2021 Veggie gardens

Wowza!

Dunno if you’re amazed by the beautiful Berkeley or the Sungold discrepancy, but both are impressive!

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Both, sort of. Tie Dye is a looker, but yours are of a good size and has no blemishes!

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Not on that side! Shhh.

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:grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

That did cross my mind!

Edamame/soybeans should not be eaten without cooking or certain fermentations! They are toxic raw. Here’s a reference.

The fungus, Koji, Aspergillus oryzae , is used in ferments to make all sorts of soy-based products, like soy sauce, fermented (“salted”) black beans, etc. The fungus breaks down the toxins during fermentation.

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Thanks a lot.

Here’s an update on the Python Snake Gourd, Trichosanthes. These images are fruits too old to eat, but they are impressive. Maturing seed, they’re about 5 feet (1.5 M) long!


This one twisted and formed much like a resting python.
When they start to mature, they get orange.

And, finally, they get red when the seeds are mature:

The Water Spinach leaves have changed from narrow to wide.
waterspinach8_31
They went into a shrimp, Python Gourd and Thai Eggplant stir fry, added at the last to preserve the Water Spinach stems’ crunchiness.

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The red marbled peach above didn’t soften up like the antique Indian Blood, so it’s a cross with Lemon Heath Cling and can be renamed to something less offensive: “Rob’s Garnet”. It’s now a processing peach. Though canned quality is unknown, it performed well at the jam session a short time ago.


The real color is shown in the jars on the far right. I had to use a flashlight to avoid too dark an exposure.

It’s delicious! Which means the little tree will hopefully get grafted and moved.

The white jar lids are Tattler, reusable canning lids. Those are for home-use, vs. gifting.

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Good news!

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I’ve had two lunches of them straight from the garden. Better tasting than any I’ve had at restaurants. First time plain steamed with salt, next I tried a recipe where they were steamed then fried quickly in a pan with sesame oil and soy sauce. Delicious.

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Aji Charapita are coming in like crazy. It takes a long time to pick and de-stem them.

Some of the Marina di Chioggia winter squash rotted in the field, even some on dry brushpiles. I’m thinking all the wrinkles traps water and I need to pick them younger. This one was kept off the soil with cedar shingles under the fruit.

South African Gem squash are also coming in, a variety very hard to source in the US. I think there’s one, family-run vendor. I bagged flowers to save seeds.


Gem squash get a very hard shell when ripe. They usually develop a yellowish patch where they rest on the ground. Ripe squash make a distinctive “tick” sound when you flick them with the back of a fingernail. These are not like the round zucchini at all.

To cook, one breaks/cuts off the stem, carefully cut fruits in half such that the stem and blossom ends are on different halves, to make two small bowls. Scoop out the seeds and stringy center, discarding this. Steam the halves, cut side up until tender. Toss a pat of butter in each half, salt & pepper to taste and mix it in the ready-made bowl. Creamy, nutty and sweet, they’re one of my favorite squash! I was introduced to this by a S. African friend.

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Water? What’s that? :hushed:

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Your photos are stunning!

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I really, really, REALLY hate those things. Hornworms are invisible until you’re inspecting your decimated plant from three inches away as suddenly there’s a huge one, point blank in front of your nose.

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It’s tomato time! We’ve been harvesting cherries for awhile now, but the Roma’s and others are starting to come on profusely. One of the cherry tomato plants produces teeny tiny tomatoes, about the size of peas, or large blueberries.





Big pot of Greek Monastery style tomato sauce bubbling away on the stove. Will be water bath canned later this evening.

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The tiny cherry tomatoes are about the sizes of big blueberries, average sized peas, or huckleberries;



I’ve never seen them that small before - very cute, not that practical though.

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Another harvest today. Just love this time of year!






9 pints of Greek Monastery style sauce at bottom. Just tomatoes, onions, garlic, spices, and a generous amount of olive oil. Water bath canned with ascot IV acid added to meet safety guidelines. As always, for this type of stuff.

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Nice!

How do you end up using that?

Usually in pasta sauces or braised lamb shanks and stuff. It’s pretty interchangeable with marinara sauces, just has a bit more Greek oregano in it, as well as generous amounts (but not too much!) olive oil, and a bit of Ceylon cinnamon and bay leaves.

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