What's Growing in Your Veggie Garden? Got pics?

[Chikn]

ZD, I;ve never had yardlongs before either. Keep us posted on their flavor and tenderness. From your description I,m growing rattlesnake next year too. Thanks Chikn

[tomIL]

My bitter melons!

[MuddyMess_8a]

What do they taste like, Tom? I’ve never tasted one.

[MrClint]

What do they taste like, Tom?

I bet they’re bitter.

[MuddyMess_8a]

I’ll wait and see if anyone takes you up on that bet.

[tomIL]

It’s bitter as it’s named. My wife would clean, seeded (from one open end), then stuffed with seasoned fish paste/pork mixture then boil them as soup/broth. After it’s done, she spooned them out and cut into 1/2" rings and lightly fried them. And she make a soysauce sauce to pour over and served with hot rice. With this same stuff mixture, she stuffed the banana peppers after half length, seeded (no need to boil), and do the same with tomatoes half. All these got the fried treatment and everyone in my family loved it!

Tom

[tomIL]

I should take a picture next time my wife creates that dish again!

[MuddyMess_8a]

Thank you very much for that answer. My daughter saw your picture and was going to buy one to try it next week. Now that I’ve read that it used for cooking, we will be saved from thinking that it should be eaten alone like other melons.

Yes! You should take a picture. It sounds interesting.

[Chikn]

I picked a handful of the concordia beans today, spit them out, tough and starchy, they have an appointment with Mr. Rototiller.

[SMC_zone6]

Dragon’s Egg and Persus Cucumbers.

[MuddyMess_8a]

That sounds like a mythological crop! I;m glad you have a pic to back it up.

[IL847]

Tony, please do. I had it stir fried, am very curious to learn about how your wife make this dish

[JamesWNY]

My bitter melon is tiny, but I will get some end of this month and leave one for seed.

[tomIL]

IL847 and MuddyMess,

I’ll try to take some pictures the next time she does this dish. I just don’t know when though. Essentially, it’s the seasoned fish/pork paste that enhanced the whatever veggie that you paired it with. It could be done with tofu, eggplants, bell peppers, jalapenos, etc.

For bitter melon stir fried, it’s very tasty with sliced steak (bite size) and fermented black beans… Have you tried it that way?

Yummy!

Tom

[Derby42]

Warm watermelon fresh from the garden, yum. This one Is a bit under ripe, but I prefer them to over ripe. My twelve year old nephew was over a week ago, I thought it would be neat for him to pick his own watermelon and get to eat it fresh. So many kids don’t get that connection between planting, growing , harvesting food these days. He picked a perfectly ripe sugar baby. I put it in the freezer and let it chill. I let him cut it in half with his grandpa’s butcher knife. He wouldn’t eat it because it had seeds, what is the world coming to?

[MuddyMess_8a]

Man, that young fella obviously has some gaps in his learning. Sounds like he needs a good uncle to teach him the summer joy of a good seed spitting contest. You could be doing him a great favor.

Otherwise, he could miss out on a lot of life’s pleasures if he only sees inconvenience instead of opportunity and fun.

[Derby42]

yes , seed spitting is something every kid should know and love. It just kind of highlights the huge gap in culture, I mean seriously, where would watermelons be without seeds. I guess it is our responsibility to try and teach a love for growing things.

[Derby42]

My grannie said when she was a little girl they were share croppers and her daddy would plant watermelons mixed in with the Cotton. When they were picking the cotton she would find a small hot watermelon once in a while and set down and eat it. She said it tasted so good. I guess it’s a lot about your perspective.

[bleedingdirt]

My eggplant looks more like a zucchini plant

Tomatoes are finally cranking up

[MuddyMess_8a]

Those tomatoes are absolutely gorgeous! They look decorative with all those frilly ones in there.

Our decorative planters on the front steps are planted with three types of eggplant that make mini fruits about the length of a middle finger. They are Fairy Tale (purple and white striped), Gretel (white), and Hansel (purple). They are very good slit lengthwise and cooked on the grill. No need to peel. We also have some Japanese long eggplants in the garden. Those are some of the few veggies that made it through the months of heat this year without keeling over. Peanuts and okra are also doing okay, but the bugs do like to chomp the okra leaves.