A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Banter Hall Coffee House 2663....

Let's fill it up....but not with dandelions. 🌼

Ok if you insist..no dandelions

Good morning.

Good afternoon. I hand tilled a small row in my garden near the edge, to plant my onion bulbs....they were starting to send up green shoots in the package. I need a couple of dry days to get my gas tiller in the garden to start the rest. We can't get two dry days in a row lately. Oh well, it's a start.😉

See, Sunny. I knew this day would come !! Good for you.
It rained all morning here. But for the time being it has stopped.

Slowly but surely Junie. I get impatient waiting for nice weather, then I complain when it gets too hot.😉😄

We all get that way. The weather never seems to
Please us. Sad but true.

I know, it's calling for frost tonight. 😡

Do you have any plans for the weekend?

Nope no plans. IF I go to church ( we usually do) Iget to go out for Breakfast, but that will be it.

We don't even have a church here to go to, both denominations closed. Its sad.

I have to go to the local grocery store for some fresh produce....and pay way too much.🙄

Yea, the local grocery here is 25-20 minutes away, but at least it is there.
I didn't buy any meat yesterday, so I do not know what we will have tonight. I SO wish Rod would eat soup. I have some soup bones in the freezer. ( They come with a small amount of meat attached.)

Junie, I make a chicken and potato or rice dish that starts on the stove but ends up in the oven that uses stock as the liquid which absorbs off. Hate for your soup bones to be doing nothing. Can you make the broth and thicken kit up to use as a gravy over something or au juice over roast?

My friends, who has been watering my garden (although it has rained some) has gotten enough squash to eat it twice and today sent me a picture of baby cucumbers which is exciting. But says the okra hasn’t come up and it definitely should have by now. I’ve never had okra not do well.

Thanks for the recipe & ideas. Sheri

As far as soup goes. I will make soup at some point for just me and freeze most of it in one size serving containers. Rod "says" he looks at food like going to the gas station. Just something one has to do. So I rarely make any fancy meals for him unless it is for say his birthday or some such.

Bless your friends who are caring for your garden. Sorry for your okra. That is such a beautiful plant, all on its own, nevermind the vegitation.

I love soup as well but DH thinks that soup is not a meal.🙄

I mowed my dandelions today. Of course my battery, which I store inside for the winter, was dead. I charged it....fingers crossed it keeps its charge. Its always something.

We can't even get okra here in stores.

Even if I did start it, all this talk of soup has made me want it. I will have to make some next week !

Rod will eat my hamburger soup. He says it is almost like a stew so has enough substance to it.
So here is the recipe:

You brown 1# burger,
To it add:
1 can of diced tomatoes,
3 carrots, cut up
1-2 cubed potatoes (or use noodles cooked on the side)
1 med onion, chopped
1 stalk celery, Chopped
3-4 cups water
1 TB Worcestershire sauce
S & P to taste

I may add more water but if I do I add sodium free beef flavoring to turn the water into broth.

Almost how I make mine but I use tomato soup instead of tomatoes.....and I add noodles some times. Mmmm🍲

It's calling for rain starting tomorrow so today you'll find me tilling my garden and planting potatoes.☺️

Yay for planting potatoes !!! And to get them in before a rain is good.

I will have to figure out something to do differently next year. My potatoes are doing SO well I wonder if my tomatoes will. Next year..potatoes will fil! One bed and tomatoes and onions the other. What was I thinking ? .......obviously I was not.

I found my mom and dad's soup recipes last night. I had them added to a cookbook we made back when the kids were in school. I loved my dad's vegetable soup (with beef soup bone) so that will be on the menu next week. For me anyway...

You need to convince your DH to get you some more beds. 😘 One for peppers and one for cukes.

I will think on it. IF I wanted them. I think he would do it for me.
Thanks.

They have them in round, oval, square and rectangular.....and different colors, if I had the extra money....I'd find an excuse for a couple.😉

I put in 185 ft of potatoes today. I'm going to be sore tomorrow. Chieftain, LaSoda and Russet.

Wow !! That is a lot of potatoes. Good for you !! Perhaps you will be sore. But a good sore. Right ??

Good grief Sunny. That's a LOT of potatoes. I didn't plant any potatoes this year.

Junie, your soup sounds a lot like what I call vegetable soup except I don't add celery or worcestershire sauce.

Speaking of recipes - I've got tons of squash and I was thinking of cooking a kind of stir fry to put in soft tortilla shells but am not sure if it will be too dry and if it is what type of sauce or dressing should I put on it?

Soy sauce as a sauce ??

My mom made a casserole that I loved. It was zucchini, onions, butter. & salt & pepper and as I remember perhaps some garlic. You bake it until the veggies are done. I see no reason why you could not substitute your squash.

And you know, why not cut some up and freeze in serving size containers.?? That could taste mighty good this winter.

I thought about soy sauce but wondered if it would make the tortillas too soft. It is the obvious choice though. Thanks. Did you mother use any type of binder to hold the zucchini and onions together?

You know I tried to remember but I could not. She got the recipe out of the Sunday paper....it was in the Parade Magazine part of the Post Dispatch from St. Louis, MO.
We only had it the once. Dad must not have liked it. I would think you could add some type of binder. I also remember it being a layered casserole. If I can find the recipe I will let you know

Good morning. Stormy and rainy here this morning. Our dog wants the 2 of us together in one room when it is like this. Silly puppy.

Bestofour, mix some soya sauce, honey, garlic and a splash of vinegar with cornstarch as a binder.

Junie, your puppy is a great protector.

Today I planted turnip, beets and carrots. 🌼

I just ordered round carrots to plant. This should be interesting

GG grew them before, we call them Parisian carrots. The grands are going to love them. She also planted multi colored carrots one year...then refused to eat them because they weren't orange.😄

I'm growing Summer turnips this year, they grow just three inches around....you eat them raw. I haven't planted them before so fingers crossed they do well. I also planted beets that grow like carrots. They are called Cylindra....I grew those before, they are so tender for making pickled beets. I find the globe beets are fibrous.

Thanks for the info. Sunny

I've never grown round carrots but I think they're pretty. And I agree about globe beets being fibrous. I need to try some of your kind Sunny.

I love multi colored carrots. They're so pretty on the table.

I will try them next year as well. I had an easy icebox pickles beet recipe that I found in one of those school type cookbooks. I had a yard sake and did not realize I was selling my favorite recipe. Silly me.

I guess I also need to try colored carrots. I bet the kids would love them. And yes, I bet they would be beautiful on the table.

Good morning, it's calling for a few days of sun and heat. I'm catching up on ourdoor chores at least.

Good morning.

Have fun, Sunny. As " they" say....make hay while the sun shines.

Oh Junie I hate you sold your favorite recipe. Seems anytime I get rid of something I think I don't need or want I find that I DO need or want it after it's too late.

I went to the allergy doctor this morning and for some reason asked to be measured and found out that I'm 1-1/2 inches shorter than I used to be. I can't remember the last time I was measured - they just ask "how tall are you" and write down what I tell them so it maybe I've lost height over the last 20-30 years or maybe I've always been this short. I've started noticing my height - actually shortness - since my grandchildren are all so much taller than me. I look like a circus freak in family pictures.

I ate squash last night for the first time this year from my small garden. Fresh from the garden is so good.

Chilly a rainy today. Glad for that.

Junie, let's don't forget about the colored carrots next season. Maybe I can find some seeds and go ahead and plant them now. Whaddaya think?

1 and 1/2 inches shorter? That's just so wrong....says the short person here as well.🤔😉

Sheri: I was wondering about that myself. When my seeds arrive, I will see on the package what the planting time range is, then decide what to do
Does that sound like a plan ? Otherwise we wait until next spring.

As far as height goes, back in the day I was 5ft.&4-3/4 inches..now I am 5ft 3 inches. I have osteoporosis...do you ?

IF either of you ever see a refrigerator pickled beet recipe that uses canned beets and the recipe uses some of the canned liquid, cloves,& cinnamon, please send it my way. Oh and it made 1 pint jar of beets. And thanks for the thought, Sheri.

It takes me over two months from planting seeds to harvesting my carrots, Nantes variety.

Junie, I'll check my grandmothers recipe books tomorrow for beet recipes....there are quite a few. My mother makes hers with cloves, I make mine with pickling spice.

Thanks much. Sunny. I liked the one I had as it used a can of regular beets. So I just made one pint's worth at a time.....Rod will not eat them.

Easy Peasy Beets...

1/3 cup vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup saved beet juice
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups sliced beets or (16 ounce can sliced beets)

Combine all liquid and spices to a boil, stir to dissolve. Add drained, cooked beets. Return to boil, slow boil for 5 minutes to infuse beets with flavor. Cool down, refrigerate for a day before eating.

Bless your heart. I think that is close to the one.
I think there was a bit of water, but I could just double the vinegar, and beet juice.

And I used whole cloves but I can switch that out. Thanks so much