Whatcha Eatin??? (to eat, oil, retire)

[uncleharley]

My worst dish when I was growing up was Lute'Fisk. MG was that stuff bad. If you have never tried it, just stop at a Lutheran church and find out when their Christmas party is. There will be lots of great food, including more casaroles, meats, potatoes, & lefse than you can eat. But the lute'Fisk is only for the very brave.
When you grow those tomatoes on your deck, how big a pot do you use? I have found that tomatoes seem to need a lot of room for root growth or you don't get much of a crop. I have found that if I put 2 plants in a 3 or 4 gallon pot and fertilize then at least once per week, I can get quite a few. I grow small ones though. I am not sure about those big beefeater tomatoes, but give then plenty of room for root growth and lots of fertilizer.
uh

[vkhmini]

'Nuff said! I used to work in a nursing home in Sioux Falls! Just one look at the stuff and I'm off my feed for a week!

I do like lefse though, and all the good Norwegian Christmas goodies. Mom always made krumkake.

My tomato pots are about 14", one plant per pot. I usually plant Early Girls and feed them with Miracle-Gro . It's been bad here for tomatoes the last couple of years. They ripen so late and the biggest ones aren't quite 3" across. Sure taste good though! The upside of the late season is that I have a growing collection of green tomato recipes!

Vicki

[SDHomesteader]

I got a 40 acre plot up here and wanna dedicate 1 acre this spring eventually going to around 2-4 acres for the garden.

A Great tip for growing Corn and MATERs. Once they get about oh I would say 6-8 inches in height, Shoot them with some Sugar water. About a Cup of sugar to about 2-5 gallons of water. OMG do they shoot up after that. I did that one year when they were about 6 inches high, we left for 4 days to go to a Modeling Convention (Model kits not Anorexic Modeling) and when we got home, the corn, Maters and I think itwas the peas and beans also, were well over 2 feet tall. I'm not kidding, I was amazed and astounded at it. Don't start them off on sugar water though. We had the best damn maters that year, 12 plants in all and I they were going Red faster than I could pick and eat them. (this was in iowa though, that nice rich fertile black soil lol)

[uncleharley]

If your tomatoes will not ripen the way they should, pore the fertilizer to them. Fertilize every day until they start to ripen then drop off to every other day. I can confirm what SD says about suger water. I used to feed my tomatoes suger water just to get a sweeter tasting tomatoe, but I never had a problem with numbers of tomatoes or size or ripening when I did that. For some reason I got away from the sugar water and started using more fertilizer [miracle gro]. I think next year I will use a combination and see what happens.

uh

[uncleharley]

I just remembered that another thing I do is to throw my used coffee grounds into my indoor flower pots. It perks the plants right up, especially in the winter time. I'll bet it would work on outdoor plants too. Wow, coffee and sugar to get them going. I wonder what a shot of Jack Daniels would do.
uh

[debey]

Originally Posted by uncleharley

I just remembered that another thing I do is to throw my used coffee grounds into my indoor flower pots. It perks the plants right up, especially in the winter time. I'll bet it would work on outdoor plants too. Wow, coffee and sugar to get them going. I wonder what a shot of Jack Daniels would do.
uh

maybe irish creme, in that coffee grounds!

[vkhmini]

Originally Posted by SDHomesteader

I got a 40 acre plot up here and wanna dedicate 1 acre this spring eventually going to around 2-4 acres for the garden.

A Great tip for growing Corn and MATERs. Once they get about oh I would say 6-8 inches in height, Shoot them with some Sugar water. About a Cup of sugar to about 2-5 gallons of water. OMG do they shoot up after that. I did that one year when they were about 6 inches high, we left for 4 days to go to a Modeling Convention (Model kits not Anorexic Modeling) and when we got home, the corn, Maters and I think itwas the peas and beans also, were well over 2 feet tall. I'm not kidding, I was amazed and astounded at it. Don't start them off on sugar water though. We had the best damn maters that year, 12 plants in all and I they were going Red faster than I could pick and eat them. (this was in iowa though, that nice rich fertile black soil lol)

Thanks Homesteader. I love the tip about the sugar water and I'm sure I'll try it. Yummmmmmmmmm! I can't wait! Here it is, our first snow, and I'm drooling for sweet red maters!

[SDHomesteader]

Oh and Ground up egg shells works wonders in the Garden too. Just save your egg shells as you use them, put them in an old coffee can or just put them back in the carton, let them dry out and then crush them up into itty bitty peices and then sprinkle on the garden. I usually mix my egg shells and coffee grounds (although I don't drink coffee and have to get them from others now that me and dad live 700 miles away from each other lol).

Yeah we got some maters at wally world on Friday and man they are just soo tasteless it isn't even funny.

[debey]

I have totally given up, on buying out of season tomatoes. For the first time, this fall, I froze some garden tomatoes. I prefered the Roma's, as they have more pulp, less ''water''....and I cooked them down, to a thick, chunky ''sauce'' before freezing.......I add them to taco meat, & goulash and soups. Works quite well. I will def. be doing more, next canning/freezing season.(I have never canned anything, in my life)
I also froze 2 lugs of peaches, and use them to make a fast peach cobbler....with a litlle oatmeal, brown sugar & butter crumbble topping....
Asparagus is a very easy veggie to freeze, and while it's ''not quite'' the same as fresh, it tastes pretty good, on a day, like today......
If you like asparagus & are planning a long term garden spot, aspargus rooots/crowns are a good investment.........
I have a new strawberry bed, I am anxious to see how it wintered.........

[uncleharley]

Let's see. Now we are using used coffee grounds, egg shells, some bottom of the bag sugar, & some stuff we shouldn't be drinking anyway to grow the best vegetables that money can't buy. Sometimes I think it is a shame to see how much better life could be if we changed just a little.
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