Inge Leonora-den Ouden

Jay Angler wrote:

Inge Leonora-den Ouden wrote: I have a different fruit tree too from seed I planted. It's a loquat. A very good grower, but it blooms in winter ... when there are no pollinators here :-(  

That's what tiny paintbrushes are for! My peach tree often blooms before there are many pollinators flying because of wet, windy weather. The tree produces more fruit if the bees are about, but I pollinate just enough flowers that I know I'll get a few liters!

Thank you. I'll try it.

Hi. I have several trees from planted pits/stones (including at least one not planted by me, but by the birds).
There's a cherry tree; I planted the pit from a large dark red cherry, I got a tree with smaller, lighter red cherries. But the taste is good.

Then there's a sort of plum, with small yellowish fruit (first fruit this year, only one, good taste). That's probably planted by birds. Maybe I have more of these trees (that haven't yet fruited) ...

And there's a peach (or nectarine). I know I planted the stone, but forgot what exact fruit it was. The tree had flowers, but no fruits yet.

I have a different fruit tree too from seed I planted. It's a loquat. A very good grower, but it blooms in winter ... when there are no pollinators here

Thanks to everyone here mentioning making sauerkraut. I got this BIG 'pointed cabbage' in my weekly CSA bag, I'll make sauerkraut with it! (I made it before, but almost forgot about it).

Tess Misch wrote:When I go shopping, I often times see these HUGE produce: onions, veggies, even fruits.  I avoid them at ALL costs, it would go to waste in my home. I may not use it before it goes bad.  

I know this is a relative question. Some families are larger & bigger would likely be ok.  But generally speaking is bigger heads of cabbage, broccoli, lettuce, onions, etc. a waste or do they actually get eaten up?  I am always looking for the smallest, and if I can't find one, I won't buy it.  

Don't get me wrong, I love cooking, especially in the cold months.  I make a lot of soups, stews, etc.  I try to make enough for several days out even. But some of these produce are just HUGE.  Any thoughts?  --Tess

I'm only one person, living alone. So I don't need big vegetables. And my thought is: bigger vegetables often are grown with more manure (or chemical fertilizer) and they have the same nutrition (vitamins, minerals, taste) as a smaller one grown in an 'all natural' way. I don't know if there's any scientifical research for proof, but it's what I think ...

Cristo Balete wrote:Depending on the type of glue involved, and if the label is paper and not some kind of foil, snails will eat it off the jar!  I kid you not!   My neighbor gives me bottles of wine with his labels on them, he never wanted the bottles back because he couldn't get the labels off without a lot of work, until I left them out and overnight the snails would clean off all the labels.   Most of this happens at night when they come out from wherever they are hiding during the day.  I have some shevles on the shady side of a shed, and that's where they came to the bottles.  I've also caught them eating 3x5 cards.  Banana slugs will eat paper, too.

I agree with this. If it's paper, the slugs or snails will eat it. Not in one night, but if the jars/bottles with labels are left in a shaded and humid place for some time, the labels will be mostly gone.
What's left I can wash off when I wash the dishes, sometimes I use a steel scrub sponge.

Jason Buzzard wrote:... despite what many have said, they just do not do well in containers, I believe they need to tap into a larger mycorrhizal Network. ...

Thank you for this information. In that case I'll get it out of its container and plant it somewhere in the garden where it can still do its climbing, but not in the hedge (in which it climbs now).

When I re-read my post in this thread, I saw I promised a recipe for a Dutch apple pie. But the recipe never came ...

So now, a little late, I have here for you my translation of a very old Dutch Apple Pie recipe (not the pie a friend made, but the recipe from a very old cookbook).
For all American readers: I did not change the amounts from grams into ounces, or the centimeters into inches. I'm sure you can find that on the internet.
And if you want to know the temperature of the oven ... I don't know. This recipe is so old, probably the oven had a real fire in it (coal, peat or wood). Maybe first they baked bread and then the pie.

Old Dutch Apple Pie Recipe

For the dough:
250 g flour, 175 g butter or margerine, 80 g sugar, 2 eggs

For the filling:
12 tart apples (about 750 g), 100 g sugar, 100 g currants, 50 g almonds, grated peel of 1 lemon.

Mix the flour, butter, sugar and 1 ½ egg to make a ball of dough. Put it in a cool spot for 15 minutes.
Then roll it into a flat circle. Put it in a springform pan, so the sides are about 4 cm high. Keep some of the dough.

Cut the apples in small chunks, mix with the sugar, cleaned currants (this recipe is very old, most people nowadays would use raisins), lemon peel and minced almonds.

Fill the dough with the apple mixture. Make narrow strips of the rest of the dough and put them on top of the filling, like a lattice. Roll the top of the sides over and press so everything is fixed. Spread the leftover egg over the dough.
Bake for about an hour in not too hot oven.

The first apples are picked (and some of those fallen down were good enough to take too).
I started with simple 'appelmoes', mushed cooked apples with sugar.

I think the next thing will be 'apple ketchup'. Apple ketchup is unknown here in the Netherlands, so I hope this recipe I found on the internet is a good one: Apple Ketchup

Most of my apples will be dried, so I can make good use of my dehydrator.  I use the dried apple slices in my breakfast muesli.

P Colvin wrote:....

Yes, it's an addiction! Welcome in this rabbit hole ...

I don't know if this is possible for you. I made my garden in such a way that the paths are not level. They all go a little bit downwards to a deep pit, where the water can collect.

Most of the time there is no water in the pit, so it isn't a real pond. It's a temporary pond when there has been a lot of rain. But the water doesn't stay in puddles in my paths.