Odd things you do!

I will always remember the story of the lady who trimmed the ends off pot roasts before cooking because her mother had and her grandmother had. One day she asked her grandmother why she always trimmed the roast ends. Her grandmother replied "Aw honey, I always did that so the roast would fit in my pot"

I was watching a show on television this morning named "Pati's Mexican Kitchen" In the program, Pati was preparing a salad and removed the ends from a cucumber. She then rubbed the cut ends on the opposing ends of the cucumber. She said she doesn't know how it works, but her grandmother and mother always did it and the cucumber is never bitter. I seem to remember someone mentioning that trick on this forum.

I'm wondering how many little tricks are out there that people use in the garden or in preparation of their garden bounty in the kitchen. It seems to me, the best, or most interesting; tricks have no scientific basis in fact, but we do them because a friend or an ancestor showed us the trick. What are some of yours?

Ted

[ddsack]

I read somewhere that if you put a couple of pieces of cut potato into the water when you soak dry beans for cooking, they won't give you as much gas! I think I tried this once, though it didn't really make any sense to me. Can't say as it made any difference.

[kurt]

I grow in containers here in Fl.When I visit my brother in law up in Pa during his growing season he waits till his mater plants get about 3-4 foot then lays them over real slow puts soil inbetween the suckers and other branch outs and low and behold ends up with 3-5 plants instead of one.Never ceases to amaze me.He calls it trench planting.

Originally Posted by ddsack

I read somewhere that if you put a couple of pieces of cut potato into the water when you soak dry beans for cooking, they won't give you as much gas! I think I tried this once, though it didn't really make any sense to me. Can't say as it made any difference.

I was always told if you soak the beans overnight and throw out the soaking water in the morning and cook the beans with fresh water, you want get gas. It doesn't work either. I'm still feeling the effects of some pinto beans and smoked ham hock I cooked earlier this week.

Ted

Originally Posted by kurt

I grow in containers here in Fl.When I visit my brother in law up in Pa during his growing season he waits till his mater plants get about 3-4 foot then lays them over real slow puts soil inbetween the suckers and other branch outs and low and behold ends up with 3-5 plants instead of one.Never ceases to amaze me.He calls it trench planting.

Trench planting has worked for me when planting tall, leggy plants. I've never tried the method to produce more plants, but I am sure it will work due to the growth and rooting nature of tomatoes. Instead of trench planting, I plant them really deep and I believe I get equal or better results than trench planting.

Ted

[Redbaron]

Originally Posted by tedln

Trench planting has worked for me when planting tall, leggy plants. I've never tried the method to produce more plants, but I am sure it will work due to the growth and rooting nature of tomatoes. Instead of trench planting, I plant them really deep and I believe I get equal or better results than trench planting.

Ted

Trench planting does work. I even experimented a little with it this year. But in general I usually just go ahead and plant those extra plants as seedlings. While it works and has certain advantages, I generally don't plan on it.

For example, this year I used it on only one plant. When a gopher burrowed under a tomato plant nearly killing it, I simply took 3 or 4 of the branches and laid them on the ground in a shallow trench I dug after pulling away the mulch. Then I covered with soil, a layer of paper and mulch again. The whole plant regenerated after doing this, even the original main shoot which wasn't "trenched". So it worked, but I certainly didn't plan on the gophers damage. It was just my solution to that damage.