Thread: In the Garden 2017

Originally Posted by TheGeek

Todays harvest, some from the ground some picked.

So far we have made an apple crumble and a pie to take to my mother in laws today.

I reckon next weeke d I am going out with a big bucket and collecting enough to make up 10kg. Then I'm makin cider.

Geek

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I used to work on a apple farm, the best cider is made from apples that have fallen from the tree. Bruised was even better. Just watch for the bee's.!!

Originally Posted by outback

I used to work on a apple farm, the best cider is made from apples that have fallen from the tree. Bruised was even better. Just watch for the bee's.!!

Wasps are our big boggle, although we do have plenty bees, but they seem to prefer the clover, also we have loadsa slugs. I'll catch as many bruised ones as I can and top up with pickers [emoji23]

The longer we leave them the fewer the bugs, fuzzies and feathers leave us [emoji21]

Geek

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The reason the bruised ones help the cider, is the beginning of fermentation. It adds the "bite" to the flavor. If you can, add a few roadside wild growing apples to it as well. Those will have more tannin. Also a pert of the more robust flavor.

Remember to grind them up well and press all that flavor out of the mash

So it's took a few days, but it's cider time. I'm planning around 5l in a demijohn.

For this batch imma go safe, cripple off the natural yeast and use cider brewing yeast. If I come out with something acceptable, and can get another batch big enough then I'll try a natural cider next.

Geek



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Good crop of peppers this year. Plants are about 4 ft. tall. Started them from seed
I get from Australia.

Bhut Jolokia (Ghost Pepper) Orange Copenhagen
About 2-4 inches






First year to try these...

Bhut Jolokia (Ghost Pepper) Giant
Supposed to grow to 6 inches. About 2 by 1 at the moment.



Not long 'til Chili and Salsa!

Picked my first two cherry tomatoes, today.
Bell peppers are coming along nicely, now.
Green beans are lookin awesome, but only half the crop came up. So these will be allowed to fully mature, and be dried for seed for next year.

I only have a small garden about the size of a dining room. I did grow four pepper plants this year, though. Two for my wife, and a ghost pepper and habanero for me.

Last year, someone gave a guy in my office several reaper plants (a local farmer who sells the plants and the peppers), and a half dozen ghost pepper plants and I got about half of the peppers from him. I have to say that the reaper peppers don't taste very good, so there's no real reward for eating them. I don't mind if someone makes really hot peppers, but at least the ghost peppers and habaneros taste good. The reaper peppers were definitely hot, but it's nice if they start with a nice flavor before they finish with heat, and they just tasted artificial to me (I only ate one plain - they're unpleasant when you do that, but other than that, I usually add something hot to meat. Even there, they tasted bad.).

We are too cool and humid here in SW PA to really grow good peppers, so mine probably aren't as hot as some.

Originally Posted by DaveW

I only have a small garden about the size of a dining room. I did grow four pepper plants this year, though. Two for my wife, and a ghost pepper and habanero for me.

Last year, someone gave a guy in my office several reaper plants (a local farmer who sells the plants and the peppers), and a half dozen ghost pepper plants and I got about half of the peppers from him. I have to say that the reaper peppers don't taste very good, so there's no real reward for eating them. I don't mind if someone makes really hot peppers, but at least the ghost peppers and habaneros taste good. The reaper peppers were definitely hot, but it's nice if they start with a nice flavor before they finish with heat, and they just tasted artificial to me (I only ate one plain - they're unpleasant when you do that, but other than that, I usually add something hot to meat. Even there, they tasted bad.).

We are too cool and humid here in SW PA to really grow good peppers, so mine probably aren't as hot as some.

I grew reapers 2 yrs ago, and totally agree on taste. They tasted like burnt coffee to me, that's why it's only the Bhuts this year. Nice a citrusey before the hot coal at the back of the throat. Raw they make my mouth numb and kill the taste for anything else for several hours. I prefer them for cooking as well.

My tomato plants got hit by some kind of disease, killing all the leaves. Luckily we got some good tomatoes from the plants before this happened.


Meanwhile the ground cherries are doing fine. They started dropping some or their pods on the ground so I figured that meant they are ripe. Super sweet, kind of weird flavor, but enjoyable.

The wife is garden Commander this year. She has done it all this time. She wanted pumpkins for Halloween and now the are taking over the yard and garden. Harvested potatoes, garlic, onions, carrots, and lettuce. Beans got powdery mildew, hoping second batch does better.

Pumpkins marauding yard.


Herbs, tomatoes and pumpkins, next is beans and a ton of Walla Walla Sweet onions. I hate them and wife is having an onion orgy. Har!


Potato bin is now exploding with pumpkin.