What's Growing In Your Garden? Horticultural Science

[Turtle]

Originally Posted by Michaelangelica

Green tomato Chutney is an old Australian favorite.
havent had it since my dad grew a backyard full of tomatoes.
Two receipies
Green Tomato Chutney :: Recipe :: ABC Melbourne
Green tomato Chutney

I'll have a look. I did do up some fried green tomatoes early on. wash and slice tomatoes, dip in egg, then flour with some salt. fry in hot oil 'till golden.

Originally Posted by Mick

Jalapeño chilli (you spell it chili) will keep for about 12 months if you clean & slice them vertically. Take out seeds and placenta if you want a milder heat. Heat in jalapeños varies enormously. Then cover them completely in sweet sherry. I usually use a flagon and just poke them in.
Try it with 4-6 habaneros for a fiery drink-a bit like scotch- or nice to slurp a bit of the sherry in pan juices for a sauce or as a flavoring in most things- stir fry etc
Jalapeños are often smoked as they are hard to dry because they are so fleshy. Find a fisherman with a little fish smoking box. It is loads of fun and pretty easy to do. Get a mate and two flagons of sherry and make a day of it!!

Roger. I see in your quote cold pickling the peppers in vinegar is fine. I though so and bought some vinegar but when looking online I only found pickled pepper recipes requiring cooking. So I'll go ahead with vinegar, though now I need to get white vinegar as I got apple-cider vinegar and one source I read said it will darken the jalepenos. do you think I should remove the skins before putting in vinegar? just slit them? thanks.

[Michaelangelica]

Originally Posted by Turtle

. do you think I should remove the skins before putting in vinegar? just slit them? thanks.

No go for it.
Eat them soon.
They will not last as long as properly preserved chillies, although refrigeration helps.
There is a chili/chilli discussion group if you want 100 messages a day.

[Turtle]

Originally Posted by Michaelangelica

No go for it.
Eat them soon.
They will not last as long as properly preserved chillies, although refrigeration helps.
There is a chili/chilli discussion group if you want 100 messages a day.

I'll pass on the chili group. Pressed for time, I opted to simply bag & freeze my jalepeños. Here they are drying.


I planted 13 cloves of garlic a week or so ago and I see today they are up. A few days ago I planted a couple short rows of wheat just for the heck of it. It'll be nice to see some green over Winter. The tomatoes are still trying but failing and it won't be long before I yank & compost them. Virtually no corn kernels on the cobs so the whole lot is now front door Halloween decoration. So it goes in the garden.

[palmtreepathos]

Those are picture perfect peppers Turtle! You just reminded me of a friend (moved) who made this great salsa with them, it would be so hot you couldn't stop eating it!
I have two 1/2 cups of cereal rye seeds sprouting and will plant another 1/2 cup of them every few days til I fill a couple of the garden beds (3X17 ft). I clip them when they reach 6-7 inches for juicing then let the plants grow out for the rest of winter to use as green manure in the spring. This protects the soil from weed invasion and kills nematodes when it is turned over to break down. The kale is 4 inches tall and lettuces(kos, buttercruch and blackseed) are a touch shorter. My first batch of winter spinach didn't make it through the drought but with the great rain(2 inches) we have had this week the spinach growing now should get on nicely. Yeah, the 'maters are about to be compost here, too. I am not sure how long the eggplant will produce but it is loaded, I am making lunch of the large ones tomorrow for friends. Temps are dropping, leaves are falling and winter is coming!
I am trying to get an understanding of aquaculture via the biological filter of the small fish pond. It is only 25 gallons and the open top has a plastic grid covering the filter medium(shredded poly strapping) to set the pots on with pebbles to fill the spaces and keep mosquitos out. The flowers that grew in it this summer put down 2 ft roots to get nutrition. When my neighbor advised me to clean out the crud that settles in biofilters each season I picked a sunny day and had at it, only to find nothing! the plants had kept up with the fish doody! Since they were sort of tropical type plants they are going dormant and I have now put in strawberry and kale and carrots! Gardening with fish is great! They say it takes less water that regular gardening with larger returns foodwise and if the drought continues here in the southeastern US I will have to consider more aquaculture. We will see.
Also, I managed to gather about 200 gallons of the rain water in containers(a childs pool, a plastic truck box and a soaking tub) for ensuring that the winter garden gets off on it's best foot.

[Michaelangelica]

palmtreepathos

Could you please explain more about the fish tank gardening idea?
I don't understand what you are doing
Do you have a photo?
Sound fascinating and I have an empty fish tank

Nematodes can also be killed with sugar as well as the mulch
Apparently a moist sweet environment is just what the yeast-related, nematode predator needs.

[Turtle]

Originally Posted by Michaelangelica

Green tomato Chutney is an old Australian favorite.
havent had it since my dad grew a backyard full of tomatoes.
Two receipies
Green Tomato Chutney :: Recipe :: ABC Melbourne
Green tomato Chutney

Jalapeño chilli (you spell it chili) will keep for about 12 months if you clean & slice them vertically. Take out seeds and placenta if you want a milder heat. Heat in jalapeños varies enormously. Then cover them completely in sweet sherry. I usually use a flagon and just poke them in.
Try it with 4-6 habaneros for a fiery drink-a bit like scotch- or nice to slurp a bit of the sherry in pan juices for a sauce or as a flavoring in most things- stir fry etc
Jalapeños are often smoked as they are hard to dry because they are so fleshy. Find a fisherman with a little fish smoking box. It is loads of fun and pretty easy to do. Get a mate and two flagons of sherry and make a day of it!!

OK I read the chutney recipes and they have as much peppers in them as green tomatoes , but I think I can simply substitute to suit my taste. My Jalepeños are mild, but the immediate hotness is no compare to what builds after a hearty serving.

Originally Posted by palmtreepathos

Those are picture perfect peppers Turtle! You just reminded me of a friend (moved) who made this great salsa with them, it would be so hot you couldn't stop eating it!
I have two 1/2 cups of cereal rye seeds sprouting and will plant another 1/2 cup of them every few days til I fill a couple of the garden beds (3X17 ft). I clip them when they reach 6-7 inches for juicing then let the plants grow out for the rest of winter to use as green manure in the spring. This protects the soil from weed invasion and kills nematodes when it is turned over to break down.

Thanks PalmTree. Some salsa it is then too. The wheat is up, and I think after reading your post I'll sow the whole patch with it. My patch is about 8'x12', at least what I have turned up so far. Always tough to plan ahead when you're a renter.

The sorghum is just kinda hanging in there, all 2 plants that produced seed anyway. It doesn't look ripe yet and the early rains don't seem to be hurting it. I think I harvested a whole tablespoon of millet.

That's all this gardener's got.

[freeztar]

I'm interested in the aquaculture idea as well, palmtree.

My pepper plant (cayenne?) is still producing and there are two green peppers on the plant right now. I also have a habenero plant with a solitary pepper. I think I'm just going to dry them out and save the seeds for next year.

That's all I've got.

[Turtle]

Originally Posted by freeztar

I'm interested in the aquaculture idea as well, palmtree.

My pepper plant (cayenne?) is still producing and there are two green peppers on the plant right now. I also have a habenero plant with a solitary pepper. I think I'm just going to dry them out and save the seeds for next year.

That's all I've got.

And a sight better than got-nothin'! I am finding there are more names for hot peppers than Carter's got pills.

Originally Posted by Palm Tree

... have two 1/2 cups of cereal rye seeds sprouting and will plant another 1/2 cup of them every few days til I fill a couple of the garden beds (3X17 ft). I clip them when they reach 6-7 inches for juicing then let the plants grow out for the rest of winter to use as green manure in the spring. This protects the soil from weed invasion and kills nematodes when it is turned over to break down. ...

What is "juicing", by-the-by? Do you not harvest the grain?

[palmtreepathos]

The sorghum is just kinda hanging in there, all 2 plants that produced seed anyway.

My sister had a couple of millet plants to grow up under the bird feeder. It is simply amazing what "steady at it" "brute force" that a plant with such a tiny seed can exert on a side walk... The plant was a solid inch in diameter growing in a 1/4 inch crack between 2 slabs, not sure who won the battle.

What is "juicing", by-the-by?

Juicing is cutting the green culm while still small, 6-8 inces or so, and putting the thru a juice mill (squeezing type) to get all those powerhouse nutrients into a liquid form. They say that an ounce of fresh wheat juce is equivalent to a pound of any green veggie (surely not equal to Kale though) a fast way to increase nutrient intake. There is a whole lifestyle around it out there, I actually grab up the chickweed that grows rampant here and juice the 2 together with a touch of pink grapefruit juice added for sweetening. Then the sod and winter growth is turned over a few weeks before spring planting season. I have not ever had any grain by that time. Makes a luscious soil additive after the worms get done with it.

Nematodes can also be killed with sugar as well as the mulch

Maybe that is what the liquid sorgum is for in my compost formula (bocashi). It seems the microscopic organisms are like us they like their sweets!

RAISING CATFISH IN A BARREL
A biological food chain in the back yard produces fresh fish
for the table and compost for the garden.

Aquaculture is where fish are grown in tubs, ponds, lakes etc and the water that they foul is then filtered by watering plants, then recycled back to them with oxygen added somehow(mine has a waterfall and bubbler) I have learned to grow larva and have a small worm bed for occasional feeding. Other than that the fish mostly are like cows they graze on the green stuff that grows in a pond, all so very natural and peaceful. If this winter's plantings are successful I may try a larger pool type container and get talapia fingerlings and do some real crops with them. Starting small though as I don't have money to waste on whims. But to have the complete circle of sustainability is fascinating. Not to mention skipping the chemicals that are in food today.
Right now I am trying to just keep a few different types of things alive and learn. I would have to seriously ramp up the feeding program to grow fish for eating.

Aquaponics is the actually the practice I am trying to explain. A blend of aquculture and hydroponics.

Aquaponics—Integration of Hydroponics with Aquaculture
Aquaponics - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

pictures of biofilter here read down past the ads
bio-filter design considerations eliminate green water diy design essentials
Building A Bio-Logical Filter

Aquaculture for small farmers: Journey to Forever

[palmtreepathos]

My ambition for the pond has met a setback. I had not taken into account the shade cast by the house over the pond and filter in fall and winter. With wintery temps setting in and no sunlight the few garden plants I had put in the filter were showing ZERO signs of growth. I have learned that fish hardly eat in the winter months, so they don't foul the water hence little fertilizer for the plants. So I have looked to find plants to put in there that like cold moving water (watercress) and plants that grown nicely on the north side of the house (chickweed) replanted it and will occupy myself a while to see what develops, if anything. Meanwhile the temporary greenhouse is up and hopefully I can keep my 4 moriga trees from having a die-back. The temps in the green house get pretty high when the sun is out so I have to open it up a bit, this gave me the idea that when it is completed I may put a tank of fish in the greenhouse!

Our recent rain (1 1/2 inch) has netted me another hundred gallons of water, very little help to turn the drought around but I will still be eating from the garden at this rate. I am looking for a good cistern, one more in the thousand gallon range.
Here are pics of the last fruits from the garden, a small winter greens bed, the planted filter and the temporary greenhouse built of removable plastic sheeting and cattle panels....

patsapeachygal's Public Gallery - AOL Pictures
- Now Playing "Pat's biofilter"