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3-1-11
Sept 20, 2011 15:25:03 GMT -6
Post by mogarden on Sept 20, 2011 15:25:03 GMT -6
Phil: We usually slice, bread and fry the green toms but this year I was speculating out loud about various things to try like sauteeing quartered tiny ones in oil and...maybe garlic, onions, I dunno. Well she decided to get off the couch and cook it, lol. She cut them in quarters, dipped in water, rolled in cornmeal and fried like okra more-or-less. It was good even without the onion, but then I like everything with onions. ;D It's something to do with those tiny ones you know will never ripen.
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3-1-11
Sept 23, 2011 16:51:00 GMT -6
Post by kansasterri on Sept 23, 2011 16:51:00 GMT -6
Today is the first day of Fall, and I went out early to work on the greenhouse.I fixed up the bed in the middle of the greenhouse, and I planted it. I do not particularly like radishes and turnips, but there is no time before cold weather to grow anything else. Besides, I hear that the orientals use it in their stir-fries, so I believe that I will try it! And, turnips are edible if you butter and salt them: is there any root vegetable that ISN'T edible if you butter and salt it? ? There is leftover perlite and bricks from the old bed: I am considering using it to make more beds. This new bed is smaller and it looks nicer. Or, I can fill some big pots with soil and perlite: decisions, decision! The rest of the week I will get the rest of the greenhouse floor in shape, and I need to buy a new greenhouse skin. 2 years ago my son's cat just SHREDDED the old one by climbing up and down it with his claws out: I am going to use an inexpensive tarp and hope that "Monkey D. Luffy" has forgotten that particular game!!!!! The new greenhouse skin will go on in about 9 days time: DH says he will be free to help me then! I HAVE done it by myself but it is a BEAR! Lastly, I bought a light black stool to sit on in the greenhouse. Having plants in it again might help ease the sting of losing the summer garden!!!!!!!!!!!
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3-1-11
Sept 29, 2011 7:31:31 GMT -6
Post by kansasterri on Sept 29, 2011 7:31:31 GMT -6
I have been using the leftover bricks as borders in the greenhouse: just for pretty. Besides, I do not care for the pile-of-bricks-outside-the-greenhouse look!
Today I put the plexiglass on top of the black washtub full of water: tonight I will now if it will serve as a source of heat during a frost or not. Sort of.
The plants will tell me better if the SOIL is warmer, but the plants are not up, yet. Probably because I have not watered. I have been busy and my energy has been low!
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3-1-11
Oct 2, 2011 15:31:35 GMT -6
Post by kansasterri on Oct 2, 2011 15:31:35 GMT -6
Well, the water was iny tepid.
Today, when DH wakes up, we will try to get the plastic tarp on as a skin. Since my son's cat destroyed the last skin, I did not get a UV resistant greenhouse skin: the paint tarp will have to do. If the cat does not destroy this cover-he *IS* older now- then I will get a real skin that does not get brittle in sunlight.
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3-1-11
Oct 4, 2011 17:26:03 GMT -6
Post by kansasterri on Oct 4, 2011 17:26:03 GMT -6
Well, we ran out of daylight and the top never got put on. Perhaps NEXT weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!! The frost just needs to stay gone for a bit!
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3-1-11
Oct 10, 2011 13:31:49 GMT -6
Post by kansasterri on Oct 10, 2011 13:31:49 GMT -6
I opened up the box, and guess what? The "clear, transparent" tarp is opaque white!!!!!!
I will exchange it!
Meanwhile the weather remains good, and most of the seeds have sprouted!
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3-1-11
Oct 11, 2011 3:48:49 GMT -6
Post by Pharmer Phil on Oct 11, 2011 3:48:49 GMT -6
white, it would allow for the plants to survive, yet not thrive...I hate it when things aren't what they are suppose to be...living a distance from town only makes something like this more irritating...make another trip good Luck Terri!!
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3-1-11
Oct 31, 2011 12:38:53 GMT -6
Post by kansasterri on Oct 31, 2011 12:38:53 GMT -6
It has been 21 days since my last post! Sorry about that! We DID get a "transparent" cover which is ALSO too white.... but it is a transparent white and I hope that it works well enough. I can at least see through it! Sort of. The radishes, turnips, cabbages (for greens), parsley, and young onions are doing well enough. I also planted asparagus seeds but they are not up! I will have greens and radishes to add to salads by thanksgiving. After that who knows? The greenhouse will not handle below zero temperatures, so how long the greens produce depends on the weather. There is talk of a La Nina so this winter might be very cold!!!!! I also bought some pansies just for phun. There is one pack of yellow and the others are dark purplish brown with yellow eyes. I am not that keen on the dark ones but do you know how hard it is to buy flowers right now? At any rate, the yellow pansies should emphasize the yellow eyes of the dark pansies: it should look well enough. Certainly better than an empty bed! We have worked 3 times on the skin and it is not right, yet. Working but not right! First I tacked something up right before a frost. Then my DD worked on it another day. THEN, DH came in with a nail gun and strips of wood because I asked him to reinforce the parts that were not secure enough for Kansas winds. After his USUAL 10 minutes of fussing about the quality of workmanship we had displayed he completely re-did one end. The next end will be for another time. I built the greenhouse and I generally deal with replacing the skin. But, I am now handicapped and my DD is a total beginner. The quality of workmanship was about what you would expect, I am afraid! But, DH is a perfectionist about building, and he does not see it that way! It is a good thing that I am NOT a perfectionist! I accomplish so much more repair work and building than he does because I do not stress out about it: a job either works or it does not! It is enough for me if it works. The greenhouse cover was working very well indeed, but it would not have stood up to much more wind! DD had sweated bullets over getting it nailed down but she *IS* a beginner! Skill counts: The first year I set up the greenhouse I had to put the skin back on twice because of the wind. I learned the hard way about stress points! I have a very good feel for it now, and that cover needed more phastening down. The far end is still in need of reinforcement but it will stand more wind for a bit!!!!!!!!!!! We will get that done perhaps next week? On the GOOD side, what Ron fastens down never, EVER gets loose! Because, there ARE some benefits of being a perfectionist!
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3-1-11
Nov 12, 2011 15:31:40 GMT -6
Post by kansasterri on Nov 12, 2011 15:31:40 GMT -6
Today I ate the first vegetable from the new bed in the greenhouse: a radish.
It was unusually tender-crisp, and very juicy. I do not usually like radishes, but I really want another one! They really are unusually good!
I hear that the Japanese eat radishes in heir stir-fry, and I bet these radishes would do well with stir-fried beef. I can cut them into matchsticks and quietly put them in. My family likes a bit of heat in a stir-fry, so there should be no problems.
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3-1-11
Nov 16, 2011 19:47:33 GMT -6
Post by kansasterri on Nov 16, 2011 19:47:33 GMT -6
Today my little terrier snitched a piece of stale bread from the chickens as I was shutting them in. He trotted off with his ears and his tail so VERY high! He was PROUD of himsself!
I also covered the bed inside the greenhouse with an old blanket, as it is going to be cold tonight. The weatherman thinks that it will only be 27 degrees, but he has been wrong before and my head tells me that it will be a pretty big front moving in.
Alas, there will be no rain, just cold.
The plants inside that bed are obviously larger, and it will be a regular forest before Thanksgiving! I am going to have to start making salads NOW or the plants will start choking each other out!
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3-1-11
Nov 18, 2011 17:10:42 GMT -6
Post by kansasterri on Nov 18, 2011 17:10:42 GMT -6
I heard that the orientals used radishes in stirfry, both the leaves and the root itself. So, I thought that I would give it a try.
The leaves: DON'T! COOK! THEM!
They tasted fine raw, and I can see tearing them up and putting them in salad. But, when cooked in just a thin smear of oil, the leaves tasted like warm oil with a bite. The flavor of the radish was totally gone, and only the sharpness remained.
The root was rather better, but it still tasted better raw. I can TOTALLY see grating fresh radish across a stir fry or a salad, but I do not think that cooking improved the radish one bit!
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