Homeschooling The Well Prepared Child: August 2015

Homesteading, for us, has always been a 'Trial and Error' adventure. We have raised mini watermelons and squash, had mystery plants take over the front yard, potato bucket fails, strange eggs, and have two incubators full of eggs that never hatched. This, however, is one of the oddest things we have ever seen...

What on Earth?

It looks like something on an alien movie!

???

So I posted the photo in a gardening forum. Someone mentioned blossom end rot. I did a little searching and found a photo that looked just like our crazy alien zucchini squash on THIS website. Blossom end rot it is!

But what is blossom end rot?

Blossom end rot is when the plants have a calcium deficiency. Like calcium helps to build our bones, calcium also helps a growing plant keep it's structure. If there is not enough calcium, the structure of the plant starts to break down at the end of the plant. The end where the blossom is, starts to get mushy and decay. We do have some that have developed the traditional blossom end rot.

However, our end did not rot, it just mutated.

So How Do You Fix It?

The Missouri Botanical Gardens suggestion is to test the soil PH, stay away from high ammonia fertilizers and get some Calcium Nitrate to help prevent the ends from rotting.
Another site recommended using Gypsum or Lime in your garden to help balance the soil for optimal calcium intake. Also, do not over water. If you notice blossom end rot on your plants, remove the affected fruit and spray with a calcium rich fertilizer.

What Are You Going To Do?

Nothing. It is the end of the season and the garden is winding down. I think I will work on building up the nutrients in the garden for next year after the garden has died out for this year.

So What Did You Do With The Alien Looking Thing?

I let Zoey dissect it of course! :D We just had to see what was under all the craziness. And guess what we found...

Nothing much. Just looked like a regular zucchini. Zoey tried a nibble of it and said it tasted normal as well. (She likes to eat raw zucchini.) We did not eat the rest of it because, I already have 4 more waiting to be eaten. Zoey thought the pig might like it, so into the slop bucket it went.

We love your comments! Do you have any crazy produce photos to share?

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Right before hubby's accident, our amazingly awesome neighbor, Bree, gave us an assortment of plants she got from the store. There was lettuce, spinach, and cabbage. We kept them in the garage with the plan to plant them as soon as it was time. True to our luck, our plans failed, and most of the plants died while we were in the hospital. My garden plans were thwarted even more with all of the crazy storms. The garden was not put in as early as I had hoped.

By the time we got our garden in the ground, the only plants left were the cabbage... or so I thought. Only, these cabbage plants were not like any I had ever seen before. The leaves were coming out from the top, and a little from the sides. They were not hugging the cabbage head like I was used to seeing. I was really starting to wonder, "What kind of cabbage is this?" So I called the person who gave them to me. She once again said, "Cabbage." She didn't know any more than that. Her aunt had bought them for her. Great...

When the awesome neighbor came over, we walked my garden. I finally got to show her why I was so confused. "It's kohlrabi." What? Could you repeat that please? "It's kohlrabi."
Well, That's NOT Cabbage!
Turns out, kohlrabi IS a type of cabbage. I had just never heard of it. I didn't even know how to fix it, eat it, or what to do with it. What the heck is this stuff? I asked around. Most of my friends just said to peal it, slice it up and eat it with Ranch Dressing. Everything tastes better with Ranch, right?

Okay, let's do this!

I was really hoping it tasted like Jicama, but it didn't. It was kind of peppery, but not. It was kinda sweet, but not. And it was not good to anyone in my family... Now what? I have all of these kohlrabi plants. I can't just waste it!

So I did another shout out on Facebook to see how others prepared it. However, I have not been brave enough to try them yet. My next 'Try' will be to dice one up and fry it like a potato. Wish me luck!