Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Your garden sounds awesome. I hope to get quite a bit canned this year, and we planted both salad cukes and pickling cukes, so I have some recipe-hunting to do. DH and his dad both really like relish, but one like sweet and the other one not. Plus I'll be making some jellies for gifts, if all goes well.
OMG, Em...I am definitely mosquito bait. They LOVE ME! You know, what really gets me about the buggers too, is how they can smell a VEIN from 100 yds away! Jeez, I was a NURSE and couldn't hold a CANDLE to them, when it came to finding a vein. Good grief, what sniffers they have!
Isn't it fun, trying out new recipes!? My mom always put grape leaves in the pickles (of course she had some beautiful vines), in order to make them crisp. She also said to never, ever use anything other than "pure" water. Yep, turns out, city water does not make good pickles.
I went searching the other day, to see if there was a preferred type of grapes. Well....yeah, some are better than others, BUT other leaves that contain "tannins", and can be used to help with pickle preservation are Red raspberry leaves and horseradish leaves. Very cool.....have used RR leaves for stomach upset and diarrhea, but never pickles. Why not? If it's astringent to the digestive tract..? Yep! Cool!
See, we're a mixed bag here, too. We have some who like spicy and some who do not...some who like sweet, some only dill. Some? Like it ALL!..just depends on what I'm having it with! :-) I hope you have a fabulous gardening season. I'll tell ya....next year, I will have some wonderful, movable frames, with fine netting, to go over ALL of my brassicas...cuz it has been a huge battle, with those darned moths and caterpillars!!!!!
I thought I had a black thumb...last garden was in '02, according to records. This year, I wanted to try container gardening. We started onion, cabbage and celery stems in water. They're growing nicely! They got transplanted outdoors. Green onions all the time...celery leaf and cabbage clippings for the salad.
Did the same thing with potato eyes, but the potatoes are not ready yet. I'm growing them in a laundry basket, and a volunteer appeared in the compost bin, lol.
But I picked beans already! They're going like gangbusters. We have a cherry and a patio tomato with little green fruits on 'em.
The different leaves for pickles are very interesting. I have used pickle juice for upset stomach/indigestion. It only makes sense that red raspberry leaves would go with pickles; it seems many herbs that have similar effects go well together, too.
This year, we have one large plot with tomatoes, zucchini, both types of cukes, and seedless watermelon. And we have two small plots, one with two kinds of eggplant, and the other with two kinds of peppers, and seeded watermelon. DH really wanted watermelon this year, lol. In the front flower bed are the herbs, sunflowers on the side - we hope the birds will allow us a few - and lettuce & mesclun mix in pots.
Next year, I hope to convert some of the garden into raised beds to make it easier. I also would like to make a couple of vertically-oriented planters for strawberries and kitchen herbs. We shall see.
Our recipe for refrigerator pickles calls for grape leaves. I thought it had to do with increasing the acid level? Haven't followed this thread for a while because other than a few tomatoes and a living salad bowl, not much growing in our garden. Best to all of you.
Our recipe for refrigerator pickles calls for grape leaves. I thought it had to do with increasing the acid level? Haven't followed this thread for a while because other than a few tomatoes and a living salad bowl, not much growing in our garden. Best to all of you.
Many pickle recipes do call for grape leaves. You know what's funny? It's kinda hard to FIND grape leaves! Okay....well, maybe that's not funny..LOL My mother used it as a substitute for alum? I dunno....our pickles were always crispy and crunchy and she never did add alum to hers....just the grape leaves. One of the local outdoor centers, is having a 30% off plants, sale.....maybe it's time to get that grape stock.
Grape leaves do keep them crispy but if you use to many it will turn the pickles bitter. All grape leaves are not created equal either so do a test batch first.
Beachmel-Sorry about the rodents. I cought a rabbit eatng in my "little" girl garden a few weeks ago. I told my DH if he sees a rabbit he needs to shoot it. So fast forward 3 weeks or so and we see the rabbit almost daily and he has not been back into my garden. I walk past him and talk to him telling him "he can have the yard but stay out of my garden" I hope he listens because he is kind of cute. Mike went up top last night to close his building and the rabbit was inside the building checking everything out. Curious little bugger
Your garden sounds amazing. Is there anyway you could post pictures. I am really interested in the vertical structures you made
My garden is exploding. Not too many veggies yet other than the first ones of the year. I can see I will be searching hard to find everything in a couple of weeks
Has anyone grown pattypan squash? I have two plants and they are taking over my garden. I planted the seeds on May 19 and they are insane.
Them's beans, blocking your view of the taters behind them.
Congratulation's.
I am feeling pretty darned good about my basil plants this year. They are both growing and looking good. I usually kill them
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
a few weeks ago. I told my DH if he sees a rabbit he needs to shoot it. So fast forward 3 weeks or so and we see the rabbit almost daily and he has not been back into my garden. I walk past him and talk to him telling him "he can have the yard but stay out of my garden" I hope he listens because he is kind of cute. Mike went up top last night to close his building and the rabbit was inside the building checking everything out. Curious little bugger
