Cottage Gardening forum: #10 Piggy Swap Chat and Friends ... Looking at the pretty blooms
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 love that you ended it on a pretty note lol thank you for those pics. I can always count on you guys to help me out   |
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| ok I have a recessed entry way to our front door. I would LIKE to put in a plant but it would need to stay narrow? or fairly small and must like shade. we face the north and it gets no direct sun as its covered (recessed). Im trying to dress it up so any ideas on what might work there? |
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| I just use Boston ferns. I tried begonias but not enough light. My set up is exactly the same as yours. |
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| Hi CritterG. ... Gonnna call you CritterG if you don't mind as we also have a Critterologist, shortened to Critter, so I don't get ya all confused. Nope you haven't missed Piggy Swap for this year. I'm working on the rules now and will be posting them soon. It won't be long though, not too many weeks til Early Sign-up sheet starts and the database is open for folks to go ahead and get things set up now if they want. The Swap always looks scary to newbies, but after ya make your first couple of oinks, you'll be slinging mud right along with the rest of the piggies. This is what Corey called his cheat sheet for the swap. Maybe it will make it easier for you to follow. This is last year. New rules and such will be posted later. Quoting:to oink: For everybody.... That about the way it goes, except that the number of oinks per day will be changing. Oinks per day this year will be a lot lower. We have alot of folks scattered across not only this country but overseas too and the time zones are all over the place, plus we have folks that work all different shifts and some folks never get a chance at new seed or something they may really want because it all oinked up before they able to get on, so I am hoping that with having less oinks per day, more folks will be able to get a chance at getting some good stuff they want too. Oh ya.... I think the first year Joseph joined he must have sent about 25 pounds of corn alone. I had never seen so much corn seed at once in my life.  I gave out to those who asked plus extra to those who asked, but sent extra back so it wouldn't get wasted and somebody else who may have wanted or need corn could get some. Joseph... I am drooling like crazy looking at them maters. Maters are like gold around here this year. All the failed crops from tornadoes and floods and than blistering heat and drought , there is hardly a home grown tomato available anywhere. I saw on news where Utah was getting snow and thought about you and wondered if you was going to have to start harvesting like crazy to beat the first frost. I am about ready for some cooler temps. I know I can't take much more of this heat. We hit 117F with humidity the other day. I never been in heat this hot for days on end as long as I been down here. I was looking at tops of my trees tonight and the tops are all burned up. PLants frying up like crazy of course the weeds still growing and having a happy time of it. Normally it time to put in a fall crop, ain't no way this year unless we get some cooling and fast. How you Texas folks doing and your animals? I know you blistering in this heat too. Danita... About how many years before The Cherry Queen Salvia gets a bloom? They still hanging in there and are slowly growing, but they starting to look like a Salvia bush. |
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| hm Arlene, a fern may be just what I need. Thank you. I also want to paint the door a brighter color too. Yea Star been hot the last few weeks, but still not as hot a summer as normal. We will be cooling down now with rain coming. Still no freakin tomatoes  LOL Those leaf foots did NOT know who they were messin with! tried a spray on them since the sunflower was already dead, some took off and left others decided to hang in my baby cheery tree. They should not have messed with my baby Stella  I got the fly swatter out after them.  LOL |
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| Last week snow was on the mountains a couple of miles from the garden. I'm expecting frost in 2 to 3 weeks. I've already taken the summer blankets off the bed and replaced them with winter quilts. But I've refused so far to turn on the furnace. I dug my winter parka out of it's hiddy-hole in the jeep and wore it a couple times last week. Sure I got weird looks, but why be chilled when it's so easy to stay warm. Oops. I just remembered I left some crookneck squash and bean seeds in the pockets... I wore a thermal shirt to work this morning. I was stripping out of it by mid-day. Today I harvested Enikorn wheat, Lofthouse Wheat (courtesy of my gg-grandfather), landrace spinach, garlic seed heads, garlic bulbs, fava beans, common dry bean seeds. I'm eating the muskmelons like crazy that are being saved for seed. This weekend I'm expecting to take excess to market. Oh my heck do I have a pretty butternut squash growing. I can hardly wait to show it off in a few weeks. I bet that your eyes will pop out of your head. It's not like any moschata squash that you have ever seen before in any seed catalog!!! And gadfries I sure have gobs of Mixta squash. There must be a dozen mature fruits already!!! My okra plants this year are as tall as my belly button!!! And they are producing fruit. I took about 20 fruits to the farmer's market last week. That's been a 3 year breeding project. The first year they got as tall as my ankle, and only one plant out of 100 produced a fruit. The second year they reached my knee, and two plants out of 100 produced three fruits. This year I have about 40 plants that range from ankle high to belly high. Some have produced a half dozen fruits and others have not produced any. The non-producing varieties are new, and not acclimated to my garden, so I didn't expect much from them, but it's good to have plants that are doing poorly as a comparison. This season I also grew what I believe to be a cross between my feral sunroots and a commercial strain. 8 plants survived out of about 25 seeds that I planted. I chopped out the slowest growing. I'm looking forward to posting photos of those in a couple months. Some of the winter squash vines are dying and I have started harvesting the earliest fruits.  These tomatoes are currently fermenting on the front porch....  Author of Mother Earth News Blog about Landrace Gardening: http://www.motherearthnews.com/search.aspx?tags= Lofthouse |
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| Last night I dreampt that someone cleaned up for me and threw away all of my seeds!! What a nightmare!! Yep, Joseph, you got me drooling!!! I'll be rushing over to your trough to get at those squash seeds!! My best tomato of the year was definitely the Tibet Appel; and, although a determinate tomato it gave me a good second flush of tomatoes. (sorry if I've already shown a pic)  FAITH over fear! |
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BUT - Mortgage lifter made the best BLT! FAITH over fear! |
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| wow real tomatoes? Im jealous lol |
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 I need to go Spain and let folks throw tomatoes at me just so I can catch them and find me a private corner and gorge myself on fresh tomatoes. I've got a few heirlooms trying to make a few maters but they barely a 1/4" big right now. Sure hope they grow in a hurry. I know if they do, I'll be savoring each bite. Have any of you cooked with Spagetti Squash? I keep hearing on tv about how you can use it instead of rice and just add spagetti sauce to top of it, but I don't know how to cook it and also if you cook it like rice, how long will it be good in the fridge for . There no way I can eat a whole spagetti squash in one sitting, but I don't want to make myself sick two days later eating it if it only good for one day. I feel like I have a onesie garden this year. I getting one of this and one of that, but am glad of even that. At least it means a few seeds. Oh Joseph, I sure gonna ask for some of your gr-grandfather's wheat. What year does it go back too again? I know you said one time, but I done forgot and can't find the post. On those blue potatoes does the earthy taste come from raw tasting or after they cooked. I actually like the taste of the smaller true potaoes better than the big ones. With using totes to grow taters in next year I gonna be so happy that I found a way to out smart the volves and other ground critters that keep eating the crop. Of course neighbors are gonna wonder what in the heck going on with colored totes all over the yard. Oh well, they can just say crazy lady at it again. But I gonna out smart some of these critters yet. I about wet my pants big time yesterday. Went to bend down to pick a pepper and had my fingers bitten. First immediate thought was snake got me. Than I looked at finger and saw it was more of a critter bite. Got down close to look and had one irate guinnie looking back at me. Guess she decided under the pepper plant table was a perfect spot for her to lay eggs. Ugggggg now I gotta figure out how to get her and her eggs moved. Well it not getting any cooler outside so gonna head on out. Wonder what adventure I gonna have today. |
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| I doubt you'll get that guinea and her eggs moved Star. Good luck trying but you'll probably get bitten again. We haven't even been to the farm for a week. We're planning on going over this afternoon, but just to look. No work. Well, if there are any tomatoes we'll pick a few. The only other thing not pulled is the butter peas and they just don't seem to be setting pods and what few are there aren't filling out. If they were for me I'd just yank them out so we can till everything under, but I'm growing them for a friend. My daughter has one of those five shelf racks filled with plants for me when I go to MI in a few weeks. She has a Honda like me so she said she would load her car to make sure we could fit everything in. We're gonna have to wear all our clothes on top of each other because there won't be any room for a suitcase! But we've been working on making two new beds so I have some place to plant everything. I'm so excited! I should have more seeds to harvest soon. Lots of nice zinnias this year. I'll probably start entering my seeds soon too. I don't want to wait until the last minute. |
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| We use spaghetti squash. We slice it in half the long way. brush some oil on the cut part. Place both halves, cut side down, on a baking sheet (we use a piece of parchment paper to make cleanup easier) and bake/roast it in the oven. You could micro-wave it the same way. We scoop out, separating the strands, and eat one half the first day. We scoop out and freeze the second half for another day. If you remember to remove all the air from the freezer bag the cooked spaghetti squash will keep in the freezer a good long time. You can use the frozen one as 'spaghetti' when you are wanting to eat it again, or use it in soup (I like that one best for the second half). I like to eat the spaghetti squash with just some olive oil and grated cheese - Romano and Parmesan is good; or with red meat sauce and sausages on the side. |
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| Here is a site with pics too http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-cook-spaghetti-squash-in-the... I was never a fan, till our work cafeteria made it as a side and hubby and I both loved it. He said he seasoned it after it was cooked with some honey and maple syrup with a little salt and pepper. was quite good! |
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starlight1153 wrote:Have any of you cooked with Spagetti Squash? I keep hearing on tv about how you can use it instead of rice and just add spagetti sauce to top of it, but I don't know how to cook it and also if you cook it like rice, how long will it be good in the fridge for . There no way I can eat a whole spagetti squash in one sitting, but I don't want to make myself sick two days later eating it if it only good for one day. Just go ahead and gag me already... My mother used to serve spaghetti squash as if it were pasta, and put a tomato sauce on top of it. I suppose that if she is reincarnated that she'll spend most of that life atoning for inflicting that on her children over and over and over again. I dislike pepo winter squash to start with. Spaghetti squash is perhaps the most distasteful of the pepos to me. If I have to eat spaghetti squash for social-lube-reasons give it to me with plain old salt and butter. The best recipe I know for cooking spaghetti squash is: Cut in half and remove the seeds. Lay the squash cut side down on a board. Bake in the oven: 350F for about 1.25 to 1.5hours. Or until it really smells up the kitchen. Scrape the squash into the compost pile and eat the board. This recipe can be modified to suit the tastes of the chef by substituting a cookie sheet for the board, and by actually tasting the squash before composting. Hmmm. Maybe next time I'll try adding honey. For what it's worth, one of my acquaintances invited me for lunch a few days ago and cooked a spaghetti squash. We each tasted 1/2 teaspoon of squash and then dumped it into the compost. Spaghetti squash degrades quickly in storage, so I recommend eating them soon after harvest. My ggg-grandmother and her son settled my village in 1860. By the early 1890s his wheat was gaining a name for itself. The blue potatoes taste bad to me whether raw or cooked. Author of Mother Earth News Blog about Landrace Gardening: http://www.motherearthnews.com/search.aspx?tags= Lofthouse |
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| You need a terrier, Ella. My late Westie, Tiffany, kept nesting birds and rodents out of her zone! Unfortunately, she would knock over any plants between her and the critter in question, so it may be a mixed blessing. I hope that you like the San Marzano Misti. My San Marzano is the best of the few tomatoes that I got this year. I don't have enough tomatoes to make sauce, but I finally have a few to eat. My entire harvest fits on one plate. I told my neighbor the expert organic vegetable gardener about the piggy swap. She said that she is a seed collector also. Maybe she will join. She is a vegetarian who grows mostly heirloom veggies. Her neighborhood nickname is "Mother Earth". My neighbor's nickname is " Hot Pants". I don't think I have a nick name, yet. Mother Earth said that the biggest tomato problem in this area is early wilt. I'll have to research early wilt resistant tomatoes so that I pick the best ones to start inside this winter. |
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| Someone in the piggy swap had small round spaghetti squash. That would be good for a single person. My spreadsheet is on the other machine. I don't know if I have that seed or just remember it from the swap. I like it better in soup than as faux pasta. I use it instead of clear noodles in oriental soup recipes. I bake the squash like suggested and add the flaked, cooked squash to the soup just before serving. |
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| Joseph, what a good thing that you have such a long history in the place that you live. My g-grandfather founded a town in Arkansas. I don't know the founding year, but I believe they arrived there in 1896. I don't have many details, as Mother lost contact with Daddy's family after Daddy died (YOUNG - of cancer). All I really have of them is a cookie recipe - which I bake each and every Christmas. Sorry we bummed you out with the spaghetti squash. Hit a nerve, did we??? I never met a vegetable I didn't like! But I don't have much experience with spaghetti squash. SHOW ME YOUR CRITTERS! http://cubits.org/crittergarden/thread/view/73275/ |
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Quoting:The best recipe I know for cooking spaghetti squash is: Cut in half and remove the seeds. Lay the squash cut side down on a board. Bake in the oven: 350F for about 1.25 to 1.5hours. Or until it really smells up the kitchen. Scrape the squash into the compost pile and eat the board. Sputtering and chocking on my coffee here. That too too funny. That's like me and pancakes. They look so good and I will order some knowing that after the first bite my throat is going to start doing funny things and make me gag from them. Too many years of Sunday night dinner of pancakes. Rutabaga and Mustard greens . Them the two that if I eating at somebody house and they serve either or both of them I hope they have a dog around that will eat anything. They not easy to hide under the edge of the plate, nor do they stay dry hidden in a napkin in your pocket. I'm gonna give the recipes you all shared a try and if I don't like the taste I'll be doing Joseph's idea and eat the cookie sheet. Arlene.... That so exciting! Glad ya getting some new plants. Hope it something good. If ya had room I'd tell ya to drop me off in Ohio and pick me up on the way back, but since ya not taking suitcases, got room on the roof. Joseph... Yep definatly gonna add some of your gr-granddads wheat to my wish list and think I'll skip on the blue potatoes since you don't like them and just grow your true potatoes instead. Them I know taste good. |
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| Star, glad to drop you off in Ohio but coming home would be tricky. I'll let you know when we make the trip again and np plants involved. Well, there are always some plants, just not always a car full! I got a few coral Balsam seeds from a friend today. I'm going to see if I can get more later. She has several plants so it shouldn't be a problem. |
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| Spaghetti squash recipe Cook squash in oven or microwave until soft and scoop out with fork, drizzle with olive oil and touch of salt. Topping: sauteed garlic, olive oil, caramelized onion, tomatoes, zucchini, frozen green Lima beans or butterbeans peppers or any veggies you want to use, including eggplant, but always use the frozen limas/butterbeans or whatever fresh beans you have. Fresh herbs like oregano and basil. This is better than just using spaghetti sauce out of the jar. Everyone but Joseph should try it. I don't think I've ever not liked a vegetable as long as it wasn't overcooked..it's all in the preparation. |
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