Garden 2022

Plant what you can. Produce prices have gotten ridiculous.

A couple of years ago I would buy 10 or 15 , 3lb bags of yellow onions when they went on sale for 88 cents, or even 99 cents.

They're that price for a reason. End of the season(storage) and they don't last long. One or two may even be rotten. But they are very milky and strong which usually translates to a very sweet, cooked onion.

It takes too much space to freeze that much. Plus all the tearful, chopping.

I peel them, slice them into ring slices without separating the rings and dehydrate them. It takes a long time to dry, but I can get about 9 pounds in the dehydrator.

If you don't have too many to process I recommend separating the rings like you would do to make onion rings. They will dry much faster but you can't get as much in the dehydrator.

If you leave them in a 650 watt dehydrator for 20 hours,  that's 13 kWh of electricity you will use. At 10cents/kWh, that's about $1.30. At 15 cent/kWh, that's about$1.95.

That's about 43-65 cents per bag for a total cost of about $1.30-$1.50 per 3lb bag.

I put about the equivalent of one , dried, 3lb bag per quart mason jar.
I can get more than that in there if you crush them slightly but I dont.The reason being, there are about 6 medium onions in a bag. If I use a third of a jar, I know that's about 2 fresh onions worth.

You dont have to dry them to crispy but you will want to do that. That way, you just pour a handful out over the pot and crush it in the palm of your hand into very small pieces.

They will literally keep forever in a sealed jar with no vacuum or refrigeration.

I haven't been able to dry onions in a long time. The price has to be right.

Last week, a 3 pound bag of onions was $3.98 at walmart. This week , one of the independent stores has them on sale for $2.77!

Too rich for me. I quit buying onions months ago.
Back to onion powder.  Plus, I have quite a bit of shallot tops in the freezer and it's almost time to plant again. I'll use that instead.

Thanks, Hawk! It never occurred to me to dehyradte the onions.

Someone said there's a special place for blondes in this world. All I need to do is find it.

Did y'all know that hummingbirds make their nests out of thistledown, lichen and spider webs?

I've been freezing my peppers. (THAT IS ENOUGH OUT OF YOU, VEG) I only grew red ones this year.  Got directions for that Hawk?

Calypso Jones wrote:I've been freezing my peppers. (THAT IS ENOUGH OUT OF YOU, VEG)  I only grew red ones this year.  Got directions for that Hawk?

Water and fertilizer. Lol.

And play some Red Hot Chili Peppers tunes on your phone when your picking them .

Calypso Jones wrote:I've been freezing my peppers. (THAT IS ENOUGH OUT OF YOU, VEG)  I only grew red ones this year.  Got directions for that Hawk?

Its your melons I was more concerned about lol

i knew it.

this is for you @HawkTheSlayer.    My garden did pretty well although i've had more squash and zucchini...i had squash vine borers get into them and eventually pulled all of them out.  Nothing will get the squash vine borer.  Where are these things coming from??  No damage from japanese beetles.  People down the road close to GHQ had serious problem with Grasshopper/locust eating everything...near biblical proportions but not for me.

Now im down to tomatoes, peppers and my little watermelons.   NOT big but they sound hollow when i plunk on them.   Do you think i should take the chance and harvest them.

My potatoes.  yukon gold.  oh my.  Are they awesome.  a little damage but not much.

Seemed to be a short season this year.   it was odd.   we had rain, and cool days but still...short. and not as plentiful as usual  but what i did get for the most part was good.  

West Virginia Mountaineer tomatoes.  BIG, ugly and make the best tomato sandwiches.   Fried green tomatoes...i'm still picking those for frying. on toasted bread with a little butter, pepper jack cheese and then a fresh red tomato on top of that topped with the second slice of lightly buttered toasted bread.

Calypso Jones wrote:this is for you @HawkTheSlayer.    My garden did pretty well although i've had more squash and zucchini...i had squash vine borers get into them and eventually pulled all of them out.  Nothing will get the squash vine borer.  Where are these things coming from??  No damage from japanese beetles.  People down the road close to GHQ had serious problem with Grasshopper/locust eating everything...near biblical proportions but not for me.  

Now im down to tomatoes, peppers and my little watermelons.   NOT big but they sound hollow when i plunk on them.   Do you think i should take the chance and harvest them.

My potatoes.  yukon gold.  oh my.  Are they awesome.  a little damage but not much.

Seemed to be a short season this year.   it was odd.   we had rain, and cool days but still...short. and not as plentiful as usual  but what i did get for the most part was good.  

West Virginia Mountaineer tomatoes.  BIG, ugly and make the best tomato sandwiches.   Fried green tomatoes...i'm still picking those for frying. on toasted bread with a little butter, pepper jack cheese and then a fresh red tomato on top of that topped with the second slice of lightly buttered toasted bread.

How to tell when a watermelon is ripe? It's all in the dried-up curly Q.
Make sure it's dried up all the way.

HawkTheSlayer wrote:

Calypso Jones wrote:this is for you @HawkTheSlayer.    My garden did pretty well although i've had more squash and zucchini...i had squash vine borers get into them and eventually pulled all of them out.  Nothing will get the squash vine borer.  Where are these things coming from??  No damage from japanese beetles.  People down the road close to GHQ had serious problem with Grasshopper/locust eating everything...near biblical proportions but not for me.  

Now im down to tomatoes, peppers and my little watermelons.   NOT big but they sound hollow when i plunk on them.   Do you think i should take the chance and harvest them.

My potatoes.  yukon gold.  oh my.  Are they awesome.  a little damage but not much.

Seemed to be a short season this year.   it was odd.   we had rain, and cool days but still...short. and not as plentiful as usual  but what i did get for the most part was good.  

West Virginia Mountaineer tomatoes.  BIG, ugly and make the best tomato sandwiches.   Fried green tomatoes...i'm still picking those for frying. on toasted bread with a little butter, pepper jack cheese and then a fresh red tomato on top of that topped with the second slice of lightly buttered toasted bread.

How to tell when a watermelon is ripe? It's all in the dried-up curly Q.
Make sure it's dried up all the way.

They are a couple of sexy lookin melons

Dat boys a two melon a day guy lol