let's see your veggie garden {pics} 2021-24

[LazyBaba]

China cat sunflower,The carrot bed with extensive nettting,First of the king edward spuds,australian yellow leaf lettuce,Kali mirch chillie(if looks could kill),rosa louise odier(bourbon)outstanding fragrance),an unusual buddleia flutterbye magnet and trail of tears black bean coming good after a rubbish start.

 

[Redleaf]

 

[Redleaf]

Not sure why my phone won’t let me attach text in same post as pics but whatever. Foreground is watermelon and pumpkin in background. Going nuts this year. Best melon crop ever in our garden. Some enormous pumpkins hiding in there as well.

 

[LazyBaba]

View attachment 47945

Great photo are they water melons??

 

[LazyBaba]

Not sure why my phone won’t let me attach text in same post as pics but whatever. Foreground is watermelon and pumpkin in background. Going nuts this year. Best melon crop ever in our garden. Some enormous pumpkins hiding in there as well.

Different part of the planet but yep my squash are doing great.

 

[Redleaf]

Great photo are they water melons??

Yes.

 

[GreenDragon]

So I moved this asparagus plant this spring to a different bed in the yard. It really struggled last year so I moved it to a bed that protected it from the afternoon sun. It appears to have been a success as it’s 10X the size it was last year. My question is, do I just let it spread naturally or should I divide it this winter? I’m fine with it taking over this flower bed. After seeing it in full glory this year I realized that my grandmother had a 8x8 foot bed of this growing for years in her yard and I never knew what it was LOl.

 

[deluxestogie]

I would be inclined to leave it undisturbed for a couple of seasons.

Bob

 

[LazyBaba]

So I moved this asparagus plant this spring to a different bed in the yard. It really struggled last year so I moved it to a bed that protected it from the afternoon sun. It appears to have been a success as it’s 10X the size it was last year. My question is, do I just let it spread naturally or should I divide it this winter? I’m fine with it taking over this flower bed. After seeing it in full glory this year I realized that my grandmother had a 8x8 foot bed of this growing for years in her yard and I never knew what it was LOl.

View attachment 47967 View attachment 47968

Hi Iam a gardener and asparagus does not divide very well at all(although its possible),I have found that if its NOT a F1 hybrid to keep your eye out for seed on a predominantly female plant.Then in spring plant the seed ect and away ya go...they grow better than crowns from seed...But if it is a F1 it wont come true from seed ie very varible..
rob

 

[GreenDragon]

First Hops harvest of the year. This is two large popcorn bowls worth. I don’t bother trying to dry them, I just vacu-seal and store in the freezer till I need them.

Fun facts:
1) Hops are in the same family as electric lettuce.
2) They have irritating tiny spines all over - wear long sleeves when harvesting.
3) They are what gives beer its characteristic flavor and aroma.

 

[deluxestogie]

They have irritating tiny spines all over - wear long sleeves when harvesting.

I think you are expected to drink the beer just before harvesting the hops.

Bob

 

[deluxestogie]

This summer, I put 6 Chilhuacle Negro transplants into the ground. The pepper variety, from Oaxaca, Mexico, is dried and ground as a key ingredient in Oaxacan dark molé. Its fruit ripens through red, to a chocolate brown. Of my 6 plants, two were ready to "stalk-harvest". The other 4 still have growing, green fruit. These two ripe plants were hung in my enclosed back porch yesterday. [I had planned to hang them in the shed, with the tobacco, but decided that I did not want the peppers to be subjected to cycling humidity.]

On my way into the house, this one fruit fell off one of the plants. So it is on a wire shelf, drying in the direct sun.

Bob

 

[GusAvocado]

I read an article where those things can be $600-1000/kg! I am hunting down some seeds to give it a try next year. They are said to have the heat of a jalapeño with more earthiness. Interested to hear how yours turned out.

 

[deluxestogie]

An unfortunate aspect of dried peppers is that much of their weight is the water that evaporates. I will have to wait until all the peppers are bone-dry. Then I will purchase some plastic gloves, and go through the tedium of feeding small chunks of dried pepper flesh into my small coffee mill. My intention is not to roast them or smoke them or alter them in any other way.

I should add that they are real rascals to handle. Just holding the exterior to the plant stalk, in order to hang them, left the fingertips of my left hand with tingly paresthesia for two days, despite promptly scrubbing with soap and water three times. And the shriveling plants hung in my enclosed back porch gave off a penetrating, musty aroma for a number of days.

I have 3 plants hung, and 3 more still in the ground, awaiting some additional ripening of their fruit.

Bob

 

[GreenDragon]

I’m growing five varieties of peppers this year. As the end of the year is nearing and the plants are really starting to produce in volume I can no longer keep up with them by eating the peppers as they ripen. One weekend’s harvest I turned into pepper jelly (great with cream cheese and crackers or as a glaze on grilled meats). The rest I’ve been drying like Bob to store for later use. I’ve also found that if I leave them whole, stored in the pantry, I’m less likely to use them: out of site out of mind. So this year I’m cutting them up to speed up the drying process and then rough chopping or grinding the dried fruits. These go straight into spice jars.

The fresh taste has been such a hit they live on the kitchen table now. What surprised me was how much I liked the batch I made from unripened green chilis on a lark. I had picked a batch of small young peppers to try forcing the plants to ripen the larger older fruit.

This is my third batch I’ve processed this month. I did two using a low oven, but last week I broke down and got a dehydrator. When I was in Texas I just let the sun and dry air do all the work, but it’s too humid here.

 

[deluxestogie]

I can no longer keep up with them by eating the peppers as they ripen.

I saw a video on how to do that. I think Lucille Ball and a conveyor belt were involved.

Bob

 

[Homegrowngoodnes]

It took bout three days to not feel a y effects of that good pepper spray from the academy too! Nothing that I couldn't handle but I couldn't touch my youngun for 3 b days! If I remember right, It was 2.2 million shu.

 

[Homegrowngoodnes]

Tallest okra plant is up to my armpits and about 3/8" diameter with the others chest high. Ants are covering the pods! My seminole pumpkins planted late June or July are flowering and fruiting finally! We had no rain to speak of for a month though, very abnormal. I blame Canadian wildfires for the lack of florida rain! Normally we expect a tstorm and shower every afternoon in the panhandle.

 

[deluxestogie]

Actually rain every 2 to 3 days in the panhandle during the summer.

Eglin AFB average weather:

Bob

 

[Homegrowngoodnes]

They say that but it's usually every day if even just 5 minutes. That's how it's been since I moved here in 2001. Eglin afb is 15-20 miles south of me. We'll, to the entry gates. Eglin is huge if you count all the ranges etc.