Backyard Gardeners

This has been going around with a caption about opening day of zucchini season....
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I've been coming up with different ways to use them.

Lasagna type treatment with zukes replacing the noodles.
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Zucchini pickles for using on burgers.
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We've been inundated with delicious tomatoes this Summer from our Garden, along with plenty of eggplant, so my wife made a fresh tomato sauce the other night - simple recipe: cut up the tomatoes, some onion, garlic, salt, pepper and other herbs, and the cook down the tomatoes, until you have a "sauce". She then cooked some fresh pasta and it was delicious, with plenty of leftovers. So, the next day, she make eggplant parmesan and we had that with the leftover pasta. Delicious! I just heated some of the leftovers for lunch and now I'm ready for a nap.
 
Anyone grow windmill palms by chance? I bought a few to put by the pool a couple of years ago, and two are doing really good, one died, one is still super small, and one all of a sudden has fronds stuck at the trunk, it is quite strange, the fronds are alive, just now popping up much. I can send pics if interested.
 
Anyone grow windmill palms by chance? I bought a few to put by the pool a couple of years ago, and two are doing really good, one died, one is still super small, and one all of a sudden has fronds stuck at the trunk, it is quite strange, the fronds are alive, just now popping up much. I can send pics if interested.
Check back with me in sixty years. The way climate change is affecting us I see palms in our future. Does your state have a good Extension Service? Those guys know this kind of stuff
 
Check back with me in sixty years. The way climate change is affecting us I see palms in our future. Does your state have a good Extension Service? Those guys know this kind of stuff
I think NCSU has some good information out there. Windmill palms are very cold tolerant, and tend to grow very very slow.
 
We have some kind of palm that has been living in a huge pot on the front porch. It's been a pain there so the wife finally decided to stick it in the ground, but it does not seem very happy there the way she planted it. Not my favorite plant, so other than watering it, I'm not putting in any extra effort to save it for her. We rarely get freezing temps here (maybe once every ten years) so palms are growable if you like them.
 
My garden is down to producing only okra and chili peppers. I ripped out my Asian long beans vines yesterday and this morning and plan to rip out all the eggplants before noon as they’ve stopped producing. A task I have to complete over the winter is to replace my long beans trellis as it has seen better days.

I cleaned up a section where I had squash and zucchini earlier in the spring / summer and planted broccoli, red cabbage and collards. I have never grown a fall garden before so this is an experiment.
 
anybody do cover crops in the raised beds? I'm trying to figure out how to add nitrogen back in the soil.
 
anybody do cover crops in the raised beds? I'm trying to figure out how to add nitrogen back in the soil.
My mother inlaw uses coffee grounds and fish scrap in her beds.
She has three larger tortoise. So thier poo goes in aswell.
You could give her red clay and sand she will make something grow .
 
My mother inlaw uses coffee grounds and fish scrap in her beds.
She has three larger tortoise. So thier poo goes in aswell.
You could give her red clay and sand she will make something grow .
Well I got winter rye, buckwheat, and hairy vetch to try. Never have before, we will see.

Tortoise poo not on my list! Everything taste like chicken?
 
Well I got winter rye, buckwheat, and hairy vetch to try. Never have before, we will see.

Tortoise poo not on my list! Everything taste like chicken?
Why she has them I don't know. A over 75 year old 4ft11 woman picking up 50 pound tortoises is pretty impressive.
They aren't table fare .
 
I bought a cold frame from Costco to get seeds started early this year. I’m hoping this is more successful than my grow light efforts. The frame should fit perfect in my raised bed.
 
I bought a cold frame from Costco to get seeds started early this year. I’m hoping this is more successful than my grow light efforts. The frame should fit perfect in my raised bed.
I bought a separate hydroponic grower to start my tomatoes from seeds this year. Hopefully will get it started this week. My existing Aerogarden is full of basil and I can't do without that for the time I would have to switch it out for tomato seeding.
 
I bought a cold frame from Costco to get seeds started early this year. I’m hoping this is more successful than my grow light efforts. The frame should fit perfect in my raised bed.
you really need a grow light and an oscillating fan.

I just put my peas into the ground. The garden will likely be limited to our existing berries and a few 'does well with neglect crops" as I don't think I'll have much time this spring.
 
you really need a grow light and an oscillating fan.

I just put my peas into the ground. The garden will likely be limited to our existing berries and a few 'does well with neglect crops" as I don't think I'll have much time this spring.
My raised bed has a pond liner underneath. I water from below. It has worked incredibly well.
 
First time in Off Topic board. I am part of "Friends of Backyard Habitats" in Portland. The mission is to increase native plants, get rid off lawns and help native habitat (animals, plants). I got Platinum certification and it's been fun. Sadly my yard is very shaded but I managed to grab a community garden plot so I grow tomatoes and basil.
 

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Purchase of a fishing boat has slowed down my gardening for this year, but I did get my tomatoes in the ground on schedule in a bid to recreate something similar to last year's crop. Other than that, I have basil and parsley planted and being defended from the snails with rosemary, fennel, thyme being perennials in this climate. Also have rhubarb which is evergreen here.
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That looks great!
 
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