Low Carb Gardening

[2big4mysize]

try adding some bullsblood beets. I harvest the tops all yr for some yummy burgandy colored leaves in my salads and soups. I've never harveated the beets themselves as I don't like them and they are on the starch vegies list. Look at those mesculin sp? salad mixes too as you get lots of seeds and color for your salad very quickly and they come in flavores like savory spicey and sweet.

my seeds for cool weather veggies are in the gsarden and growing looking for lettuse in 2 weeks and the collards are still going. i thought the killer 6F temps got the plants but lookes like it just clobbered those leaves as new ones are growing. I've got kale to and something called cressy greens too. they really really look like weeds LOL

[mrslee44]

Ah Gardening, good exercise for spring and summer. :yes

I plant tomatoes(Roma are the best and make very good canned tomatoes with no sugar added).

Green peppers are another fave of mine and I like to make stuffed peppers and freeze some for another day. Also love jalapenos.

Had a fair crop of green beans..yum

Zuccinni, yellow squash and spaghetti squash, last years crop was so bountiful I served it a hundred different ways and we had it every night.

Now I will use plants for my tomatoes and peppers, but all my squash I plant from seed.

The garden plot is our old feedlot, and it has probably 2 feet of cow manuare and is very good soil for the good ole Commonwealth. I've seen my squash plants grow 6 inches over night.

Now I like to plant and leave enough space between the rows to run the tiller to cut down on the weeds and it works fine.

Can't wait for April.

robin

[Heidi3]

anyone grow cardoon? how do you cook it? it seems to be hanging in strong this winter and looks like a giant dinosaur thistle! It is so pretty and I have heard it is good...it is just a little overwhelming to think of just chopping it up and cooking it!!! it is about 6ft high now!!!!

day after Prez day I am going to plant peas in my garlic bed and go snatch a few bushes from my son's yard that he does not know he has!!!!!! :icondance :icondance

[not2late]

anyone grow cardoon? how do you cook it? it seems to be hanging in strong this winter and looks like a giant dinosaur thistle! It is so pretty and I have heard it is good...it is just a little overwhelming to think of just chopping it up and cooking it!!! it is about 6ft high now!!!!

day after Prez day I am going to plant peas in my garlic bed and go snatch a few bushes from my son's yard that he does not know he has!!!!!! :icondance :icondance

I've heard of cardoons. They're supposedly delicious--sorta like artichokes from what I've read.

What bushes are you planning to rescue from your son's yard?

[Heidi3]

two beautiful lavenders he has neglected, a huge hedge of rosemary...some various sage and one gooseberry!...there is also a black rose and some lilac bushes ....I will of course clean his beds out as I go!...I always do .....slave to my kids that I am !!!

[lasst10]

Megs-

Thanks so much for taking the time to post all the gardening info! I have a brown thumb, but really would love to have a small garden. I think I might make a go of it this year.



Lynn

[Heidi3]

Megs/anyone....? here is my cardoon I have several growing around my gardens do you I have never cooked it it grows lovely purple thistles on top but you are supposed to be able to eat it..any ideas? I just love the look of it but if it is good I want to eat it as well ...I love me some home grown veggies!!! it is about 4 ft tall right now and grows to 6!

[MotherOfGizmo]

What a neat looking plant nurselady! I have never seen nor heard of one of those...can't wait to hear if its edible!

John's Mantis Tiller just arrived via UPS here at work! Yippee :joy he is going to be sooo excited! I bet I get new flower beds all over the yard! :joy

[Heidi3]

What a neat looking plant nurselady! I have never seen nor heard of one of those...can't wait to hear if its edible!

John's Mantis Tiller just arrived via UPS here at work! Yippee :joy he is going to be sooo excited! I bet I get new flower beds all over the yard! :joy

ok so when BF finnishes your yard ...he can practice more on mine..I will cook some cardoon!!!

[not2late]

I'm not sure if you can eat the thistle part, but you can eat the stalks.

I googled cardoon recipes

http://italianfood.about.com/library/rec/blr0327.htm

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_14117,00.html

And a general article about cardoons

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1082/is_n4_v42/ai_20912186

Lynn, if you're a beginner, start with lettuce, spinach or even radishes if you're thinking about seeds---you'll get good results with those. If you want to start with seedlings, tomatoes and peppers usually do well.

[2big4mysize]

ACK it is going down to 27 tonight my seedlings will be toast :sadblinky

[Heidi3]

I ate collards and kale stir fry from my garden today for lunch ....it was so good!!!!....we should have a seed trade I saved a lot last year and would be happy to share!!!!...

[2big4mysize]

NL you should be harvesting your cardoon now as they get woody in the spring Oh and make sure you get all the leaf part off your stems as that is a real bitter surprize if you don't.

Oh and here is your nutrtional info for a pound of it raw

Calories 91
Total Fat 0.5 g
Saturated Fat 0 g
Cholesterol 0 mg
Sodium 772 mg
Total Carbohydrates 22.3 g
Dietary Fiber 7.3 g
Sugars -
Protein 3.2 g
Calcium 318.1 mg
Potassium 1,817.6 mg


anybody got a recipe for massive amounts of creasy greens?

[easttexasdaisy]

I saw this and thought how wonderfull, other gardeners. I love to garden and put in my onion and shallots a few weeks back. My lettuce is recouperating from a hard freeze and coming back. Also have in spinach and beets (I only eat the beet greans though prepared like spinach)
But anyway, for those of you with limited space and time you might check into square foot gardening. I have 2 large beds that are 4 feet by 16 feet. Really make sit a lot easier than the traditional row gardening.
Mine are the beds set up with lasagna layers (interbay mulch) and it works awesome for all the plants. We had 8 foot tall tomatos one year.
Anyway just a thought... might make it easier for some of ya'll.

[Heidi3]

my peas are going in late the store was out of them :sadblinky