Ethnic gardening

L

Lina Lou

New member
I am frequently surprised to see the wide difference in the vegetables
people choose to grow based on their ethnic origins (and the way Mother
cooked!)

When we lived in RI and had a large garden we grew: asparagus,
broccoli, beans, peas, corn, peppers, tomatoes, Brussels sprouts,
strawberries, cantaloupes, occasionally potatoes. We often sent the kids
out into the neighborhood with their red wagon filled with cantaloupes
to give away in years when we had bumper crops.

I was quite impressed one day when I was invited to harvest black
walnuts at the home of an elderly, second generation Irishman 1/2 mile
away. His garden was more compact, weed-free, geometrically perfectly
laid out. It consisted mostly of root vegetables and brassicas: beets,
onions, potatoes, leeks, turnips, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, collards,
various other greens, and one or two tomato plants.

Individual taste is so varied!

gloria p
 
On Mon, 28 Mar 2011 12:04:24 -0700, Ran?e at Arabian Knits
wrote:

I dunno. I've never met a fresh fig I didn't like and dried are
ho-hum to me.

--

Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its ground.
 
On Mar 27, 1:59?pm, "gloria.p" wrote:

He probably grew what his family was used to eating. When I went to
the UK decades ago I was hard-pressed to find a bell pepper, although
gardeners grew tomatoes in small backyard greenhouses.
 
On Sun, 27 Mar 2011 14:59:30 -0600, "gloria.p"
wrote:



This is something I have noticed in my neck of the woods, too. The
best veggie gardens in this area are nurtured tenderly by elderly
Italian men. I've two in the immediate area. Their flower gardens are
also lovely. I often go out of my way to drive by these homes.

Tomatoes, onions, garlic, zukes, grapes are the most easily identified
from drive-by. And oh, the roses....

Boron
 
On Mar 27, 3:59?pm, "gloria.p" wrote:

We grow sweet cherries, pie cherries, peaches, apricots, blackberries,
raspberries, asparagus,
chile peppers, tomatoes, strawberries, onions, shallots, rosemary,
basil, eggplant, and in a couple of years, apples. Just planted 3
Pixie Crunch and one Sundance yesterday.

--Bryan
 
On Mar 27, 2:38?pm, Boron Elgar wrote:
I wondered as a kid in Chicago why these guys would build fences in
the middle of their backyards -- to learn later they were growing wine
grapes. Not enough to make more than a gallon or two, but enough to
feel good, and to add to their rail car supply.
 
Brooklyn1 wrote:




That picture is very familiar to me, exactly what I remember.
Funny. Tree stumps wrapped in black, squished in between
houses or in little yards.

nancy
 
On Mon, 28 Mar 2011 19:17:29 +0200, "Giusi"
wrote:


Yeah- I think some of the folks there might have been thinking of
something else-- but the picture you linked to first sure looked like
taccole/Romano beans. [at least I found *one* site that says they are
the same.] and they seem to be what I've been seeing the locals grow.
http://www.luculliandelights.com/2010/05/eggs-on-simple-romano-bean-and-quinoa.html

*Romano* seed I can find. If I can't find them locally, I've got
another 6-8 weeks before planting time, so I'll give some a try.

Thanks-
Jim
 
In article ,
"Nancy Young" wrote:


We are having to learn how to grow fig trees as though they were
shrubs here. You have to prune them back heavily and mulch, mulch,
mulch, so it survives the cold, dry winters.

Regards,
Ranee @ Arabian Knits

"She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands." Prov 31:13

http://arabianknits.blogspot.com/
 
On Sun, 27 Mar 2011 18:12:18 -0400, "Nancy Young"
wrote:


Figs can be dicey here in northern NJ, even brown turkey.. A bit
further south, along the shore, or in Brooklyn or LI, they can be
managed more easily, although sometimes they need to be over-wintered
in a trench.

After losing a couple of them, I now grow mine in tubs and they spend
the winter in the basement or garage. They don't get as large and they
are not as prolific, but they come alive each spring.

Boron
 
Ran?e at Arabian Knits wrote:

Here's how I remember them mostly: in the winter, the tree would
be cut down to like a 4 foot stump and wrapped in plastic. That's
just my perception, I never did chat with the Italian guys about it.
Actually, it wasn't until I married an Italian guy that I knew what it
was.

Good luck with your trees. You always have something going. Fun.

nancy
 
The Cook wrote:


-snip-

I think that must be them. the Romano looks like them. I'm going
to try some this summer.


Beet plants? I'd never heard of anything but direct planting beets.
A little Googling tells me I might be behind the times. [pretty
expensive where I've seen them- $2.50 for *4* beets. ouch!]


I plant peas on Good Friday. If I'm ambitious, I'll put in some
onion sets, beets and cabbage. Most years I get a few inches of what
my father called 'poor man's fertilizer' - a wet spring snow- a week
or two later.

[There might even be some science to the lore -
"Nature's Fertilizer"
http://www.weathernotebook.org/transcripts/2001/04/17.html ]

Jim
 
On Sun, 27 Mar 2011 21:58:19 -0700, Ran?e at Arabian Knits
wrote:


A [Italian] friend of a friend has a 20something old fig tree in a
corner of his garden. He is in a cold, windy, USDA zone 4-5. each
fall he cuts the roots off one side of the tree,[about 10' tall]
pushes it very carefully down to the ground, and covers it with straw.

In the spring he pulls it back up straight and harvests a bushel or so
of figs.

A few years ago he started experimenting with a cutting from the tree
in a big [20gallon?] movable planter that can come into the garage for
the winter.

Most of his garden is giant pumpkins [had a 750pounder one year], but
he puts up 50 quarts of poblanos, and plants a couple tomatoes, and
some lagenaria.

Many of the Italians in this neck of the woods grow some sort of
climbing bean-- the blossoms are purple & they look like grapes on
tall arbors from a distance. One of these days I'll stop and ask
about them-- The folks who plant them seem to go hog wild with them.
the must harvest bushels of beans.

On the gardening note-- I suffered my first loss to critters of the
year. A mouse got into my seedlings and ate 3 dozen pepper seedlings
that were 2 weeks old. pooh--

Jim
 
Boron Elgar wrote:



That close to the line, huh. You're at a higher elevation, too, I
believe. There are three hardiness zones in this state last time
I looked.


Nice. I never aspired to grow figs, I like them dried but my one foray
into fresh ... well, I wound up throwing them out for the squirrels and
they turned their nose up, too. Maybe someday I'll find out what a
good fresh fig is like.

nancy
 
Back
Top