My relaxing hobby -- in pursuit of the $10 tomato

[NW-Bound]

Thanks. Just what I have been thinking.

My wife and I have plans to convert our entire sideyard, which used to be a lawn for our kids when they were little, into a vegetable garden. And I will make removeable frames for the cover. I have to wait until fall when it cools a bit.

 

[kumquat]

I have large amounts of zucchini and cucumbers.

How can you tell a customer at the grocery has no friends?


He's buying zucchini.

 

[gettingthere]

How can you tell a customer at the grocery has no friends?

He's buying zucchini.

My squash plants have been producing well for a few weeks, but at the grocery store the other day they were asking $1.99 a pound for summer squash. I live in a fairly rural area. I would think more people here would be planting gardens & saving themselves what they would otherwise be paying for fresh produce at least for a the summer months. But of the dozen or so houses on my street, I think only 3 have gardens.

Khan - I know you can blanch sliced zucchini and yellow squash, drain it well and freeze it, and you can also freeze it unblanched and shredded (shred, then drain out any liquid) ready for bread or quiche, but I am not sure what you can do with cukes other than pickling.

Other than eat them fresh or give them away, that is.

Perhaps leave them on your neighbor's doorstep and run?

 

[NW-Bound]

Perhaps leave them on your neighbor's doorstep and run?

The GoodEats show has a few episodes along those lines. Alton Brown's neighbor who leaves him buckets of home grown stuff is also an older guy. I am picturing Khan like that.

PS. I would not mind being Khan's neighbor, but his high heating bill scares me.

 

[ladelfina]

for people who want to garden in dry areas.. I just came across this NYT video on farming in Israel:

The Risks of Desert Farming | New York Times Video

It shows a technique where you run drip irrigation tubes under plastic sheeting, to retain the moisture in the ground.. I thought maybe that might be a useful tip for someone.

 

[walkinwood]

Go***mn squirrels! Ate two of my tomatoes just as they got ripe. And the plant just has about 8.

Also harvested one blue-berry. Yes, that's one blue berry on my potted blueberry bush (well, more like a couple of twigs with leaves). I hope they come back stronger next spring.

The fig produced about 10 succulent figs this summer and there are about 70 new figs on the tree. I hope it stays warm long enough for them to ripen. That's by far the most we've ever had on this 4th year potted tree. We pruned the roots in Jan & that may have been the secret. Now, to keep those pesky squirrels away.