The frost a week or so ago killed all the eggplant and pepper plants. The peppers that were on the plants were soggy. The eggplants were planted elsewhere and did not receive any attention. When the plants were pulled off Saturday, there were a lot of eggplants still on them. They appeared to be firm, so they were picked and taken inside. They wound up in eggplant parmesan Monday night and were delicious.
The eggplant parmesan was served on a bed of arugula, which was wonderful and accompanied by a side salad featuring mesclun, arugula, radishes and onions from the garden. Just because the winter comes does not mean the garden won’t feed the gardener.
Once again the perfect garden is being planted in my head. Learning the lessons from the summer, most of which are positive this year is important in planning the garden and the choice of plants to start in the greenhouse.
David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://davidsegrest.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/
Showing posts with label egg plants. Show all posts
Showing posts with label egg plants. Show all posts
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Dead Cucumber Vines
None of the cucumbers are producing much of anything. One row finally died except for one plant. They were pulled off this weekend and disposed of in the trash can rather than the compost pile. A new row was planted in another bed. Cucumbers are a favorite vegetable from the garden. It is painful not to have any.
Every year new lessons are learned from experience. The raised beds were started several years ago. One of the mistakes that were made at that time was to make several beds in each row. The thirty inches between the beds is just wasted and things grow over the space so that it really is not good for navigation. Also some of the beds were 3’ wide and some are 4’. The 4’ wide beds hold more and will be more efficient. This winter’s project will be to start the reconstruction of the beds to make them the same length as the row and all of them will be 4’ wide.
The eggplants are finally producing. The potato bag was emptied. There were not a lot of potatoes, but for the space and effort invested the yield was acceptable. The dirt will be improved next year and hopefully the yield will increase.
David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://davidsegrest.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/
Every year new lessons are learned from experience. The raised beds were started several years ago. One of the mistakes that were made at that time was to make several beds in each row. The thirty inches between the beds is just wasted and things grow over the space so that it really is not good for navigation. Also some of the beds were 3’ wide and some are 4’. The 4’ wide beds hold more and will be more efficient. This winter’s project will be to start the reconstruction of the beds to make them the same length as the row and all of them will be 4’ wide.
The eggplants are finally producing. The potato bag was emptied. There were not a lot of potatoes, but for the space and effort invested the yield was acceptable. The dirt will be improved next year and hopefully the yield will increase.
David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://davidsegrest.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
A Different Way to Fix Eggplant
My wife has invented a new eggplant recipe. The eggplant is peeled and sliced in about 3/8” slices. These are chopped into pieces no more than 2” in any direction and stir fried in olive oil until they are done. Onions are sautéed very slowly. The onions and eggplant is put together and olives, capers and anchovies are added. A few hot or sweet peppers could be thrown in as everything is heated. This is poured over any pasta of your choice. The taste is a little strange, but very tasty.
The spotted cucumber beetles seem to be resisting the sulfur spray. The BT is getting rid of the larvae; but the beetles themselves are hard to defeat. Today will be the third day in a row to spray them. In the past three days in a row of spraying has worked until the next rain. Yesterday when the bugs were sprayed the infestation did not seem any less than the day before.
There are little tomatoes on the upside down tomatoes that were planted mid-season. They haven’t required tying up yet. When the fruit gets heavy they will probably need tying. That is going to make it very difficult to move them into the greenhouse when frost threatens.
David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/
The spotted cucumber beetles seem to be resisting the sulfur spray. The BT is getting rid of the larvae; but the beetles themselves are hard to defeat. Today will be the third day in a row to spray them. In the past three days in a row of spraying has worked until the next rain. Yesterday when the bugs were sprayed the infestation did not seem any less than the day before.
There are little tomatoes on the upside down tomatoes that were planted mid-season. They haven’t required tying up yet. When the fruit gets heavy they will probably need tying. That is going to make it very difficult to move them into the greenhouse when frost threatens.
David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Summer Rain (again)
The garden got 1 ½ “ of rain last night. It was sorely needed. That means of course that all the BT and sulfur was washed off of the plants. This makes a feast for the bugs. The plants will make a feast for us. Everybody wins for a little while. This afternoon the BT and sulfur will be restored to the foliage. A lot of the dead squash leaves and stems will go to the compost.
The infested plants that are put into the compost need to be the center of a hot sandwich. We put grass clippings on the top of the pile. The infested leaves are put on this and more grass clippings are put on the top. In some neighborhoods in Charlotte, people bag their grass clippings. In most neighborhoods they don’t. A lot of this bagged grass goes into the bed of my truck and eventually into the compost pile. Grass clippings are about as close as some city gardeners can get to manure. It is the main ingredient and first stage in most manures anyway.
The eggplants are producing again after a little lull. One plant produced a few eggplants then quit. Now all of the eggplants are producing. So are the watermelons and the cantaloupes. The tomatoes and cucumbers are still chugging along, but the squash is out of business. There are a few patty-pans on the late planted plants. The second crop of squash is growing well, but does not have blossoms yet.
David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/
The infested plants that are put into the compost need to be the center of a hot sandwich. We put grass clippings on the top of the pile. The infested leaves are put on this and more grass clippings are put on the top. In some neighborhoods in Charlotte, people bag their grass clippings. In most neighborhoods they don’t. A lot of this bagged grass goes into the bed of my truck and eventually into the compost pile. Grass clippings are about as close as some city gardeners can get to manure. It is the main ingredient and first stage in most manures anyway.
The eggplants are producing again after a little lull. One plant produced a few eggplants then quit. Now all of the eggplants are producing. So are the watermelons and the cantaloupes. The tomatoes and cucumbers are still chugging along, but the squash is out of business. There are a few patty-pans on the late planted plants. The second crop of squash is growing well, but does not have blossoms yet.
David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Freezing Nights, Falling Leaves, Fig Trees
Freezing Nights, Falling Leaves, Fig Trees
We finally had our first freeze while I was in Orlando. I think it was the morning of November 10. It did not hurt the eggplants or the peppers or the winter crops. It did kill the baby figs and knock the leaves off of the fig trees. It seems that the leaves are falling off of a lot of other trees too. I have been picking up a pickup truck load of bagged leaves from the side of the road every day since returning to Charlotte.
We are getting a lot of greens, eggplants and salad greens; but there has been no rain to speak of. I had to set up the irrigation system again. There is a light rain falling this morning. Tonight I hope to lay in bed and plant my perfect garden for next year. I have some really great new ideas. Tonight the garden will be planned. Tomorrow seeds will be ordered for the greenhouse.
The neighbor’s fence is so grown up with vines and junk that I cannot get to my grape vines to prune them. Clearing that fence will be this weekend’s project. Maybe I will have time to prune the grapevines and fig trees. The fig trees are even bigger this year than they were last year. There is a lot of pruning to do. The castor oil bean trees are still living. One of them has seeds this year. They are over 20’ in the air. I won’t be able to harvest the seeds until the tree dies and I cut it down.
David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/.
We finally had our first freeze while I was in Orlando. I think it was the morning of November 10. It did not hurt the eggplants or the peppers or the winter crops. It did kill the baby figs and knock the leaves off of the fig trees. It seems that the leaves are falling off of a lot of other trees too. I have been picking up a pickup truck load of bagged leaves from the side of the road every day since returning to Charlotte.
We are getting a lot of greens, eggplants and salad greens; but there has been no rain to speak of. I had to set up the irrigation system again. There is a light rain falling this morning. Tonight I hope to lay in bed and plant my perfect garden for next year. I have some really great new ideas. Tonight the garden will be planned. Tomorrow seeds will be ordered for the greenhouse.
The neighbor’s fence is so grown up with vines and junk that I cannot get to my grape vines to prune them. Clearing that fence will be this weekend’s project. Maybe I will have time to prune the grapevines and fig trees. The fig trees are even bigger this year than they were last year. There is a lot of pruning to do. The castor oil bean trees are still living. One of them has seeds this year. They are over 20’ in the air. I won’t be able to harvest the seeds until the tree dies and I cut it down.
David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/.
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