Anyone that has engaged me in talking about gardening knows that I love composting. Composting is breaking down food with lots of beneficial bacteria and oxygen. Bokashi is pickling food scraps anaerobically without oxygen, but can also consume meat and dairy unlike normal compost.
Bokashi is great for urban composting. All food scraps are placed in a bucket and sprinkled with beneficial bacteria and yeast spread over bran flakes. After the bucket is full, it is ready to be covered in humus to finish fermenting. The only maintenance is draining off the leachate which can be diluted and spread on the garden. When it smells sweet, it can be placed in the compost to be broken down further and feed houseplants or the garden.
Bokashi is a great alternative to composting that can break down meat and dairy scraps. Bokashi makes any food waste usable to prevent filling landfills and helping the garden.
It has been really hot here in the Midwest, so I was glad to see that we had rain the forecast. After the rain, I go outside to find my huge tomato plant had collapsed on itself and broke the cage.
Going out to the fence where my grapes are, I found my cabernet vine had been weedwacked by my neighbor to the ground.
It wasn’t all bad news. My compost tomato and pepper are covered in blooms.
I also had a tomato volunteer next to my house. I am excited to see what variety it is. I hope it is another Cherokee Purple. My neighbors love purple salsa.
We were feeling adventurous on a daytrip, so we went to dinner at Lao Shanghai in Chicago’s Chinatown.
We started off with steamed dumplings and a bottle of sake.
I got the princess lamb with vegetables.
Wifey got braised pork belly. It was so tender like prime rib of the pig.
(You’ll have to pardon the shots, were were three sheets to the wind at that point!)
I highly recommend Lao Shanghai in Chicago. The atmosphere was quiet, the food was delicious, and they give you a portion that can be eaten for days.
My choice for poppies this year was Lauren’s Grape. They are a miniature variety with soft purple blooms.
They have a short stature and finish at about a foot and a half. My only complaint is that the blooms only last about a day and a half. These were interesting this year, but I don’t think I will choose this variety in the future.
We plan on doing lots of canning this year, so we have lots of tomatoes. With a 4-foot tall beast like this already growing in my organic garden, I don’t think we are going to be able to eat them all.
We also have a couple of stowaways in one of my compost piles. My best guess is that it is a red pepper and a beefsteak. With the amazing results of my compost, I am going to let them grow and see what they produce.
Sorry I haven’t been around a lot lately folks. My job tends to get a little hectic around holidays. Regardless, I am still gardening.
I am using my Autopots again this year. I am using Canna coco coir with General Hydroponics Maxibloom nutrients, Cannazym, Canna Boost, and Floralicious Plus. My choice in plants this year is a patio tomato, baby finger sweet peppers, Cherokee Purple heirloom tomato, Fooled You jalapenos, and of course Bhut Jolokia peppers.
The Patio tomato tops out at about 2 feet. The catalog description says they make quarter to golfball sized fruits, but mine tend to be the size of a raquetball clustered tightly around the stem.
My Bhut Jolokia peppers this year came from Hirt’s Gardens. My clones from my indoor garden succumbed to pythium while I went on vacation. I didn’t feel like waiting a week for more to root, so I bought more. We will see how these turn out.
Everyone has caught onto the upside-down tomato craze. The Topsy Turvy pepper planter works on the same principal that growing against gravity makes your plants stronger. For a small or hobby garden, the Topsy Turvy Pepper Planter is a good tool.
The Pepper Planter is easy to set up. Pour in soil, plug in plants and water. It is easy for gardeners young and old. The only other thing to make the plants grow is to water regularly.
One of the drawbacks of the Topsy Turvy Tomato planter is that it needs to be watered daily so it doesn’t dry out. The root structure of peppers is smaller, and there isn’t a spot for a plant to grow on the bottom of the pepper planter, so it tends to stay moist longer. In my potting mix, I used moisture control potting soil and vermiculite. I can leave my planter a week without watering. The Pepper Planter design is a huge benefit over the original Topsy Turvy and can fix any moisture problems with proper choice in potting soil.
Overall, it is a good product. For a hobby garden or the “neat factor”, I would recommend the Topsy Turvy Pepper Planter.
Hoe cakes are a traditional Southern cornmeal pancake that are supposed to have been so-named because they were originally cooked on the blade of a hoe over an open fire. They go perfect with any Southern dish, or are a great quick and filling breakfast.
The basis of hoecakes is corn meal. Simply pour boiling water over the meal while stirring until it makes a thick batter. We add a little flour and a little yeast to make it less crumbly and a little more spongey. Add ingredients like any other pancake. I suggest frozen corn, cinnamon, raisins, cinnamon, brown sugar, or even spice it up with a little black or red pepper. Pan fry in Crisco or bacon grease on high heat until the edges are crispy. Salt lightly and serve with butter and honey.
Kimchi is a spicy pickled cabbage used as a side dish or in Korean main dishes. We have been making pickles and sauerkraut, so Kimchi wasn’t a far stretch.
We used the WikiHow recipe. It makes about 1 1/2 Quarts.
- 3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 6 cups water
- 2 lbs. Chinese (Napa) cabbage, cut into 2-inch squares
- 6 scallions, cut into 2-inch lengths, then slivered
- 1 1/2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
- 1 cup of minced garlic
- 3 tablespoons of brine shrimp sauce or anchovy fish sauce(available Korean specialty stores)
- 1/4 cup of Korean ground dried hot pepper (or other mildly hot ground red pepper)
- 1 cup of shredded Korean radish (moo in Korean)
- 1 teaspoon sugar
Steps:
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I am a do-it-yourselfer just like my Grandpa. He makes and grows everything himself. He couldn’t find a good pickle recipe where the veggies stayed crunchy because they are boiled until he came across this recipe.
Stir sliced cucumbers, carrots, peppers and onions in 1 1/2 c. pickling salt and cover in water. Let soak for 2 hours.
Warm up 4 1/2 c. vinegar enough to dissolve 3 cups of sugar. Add 1 tsp. tumeric, 1 1/2 tbs mustard seed, and 1 1/2 tbs. celery seed and let cool to room temperature.
Put veggies into jars, top up the jars with brine and put in the fridge. They are done in 2-3 days and keep their delicious crunch.
