italian basil. I just don't like it as well as Sweet basil. I think it's kind of coarse and the flavor not as good. Just me, probably.
I hope to make sauerkraut this week.

Hi Holly, The lily you gave me is blooming. It is large and pink trimmed in white. Beautiful, thanks again. Patricia

I am getting cherry tomatoes & baby zukes. Also harvested a good crop yesterday of the sprouted kitchen potatoes that grew atop last year's compost pile

I have a lot of green cherry tomatoes. That's all I planted. 5 plants.

Hooray for the lily! I'm glad it's putting on a show this year.
We have a crock of sauerkraut going also, from a 10 pound cabbage.
Matina variety tomatoes are beginning to ripen, along with the yellow cherry tomatoes.

We made our first batch of salsa yesterday. Our peppers are great this year and the tomatoes are ripening up nicely. We had humongous lightning storms several nights in a row, but no garden damage thankfully. (except for a big mess of limbs under the willow tree.) Sausage stuffed patty pans for dinner. Yum!

Laurie, I'm sure your tomatoes are waaaayyy ahead of mine in the ripening department, since you are lucky to be growing them on the sunny side. Though this year is better than some years for tomatoes, we often joke about green tomato recipes at my house. I 'd be interested in a sausage stuffed patty pan recipe. We have lots of sausage in the freezer after raising pigs.

Did your willow get hit by lightning? Yikes! We had a thunderstorm here also, which is unusual. I was somewhat worried about the row of dry looking pines on the property line. There was a 10 acre Christmas tree farm next door long ago and these were let go growing too close together, becoming a line of potential torches about 75 feet from my house. Somebody bought the property from the old couple who used to own it, and is supposedly doing ecologically sound forest management. They did thin out the interior, but then the blackberries went wild and they came in and sprayed weed killer. The row of sick looking pines remained.

Our willow didn't get hit, we just had high winds with the storm. It's a river willow and drops branches whenever it gets real windy. It's messy, but it's shade!

We had the most impressive lightning here that we've had in many years. We sat on the porch one night until midnight watching the fireworks! Luckily no major fires in our valley, so the skies are still blue. We've been fortunate this summer with wildfire, although the last storm did close the North Cross Highway because of mudslides. Dang - I've got to go to the coast next week for a doctor appointment and I sure hope it's open by then.

My husband usually makes the stuffed squash and I tried to duplicate his method, but failed. I was using larger squash with tough inedible rinds. I looked on the internet and they all called for boiling the squash for a bit before stuffing, which I did. This softens the rind and it was easier to clean out the seed pocket. When he does it, he skips that step and his rinds get good and hard in the oven. That actually makes them easier to eat - scrape the squash meat off the hardened rind from the inside.

We don't really have a recipe. I took some sausage and browned it with some onions, garlic, and chopped tomatoes. Cooked up a half box of prepackaged Spanish rice mix and mixed it all together with some parmesan cheese. Cut the hat off the squash like you would a pumpkin and scrape out the seedy part. Stuff to overflowing with mixture, put the hat back on, and bake until it's all bubbly and yummy looking. We sort of use whatever we have on hand...

We had that lightning storm also. All night long with some rain. Just enough to water everything for a day or so. Everything smelled and looked so good in the morning. Fresh! Love storms.

Willow, I need to order garlic. When exactly do you plant yourz?

Does anybody know the best way to dispose of a huge jug of Preen? My housecleaner bought it while I was out of town to help clear weedz out of the gravel driveway. She said she looked carefully at the label & that it was safe, but she's a bit of an idiot. It clearly sayz toxic to aquatic creatures and, while my protected salmon-spawning stream is a couple hundred yards away, it is downhill.

Just throw it in the trash?

Hmm, find a friend or neighbor who doesn't live near a stream and give it to them, or, use Craig's List to find someone to donate it to. Or, call your trash/garbage pickup service and ask about toxic waste drop-off programs. Usually there is a place to take stuff that is best to not have piling up at the dump. I got rid of slug bait someone had given me to one of these "disposal of toxics" programs at my local garbage company.

I usually plant garlic towards the end of October.
The stuffed squash sounds delicious, Lauriebob. I'm going to give it a try.

Yes, Holly is the garlic gal. I've never planted it.

Whoops, sorry, I totally knew that.
Good, that will give me time to put some in here & in Illinois, since who knowz where I'll be living come July.

The timing might be different in Illinois. You might want to check with someone in that climate.

Our normal 1st frost there is EZ for me to remember since it's my birthday. October 10th. But twice that I can remember specifically, we skipped that & got to grow almost till Christmas.

That kind of climate usually getz many more weeks of balmy weather after those 1st frosty days so ... if they don't happen you're in luck.

I think you could probably plant it about the same time (mid to end of October) in either place then. You do want it to have enough time to get roots established before winter sets in. I think in the mid-west you would need to mulch with an inch or two of straw or grass clippings to keep it from being affected by the extended freezing temperatures and the freeze and thaw cycle in the spring. I hope you stay part of the PNW forum even if you move back to Illinois. Will you keep your place in Oregon, too?

summerkid, you are moving? Heck, I haven't had a chance to visit and meet you yet!

The garlic does well here in Illinois (I'm visiting this week), and believe it or not there's a huge garlic farm in Western Montana. So it's not bothered by cold.

Lynn, I've been expecting to move since Christmas 2011. Just in no hurry. Things keep happening. Won't be going anywhere till December at the earliest so ... come on by.

Summer, if you're still thinking a trip to Vashon might be something you want to do, we may be having an apple pressing the second or third week of October. that could be a fun thing to be here for. Anybody else in the PNW forum who wants to come, d-mail me and I'll keep you in the loop, too.
We've been busy with our multiple cabbages making sauerkraut in a 5 gallon crock. The only 2 ingredients needed are cabbage and plain salt (non-iodized). You place a weight on the lid to keep everything in place and cover the whole works with a towel.

Maury, we ARE thinking Seattle road trip so please keep me advised on your schedule. We will have 3 weeks to play with & our only plans are to SEE the Spruce Goose rather than wave as we speed past as per usual over the last 5 yearz ... and tour Mt. St. Helens, maybe Timberline Lodge.

Summerkid, mauryhillfarm and everyone else- Hi I have been thinking of a trip to the Washington Park Arboretum in Seattle. Anyone want to meet there and bring sack lunches?

summerkid, I'll try to visit before you leave!

The Timberline Lodge is beautiful. I've not ever stayed the night there, but my sister had a graduation ceremony there some 20 years ago. Mt. St. Helens has a very interesting information/visitor's center and trails. A friend of mine went to the summit this summer, and said the slog through the boulder fields and across scree slopes was fairly miserable, but the view from the top amazing. Of course, you don't have to climb it to enjoy it from lower elevations.
I'll let you know when we have a plan for cider.

Mlm, I would love to go to the Arboretum if possible. My schedule is about to get really crazy with the start of school though, so I'm not sure I could make a commitment.

Mauryhill---Your sauerkraut looks fantastic. I have a small amount going in the basement. Reminds me---I should check on it.

Thanks, Beebonnet, it is starting to do its thing. The only problem we are having is the wooden lid is soaking up a bit more liquid than expected and is expanding.

Momlady, I am interested in your methods for growing melons and sweet potatoes if you want to share them. I would be really happy if I could grow some of those successfully.

I will be glad to share...all I did was start the melons inside, and plant outside with moderately hilled soil with black plastic pretty late in the season. The melons are there but they're tiny so far. It all depends on how much more good growing weather we have! The sweet potatoes are an experiment of my friends, who are using a piece of the garden. They got the slips from a friend of theirs. They were planted earlier than the melons (again, hilled and with black plastic) and struggled with the weather for awhile, then started growing. We won't know if there are any tubers until we are sure they are done doing all they can do, and then we'll dig them. I'll keep you posted. It is at this time that I regret not bothering with a plastic tunnel and also start drooling about greenhouses, especially since the tomatoes aren't ripe yet!

Momlady...Is Maple Falls on the coast or inland? If you get sweet potatoes anywhere near the coast, I would also love to try them, but don't know how to slip. Oh, heck...what am I saying. I think I will just have to buy them at the supermarket. Darn! We do love sweet potatoes.
My tomatoes are ripening right along and we are able to keep up with them day to day. I broke down and bought a box of canners for the salsa we love and canned some plain old tomatoes with the remainder. I got them at the farmers market and they have excellent flavor. Mine are all heirlooms this year and they just don't produce like good old Early Girls for canning, drying and freezing.
I have been a lazy canner this year. Haven't really done much. Green beans...way down. Pickles, only a few jars. Do have some sauerkraut going. We kept up with the corn (very small patch) so no freezer bags there. We don't eat as much anymore, but really!! I shoulda, woulda, coulda.....
Love talking with you here on our PNW forum.

Hello everyone,
I'm sorry to interrupt but I wanted to say how much you all are inspiring me to grow veg next year with these great pics. What gorgeous produce.

O I hope you do, poinget! Are you new to gardening or to DG? I would offer to share my veggie seed stockpile with you but they are all from different yearz so germination rates could be lower & we want you to have ALL success your 1st time around. But check out Pinetree (superseeds.com) for very inexpensive packetz of smaller quantities. I especially like their mixes, such as the cabbage & basil ones. My other go-to source is Thompson & Morgan (tmseeds.com), and they are probably having a 99cent sale right now.

I'm new to gardening and relatively new to DG as I joined a few months ago. I've decided what sort of plants I want to grow: tomatoes, onions, and garlic. I'd like to grow beets and lettuce, too, but I don't want to be too ambitious my first time at it.

I had been looking at container gardening. Most of my property is under partial shade, but my roof deck is large and in full sun. However, my DH is concerned over the weight of the planter boxes and soil. Plus, he didn't think we get enough heat for tomatoes. I live in a microclimate where the temp rarely gets into the 80s - perhaps 5 times this year. We talked about having a small greenhouse, but I know nothing about them. I certainly wouldn't need a big one.

I haven't researched anything yet. I'm at the awe and excitement stage rather than the practical one. I would welcome any input!

You'll want to start with cherry tomatoes. It is VERY tough to get ripe beefsteakz in your climate. You have to start early & give them special care.

But containers are the way to go, definitely. I use large clay potz for all my nightshade plants. The roof deck would work GREAT, probably gets very hot.

This morning's harvest breakfast: potatoes sauteed with foraged chanterelles (I know, right? Way early for them) ... and an omelet made with eggs from the chickenz who live down the road, spiced with my own tomatoes & jalapenos. Plus, cottage cheese. From the store.