2022 Outdoor Garden

[Shawn]

Great pic of a nice bunch of tomatoes.  I know you will get a great amount out of your garden.

[airscapes]

I had picked some string beans early over a week ago and their flavor was rather just green.. not much bean taste.  So I left them get older and larger, just picked a few to try tonight.  My god we are going to have a lot of beans.  My wife just suggested we should blanch some and freeze them, then cook them too see if the flavor changes.  Lima beans taste completely different fresh vs blanched and frozen.   Once blanched and frozen, Limas from the garden taste like limas from the grocery store freezer!  
Will let you know what we find out .

BTW I thought the coffee cup would help scale but not sure it did.. that is an 8" wide bowl.. gona be a LOT of beans..

[lynnee]

airscapes, The coffee cup definitely helps with the scale. What beautiful beans you have grown!

[airscapes]

I think they tasted a little more like normal fresh or frozen beans but sill did have "Green Grass" taste going on.  We blanched what we did not eat and they are in the freezer for tomorrow. Hope they loose that green.. read online that they may be under cooked but she says no..  they are not crunchy.. so I have to guess they are cooked.  More to come..

[Shawn]

Another great haul.  That coffee looks good and happy they tasted better for you.

[airscapes]

Happy 4th of July!   What a wonderful day here just out side the Philadelphia.  Not a cloud in the sky, dew point in the low 50s with a breeze!!! 
Most of the garden is doing well, picked 2 bags of beans yesterday.. Next year I must buy Blue Lake bean.. should have looked on the front of the Demonte can .. Wife does not like these Emerite variety and truthfully I am not crazy about them either, but will be eating them for the next year.
Garlic are about ready to dig out, and onions and shallots are bulbing up nicely. 
Peppers are doing ok, I think, they do take a while to get going.   
The one tomato in the big pot has some type of ailment, not sure if it is one of the Soil born varieties or fungus, but I striped most of the leaves to see what happens.. Did see some similar discoloration on my Early 4ths which are doing great (have picked 10 of them already) so I pray it is not a fungus..  The soil in the pot is from the store, so it is possible it was from that.

Eggplant has 2 fruit on it, but seems a little slower than normal, but has a lot of new shots.

Lima beans just germinating and the ones that didn't were just replaced with more seed yesterday.. Not sure they will do much, they should have been planted over a month ago, but we shall see what happen.   I really wanted to put carrots where they are but will have to plant them where the onions are, even though they were in that location last year..   

Photos in no particular order.. 






 

[Shawn]

WOW, looks fabulous. 

[Sher]

Wow, airscapes ! What an awesome garden!  Congratulations on all of your your beautiful successes!

[lynnee]

airscapes, I think it's so cool that you grow your own garlic!

[airscapes]

Jul 6, 2022 11:00:38 GMT -5 lynnee said:

airscapes , I think it's so cool that you grow your own garlic!

Lynnee, it is the easiest thing to grow and can be grown in pots!  To try it just buy a garlic bulb at the grocery store about a moth before last frost.  What you get in the store is normally softneck which will last 12 months when pullled fresh and well cured.
The  softneck  only needs a few weeks of 40s to be happy (bulbs need cold for whatever reason)..
So in March (South East PA) stick a pointy broom stick in the ground and make a 2" deep hole.  Stick 1 unpeeled clove in the hole with flat end (root end) down, cover hole, wait, Pull up full bulb of garlic in July.  Curing and storing is more work than the growing !

[lynnee]

If it's that easy, airscapes , I can probably figure out how to grow it year round in CA. The hard part is getting the couple of weeks of cold weather. Hmmm.

[airscapes]

Jul 6, 2022 20:45:16 GMT -5 lynnee said:

If it's that easy, airscapes , I can probably figure out how to grow it year round in CA. The hard part is getting the couple of weeks of cold weather. Hmmm.

I do believe softneck is what is grown in CA.. just google it, lots of data.  You can also put it in the fridge before planting if need be.. 

savvygardening.com/planting-garlic-in-the-spring/

[airscapes]

Onions and Garlic still not quite ready, I mean I could pull them but waiting a bit longer. we had some rain now a couple days of dry.  Many of the onions  falling over signaling it is nearing time..   I failed to add a layer of support to the tomatoes last week and not some were really too tall to keep the same spacing..  
With all these onions, I needed to build another curing cart to allow them to be moved in the garage when rain is expected.
Laster years was good but needed a lot more room.  Just used stuff I had in the garage.. 







Old cart 




 New 8x3' cart

[Sher]

A curing cart! How cool is that! I have never seen one before.

Your gardening skills are superb, airscapes! 

[airscapes]

I don't have a barn :-(
So I have the onions in the sun during the day and in the garage with a fan at night or when it is raining.. 
Takes about a month to cure. 
I think this year I will pick one or 2 onions and  follow them with images each week, just to see how long it takes.. 

[lynnee]

Jul 10, 2022 21:52:00 GMT -5 airscapes said:

I don't have a barn :-(
So I have the onions in the sun during the day and in the garage with a fan at night or when it is raining.. 
Takes about a month to cure. 
I think this year I will pick one or 2 onions and  follow them with images each week, just to see how long it takes.. 

Love to see that!

[airscapes]

After dinner I decided to dig the garlic.  It will sit here for a few weeks until it is as dry as it can get in the humid outside air.  I have very little room where it can sit in the shade and get some air to dry.  Going to make another smaller wheeled cart that can put this on and roll it under the pickup truck.  The air flow in the driveway is much better than here on the porch.  
Once it is as dry as it get, it will be tied to a rope and brought inside in the AC.. still have a lot of Garlic from last year to use or give away to make room for the fresh.




Last years, Cloves are starting to dry out but my wife said most are fine. 

[Sher]

That's my definition of food security. Having all the garlic you can use.

And it's so decorative hanging inside!

[Shawn]

Look at all that Garlic.  Looks so good.  What I can cook with those LOL

[airscapes]

More beans this morning..  Have blanched and frozen 3lb, given away 2lb and now these and probably just as many again in a few day.
Also trying to figure out if I should tarp the Red onions or just pull them before tonight's "maybe" storms.  Not sure letting get any bigger will be helpful so may just pull them at lunch.