# anyone here into edible gardening?



## franzb69 (Mar 2, 2013)

like herbs and vegetables?

=D

i grow stuff from time to time.....


i'll start:

purple borlotto beans







thyme seedlings






french bean seedling






soy beans/edamame






chervil






artichoke seedlings






=D


----------



## Notaskinnychef (Mar 2, 2013)

nice crop


----------



## franzb69 (Mar 2, 2013)

thanks. i have a whole backyard to myself. but lately i've been lazy tending to my plants so i kinda let the whole place go. and i've been starting to get back into it.


----------



## Mingooch (Mar 2, 2013)

Just do a small garden in the back, 7 tomato plants, 5 pepper plants, basil, cilantro


----------



## franzb69 (Mar 2, 2013)

i got a couple of rows dedicated for edible gardening. i'll do pictures when i got stuff actually worth showing. =D


----------



## Duckfat (Mar 2, 2013)

I've had a small herb garden for many years. I grow also grow heirloom maters in pots on the patio every year.


----------



## franzb69 (Mar 2, 2013)

i got tons of heirloom tomato seeds bought and traded from gardening forums, but i just can't seem to grow them right. i've had more sucess with growing peppers and eggplants. would love tomatoes grown right.... heirloom tomatoes are mighty tasty and a great big middle finger to monsanto that's already getting its evil hand into our agriculture.


----------



## Lucretia (Mar 2, 2013)

A few tomatoes. And it's time to start some seeds! Sungold cherry tomoatoes for sure, not sure which other kind. :bliss: Long season tomatoes can be kind of questionable grown here, the cherries do better. Some blueberry bushes stuck here and there, although they haven't done much other than have pretty leaves in the fall. LOTS of Chives. Started with one clump, and they are taking over. I might try making some rose petal jam this year. Lots of extremely fragrant, very colorful old old garden roses to try it with.

+1 to giving Monsanto the finger.


----------



## franzb69 (Mar 2, 2013)

> +1 to giving Monsanto the finger.



they already introduced GMO rice here. and rice is our life blood! this cannot continue!

there's a huge movement of organic produce here that's already steadily growing. but then also a huge demand for more "conventional" and industrial food production so ahh well.

only thing monsanto can't do to us is sue the hell out of the farmers since they can't even afford to grow their own produce as it stands. so there's no money to be made here monsanto!

=p


i've only been gardening for close to three years so... compared to knowing knives and other stuff.... this takes longer to learn..... patience is the one thing i got from all of this. which is awesome. didn't have a lot of that when i started out.


----------



## WildBoar (Mar 2, 2013)

My wife is really into it, and I am the support staff. Usually have about 30 tomato plants, a dozen or so pepper plants, some squash, green beans and cucumbers. Some years she also tries lettuces, chives, etc. We have a pretty big herb garden going, with various basils, thymes, oreganos, rosemary, etc.

She usually has tomatoes and peppers sprouting from seeds by this time of year, but the new baby means we will likely wait and buy a bunch of established plants in late spring.


----------



## franzb69 (Mar 2, 2013)

good luck with that wildboar. grats on the new baby! =D

gardening, cooking, and sharpening my knives are my means to keep me sane. stuff going on in life takes a toll on a person. without these things i'd be more than likely in a straight jacket high on antipsychotics without it.

it's so very zen when you get into a routine of familiar motions such as cutting through veg, sharpening or digging, separating seedlings out, mixing up soil and digging up stuff. almost like meditation. nothing like it.


----------



## convis (Mar 2, 2013)

This is the first year i have not had a garden in 7 years... moving sucks.
The last 2 years my brother and i have slowly expanded to 2 plots.
Usually grow a few kinds of carrots, some garlic and onions, lots of kale, tomatos, arugula, eggplants, hungarian wax and jalapenos, green beans, peas, few kinds of heirloom beets and eggplants, squash. tons of herb varietals...
We also have a small 10 tree orchard on the property as well as a few pear trees and one huge cherry.
Lucky enough to have friends that are professional farmers and consultants to help us succeed.
ill post some pics later.


----------



## Duckfat (Mar 2, 2013)

franzb69 said:


> only thing monsanto can't do to us is sue the hell out of the farmers since they can't even afford to grow their own produce as it stands. so there's no money to be made here monsanto!



That hasn't stopped Monsanto before. They just put the poor ones out of business.


----------



## Lucretia (Mar 2, 2013)

deleted


----------



## stereo.pete (Mar 2, 2013)

What about edible underwear?


----------



## PierreRodrigue (Mar 2, 2013)

We grow potatoes, carrots, beets, rutabaga, strawberries. I want to plant some chives, and a few herbs as well. Likely do them in pots on the deck. Tomatoes I love to grow, but they are fickle here. I need a little hothouse.


----------



## Lefty (Mar 2, 2013)

Just some herbs. We steal from my in-laws for tomatoes, lettuce, etc. 

You guys should definitely plant onions, garlic an anything in the allium family. They are edible, of course, but the flowers are unreal - huge, bright purples and pinks, that last for a while. There, I'm tapped out.


----------



## SpikeC (Mar 2, 2013)

There are some tomatoes that do well in northern climes. Look for Siberian varieties aand there is one that the US Air Force developed for growing in Greenland that I had one year that was pretty good.


----------



## SpikeC (Mar 2, 2013)

I have a couple of raised beds in the back yard, butt growing things in them has become a challenge. The 2 young boy dogs are very inventive when it omes to defeating anti-digging measures.


----------



## Mike9 (Mar 2, 2013)

We grow a good variety of veg every summer and the deer are the biggest problem. We have two fenced in gardens and one that is not. I grow more herbs in that one, but something is always on the basil at some point. When I retire I'll have time to be more serious about it unless the guitar/amp repair thing takes off - who knows? I do want to fish & hunt more however as I have little time for that during the work seasons.


----------



## SpikeC (Mar 2, 2013)

The boyz just dug up the oregano.:eyebrow:


----------



## PierreRodrigue (Mar 2, 2013)

SpikeC said:


> There are some tomatoes that do well in northern climes. Look for Siberian varieties aand there is one that the US Air Force developed for growing in Greenland that I had one year that was pretty good.


 Any idea where to source seeds or names on variety's?


----------



## SpikeC (Mar 2, 2013)

I found them at the Yuppie Bastard nurseries here in Portland, and I don't remember what the names of the varieties were. 
I suspect that a properly worded Google search would turn up something, though.


----------



## franzb69 (Mar 2, 2013)

> Any idea where to source seeds or names on variety's?



try the tomatoville forum. they're more than willing to trade or sell for varieties. and you're sure to find tomato maniacs out there as much as we are knife nuts.

they have all kinds of seeds being traded around.... even give away seed for people to test.

super rare heirlooms, climate specific ones, gmo free hybrids, recent discoveries, etc.! 

thems are good peoples

=D


----------



## mkmk (Mar 3, 2013)

I'm in central Texas, and most of my tomatoes are already in the ground. I've been eating lettuces and greens all winter, and fennel and beets for the past couple of weeks. Sugar snaps are a foot high, and just planted beans. Parsley, cilantro, rosemary, thyme, mint, tarragon, and oregano, too. 

This is what things will look like by early May:






Of course, by August, things will be pretty bleak!


----------



## franzb69 (Mar 4, 2013)

now that garden is something i would certainly be supremely proud of! nothing close to what i have. lol.


----------



## Dream Burls (Mar 4, 2013)

We have a place up in Dutchess County, so the vegetable garden my wife tends is only active for the spring and summer. Her mainstay are tomatoes of various kinds, cucumbers (the best I've ever tasted) squash, zucchini, lettuce and herbs of all kinds. Deer are keep at bay with a perimeter 7' fence and the garden has its own 5' fence for the smaller critters. Her biggest chore is keeping it weeded.


----------



## franzb69 (Mar 4, 2013)

i'm surprised with the fact that it's taken two years to even bring this topic up even if this place is about knives and cooking. =D


----------



## Lucretia (Mar 4, 2013)

mkmk, that is a BEAUTIFUL garden! 

I need to grow garlic again. Tried it one year and was amazed by the difference in home grown--almost like an apple in texture, it was so crisp and juicy. And the flavor....:drool:


----------



## Lucretia (Mar 4, 2013)

SpikeC said:


> The boyz just dug up the oregano.:eyebrow:



I bet they smell good, tho!


----------



## Salty dog (Mar 4, 2013)

Yes. 24 4x10 raised beds.


----------



## Lefty (Mar 4, 2013)

Nice! 

Has anyone heard of dog hair deterring deer from eating your bulbs, etc? I was told it works, but have no need to try it since I live in suburbia.


----------



## Salty dog (Mar 4, 2013)

Don't get me started on Monsanto. And yes, they do sue farmers, if they don't plant all of their seed or return it. And there's the ever popular soy bean that's resistant to weed killer. Yum. 

Wisconsin produces the most soy beans in the country. (Hello Kikoman) There's soy bean fields down the street and when the crop dusters come in I hide.

P.S. Better than corn, cops can hide in the corn.


----------



## Salty dog (Mar 4, 2013)

Lefty said:


> Nice!
> 
> Has anyone heard of dog hair deterring deer from eating your bulbs, etc? I was told it works, but have no need to try it since I live in suburbia.



Doubt it. My biggest struggle is with critters. At any one time I have 3 dogs and a cat that prowls. I'd shoot the bastages but I have a rule about that kind of thing. (mice, rats, coyotes and cockroaches are the exception)

I guess I should have said people to.


----------



## Duckfat (Mar 4, 2013)

Wow nice Gardens Mkmk and Salty. I wish I had that much room in my back yard. Last year I started growing Jalapenos and pickling them. Super easy to grow and they take very little space. Most of the gardens I planted I was trying to attract deer not keep them away!


----------



## Salty dog (Mar 4, 2013)

Mine's not so pretty. If I had more time I'd like to spruce it up and show it off to the customers.


----------



## TheNewMexican (Mar 4, 2013)

We grow quite a few vegetables, namely cucumbers, onions, carrots, beets, green beans, hot peppers / chiles (around 10 varieties) and tomatoes. We planted some fruit trees 3 years ago and they are doing well! Got about half a bushel of apricots, a few buckets of figs and a couple of pears.

I agree with those who have posted before, gardening keeps a person grounded.:eyebrow:



Vegetables and green tomatoes









Figs









Baby Carrots









We even grow a few baby turtles / desert tortoises. Just kidding, they came with the place.......









Saludes,

The New Mexican


----------



## eshua (Mar 4, 2013)

Lots **** to rip out,but this was the first year. 

Before it was all covered in ****** buck thorn. Now to do more raised beds, but even dirt is expensive on a cooks salary.

I have the 30x40 community garden across the street as well because the city forgot they have no water source, so I take care of it.


----------



## eshua (Mar 4, 2013)

After everything starts to die off I get a fall run of red mustard mizuna and spinach.


----------



## Salty dog (Mar 4, 2013)

nice sweater.


----------



## eshua (Mar 4, 2013)

Looks better in a muscle shirt than I do.


----------



## Dream Burls (Mar 4, 2013)

Lefty said:


> Nice!
> 
> Has anyone heard of dog hair deterring deer from eating your bulbs, etc? I was told it works, but have no need to try it since I live in suburbia.



Before we put up our fencing we trying just about everything including different animal urines. Never tried dog hair though. I can tell you that when deer are hungry enough nothing will deter them and they'll eat just about anything.


----------



## franzb69 (Mar 4, 2013)

nice to see more people posting. great lookin gardens. am so jealous. the soil in my garden is just dead. been trying to build it up for years. no success yet.


----------



## Salty dog (Mar 5, 2013)

That's a problem I have. Been composting for a couple years trying to build up the soil. It's an organic garden. Currently we're limited in what we can plant. Not such a big deal since we hooked up with the organic farmer down the road. (And the pig farm is just down the road from there. Being in the sticks has it's advantages.)


----------



## franzb69 (Mar 5, 2013)

at least you have access to someone that knows his stuff and pig poo (assuming the pigs aren't diseased or anything).....

i'm actually thinking of doing aquaponics instead. might be easier for me and my back.


----------



## Dream Burls (Mar 5, 2013)

We use something called Moo Doo. Gotta love those marketers.


----------



## Paradox (Mar 5, 2013)

I love to garden. Strictly edible. I even make and sell cedar raised beds for a living here in the Seattle area.


----------



## Lucretia (Mar 5, 2013)

Had some saffron that we grew last night (and it was good!) The saffron crocus's spring-blooming cousins are in bloom right now. Even if they aren't edible, the bees love them, so they're good for honey production. (If you look there's a big fat bumble bee in the middle of the photo. The first one we've seen this year.)

​


----------



## franzb69 (Mar 5, 2013)

would love to be able to grow saffron here. kinda hard importing whole live bulbs into the country. would love to try though.


----------



## sachem allison (Mar 6, 2013)

I posted this awhile back. It's not purely edible but, about 50 percent edible and 100% medicinal. This is just my mothers front yard. The backyard contains mi fathers vegetable garden and many more plants.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8ggEVRpPJ0



Mom's front yard

I thought you guys my get a kick out of my mom's front yard. My parents live in Southern California, El Toro, actually. My mother is Vietnamese and we think subconsciously she is trying to recreate Vietnam. This is just the entrance to the front yard mind you. The part before the gate is the street view and as we walk past the gate you will see a pond filled with water hyacinths. My father and I built that when we first moved into the house in 88" it's about 1500 gallons and three feet deep at the deepest. As you walk over the stone bridge you pass by the waterfall and head into the house. The front yard is full of fruit trees (papayas, mangos, persimmons, longan, litchii, sapotes, donut peaches, white nectarines , many kinds of bananas, guavas, kumquats and the large canopy tree is a cherimoya that puts out 2+ kilo fruit. She is one of the few people in the California that grows pineapples consistently. You can't even fathom what is going on in the back yard. Between the hundreds of varieties of orchids, epiphyllums, 40 different fruit trees and literally 20,000 plus plants, 2 ponds, 1 waterfall, five shade houses, 20 hummingbird and dove nest throughout the yard and dozens of exotic amphibian species that just showed up with the plants. Not to mention the racoons, possums, great blue heron, egrets, hawks and what appears to be a wild family of four wild long tailed weasels that have taken up residents. The ponds were filled with very large and rare species of koi that we raised from goldfish size to 24in before the 4 damn 65 pound raccoons and heron ate them all. We had 2 dozen in the 12 in to 24 in range. Now we just have goldfish, salamanders, turtles and giant apple snails. Hope you guys like it. 

What!!!


----------



## kalaeb (Mar 6, 2013)

Lefty said:


> Nice!
> 
> Has anyone heard of dog hair deterring deer from eating your bulbs, etc? I was told it works, but have no need to try it since I live in suburbia.



The only thing I have seen deter deer at our place is a dog. 

We used to have a few raised gardens for spinach and tomatoes. They have since been converted for raspberries.


----------



## pumbaa (Mar 6, 2013)

I am going to try again this year with gardening. I own a townhouse so I don't really have a ton of room to garden so most of mine has to be done with planters so herbs and smaller things work not sure about anything else. Anyone got any good stuff that grows well in planters?


----------



## franzb69 (Mar 6, 2013)

depends on the size of planters. bush beans, determinate tomatoes, hot peppers in 5 gallon pots (for max yield, but can get away with 3 gallon ones), edible flowers like nasturtiums, lettuce, radish, carrots, celery, spring onions, strawberries.... even lemon, calamansi, kaffir lime, key lime, peaches.... in large pots.


----------



## 77kath (Mar 6, 2013)

Greens: chard, sorrel, arugula, lemon grass


----------



## pumbaa (Mar 6, 2013)

the pots are 3 gallon stone pots.they cant hold a bunch the only things ive ever been successful with is basil, chives, thyme, cayenne peppers, jalapenos, and cherry tomatoes. but thats i will look into all of those. one another note my fiancees lilly grows back every year but i found a spot in the ground for it. this thing has gotten huge its like 4 feet tall now.


----------



## franzb69 (Mar 6, 2013)

look into growing vertically if space is an issue =D


----------



## pumbaa (Mar 6, 2013)

my hoa is a pain in the ass so i have to find a place to grow veggies and such so i put the planters behind the bush in front of my porch so you cant see them from the road.


----------



## DeepCSweede (Mar 6, 2013)

I have never seen a deer within 50 yards of our fence with 4 dogs as a deterrent. I only use natural bug deterrents too and it seems that they have built up a liking for hot peppers as they have even eaten into plants covered with those the last few years.

I have a 18x30 garden with about 10 various tomato plants 4-5 peppers a couple of hot peppers (depends on the year and what I am in the mood to grow), 3-4 cucumbers, string beans, chives, parsley, cilantro, squash and various greens. Our soil is very clay heavy river bed type soil so potatoes, onions, carrots, parsnips have all done extremely poorly so I have given up on those.


----------



## Duckfat (Mar 6, 2013)

pumbaa said:


> I am going to try again this year with gardening. I own a townhouse so I don't really have a ton of room to garden so most of mine has to be done with planters so herbs and smaller things work not sure about anything else. Anyone got any good stuff that grows well in planters?



Lettuce like Mesclun works really well in very small planters and you get a nice product that regenerates a few times. Herbs as well.


----------



## Lucretia (Mar 6, 2013)

I am hoping to have time soon to do a little more vegetable gardening. Our biggest problem is that we have 2 drainfields in the yard--ours and our next door neighbor's, so it really cuts down on the plantable space. I'm thinking about getting some tables to sit out on the drainfield and start some veggies in pots. A couple added advantages are being able to garden without stooping or squatting, and I could wrap the table legs with copper strips to deter the slugs. For plants that like warm feet it would also get them up off the chilly ground.


----------



## franzb69 (Mar 6, 2013)

> A couple added advantages are being able to garden without stooping or squatting



i always get a small stool for me to sit on before i start playing around in the dirt (as i would call it). me and my bad back!


----------



## Lucretia (Mar 7, 2013)

I hear you about the bad back! We're on glacial till--horrible stuff to dig. There are rocks, rocklike clay, and some more rocks. When we moved here before I started digging I looked like this:






Now after of few year of digging rocks:


----------



## franzb69 (Mar 7, 2013)

> Now after of few year of digging rocks:



i started out looking like that, i only got worse =D


----------



## franzb69 (Mar 7, 2013)

just some trees i have in the garden

lemon tree







kaffir lime






calamansi / calamondin






these trees i planted, my family has a few other like a couple mango trees, jambul / black plum / duhat / java plum, my tamarind tree died (dunno why)....


----------



## Mrmnms (Mar 7, 2013)

Great shots from half way around the world. Waiting for the snow to start again. No garden for another month or so.


----------



## Craig (Mar 8, 2013)

I envy you people in warmer climes. The growing season is so limited in Canada, and you really can't grow a lot of things. I would drink so much gin if I could grow my own limes, for example.

Last year I was in an apartment, so all I had was potted plants. This year I moved into a house, so I'll have space for real veggies. Here's last year:






Basil:






Parsley, Oregano, Thyme are in the background on the left. Tarragon and Rosemary on the right. This was early in the season, so the new shoots were starting to pop up among the old. A month or so later it was bushy and amazing, but I don't have pictures of that.

Chinese 5 colour peppers,all still on colour 1. The one in the middle is just starting to turn:






Early Jalapenos, some are close to ready to harvest:






A couple of cherry tomato plants in the back. One was a red, the other a black. Black cherries are nice, but they don't have a yield like I expect from tomato plants. Which is actually kinda nice, if you normally drown in tomatoes.


----------



## Craig (Mar 8, 2013)

I'm eagerly awaiting this spring, as I'll be putting in a garden where there was no garden before. The fiancee has given me the green light to rip up half the back yard, which is currently all grass. I'll have to tear it all up, then stir up the soil a good bit and probably fertilize somehow. I don't even know what kind of soil I've got and I don't really (at all) know what I'm doing. It's going to be so much fun.

edit: Until the raccoons show up and ruin it, of course.


----------



## franzb69 (Mar 8, 2013)

i envy you guys that you can grow the kind of herbs and vegetables i wanna grow. lol. and access to all that organic this and that to grow with. there aren't any organic pesticides here, just have to make your own and get creative if you wanna be completely organic.



> I'm eagerly awaiting this spring, as I'll be putting in a garden where there was no garden before. The fiancee has given me the green light to rip up half the back yard, which is currently all grass. I'll have to tear it all up, then stir up the soil a good bit and probably fertilize somehow. I don't even know what kind of soil I've got and I don't really (at all) know what I'm doing. It's going to be so much fun.



from what i've learned from youtubers out there who love to garden, you can have your soil tested. find out what kind of pH it is, what kind of soil it is, what it lacks and what needs to be added to. and then you can go to your local office and ask about what varieties grow well within your area. you could look out for heirloom varieties that grow well for you so you can save the seeds and grow them the next year if you so choose. if you have access to compost, compost is the best stuff you can use. used coffee grinds, dolomitic lime, glacial rock dust, etc.

this stuff i can't do since i don't have access to that sort of stuff. heirloom varieties here have almost but disappeared except for a few people who stick to what they know and do well.

i have a b!tch of a time trying to grow herbs. well, herbs that seems to hate to grow here. like thyme, rosemary, western / european stuff. i don't really like eating or growing stuff that's local since it's all the same old boring stuff for me. i like having stuff that are hard to find.


----------



## Craig (Mar 8, 2013)

Part of the plan for the spring involves putting in a composter and rain barrel. To start with, I'll have to use purchased compost.

I've heard of the soil tests, but I honestly don't think I'll bother. I should be able to spot what type of soil I've got by eye, and from there I should be good.


----------



## Lucretia (Mar 8, 2013)

If you live near a Starbucks, they will give you used coffee grounds for your compost pile. They call it "Grounds for Gardeners". I don't drink Starbucks, but I get grounds pretty regularly. It'll really get your compost perking!


----------



## Craig (Mar 8, 2013)

Lucretia said:


> If you live near a Starbucks, they will give you used coffee grounds for your compost pile. They call it "Grounds for Gardeners". I don't drink Starbucks, but I get grounds pretty regularly. It'll really get your compost perking!



That's good to know, thanks.


----------



## franzb69 (Mar 8, 2013)

i ask for coffee grounds from starbucks all the time. i ask for the whole bag. hehe.


----------



## [email protected] (Mar 9, 2013)

I love edible gardening! it's so exciting and rewarding. we tried tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants, pimans, and shishito peppers last year. I really want to try some herbs, strawberries, carrots, turnips.... but when i actually have a garden/backyard, my first choices will be sweet potatoes, corns, potatoes, peach trees, cherry trees, water melons, and some awesome herbs.


----------



## Dream Burls (Mar 10, 2013)

Craig said:


> I've heard of the soil tests, but I honestly don't think I'll bother. I should be able to spot what type of soil I've got by eye, and from there I should be good.



This may not be such a good idea. Soil tests show the chemical composition, something you can't see with the eye. Based on the chemical composition you can find out what supplements you need to add to have a better soil.


----------



## Duckfat (Mar 10, 2013)

Soil tests are essential for any garden that is larger than a planter box. With out soil tests even Rye and Brassica can be hard to grow. You can tell what type of soil you have by eye but certainly not the composition. Soil tests are not expensive and you can get them done through several State Universities with Ag programs like Michingan State. Any one else have a tractor?


----------



## SpikeC (Mar 10, 2013)

Show off!


----------



## Craig (Mar 11, 2013)

People have gardened for thousands of years without soil tests. You need them if you want to maximize yields, but I'm just doing it for fun. Chemistry isn't fun.


----------



## Duckfat (Mar 11, 2013)

It's not a lot of fun when nothing grows well either. If your turning a new garden just dumping fertilizer and compost may work, it might also make things worse. A soil sample is uber easy. Just scoop up some of your soil and send it in along with a list of what you want to grow. You'll get back a breakdown of your soil and what you need to add. It doesn't have to be overly complex. Just take your test result to the garden center your going to buy supplies from and give them the measurements for the area you are working with and then they will be able to tell you what fertlizer and how much. Saves a lot of time, $$$ and frustration. IIR a test here is about $20.


----------



## mkmk (Mar 11, 2013)

Craig said:


> People have gardened for thousands of years without soil tests. You need them if you want to maximize yields, but I'm just doing it for fun. *Chemistry isn't fun.*



Do you cook?


----------



## franzb69 (Mar 11, 2013)

> Do you cook?



oh don't get that started. that's another long stemmed debate on using exact amounts and "winging it"


----------



## Lucretia (Mar 11, 2013)

Craig said:


> Chemistry isn't fun.



Yes it is. So is math.


----------



## mkmk (Mar 12, 2013)

franzb69 said:


> oh don't get that started. that's another long stemmed debate on using exact amounts and "winging it"



Oh, I cook more by feel than by a kitchen scale -- but either way, it's most definitely chemistry.


----------



## franzb69 (Mar 12, 2013)

> Oh, I cook more by feel than by a kitchen scale -- but either way, it's most definitely chemistry.



okay i can agree with you on that. just unmeasured and less scientific chemistry. =D


----------



## Craig (Mar 12, 2013)

mkmk said:


> Oh, I cook more by feel than by a kitchen scale -- but either way, it's most definitely chemistry.



Not that this was a point that ever needed making (I mean seriously, do you honestly think soil samples and baking bread are the same thing?) but cooking in the vast majority of cases is not actually chemistry. Chemistry is the study of the composition, properties and behavior of matter. Cooking is almost never that, especially for a home chef like me. Cooking is the application of that science, which would make it a form of engineering.


----------



## mkmk (Mar 12, 2013)

My point is that one can be a much better cook if you actually have some basic understanding of why an egg thickens in the presence of heat and acid, or why a yam roasted at high temp is not as sweet as one done at a lower temp. Being a good cook is not just a matter of following a list of instructions, since things go sideways very quickly. That doesn't mean that you need to have an electron microscope in the kitchen -- but a little understanding of the chemistry involved is invaluable. 

There are multiple paths to those insights, of course. In my garden, I've been at it long enough that I can tell a lot about the soil without sending it to a lab. If I were starting someplace new, I'd probably go ahead and get a test.


----------



## boomchakabowwow (Mar 12, 2013)

i'm into it. 

mostly tomatoes since we learned how to can them. and peppers! this year, i am giving away homemade hotsauce as holiday gifts.

then i grow chinese bitter melons and winter melons in the annual melon size contest against my mom. my stepdad just passed, so she may opt out this year....hopefully, she is game on next year!!


----------



## Duckfat (Mar 12, 2013)

Salty dog said:


> Yes. 24 4x10 raised beds.




Salty is that behind the restaurant? If you ever make it to ME you should stop by Arrows. They've gone a very similar route and you can wonder the gardens. Food was pretty darn good as well (foie gras slider was awesome). They have a small page about the garden on their web site. 
Last year I started growing and pickling Jalapenos. Super easy and they take very little space. I always grow Pablanos in pots as well then smoke them on the BGE before freezing.

http://www.arrowsrestaurant.com/garden.cfm


----------



## franzb69 (May 23, 2013)

anyone here do worm farms? vermiculture? i've recently been getting into it and would want to get some advice.

thanks

=D


----------



## maxim (Jul 9, 2013)

Now where i am not chef anymore i have time for my garden  But still lazy gardening


----------



## boomchakabowwow (Jul 10, 2013)

chili peppers. do the pods get hotter as the season progresses?

i just made some mexican shrimp cocktail from my garden. four tiny jalapenos made the stuff HOT!! i now have a roll of toilet paper stored in the freezer, just in case.


----------



## Mucho Bocho (Jul 10, 2013)

Looks great Maxim! Can never have enough fresh herbs!


----------

