Official 2019 Garden Thread

[gaberdeen]

20 hours ago, Mike da Carpenter said:

Like I was saying a couple weeks ago...Our corn is flat out embarrassing to look at, but in a taste test, you couldn’t find a better one.  Albeit, they would have to be blindfolded and then they’d be wondering if they were all eating from the same cob.  HA!!  Probably best to keep my Chernobyl corn to ourselves.  I sent this picture to one of the guys at work just now, and his reply was “I’d of let it go another day or two”.   Gonna try more corn and better prepared soil next year.

 

The way I understand it is that as the corn is forming each single thread of the silk pollinates a single kernel. It looks like a pollination issue. I know on some gardening forums people raising small patches of corn will actually hand pollinate.

[Mike da Carpenter]

2 hours ago, gaberdeen said:

The way I understand it is that as the corn is forming each single thread of the silk pollinates a single kernel. It looks like a pollination issue. I know on some gardening forums people raising small patches of corn will actually hand pollinate.

 

Someone from UJ land mentioned that to me back when we bought them this Spring.  I posted that I only bought 4 corn stalks because it was less than $2 to try it.  Since we planted them in a single column, I’m betting you are right, but it was pretty neat to see them growing next to the home.  We were the only home in the neighborhood growing corn this year.

[gwponr]

I roasted vacum sealed and froze a large pail full of the tomatoes ;last saturday

I did some on my fire pit over coals and some with the inferred browner on the BBQ

 

 

[gwponr]

One of the varieties I grew is an Atomic Grape tomato, they are very sweet and one of the best tomatoes I've eaten(last year they rarely made it out of the garden before being eaten). 

The other day I put a bunch in the dehydrator to make dried tomatoes, I pull some off before they were completely void of moisture and about the driedness of dried fruit and ate them. They are like eating candy

Same ones blistered in olive oil topped with a black charcoal salt and fresh cracked pepper accompanied by elk steak with fresh salsa and melted brie cheese

[Mild Bill]

On 8/22/2019 at 7:17 PM, Mike da Carpenter said:

Like I was saying a couple weeks ago...Our corn is flat out embarrassing to look at, but in a taste test, you couldn’t find a better one.  Albeit, they would have to be blindfolded and then they’d be wondering if they were all eating from the same cob.  HA!!  Probably best to keep my Chernobyl corn to ourselves.  I sent this picture to one of the guys at work just now, and his reply was “I’d of let it go another day or two”.   Gonna try more corn and better prepared soil next year.

 

 

Definitely a pollination problem there.  If you only had a few corn plants that would potentially explain it.  Also adverse weather causing stress to the plants, mainly high heat for example can also be a culprit.  Have also seen weather conditions cause the silk to ball up and not extend properly and sometimes in larger plantings of corn insects will chew the silks off, corn rootworms in particular and japanese beetles can do this too, and result in similar problems.

 

as mentioned, each silk goes to a specific kernal and each silk needs a pollen grain to land on it and get the material into the kernal for the kernal to grow and develop.

[Treerooster]

Pulled all the onions I planted from seed last April and have them drying. I wait until the tops naturally fall over before I pull then until this time of year, then I just pull the rest. I leave the tops & roots on while drying. When there is no spongy feeling at all by the base of the neck I cut off roots & tops and put them in breathable bags in the basement. They usually last up until next years onions are edible, about July.

 

Have them on chicken wire on the north side of the dog kennel. The vine on the kennel keeps them in the shade.

[1971snipe]

Great pics, everyone.  Very enjoyable thread to read, see pics, and take a few notes.  

I'm still picking okra, but that's it.  Getting ready to plant some mustard and turnip seeds now.  

[BBlizzard18]

Tomato season is early September for me.  Started from seed end of March, planted outside end of May.  I might do a batch of salsa this weekend.  

[gwponr]

Finally had enough figs getting ripe that I was able to pic a big bunch to make jam before the fig eater beetles got to them. I made two batches about three pints each

[gwponr]

with no figs close to ripe the fig eaters have moved to my tomatoes

the get so fat from eating that they can't fly and I can grab the whole bunch at once and dispatch them

[gwponr]

I also picked a big bunch of peppers

I pickled another 3 quarts of pepperonis  also pickled the black peppers with onions

the large red ones are a sweet italian pepper  I roast and peel those and vacuum seal 4-6 together and freeze them. I used to pickle them in a mixture of vinegar, lemon juice and olive oil which I have a couple jars left from last season. I chose vacuum sealing and freezing after ordering a batch of hatch chilis from New Mexico and that was how they came

 

[Dongotto]

3 hours ago, gwponr said:

Finally had enough figs getting ripe that I was able to pic a big bunch to make jam before the fig eater beetles got to them. I made two batches about three pints each

Sounds great. This post made me realize how long its been since I bought a pack of fig newtons. Love those things. lol

[Brad Eden]

 

Who says I can't grow sweet corn in a raised bed...I wish I had grown more. I had bad luck in the beds when I had tried before. ((Had great corn at my old place with a tilled ground garden)This was a test block in a new bed with a few yards of garden soil/compost mix I had delivered. I only planted a few rows in a block about 3'x6'. The proof will be how it tastes in a few minutes.

[1971snipe]

This little fellow not only eats jalapeno leaves, but eats the peppers as well.  Leaving a few seeds, for seed I guess.  

 

 

 

 

[BBlizzard18]

4 minutes ago, 1971snipe said:

This little fellow not only eats jalapeno leaves, but eats the peppers as well.  Leaving a few seeds, for seed I guess.  

 

 

 

 

I just fed 6-7 hornworms to my chickens.  I hate those things.  They defoliated one of my jalapeño plants, and were working on the tomatoes.  They’ll eat tomato fruit too.  Bad year for them, at least where I am.