Kitchen Garden Views. 7.16.22

 It's a mess, but it's MY mess LOL.  I grow a lot in this confined space.  The raised beds help a lot.

Making an Outdoor Stove Cover. 7.16.22.

 The outdoor cooking station is almost done.  Ning did most of the work, although I did the framing.   The old concrete patio needed some leveling compound, and we had the stone tiles in the garage.  It still needs a backsplash so the house siding isn't splatter stained.

I ordered some oil cloth and made a cover for the range.  No pattern, just measurements.

I've been calling this a summer kitchen, but that might be an exaggeration.  Cooking station seems more accurate.  Still, now baking and range too cooking can be outdoors, and not heat up the house.   With the roof, we can cook if there is light rain.  

Next, I'll make a cover for the propane tank, and side shades so the wind doesn't blow the stove top flames too much.  The stove cover was a test - I've never sewn oil cloth before.  It's a learning curve but went OK overall.  I used denim-strength polyester thread on the old Morris sewing machine.

Cherry Pie. 7.16.22

 The pie cherries ripened.  There were almost no sweet cherries this year, and fewer pie cherries.  Still, there were enough pie cherries to make filling for three pies.

I used the outdoor stove this time.  It worked perfectly.  I think it needed less gas to heat compared to inside cooking, because it was a hot afternoon.  Also, baking it didn't heat up the kitchen.

I like glass pie plates.  I think they make a great crust.  You can also look to make sure the crust browned properly.

This time I used Clear Jel starch instead of flour.   The filling is more clear, and redder.p instead of pink.

I made two batches of pie filling and froze them.  They will keep a year in the freezer.  It's much easier and faster to make a pie from a frozen filling, instead of fresh.  I think the flavor is the same.

More Container-Grown Potatoes. Planting Bush Beans. 7.16.22

 This is the second batch of container-grown red potatoes. 

Compared to the same starts, grown in the ground, the container grown potatoes had nicer, finer skin, no scabbiness, were a bit oblong instead of round.  The flavor is the same.   Size is similar.  I think the container grown made for more potatoes, much easier harvest.  Photo:  grown in ground, on the top.  Container grown, on the bottom.

I have other varieties that I can do the same comparison.   We'll see how those turn out. 

Meanwhile, I thought the soil mix in those containers was too water retentive.  The bottoms were soggy.  I found an unused partial bag of cactus soil and another of perlite, and mixed those into to soil in the bags.  That should improve drainage.  Then I planted bush bean seeds in the modified soil mix.

This is the variety "Blue Lake".  I grew them last year, good bean with good yield.

With beans, peas, corn, a cover is needed so birds so up all of the seeds and eat them.

Pollinating Squashes. 7.23.22

Squashes are one of my favorites.  They are bee pollinated, and it seems like there are few bees this year.  Especially honeybees.  I hand pollinate anyway. 

Here is the big squash patch, with Burgess Buttercup, Saffron Summer Squash, and Costata Romanesco Summer Squash (zucchini).  That last one is monstrous in size.

I want at least one of each to be pure, so that I can save seeds for next year and have them predictable.  I seek male and female flowers about to open, and cover them with organza gift bags.  Then tomorrow I can use the males to pollinate the same variety females.  That way, I don't have to worry about the few bees that are there, cross pollinating different varieties.

The squash plants are interesting.  Fordham Zucchini and Galeux d'Eysines so far have made only male flowers, and Burgess Buttercup and Dakota Dessert Squash made only females until today.  The Costata and Saffron made both, but initially Saffron made only female flowers.  So just for eating, I cross pollinated Saffron squash with Costata pollen (They are the same species), which worked fine.  Later in the summer, I want to save seeds from those too, so will isolate those flowers in a month or so.

There actually are some native pollinating insects, as seen on these cilantro flowers.

Here are the other squashes, among fruit trees and other plants.