Anna Hutchins

I've never had good luck with volunteer tomatoes.  I had one pop up between some bushes out front this year and I got literally three tomatoes this size.

I guess I'll just wait around for Joseph Lofthouse or someone to breed a landrace because I'm not impressed with the random ones.

Are you in the United States?  It could be the Yellowstriped Armyworm.  https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/yellowstriped-armyworm

Where I live on the high plains we sometimes get huge numbers of fall armyworms that love everyone's irrigated fescue.  They will happily eat my clover too so I know they're not picky.

EDIT: I should add that BT is organic and will take care of them if you want to go that route.  I'm sure crawling across the top of diatomaceous earth would also not be a fun experience for them.

Usually I'd say zucchini but I actually got about seven or eight zucchinis this year from two plants.  It was actually kind of amazing considering how riddled they were with vine borers.  But the squash bugs weren't as bad this year probably because they were up in pots. I also tried to stake them up which is something the internet has told me to do and this was the first year I actually did it.

But here's a weird one. I cannot grow dill. It's a weed for everyone else but for me it always dwindles away to nothing without setting seed.  I've tried seed and transplants.  Meanwhile my parsley is trying to take over the world.

Thanks everyone for your input!  That's very helpful and I'm glad I don't have to worry about it being perfectly smooth in appearance.  I don't fry a lot of foods, but maybe that's an excuse to make more bacon.

Tom Digerness wrote:on a tangent note.  Coffee filters are a lint free paper that doesn't leave a trail like paper towels.

Okay that is an excellent idea, thank you!  The bits of lint always bug me.

First off, sorry if this thread is in the wrong place.  I couldn't tell if this should actually go in the Gear forum.  Feel free to move it.

Long and short of it is I'm not a very good cast iron Mom.  Sometimes I forget it's not supposed to have tomato sauce or wine or lemon juice in it.  Sometimes it just gets set on a hot burner and left empty because my husband or I get distracted.

This is probably anathema on this forum but I often clean it with Dawn dish soap.  I was led to believe that was okay because modern soap isn't made with lye.  But maybe the degreasers are ruining the seasoning?

I always oil it with a thin layer of shortening after it's dried off on a warm burning.  Maybe I'm using too much oil?  A thin layer is subjective.

All that to say the seasoning isn't getting better and better as I cook. The surface looks like the lunar surface and seasoning sometimes just flakes off the side of the pan.

So here comes the pictures.   Do I just need to strip it and reseason or will season build up over time and correct itself?

Commenting so I can find this thread when I have time to watch it.

Oh yeah, I forgot about black pepper.  That's the real one I use the most.  It's just so unassuming that I forget about it....

Also why do people like star anise?  Ick!  (I'll tolerate it in pho.)

I'm in the cinnamon camp... It's not only for sweet treats, but appears in some curries to.  Although a LOT of Mexican and Indian foods I love need cumin for authenticity so I tend to use a lot, despite it not being my favorite spice.

I actually use more smoked paprika then cumin in more American cuisine followed by garlic and onion powder.  (I'm not counting the garlic in say... Roasted veggies because that really does feel like more of a vegetable.). I know someone else has the same sentiment but can't remember who.

The only other spice I love I haven't seen mentioned in rosemary.  I don't use it that much, but if I make a pork roast or roasted vegetables, it's there.

I've never heard of this before so I'll be very curious to see what others have to say.  

I don't have a picture right now, but my parents have an ornamental bed near a neighbor's fairly large hackberry.

There's a golden currant there plus some Virginia creeper, irises, phlox, and lots of northern sea oats grass.  They did plant a small Japanese maple that died quickly but I always thought it was because it's dry as well. (There's a large sliver maple nearby too so when any kind of drought strikes, everything goes bone dry.)

Oh, and the soil is sandy.  It's just a harsh place.  Also, their vegetable garden is another twenty feet farther out and that side of the garden is maybe less productive, but again I always assumed it was the shade and roots.  I'll try and remember to take a picture some time.

Jen Fulkerson wrote:Every season I enjoy trying something new to me.  This year I'm growing
Malabar spinach: I've heard it's great, and I've heard terrible. I thought I'd give it a try. My family loves their veggies, so why not.
Swiss chard perpetual spinach: I grow Swiss chard, it grows year round here. It's pretty bitter in the summer heat, so I feed it to the chickens, they don't mind a bit. This is supposed to taste more like spinach, I can't wait.
Fennel: I'm not a big fan of licorice flavor, so have never tried it, but my daughter wants it, so it's on the list.

I wish I could grow some of those perennial greens that are supposed to taste like spinach since I actually like spinach ... But I'm in zone 6 so none of them make it.  At least chickweed and sorrel like me.

Also, if you hate fennel you can always just let the swallowtail caterpillars eat it all.  They love the stuff!

I'm not trying anything too revolutionary in my garden but I am going to be planting yard long beans this year since they're supposed to be more heat tolerant and mild tasting.  We'll see.

I'm also going to try honey berries.  I successfully killed some in-ground blueberries last year and I'm not going to fight with my soil pH.  I'm just going to try a different plant.