Tag: gardeners supply company

Carrots

I don’t think there is anything as tasty as a carrot pulled fresh from the garden. The grocery store carrots really can’t hold a candle to them. I’ve tried to grow them in rows in the garden like you’re supposed to, but, like many things I try to grow in nice rows, doesn’t always work. The soil needs to be just perfect for carrots, or they get oddly deformed. Or, some of the row will grow and then there’ll be unexplainable gaps in the rows.  Just not reliable in my garden.

Carrot Grow Bag from Gardeners Supply Company
Carrot Grow Bag from Gardeners Supply Company

A few years ago, I came across growing bags from Gardener’s Supply Store.  They used to have carrot specific bags that I bought two of, in a very carroty orange color, but they’ve since discontinued those.    Since those are unavailable,  I would recommend the Universal Grow bags as a good replacement (that luckily still come in that wonderful orange color, among others) for either carrots or peppers.  I have some of those now, too.

To use these bags, I fill them with Miracle Gro Potting Soil.  I prefer that to regular garden soil since it won’t get too compacted in the bag and holds water a bit better.  It does start with fertilizer, but I will add some Miracle Gro fertilizer through the year, and again in the beginning of the next year.  Before placing in bag, be sure to wet the soil and keep it moist, but not soaked, until the seeds germinate.  Gardeners Supply Company has a good, thorough, description of how to grow carrots in their grow bags here.

I’m not always conventional in the way I grow things. I’m sure I throw way too many seeds in at the beginning of the year, much closer than is recommended on the packages. But I still get lots of tasty carrots!!  As it gets closer to harvesting time, which is usually 60-70 days, I try to look for the ones growing a bit too close together and “thin” them by starting the picking season picking every other one or so.  Usually it’s recommended to thin early on, but this way I get more carrots over a longer season. At the beginning of the picking season I get pretty little, but very tasty carrots. Later on, I get bigger ones that have more room to grow. I get a nice long carrot season in a very small space!

The bags also have the advantage that if I don’t like where it’s located, I can just pick it up and move it to another spot.  I’ve had mine for at least 4 years and they’ve held up amazingly well for something that feels like a very strong felt.

My grow bags full of carrots
My grow bags full of carrots
Looking for ones to pick and "thin" out the growing carrots. Look for ones growing too close together and remove a couple.
Looking for ones to pick and “thin” out the growing carrots. Look for ones growing too close together and remove a couple.
Pulling one out
Pulling one out
Today's harvest
Today’s harvest
One of my boys gave it a "Wow, that tastes good"
One of my boys gave it a “Wow, that tastes good”

While they make a pretty display and look more home grown to have all the greens left on, if I’m storing in the refrigerator I will cut off most of the greens.  They seem to stay fresher that way.  Enjoy!

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Cucumbers-Mid summer

My cucumbers, which looked so wimpy when I planted  the seedlings, have grown great.  I grew Burpee Sweet Burpless Hybrid for no other reason than the description sounded good in the catalogue. I do seem to have a lot more squash plants than cucumber, and unfortunately, I like cukes better than squash. Oh well, I guess I’ll be needing some creative squash recipes.

In any case, the cucumber and squash plants are co-existing nicely on my large cucumber trellises from Gardeners Supply Company.

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Cucumber plants naturally are climbers and use tendrils to attach themselves to anything it can–the trellis, the brick wall, the tomato plant next to it.

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The nice thing about using a trellis is that the cucumbers hang off the back, are easy to find, and don’t lay in the dirt where they can potentially get rotten spots.

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When they are ready to harvest, it’s a good idea to hold onto the spot the cucumber attaches to the plant while pulling it off.  It’ll be pretty stuck on the vine and I’ve pulled whole sections of the plant (with other immature cucumbers) with the ripe vegetable when I’ve tried to pick them.  Also, if this is your first time growing cucumbers, don’t be surprised that the cucumber is covered in little spines.  When I get them in the house, I just use the kitchen scrubber sponge and rub them off and you then have the normal smooth cucumber you’ll find in the store.  Enjoy them in your favorite cucumber salad recipe!

One of my favorite cucumber recipes is a Sweet and Sour Cucumber Salad.  This is an easy recipe that can be made with thinly sliced or chopped cucumbers and makes a great side-dish for almost any summer dinner. It can easily be jazzed up with tomatoes, green peppers, kohlrabi- whatever is available in your garden that day.

Start with your favorite cucumber and either slice it thinly, spiralize it or dice it. All make for a tasty salad. For making wafer thin slices, I love my Kyocera ceramic slicer. But be careful where you store it, it is REALLY sharp.

Sweet and Sour Cucumber Salad
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Delicious, fresh cucumber salad
Ingredients
  • ½ c Rice Wine Vinegar (unsalted)
  • ⅔ c water
  • 3 T sugar
  • 3 cucumbers, sliced, diced or spiralized
  • optional: ½ medium thinly sliced medium red onion
Instructions
  1. Bring vinegar and water to a boil in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in sugar to dissolve and simmer 15 min, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.
  2. Pour over prepared cucumbers in a bowl, toss to coat, chill in refrigerator until ready to serve.
  3. Extra dressing can be refrigerated and used within a week.