Texas Spring/Summer Thread

[pacerron]

[QUOTERon: Hey! There isn't a thing wrong with GNBs. I love them right from the can (heated of course). Dry blackeyes and crowder peas are good, but they can't compare with fresh peas with snaps.:licking:[/QUOTE]

Jim,
You must be talking about baked beans, out of a can.
I was talking about dried white soup beans. We do make them
into baked beans or enjoy canned baked beans with some brown sugar
and hot sauce added.

I tried to insert the .gif of the Texas flag so it would automatically wave but it
got attached instead, so you have to click on it. How do you just insert an image
so it is already open on this site?
Ron

 

[farmgirl19]

Went out to check the garden here before time to retire for the evening. Was noticing all of the okra blooms, and then noticed I had to pick okra! Yep, first picking of the season! Even had one pod already getting a bit long! I knew it was getting ready to bloom, last week, but haven't looked closely at the blooms since. And okra blooms are really pretty flowers too!

 

[jinman]

Farmgirl, I think okra is in the hibiscus family. That's why the blooms are so pretty. This morning I was looking at my okra and looking at the buds that will soon bloom. Suddenly, I saw a pod of okra 6" long. I never saw the bloom open on that plant, but that sure was a healthy looking pod. I guess I'll be picking okra soon as well. As hard as I looked, I never saw any other pods, just that one.:confused2:

 

[farmgirl19]

Farmgirl, I think okra is in the hibiscus family. That's why the blooms are so pretty. This morning I was looking at my okra and looking at the buds that will soon bloom. Suddenly, I saw a pod of okra 6" long. I never saw the bloom open on that plant, but that sure was a healthy looking pod. I guess I'll be picking okra soon as well. As hard as I looked, I never saw any other pods, just that one.:confused2:

Maybe the one pod was "just checking" to see if it was safe to produce, after all of the late frosts from our Spring, this year. :laughing:

 

[Bird]

Yep, the blooms are pretty, and bees think so, too. When I was a kid, I learned to watch both for our honey bees and the bumble bees to keep from getting stung.

 

[jinman]

I just saw a big ol' bumble bee checking out the blooms on my straight-neck squash yesterday morning. I give them plenty of space when I see them, but I don't worry about honeybees except I make sure I don't grab them when I'm picking male blooms to manually pollinate. I'm surrounded by them otherwise when picking squash and cucumbers. I've only been stung by a bee once in my life. It was last year while mowing near a tree with a hive of honeybees inside. I got stung once on my cheek and that was it. I didn't think it was that bad, and I'm lucky that I hardly do much more than turn a bit red around the sting. I don't care to tempt fate with a bumblebee though.

Ron: I'm confused about your saying that great northern beans are only baked. I'm sure they are used for baked beans, but Walmart sells them dry and in a can of their own Great Value brand. They are white and boiled with no spice except for some salt. They are just a very plain white mild bean with a good flavor, not as earthy as pinto beans. Heated in the microwave with some chopped onions and a side dish of sliced tomatoes is a delicious and quick meal. I don't think GNBs give you as much gas as pintos either. You can eat them and still have friends.:laughing:

 

[jinman]

Maybe the one pod was "just checking" to see if it was safe to produce, after all of the late frosts from our Spring, this year. :laughing:

I sliced that big pod with a knife to see if it was tough. It was nice and tender, so I ate most of it raw. Do you suppose that my eating that pod means the other okra will think it's unsafe to produce? Hope not!

 

[pacerron]

Ron: I'm confused about your saying that great northern beans are only baked. I'm sure they are used for baked beans, but Walmart sells them dry and in a can of their own Great Value brand. They are white and boiled with no spice except for some salt. They are just a very plain white mild bean with a good flavor, not as earthy as pinto beans. Heated in the microwave with some chopped onions and a side dish of sliced tomatoes is a delicious and quick meal. I don't think GNBs give you as much gas as pintos either. You can eat them and still have friends.:laughing:

Jim,
You are a great teacher.:thumbsup: In all my 72 years I have never eaten canned GNB or realized they were available.
Nor had I eaten black eyed peas till last night.
I've helped eat lots of big bags of dried Navy beans and/or great Northern beans boiled with a ham bone or some bacon.
My mother used to then make homemade baked beans, in the oven, from the leftovers, or bean soup.
We find Bush's Best Homestyle canned baked beans to be far more pratical with a little doctoring up, than going through
the process of making baked beans from scratch.

At the grocery I pretty much just push the cart for my wife, who has the grocery list, and smile back at the old ladies that are kind enough
to give me a grin.
I laugh, to myself, at the young and old men, who are pushing their cart with one hand and talking on a cell phone with the other to their wives or
significant other, trying to figure out what to buy next.
At my age, something to help generate a little flatulence to get things moving is often a great benefit.:laughing:
Ron

 

[Bird]

Nor had I eaten black eyed peas till last night.

When we went to Northwestern University Traffic Institute in 1971-72, living in Des Plaines, IL, we were surprised, and disappointed that we could not find blackeyed peas in any of the grocery stores. And most of the northerners in the class had never eaten them. So, when we came home for Christmas, I bought a case of 24 cans of blackeyed peas to take back to Illinois with us. And New Years Eve we had a big party, potluck dinner, etc. and my wife fixed a big pot of blackeyed peas with diced ham, expecting to have enough left for dinner New Years Day. But every bite of it was eaten that night.:laughing:

 

[Lou66]

Lou, are you sure your garden isn't over a nuclear waste site? Do your tomatoes glow in the dark? I saw a movie about alien pods that looked similar to those tomatoes. Don't turn your back on them. :laughing:

I've had dozens of tomatoes in the 12-13 oz range with my biggest so far being 13.6 oz. After seeing yours, my only consolation is that my BHN 602 determinate tomatoes are perfectly shaped without a blemish and taste delicious. The only problem is that each vine has 20+ tomatoes and that just crushes the vines. I had side support, but the vines collapsed downwards under the weight of the tomatoes. I have lots of dry mulch for them to lay on, but they look like a messy heap of vines and softball sized tomatoes. Even so, all my tomatoes would be dwarfed by your 2 lb 7 oz monsters.:shocked:

Jim,, I give them a quick start with a lot of rabbit manure or chicken manure,, high in nitrogen,, then just plan old uranium compost,, I do prune them weekly,, leaving only five or six tomatoes on the vine,, one inch of water a week,, plus they are held in place with a Nuclear radioactive spent rod.. I believe it is the static electricity in the air that makes them grow so large..:laughing: Lou