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Sep 6, 2013 6:30 AM CST
Thread OP
Name: David Paul
(Zone 9b)
Cat Lover Hibiscus Seed Starter Native Plants and Wildflowers Vegetable Grower Region: Florida
Miniature Gardening Keeper of Poultry Herbs Foliage Fan Farmer Dragonflies
I'm David, and even though I live on a half acre my neighbors say its a farm because I have Chickens, and raise Blue Tilapia in a large above ground pool, grow veggies and you can hardly see my house for the plants.....and then some! Ha! (-:}

Anyway, I don't can as much as many of you I'm sure, but I do, and the coolest new experimant was using the plethora of Gold Bar Melons (an Asian Melon) I grew earlier this season. It was my first time growing them and I already have seedlings started for this Falls new batch. I really recommend these Melons for those who like trying new things. They do infact have the flavor of Cantaloupe with the snap of Cucumbers, and made the most delicious pickles I've ever done. Everyone loves them. I did them Dilled, and the combination of their light sweetness worked out amazingly well.

Here are some pictures of the plants and pickles: I tip my hat to you.
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Sep 6, 2013 8:03 AM CST
Name: Tom
Southern Wisconsin (Zone 5b)
Butterflies Vegetable Grower Keeper of Poultry Irises Keeps Horses Dog Lover
Daylilies Cat Lover Region: Wisconsin Celebrating Gardening: 2015
How interesting! Are they good to eat fresh? They must have a thin rind if you can can them without pealing. How many days of growing season do they need?
Politicians are like diapers, they need to be changed often, and for the same reason.
Avatar for Patti1957
Sep 6, 2013 11:00 AM CST

The WITWIT Badge Mules I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! Forum moderator
Wow, that is interesting. Those look yummy Thumbs up
More info: http://parkseed.com/gold-bar-h...
Asian melons: http://www.evergreenseeds.com/...
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Sep 6, 2013 11:08 AM CST
Name: Rita
North Shore, Long Island, NY
Zone 6B
Charter ATP Member Seed Starter Tomato Heads I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! Vegetable Grower Lover of wildlife (Raccoon badge)
Birds Garden Ideas: Master Level Butterflies Celebrating Gardening: 2015 Roses Photo Contest Winner: 2016
David Welcome! Welcome! I am so glad to see you here and that you have found our Edibles and Preserving Forum. I hang out here a lot talking about my veggies. Hilarious!

I think those jars of canned melon cukes look like those would be yummy. Love the vines and the fruits hanging on there. Never heard of Gold Bar melons before.
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Sep 6, 2013 12:58 PM CST
Thread OP
Name: David Paul
(Zone 9b)
Cat Lover Hibiscus Seed Starter Native Plants and Wildflowers Vegetable Grower Region: Florida
Miniature Gardening Keeper of Poultry Herbs Foliage Fan Farmer Dragonflies
Thats exactly where I got my seeds Patti. Thanks for adding that! Smiling
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Sep 6, 2013 12:58 PM CST
Name: Dillard Haley
Augusta Georgia (Zone 8a)
Celebrating Gardening: 2015 Avid Green Pages Reviewer Garden Ideas: Master Level
Have never grown Gold Bar, have grown Early Silver Line an Asian crisp melon in the same class. Fresh, they taste like a cuke with sugar on it. They are popular in the orient for pickling and are listed in some Asian catalogues as pickling melons. Never tried that approach myself but I applaud your success with it.
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Sep 6, 2013 3:12 PM CST
Thread OP
Name: David Paul
(Zone 9b)
Cat Lover Hibiscus Seed Starter Native Plants and Wildflowers Vegetable Grower Region: Florida
Miniature Gardening Keeper of Poultry Herbs Foliage Fan Farmer Dragonflies
Thank you Tom. Patti, Rita, and Farmer Dill. They are delicious. Its amazing how much can be going on, and how time consuming even a tiny .5 acre urban farm can be. My grandparents were real farmers and did it the hard way on only 10 acres here in Central Florida. I was blessed to see them in action and spent my early years with them. I respect farming folk a lot, as most of mine always were including my grandparents siblings and a few generations before them.
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Nov 26, 2013 10:03 AM CST
Surprisingly GREEN Pittsburgh (Zone 6a)
Rabbit Keeper Bee Lover Cat Lover Lover of wildlife (Black bear badge) Butterflies Hummingbirder
Dog Lover Birds Plant and/or Seed Trader Bulbs Echinacea Irises
I'm trying to get some winter chat going about cooking.
come on over and pitch in:
http://cubits.org/worldcuisine...
SHOW ME YOUR CRITTERS! I have a critter page over at Cubits. http://cubits.org/crittergarde...
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Dec 20, 2013 2:12 PM CST
Name: Franklin Troiso
Rutland, MA (Zone 5b)
Life is to short to eat rice cakes
Charter ATP Member
Hello - I am a longtime gardener from upstate New York. Before I moved to Rutland MA I always started my own seeds with great success. For twenty years I had a regular in ground garden in NY but I got tired of putting up a seven foot fence to keep the deer out so I switched to container gardening from my deck.

Last year my wife and I converted our son's basement to an apartment to help with our first grandchild and because the space was limited I did not have a chance to do any kind of gardening.

I was checking raised garden beds on he internet and I ran across this article which I plan to build this spring but I will make two 3 x 4 plots instead of one large one. I figure it will be easier to maintain on my 70 year old body. Hilarious!

I bought one of those 72 seed starting cells with a dome and I also bought a heat mat to start my seeds. I already had my 3 foot shop lights for light.

Here is a link to the raised bed garden using cinder blocks

http://www.vegetablegardener.c...
Some of the seeds I will grow are
Sun gold cherry tomatoes (my favorite sweet tomato)
John's huge Greek red
German giant red
Mexican beefstake
Red penna
Giant Belgium Twiggybuds
Buckbees New Fifty Day (early season)
Tomato Delicious
Super beefsteak
Lady Lucy
My friend from Michigan sent me a box of cherry tomatoes that he grew for the first time. They are called Aunt Molly ground cherry. They are also know as husk tomatoes because they have a corn like husk on them. They have a fruity nut taste that is unlike any other tomato I have ever tried. I sent away to www.uprisingorganics.com and ordered a package. Wha'ts cool about these tomatoes is that you never have to pick them. When they are ripe they fall right of the plant and I can tell you that they last for a long time on the coutner.

Hot Peppers
I love hot peppers and the hotter the better and www.thehippyseedcompany has the hottest seeds that I know of. This year I will grow
Trinidad Scorpion Butch T (with a scovil unit of 1 million
Big Bomb Hybrid cherry pepper
I also have peppers someone gave me from Canada. I once ate at this Italian restaurant in New York and they had a hot pepper plant growing on the window ledge.. I asked if I could taste one and it was so hot I just had to ask him for a few peppers. The owner was happy to give me 4 and now I have those seeds.

Beans
Jade snap bush beans
Burpee's Stringless Green Pod

Sorry about this long post. I also belong to the healthy lifestyle cubit here.

I will take pictures as I begin to build the raised bed.
visit www.cookfromtheheart.com
frank
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Dec 20, 2013 2:17 PM CST
Name: Rita
North Shore, Long Island, NY
Zone 6B
Charter ATP Member Seed Starter Tomato Heads I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! Vegetable Grower Lover of wildlife (Raccoon badge)
Birds Garden Ideas: Master Level Butterflies Celebrating Gardening: 2015 Roses Photo Contest Winner: 2016
Hey Frank, great plans but my only thought is that you would not have enough room in those two beds to plant all that you are planning on.
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Dec 20, 2013 2:36 PM CST
Thread OP
Name: David Paul
(Zone 9b)
Cat Lover Hibiscus Seed Starter Native Plants and Wildflowers Vegetable Grower Region: Florida
Miniature Gardening Keeper of Poultry Herbs Foliage Fan Farmer Dragonflies
I can see what Rita is saying.

I can also add that;... with all those seedlings you will have many to share! My gardening friend Sue here in DeLand adheres to a viewpoint that all one needs is 1 or two of each. Some of those plants you have mentioned can sprawl a bit!

keep up the good works, and share your developments in pictures when you can!

Merry Christmas from Florida!

David
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Dec 20, 2013 4:21 PM CST
Name: Franklin Troiso
Rutland, MA (Zone 5b)
Life is to short to eat rice cakes
Charter ATP Member
I forgot to add that I will fill the raised bed with a 50-50 mixture of top soil and compost

Paul - those gold bar melons you mentioned. Can they be grown in the north east?? I usually put my plants out on June 1st.
visit www.cookfromtheheart.com
frank
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Dec 20, 2013 4:35 PM CST
Thread OP
Name: David Paul
(Zone 9b)
Cat Lover Hibiscus Seed Starter Native Plants and Wildflowers Vegetable Grower Region: Florida
Miniature Gardening Keeper of Poultry Herbs Foliage Fan Farmer Dragonflies
you GO Franklin! I tip my hat to you.
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Dec 20, 2013 4:48 PM CST
Name: Rita
North Shore, Long Island, NY
Zone 6B
Charter ATP Member Seed Starter Tomato Heads I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! Vegetable Grower Lover of wildlife (Raccoon badge)
Birds Garden Ideas: Master Level Butterflies Celebrating Gardening: 2015 Roses Photo Contest Winner: 2016
Last year I grew Sugar Cube melons (cantaloups) and they were really great!
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Dec 21, 2013 1:17 AM CST
Surprisingly GREEN Pittsburgh (Zone 6a)
Rabbit Keeper Bee Lover Cat Lover Lover of wildlife (Black bear badge) Butterflies Hummingbirder
Dog Lover Birds Plant and/or Seed Trader Bulbs Echinacea Irises
Happy Solstice everyone!
The sun has begun its return to us.
With apologies to our friends from the Southern Hemisphere - In only 6 months will begin its return to you again.
SHOW ME YOUR CRITTERS! I have a critter page over at Cubits. http://cubits.org/crittergarde...
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Dec 23, 2013 1:08 PM CST
Name: Franklin Troiso
Rutland, MA (Zone 5b)
Life is to short to eat rice cakes
Charter ATP Member
Rita - Were those Asian melons like Gold Bar??

I've combined my love of baking with my new lo9ve of shoe design and came up with these new Italian loafers which I hope to se to a major shoe company





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Hilarious! Hilarious! Hilarious!
visit www.cookfromtheheart.com
frank
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Dec 23, 2013 1:20 PM CST
Name: Rita
North Shore, Long Island, NY
Zone 6B
Charter ATP Member Seed Starter Tomato Heads I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! Vegetable Grower Lover of wildlife (Raccoon badge)
Birds Garden Ideas: Master Level Butterflies Celebrating Gardening: 2015 Roses Photo Contest Winner: 2016
Hilarious! Hilarious! No my melons that I grew are cantaloupe types.
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Dec 23, 2013 2:31 PM CST
Thread OP
Name: David Paul
(Zone 9b)
Cat Lover Hibiscus Seed Starter Native Plants and Wildflowers Vegetable Grower Region: Florida
Miniature Gardening Keeper of Poultry Herbs Foliage Fan Farmer Dragonflies
The Goldbars do have a wonderful cantaloupe smell and light flavor Franklin. They have a nice snap and are incredible chilled. They also made some of the finest pickles I've made or had.

Those bread shoes are fabulous! Hilarious! Did ya' stuff them? Pizza Scarpe!
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Dec 23, 2013 3:08 PM CST
Name: Franklin Troiso
Rutland, MA (Zone 5b)
Life is to short to eat rice cakes
Charter ATP Member
David - Can I grow the Gold Bar Melons in the Northeast??????
visit www.cookfromtheheart.com
frank
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Dec 23, 2013 3:20 PM CST
Thread OP
Name: David Paul
(Zone 9b)
Cat Lover Hibiscus Seed Starter Native Plants and Wildflowers Vegetable Grower Region: Florida
Miniature Gardening Keeper of Poultry Herbs Foliage Fan Farmer Dragonflies
I have no doubts but what you can Franklin.

Mine are ready to yank by June because of the heat and steamyness starting. Once beautiful and Lush, they have already done their thing since they are started in late January. Yours will likely be beautiful and just stating to produce by the time ours are done and going down and go through your Summers beautifully.

Our humid, sultry, And wet Summers (Its like a rainforest here in Summer) wreaks havoc on all the cucurbits once near July with fungus' and such...

You will love them. Great little melons. I tip my hat to you.

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