Hey Fellow Floridians - Year 2

[efisakov]

I got my Dehydrator today and put it to good work. Experimenting already. Zucchini, peach, melon, and watermelon. Peach smells so good. It is store bought yellow peach.

[efisakov]

Originally Posted by ginger2778

I know! I feel sorry for my poor husband who has to bring in and lift every earthbox into the stand so I can replenish it., he does get to eat the great produce though!

It is a team work. You have a great partner.

[Fiishergurl]

Originally Posted by efisakov

I got my Dehydrator today and put it to good work. Experimenting already. Zucchini, peach, melon, and watermelon. Peach smells so good. It is store bought yellow peach.

Never thought about dehydrating zucchini or watermelon. Please let us know how they do and which ones are best.

Ginny

[ginger2778]

Originally Posted by efisakov

It is a team work. You have a great partner.

Thank you, and I agree, he is pretty special.

[Barb_FL]

Originally Posted by ginger2778

I know! I feel sorry for my poor husband who has to bring in and lift every earthbox into the stand so I can replenish it., he does get to eat the great produce though!

What a guy!!!! My DH would NEVER do that. I've been rolling them in the plastic bags but with my new ones I'm not buying the casters anymore. So I put the full EB (no water though) on the big blue dolly, rolled it over to where I wanted it and slid the bag into it - like putting on a slip. I thought I was very clever.

[ginger2778]

Originally Posted by efisakov

I got my Dehydrator today and put it to good work. Experimenting already. Zucchini, peach, melon, and watermelon. Peach smells so good. It is store bought yellow peach.

I think you will just fall more and more in love with it. It makes excellent fruit leathers out of pulverised fruit. Savory leathers too, your imagination is the limit. You need the silicon mats for that. They are cheaper on ebay than at the Excalibur site, so I suggest to shop around.

[efisakov]

How is every one doing after Hermine? Hope it was not to bad.

Reporting:
Watermelon and melon dried just fine, I was not sure they would. Taste pretty good, watermelon is a bit too sweet. Tomatoes are better that way. They are sweet and sour, perfect combination.

Peaches have an excellent taste but I got lazy and did not presoak them to prevent oxidation.

Zucchini dry the fastest. They are fine eating like that. Of cause, they are mild in taste. But would be great as chips for dipping. Envisioning them with home made fresh salsa. Have noticed, if they a bit too dry the skin makes them curl upwards a bit, making like scoops. Was wondering, if towards the end they can be helped to form into scoops even more.

Barb, I tasted raw zucchini for the first time this year. There are advertisements about making spaghetti looking like dish with raw zucchini. It was surprisingly good tasting. Nice crunchy taste. Of cause it was home grown, not store bought.

So excited about next year. Already thinking about all other foods I can dehydrate. Not that we spend too much time watching TV, still snacking at that time is a problem. Making healthy and tasty snacks is in my mind. The once you are not afraid to indulge in.

Both me and my DH are good cooks and do not eat out too often. Not that we can not afford it. The food we make is so much tastier and we can make it healthier as well. Plus we love doing that. And as many agreed, the taste of home made dehydrated mangos (thank you Marsha) are the best.

Marsha, I was looking at the silicon mats on ebay already. The best price was about 10 bucks per mat or so. Is that a good price? How many would you suggest is enough for your experience? 3, 5?

[Fiishergurl]

Ella those look so good! Thank you for the report. I am not such a good cook, but I am a good prep cook and my husband is a good cook. We also mostly cook at home because it is so much better and healthier and in a lot of cases fresher.

I really learn something new every time I check this thread.

Ginny

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[Fiishergurl]

Originally Posted by Barb_FL

Ginny - here you go:

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/214893/...-tomato-salsa/


---
Ginger - Sorry about poor spelling. It really is dynamite; Do you want me to send you seeds now or keep one of the plants I bring.

You will be busy with all that sowing / labeling.

I also have Enjoya seeds that I got in the mail while away. I started them on Saturday with the paper towel method and on 8/30 put them in mix and some have popped through. Hopefully, they produce striped peppers.

--
Kay - Awhile back you posted about adding Bone Meal to mix when leaves (pepper) are tight/curly. ALL of the leaves on every Jimmy Nardello seedling are leathery/tight not at all like the ghost peppers which are growing right next to them. The Ghosts are all bushy. The stems on the Jimmy N. are nice and green so they are not actively dying. Any ideas?

Also - Is there a favorite Bone Meal to buy?

Thank you Barb! Tomorrow is going to be rainy from the hurricane so will be a good day to turn all the tomatoes in the freezer into sauce to freeze so it doesnt take up as much space to get home.

Thanks again.

Ginny

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[Barb_FL]

Ginny - here is the recipe with the honey and carrots for the sauce...yum.

http://wellnessmama.com/8907/pasta-sauce/

[ginger2778]

Finished sowing all my tomato and sunflower seeds. What a job- glad its only once per year.

Barb, maybe I can keep one of your pepper plants sice you will be bringing them, very considerate of you. I am so excited to see you again.

Others here, you are all welcome to come for the swap. No hard feelings if you dont either.This year there will be several Tvillers as well as the local garden club, master gardener, community garden folks. I think if I get good germination, I am going to have close to 450 tomato plants, lol.

[Zone9b]

My Summer Heat Garden is coming to an end as space in beds and containers is needed for the Fall Garden. I was pleasantly surprised at what I got in return for not much effort or expense. I thank my friends here on Tomatoville for their suggestions, some of which I will be trying next season on a new and larger Summer Heat Garden II (the sequel). I especially liked the Astro Arugula which was a big producer and just doesn't give up, it just keeps pumping out nice sized roundish leaves. I only had 4 Okra plants but they require being picked everyday. Very productive. Next year I will go with Stewart’s Zeebest Heirloom Okra variety, which gets great reviews and is said to produce 7 inch pods which are tender, thus possibly relieving one of the the task of picking every single day.
Also the Midnight Red Amaranth (pretty plant) and the Tatsoi (mustard which looks like bok choy but without the stalk) both did well.
However it is the Arugula and Okra that I have and continue to eat a boat load of, i.e. every day.
After these plants came up all I did was water them, and give them very very little fertilizer.
My kind of garden.
Larry

[efisakov]

Larry, I looked up Stewart’s Zeebest Heirloom Okra. Wow, it can grow to 8 feet tall. Really unique plant. Thanks for sharing this info.

Marsha, 450 tomato plants? I understand if someone has a farm and grow that many seedlings. You must be exhausted.

[GrowingCoastal]

Originally Posted by Zone9b

However it is the Arugula and Okra that I have and continue to eat a boat load of, i.e. every day.

Larry

Where is all the okra? Is there a problem with growing it or is there not enough to ship north? I cannot find okra, not even canned, in any store I look in around here. I did find some 'fresh' but it turned moldy overnight in the fridge. It's as much of a mystery to shop keepers as it is to me. I don't use a lot of it but miss the flavour it gives. It is too cool for it to do well here on this coast. This year, not even one plant survived.

[Fiishergurl]

Originally Posted by Zone9b

My Summer Heat Garden is coming to an end as space in beds and containers is needed for the Fall Garden. I was pleasantly surprised at what I got in return for not much effort or expense. I thank my friends here on Tomatoville for their suggestions, some of which I will be trying next season on a new and larger Summer Heat Garden II (the sequel). I especially liked the Astro Arugula which was a big producer and just doesn't give up, it just keeps pumping out nice sized roundish leaves. I only had 4 Okra plants but they require being picked everyday. Very productive. Next year I will go with Stewart’s Zeebest Heirloom Okra variety, which gets great reviews and is said to produce 7 inch pods which are tender, thus possibly relieving one of the the task of picking every single day.
Also the Midnight Red Amaranth (pretty plant) and the Tatsoi (mustard which looks like bok choy but without the stalk) both did well.
However it is the Arugula and Okra that I have and continue to eat a boat load of, i.e. every day.
After these plants came up all I did was water them, and give them very very little fertilizer.
My kind of garden.
Larry

Larry,

Nice update. Glad to hear it all grew well and looking forward to the next trials. I am going to look up that arugula you mentioned.

Ginny