Up until yesterday, we kept up with the lettuce production. There was a lot, but with a big salad every evening and the little rabbit with the ginormous appetite, not one leaf of lettuce went to waste.
Then yesterday came along......
More than three pounds of outer leaves from six Iceberg lettuce plants.
The leaves are huge. As big as my new Woman's Day magazine.It looks like there will be even more salads at Granny's house this week. I got my youngest son to take a big bag of it home, but it looks like I'll have to call the other kids and try to pawn some off on them. Because there is a lot more lettuce out there ready to pick.
I wanted to try making chive blossom vinegar, it looks so pretty. However, it's supposed to be made with white vinegar, and all I had was cider vinegar. I don't like the taste of white vinegar. Sometimes I use it for cleaning, but that's all it's good for in my opinion. A couple of years ago we did a taste test on pickles and relishes made with white vinegar, as called for in the recipes, and with cider vinegar. The flavor of the pickles canned with cider vinegar won hands down, and the color was just fine as far as we were concerned. So I decided to make a small sample jar of chive blossom cider vinegar, just to see what the color would turn out to be.
Well, it turned out just fine! Not pink, like it is with white vinegar, but a very pretty light orange. A pint jar of chive blossom vinegar has been started. Tonight we'll be taking our first taste of the pretty vinegar, mixed with oil, on a big dinner salad.
I wanted to try making chive blossom vinegar, it looks so pretty. However, it's supposed to be made with white vinegar, and all I had was cider vinegar. I don't like the taste of white vinegar. Sometimes I use it for cleaning, but that's all it's good for in my opinion. A couple of years ago we did a taste test on pickles and relishes made with white vinegar, as called for in the recipes, and with cider vinegar. The flavor of the pickles canned with cider vinegar won hands down, and the color was just fine as far as we were concerned. So I decided to make a small sample jar of chive blossom cider vinegar, just to see what the color would turn out to be.
Well, it turned out just fine! Not pink, like it is with white vinegar, but a very pretty light orange. A pint jar of chive blossom vinegar has been started. Tonight we'll be taking our first taste of the pretty vinegar, mixed with oil, on a big dinner salad.********************
I'm stuck in the middle of pruning the grossly overgrown rhodies.
This is a photo from a couple of weeks ago. They're pretty, but almost obliterating a bedroom window. These were here when we bought this house, twenty-two years ago, and they've never been properly pruned.
First I cut back branches that were hanging over the lawn. They kept getting caught in the lawnmower handle.
Look at the mess inside. I had even used ropes to tie up branches that were drooping badly.
I'm getting quite a pile of prunings, and Mr. Granny is having fits.....he thinks I'm going to ruin it, and he might be right!
This is where I gave up for the day. The height needs to be brought down, and I have no idea where to make the next cuts!
My lettuce is about the only thing growing and it's going gangbusters. I may feed it to the chicks soon. I wish everything would grow so well.
ReplyDeleteThose look just like my rhodies. Wanna prune mine? I have no clue.
I bet you could probably cut it back to within about 1 or 2 feet from the ground, and it should respond well. It will be quite a while before it blocks the window again. Basically take off all the branches that are still flowering. Cut just above a whorl of leaves.
ReplyDeleteI have NEVER understood pruning. The books I've read don't help-but they do have some good videos on youtube. Maybe you should try cutting it into some fancy topiary shape like a dog or a turtle-LOL!
ReplyDeleteYou're braver than most-hack away!
LOL, I'm getting ready to make a huge pile of Crepe Myrtle tree prunings from storm damage, I dread dealing with them! The vinegar turned out pretty!
ReplyDeleteAlthough I love the flowers, I really like seeing the beautiful form of the trunk, too. We have a huge pussy willow that I pruned way up so we could mow under it. I discovered the most gorgeous trunk/ branch structure underneathe. That's what I thought of when I saw your "finished" product. Very pretty.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like what you need is a different rhododendron variety. They really don't take to pruning all that well. I wished I'd had a shorter one below my window at my last house. We had a split so those window were half a story up and still the rhodies were too high.
ReplyDeleteEven overgrown those rhodies are beautiful!
ReplyDeleteI am with you on the difference between white vinegar and cider vinegar. However I do use white vinegar on my horseradish as I like to keep it white as long as possible.
ReplyDeleteChive blossom vinegar looks great. Oh these Rhodies...we pruned them 1/3 of their size and it came back all fine this year. I felt they are quite strong and don't mind cuts anywhere :)
ReplyDeleteoh, I love the last photo where it looks like a small minature tree. It will fill in and you did a great job! My husband use to follow me around and worry I would prune too much. Now he follows me to see if I will leave any grass since I'm always tearing up lawn to grow more food or put in another bed for flowers!roberta:-)
ReplyDeleteChive vinegar looks so nice! I've never tasted it. Lettuce is so very large! Mine never grow so big, how do you fertilize them? I never do.
ReplyDeleteWow I am so jealous of your lettuce harvest! I wish our lettuce was growing well this year but with the gloomy overly wet weather we had been having the lettuce has only started to pick up. In pruning the rhododendron you might have to forgo flowers next year depending on how much you end up pruning it but in the long run you might end up with a healthier plant that works best in your space. Check out rhododendron.org/pruning it might help.
ReplyDeleteI hope i'm as lucky with my lettuce once I get the seedlings planted. If I were close I'd let you pawn some off on me.. Hope you didn't mess up that Rody , I thought the time to bring down was in the fall or after she has finished blooming.
ReplyDeleteMy goodness Granny, I think that you would need a few more bunnies to take care of all that lettuce!
ReplyDeleteThe vinegar looks very pretty! I never use white vinegar when making pickles just cider vinegar.
Regarding the rhodies, you could prune the new growth off the top. But, I think that's about it for awhile. If you trim too much off you could kill them. Just keep after them this year and probably next year you will get them to the size you want. That will teach you a lesson for ignoring them for 20 years :)
Thanks for all the replies. I think Robin is right in that all I can do now is take off the new growth from the top. I'm going to do a PS blog on the pruning job later today.
ReplyDeleteRandom, I use composted manure on the beds in the spring, and the only other fertilizer I use for greens is a good sprinkling of alfalfa pellets that I steal from my rabbit's food. I can buy the pellets for about $7 for a 50 pound bag, and it's an excellent gentle nitrogen source.
ReplyDeletethat's iceburg lettuce?! Wow. So beautiful! Definitely I would like to grow lettuce next year, maybe romaine. I'm jealous of your kids!!
ReplyDeleteCharmcity, I just got rid of another gallon bag of it! Oldest daughter was the recipient. Youngest son said they had a huge chicken salad for dinner last night, so I'm glad it isn't going to waste. Most of what I've recently planted is romaine. I found it held up well to the heat last year.
ReplyDeleteThose really are huge lettuce leaves! Yo must be doing the same as me then, giving a way lots of salad leaves at the moment - still - it's good to share isn't it.
ReplyDeleteRhodies do go mad, but they are such a lovely splash of colour aren't they.
I use any white wine vinegar for making the chive blossom vinegar. The taste is much more pleasant that white vinegar. How was the dressing you made with it? I have only used mine for egg salad, deviled eggs, and the like.
ReplyDeleteHeskie, luckily I had two of my children who wanted some lettuce. That took care of all of the most recent harvest, so we are back to a reasonable amount for now.
ReplyDelete********
Kelly, I didn't try it after all. Mr. Granny was hungry for ranch, and I needed to eat the last of the jar of pickled beets. The vinegar is on the menu for tonight. I only let the blossoms steep for four days, so I'm not expecting it to be terribly strong.