How Does Your Garden Grow?

[Diane Amberg]

 Ok folks, by now those of you who have vegetable gardens should be drowning in goodies. What have you got, or has it all burned up in that heat? Al took baskets of veggies to 6 of our neighbors...again. I am out of space in the kitchen. It's heading into the living room and family room. It has a life of its own! I'm going to get my jug of vinegar and threaten the bushel of cukes with pickledom if they don't behave.    I pulled out my Farm Journal Cookbook and I'm looking for my favorite pickle recipes. I think I'll make my favorite summer squash casserole this week too.  There are enough toms to can some now and maybe sauce some too. In the meantime, I have a CPR instructors class to teach to some of my EMTs next weekend, so I need to review my notes. Maybe I can do that while the tomatoes are processing.

[Janet Harrington]

Our garden is totally trashed.  It burned up in the heat.  It didn't grow very well from the rain.  A total diaster.  My neighbor, who always has a wonderful garden, has had problems with his, too.  I noticed that the weeds are out of control.

The neighbor just south of me planted a small garden in the shade.  His garden appears to be doing okay.

[Roma Jean Turner]

I don't have anything planted this year.  But my next door neighbors always plant tomatoes
and cucumbers on their side of the fence.  They always tell me that whatever ends up on my side of the fence is for me.  Every night I water both sides of the fence and boy do we have some really big tomato plants coming on!!!!!!!!!!!! I am blessed with good neighbors all around.

[Diane Amberg]

 My fence also feeds toms and cukes to my neighbor at the rear too.  My neighbor to my right trades veggies for crabs and fish. He has a big boat and I treat him VERY well.

[Rudy Taylor]

Now, there you go again, Diane --- making us feel like the land-lubbers we are.  You trade veggies
for crab and other fish?  Wow!  Our idea of seafood is occasionally ordering fried shrimp at the
local cafe. Dad-gum it ... Delaware is just a fancy place to live, that's all. Is there anything at that
we eat in Elk County that can't find on the east coast?

[kdfrawg]

Elk?

[Diane Amberg]

  Kermit, we have Elkton Maryland 15 min. from here. (yes, it's the one that people use to run away to, in order to get a quickie marriage.)  Rudy, you all have wonderful big catfish out there, much better than ours. It's not so much that Delaware itself is so great, but the location puts us near to a lot of wonderful places and things. I think you have better natural air and water than we do. Culturally we are in a hot spot. Washington, Baltimore, Philly and New York are easy to get to. We have no mountains here, but the Poconos are easy and western Maryland and on down into West Virginia are a cinch to get to. We love Cape Hatteras and Kitty Hawk is just 8 hours from here. Here in New Castle County, traffic can be awful, but in just 10 min. I can be in farm country. This is beach season, so the highways north and south are gridlocked on Fri. afternoon and again on Sun.  Last night we went up the road a bit to get out into the country to look for meteors, didn't have to go far to escape the city lights. But we have our share of troubles too. 3 of the Delaware State College kids (Dover) were murdered up in Newark N.J. recently. They were really nice kids who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. New Bolton Center (Barbaro) is not far from here. A friend worked there for years and I've been there many times. The poor horse finally did have to be put down, but they learned huge amounts of information about treating laminites.   You should have better beef out there, but ours isn't bad. You definitely have wonderful people out there and probably better personal services too.  You have chiggers and Jimson weed and you can keep them!

[Rudy Taylor]

Diane, you and Kermit are absolutely right, although one might have trouble finding elk in these parts.  But we have the best white-tail deer in the country. Hunters come from all over the nation to find these beautiful but plentious deer.

Yes, we have chiggers and I can't stand them. That's why I will never pick wild blackberries again. I grew up on a farm and my mom made me go with her on hot summer days to pick berries. Those chiggers can find places on a person's body where the "sun don't shine."   

On the other hand, my limited experience in your vicinity has been on the Chesapeake Bay and I remember not being able to swim therein because of the jelly fish. 

So, I guess we all have our wishes about faraway lands, don't we?

[Diane Amberg]

 Yes, the jellies are seasonal and can be a nuisance when the tide comes in. Their stings aren't usually serious. We treat the stings with hot water and meat tenderizer.

[Diane Amberg]

 I just thought of another one.   eggs!   We grow lots of good tasty chicken, but our eggs here are mediocre at best.  They're fine for cooking, but for eating,...  The last really good egg I had was in Kansas.  The yolk was bright orange and sat up like a golf ball on the white...yum.  Ours, unless we drive a long way for them, have yellow, flat yolks and taste very ordinary.  Our lima bean season is just starting.  Delaware grows almost all of the country's fresh limas for canning and freezing.  We have pole limas too.  They are my favorite, the big "King of the Garden" butter bean type.  I don't know if you all have those.