|
|
By feral, on August 1st, 2011%
Enough kidding around: no silly out-of-focus abstractions or pretty flowers — this quiz is for serious horticulturalists.
What am I?
Is there a clue? Yes. Supposedly, this green is considered one of the healthiest foods in… Hmmm, no, that might make it too simple.
Here’s your clue: think Wild Wild West and Far Far East.
Click here to find out the answer.
***
The subject of the last photo quiz was quickly identified by many as an allium and correctly by Murzik as a flowering leek. Here it is, with less zoom:
  To be honest, I’ve had more luck photographing leeks than growing them. Somehow, they never get to be as plump and thick as at the market… I’ll be using one tonight to make a chard and potato stew, sans flower, obviously. The stalk feel quite hard though…
One final thing. The feral gardener encountered a strange blogger’s block last week which hindered the completion of a few posts I’ve been working on; the garden, thankfully, was unaffected by it . . . CONTINUE READING → Monday quiz
By feral, on July 22nd, 2011%
 Well, the last photo quiz was over faster than you can say Abelmoschus esculentus. Or look up its definition on wikipedia. I admit, I was stunned by both such a quick correct response and its Latin name. Normal people (those who didn’t guess it right away) know this vegetable as okra or gumbo.
Since we’re talking fancy botanical terms, I will have you know that okra belongs to the Malvaceae (or Mallow) family that also includes such plants as hibiscus, jute, cotton, cocoa, cola nut, and most notably, baobab. Now you surely realize why this flower looked so familiar…
This particular variety is called Tokyo Gokaku. According to Kitazawa Seed’s website that I ordered it from, “This extra early Japanese okra produces 3″ long, dark green pentagonal pods. The tender, high quality fruit is short and round and has excellent flavor.”
Here’s the photo of its fruit that I just took, about 10 days since the flowering:
 I read recently that you have to pick okra within a week after the pods are formed; otherwise it . . . CONTINUE READING → Quiz answer: Gokaku Okra! + some practical questions…
By feral, on July 18th, 2011%
I just got back after another weekend of intensely gratifying physical labor in the garden… And only have energy for a quick photo quiz question. But don’t worry, this is a good one!
Clue: it’s a vegetable.
What am I?
The flower is really beautiful but don’t ask your florist to use it in your next centerpiece arrangement… It opens in the morning and wilts by the afternoon, giving way to its developing fruit — that I am eagerly anticipating. (Almost as eagerly as I am awaiting your guesses!)
***
The next photo has no connection to our trivia game and contains no clues whatsoever to the flower in question. However, it shows you the fruit of my labor today. I finished this set of steps with some fine wood chips, and now they are a sheer pleasure to ascend as well as to descend.
 I feel very happy about this project and just wanted to share my stair master pride. And now I must crash for it is late and I am exhausted after all the mulching, staking, . . . CONTINUE READING → Oh no! Another flower quiz???
By feral, on July 7th, 2011%
Your clues: this photo has not been visually enhanced or altered. However, it was originally slightly overexposed and largely out of focus. Obviously — to make it more fun.
What am I?
The prize? All you people care about is prizes… Ok, the prize (should you decide to claim it) will be a print from this series (to be published with the correct answer), of your choice.
Let’s guess!
Official results page
By feral, on June 6th, 2011%
I apologize for such a delayed announcement of the results of my latest feral photo charade. Although everyone’s answer was correct in one respect or another, Anna is the official winner!
There are stones, there are barns, and together they spell out the answer: indeed, on our way upstate, we visited Stone Barns in Pocantico Hills, NY.
 To my shame, I had only heard of it as the home of the famed Blue Hill restaurant and as sort of a mother-rhizome of the popular farm-to-table movement. It wasn’t until a few weeks ago that I learned about Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture‘s much bigger mission. This only proves my ignorance, of course. Don’t rely on this post as an exhaustive information source; visit their website instead — the description, the photos, the range of programs and classes they have developed and currently offer are truly wonderful.
Lucky for me, a few weeks ago James reconnected with his college friend Erica who works there and was kind enough to invite us on an impromptu farm tour. Here they are, reconnected in a gateway to the . . . CONTINUE READING → a visit to Stone Barns
By feral, on May 26th, 2011%
Time for a photo quiz! A clue is in the picture.
By feral, on April 30th, 2011%
Oh goodness me! I don’t know what was more popular — this super-fun guessing game or the royal wedding… And just as Kate Middleton’s wedding dress, the subject of my April trivia contest remained a secret. Not as tightly guarded though, because of a slightly lower interest level.
It was ramps!
Unfortunately, we were unable to determine a winner due to the record 0% response rate! But here’s a close-up photo, for everyone’s enjoyment one more time.
 What’s remarkable about these ramps? — The way they propagated. Last Spring I bought a bunch of ramps at the Union Square farmers’ market. Instead of cooking them whole as usual, I chopped off the bottom parts of the stems. They looked like immature bulbs to me — so, I thought I’d give it a try and stuck them randomly into the ground. I completely forgot about that experiment since then, and could not believe my eyes when I saw a whole bunch of them last weekend. A few more years, and we’ll have an entire ramp plantation here!
Coincidentally, the New York Times also reported about ramps last week; sadly, from a . . . CONTINUE READING → Ramps! (et alii allia)
By feral, on April 27th, 2011%
This was probably the single hugest surprise of April 2011. But what is it???
Who am I?
And why was this such a big surprise? — That’s a bonus question.
What do you get for answering it correctly? — Nothing yet.
Full exposé to follow, naturally.
By feral, on March 19th, 2011%
Yesterday morning we saw a large porcupine wobbling slowly up the hill and across the road. Was it visiting the garden? Who knows… First I got excited because I thought that porcupines were related to hedgehogs, and hedgehogs are very good friends of the gardener because they eat slugs. It turns out that porcupines are not at all related to cute little hedgehogs, and what’s even worse — they are rodents!!!! Seriously, I don’t need more rodents in my zoo. Have I mentioned that the voles are already up and at ‘em? I just saw two peaking out from underneath the shed, looking like they’re in it to win it.
However, today’s trivial pursuit is not about the belligerent Rodentia Order. It is about all the things that have already started to grow. Unbelievable: only 3 days ago the garden was still completely covered with a pretty thick blanket of snow, and yesterday almost all of it had melted away. Not only that — the special Russian garlic (my dad found it for me somewhere) I planted in the fall is shooting through the mulch. You might not see it at first but keep looking: there are 4-5 little . . . CONTINUE READING → mid-March trivia
By feral, on March 2nd, 2011%
Have you seen this super fun Seeds Straight From Your Fridge article in the New York Times last week? It reminded me of some fridge I know. And also, now I really want to grow a papaya tree for a houseplant. A new project, yay!
The good news is that our fridge is storing quite a few seeds from some remarkable vegetables we consumed in 2010. There are tomatoes, cucumbers, butternut squash, etc. waiting to come out of the cold. The bad news is that I can’t find my box with seeds from previous years — and have no idea where I might have hidden them during our chaotic moving experience back in October. I guess they will sprout at some point…
Another piece of news: the calendar winter is over! Yay again!!! Unfortunately, I feel like I’m already gravely behind on some seed starting. It’s time to get the peppers and the kales growing. And also to order some new seeds.
In case you’re still not feeling adequately excited about the whole seed thing, here’s a little trivia contest, guaranteed to give you an adrenaline rush. Whoever correctly guesses what is depicted below, gets a free supply of . . . CONTINUE READING → seeds, seeds & seeds
|
Sign Up For Feral Updates
|
email feralgardener@gmail.com
|
recent comments