Lincolnite

Don’t get salmonella.

First garden ever and have enjoyed cucumbers, tomatoes, and peppers already.  The corn is just about ready too.

We’ve had several nice cucumbers, bell peppers, peas, and now our tomatoes are coming in. 

One question - what do you guys do with all of your cucumbers.  This is our first ever garden and we are getting overrun with the cucumbers.  Any good recipes on how to use them all?

My wife slices them really thin with a box shredder, puts dried onions, salt, pepper, and a bit of garlic on them.  Lets the salt leech the water out and then adds a bit of vinegar to them about 30 minutes later.  The cukes soak up the vinegar and they make a nice little side dish.

Or pawn them off on the peep at work who brought you the 10 zucchini 😉

i should snap a few pictures of my porch garden. today i accidentally knocked off one of my green peppers—it wasn’t quite ready yet, about half way there, but it was sure delicious in my southwestern scramble this morning for breakfast!

right now im harvesting 100’s of Thai chiles (from ONE plant); i have three habaneros that are increasing in size (1 plant); a few jalapenos (1 plant); about 20 cayennes (1 plant); then i have two tomato plants, one is an heirloom w/ medium sized fruits, only 3 tomatoes on that huge plant; and the other ‘mater plant is a cherry tomato, with about 5 tomatoes on it—that plant is about 4 foot tall.

sadly, my porch garden doesn’t seem to get enough light, even with the shelving units i created—all the plants get about 4-5 hours of direct sunlight.

the rest of my plants are herbs (basil, sage, parsley, mint, oregano, and catnip) and i can’t keep up with those plants. im literally pruning and not using the herbs… i love cooking w/ fresh herbs, that’s for sure!

im looking forward to canning lots of hot sauce this fall. so Mr. T, if you need to pitch a few of those habaneros, you can throw them at me :D

how do I know when my corn is ready?

Growing up on a farm, I’ve picked tons of sweet corn. It’s mostly a visual evaluation. Kernels should appear full. Silks exposed on the tip above the husks will be starting to dry. As long as it’s a yellow variety, pick it when kernels are light yellow. If you wait until they become a deeper yellow, the corn can be tough and probably won’t be quite as flavorful. I sometimes like it at that stage, though. If it’s a white candy corn variety, I’d mostly go by when the kernels look full and juicy.

Kandy corn it is.  Looked around and something that scares me is they say you have 72 hours to get it picked when it is ready.  I really need to check it over lunch.

Thanks for the tips.

Live dangerously, beerorkid. Wait 72.5 hours. And take photos.

😊

If he waits 72.5 hours, next thing you know, he’ll be swimming right after he eats and drinking milk right out of the carton. You’re leading him on a path of destruction…