What Did You Do In The Garden?

Zeedman · Oct 16, 2018

The temperature today, while still far below normal, was about as warm as its going to get... so we removed the row covers & harvested the chard today. I always look forward to the last picking of chard, it has its best flavor when lightly kissed by frost. I'm afraid optimism got the best of me, I left the growing tip & threw the covers back on, in case a few leaves are able to grow back before the real freeze arrives. When that works, the "baby chard" produced is delicious, and well worth braving the cold to get it.

digitS' · Oct 17, 2018

digitS' said:
I guess the picture attachments of the sprinklers were "pre-format change" for TEG. Might search them out elsewhere ...

2012 ... still had the old fence in the backyard but that isn't where I use these sprinklers. Garden irrigation.

Steve

digitS' · Oct 17, 2018

Zeedman said:
I always look forward to the last picking of chard, it has its best flavor when lightly kissed by frost.

That sounds so good to me. I wasn't happy with the seed viability of Verde de Taglio Chard. Another packet of vegetable seed from that outfit produced only one plant and the name on the packet didn't match the name on the order! Oddly, it was a name I was familiar with but the one plant was different than what I remembered ... Oy!

It's very possible that I will again be asking @ninnymary to pick up a packet of Verde de Taglio in 2019. We arrive at the magic of growing plant life often finding how our own lives are intertwined.

I'd like to pretend that I knew what a tesseract was before Zeedman prompted me to look it up on Wikipedia. Wow! Okay, I now have an idea of a tesseract even if my spellchecker wants to change it to "dessert"

.

I'll post an image but I really suggest that you glance through the Wikipedia article, especially if you have trouble with convoluted moving images like this one!:

It took me awhile to make this post because I was busy with moving my batch of Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookies (recipe) in and out of the oven

. Especially, getting it done at my speed ...

Steve

ninnymary · Oct 17, 2018

Steve, it wasn't the Baker Creek Verde de Taglio that you weren't happy with right? What company was it?

Yes, I'd be happy to pick some up for you next time I'm there.

Mary

flowerbug · Oct 17, 2018

digitS' said:
That sounds so good to me. I wasn't happy with the seed viability of Verde de Taglio Chard. Another packet of vegetable seed from that outfit produced only one plant and the name on the packet didn't match the name on the order! Oddly, it was a name I was familiar with but the one plant was different than what I remembered ... Oy!

It's very possible that I will again be asking @ninnymary to pick up a packet of Verde de Taglio in 2019. We arrive at the magic of growing plant life often finding how our own lives are intertwined.

I'd like to pretend that I knew what a tesseract was before Zeedman prompted me to look it up on Wikipedia. Wow! Okay, I now have an idea of a tesseract even if my spellchecker wants to change it to "dessert" .

I'll post an image but I really suggest that you glance through the Wikipedia article, especially if you have trouble with convoluted moving images like this one!:

It took me awhile to make this post because I was busy with moving my batch of Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookies (recipe) in and out of the oven . Especially, getting it done at my speed ...

Steve

Mom's making chocolate chip cookies now. i'm trying not to have any and failed so far, but will fail even more in a few minutes when they're warm from the oven...

oatmeal raisin are favorites of mine, but rarely get made which is actually ok for me right now.

hope you enjoy them as much as me would.

digitS' · Oct 17, 2018

ninnymary said:
Steve, it wasn't the Baker Creek Verde de Taglio that you weren't happy with right? What company was it?

Yes, I'd be happy to pick some up for you next time I'm there.

Mary

I'd kinda rather not say, Mary. Not Baker Creek!

They are a new company and, actually, very close to where I used to live.

I may try them again ... sometime.

Steve

Zeedman · Oct 17, 2018

Steve, have you ever tried Special Large White Ribbed chard, from D.V. Burrell in Colorado? It has very wide celery-like stalks (much wider than Verde de Taglio) but the leaves are mostly flat, with almost no wrinkles or ruffles - so very easy to clean. It is my favorite chard, been growing it for almost 20 years & it has proven to be very reliable.

digitS' · Oct 18, 2018

@Zeedman , we had chard in the garden when I was a kid. I grew up not liking it. The stalks were what I didn't like.

Everyone has their own tastes in food. Years after I learned that chard and beets are related, I wondered if there was a chard variety that was more like beets. I've always liked beet greens, they are just about my favorite vegetable. No, the mature roots are of little interest and even less if they are pickled

.

Since Verde de Taglio isn't a very common variety and I have never ordered seed from Baker Creek, Mary has had to help me obtain seed.

No longer a gardener avoiding one of the most popular garden vegetables! And ... the big advantage of summer harvest of green leaves.

Tastes differ. Your description of bitter melon as "not for the faint of heart" made me smile. Nope! Not for me! We should all cast about for new experiences especially in the world of healthful foods. No reason to be always dunking our line in the same pool.

Steve

baymule · Oct 18, 2018

Been raining here for a week. Got over 7 inches of rain. We will have a day of sunshine on Sunday, maybe Monday too, before it starts raining again. I had turned the sheep in the garden before the rains started and they did a bit of cleanup. We got cornstalks pulled up and over half the tomato vines, still a lot to do. It has been so miserable that the chickens in the garden coop have huddled up in the coop, not even wanting to go scratch in the garden. Their coop is a swamp, but they still prefer that to the garden.

Ridgerunner · Oct 18, 2018

Zeedman said:
Steve, have you ever tried Special Large White Ribbed chard, from D.V. Burrell in Colorado? It has very wide celery-like stalks (much wider than Verde de Taglio) but the leaves are mostly flat, with almost no wrinkles or ruffles - so very easy to clean. It is my favorite chard, been growing it for almost 20 years & it has proven to be very reliable.

When I get rainbow chard mix seeds I've noticed the white ones tend to grow larger and have significantly thicker stalks than the others. White is more productive. I have no idea what varieties they include in those mixes. I don't use the stalks to keep the prep (cleaning/cutting) time simpler and especially the cooking simpler. When I make vegetable soup I often include chopped Chard leaves and may include some chopped stalks.

I tend to grow the flat leaved varieties of chard and kale. That's not because of flavor but because it is a lot easier to see caterpillars and cocoons on the flat-leafed varieties. Kale is more of a problem with caterpillars than chard. Yes, Steve, I use BT on kale. It is pretty effective but I still get some caterpillars. It will be interesting to see what they are like down here.

From looking at the seeds let alone the leaves chard and beets are closely related. Beet greens are my wife's favorite greens. I prefer others. But i really like beet roots, her not so much. So it is a win for both of us when I grow them.

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