# starting this years garden in 2 days



## chuckwood

I'll be hooking up the disk harrow and smoothing everything down. Hopefully I'll be putting taters in the ground in a week or two, along with cabbage and broccoli plants. I just noticed an article written about the drought situation in central California. If this continues for a few more years, the time will come when the US will loose around 1/3 of all the veggies sold in supermarkets, the part that is grown in CA. The result will be more people growing their own and new opportunities for farmers east of CA. A lot of first time gardeners may be disappointed about the learning curve involved and the work and expense in building up urban and suburban soils into good garden soil. Now is the best time to start. Here's the article I mentioned:

http://www.naturalnews.com/049013_California_water_crisis_fresh_produce.html


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## lone wolf

Subscribe.


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## Fubar

i am gonna try to get my asparagus bed made and planted tomorrow , and the wife is going to plant her strawberry's too , then it will be green beans , squash and okra next , then i will have to get some more seeds ..lol


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## Sagetown

Good for you chuckwood. Gardening here looks to be a wash. We keep getting so much rain, no one is able to get into their gardens to do anything, and I'm talking for the last few months. No prepping, no nothing. I plowed my last fall, and it's solid mud.


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## Buckshot00

Got potatoes, onions and strawberry plants in the ground. Hoping for a garden that was as good as last years.


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## chuckwood

Got cabbage, broccoli, spinach, romaine lettuce, onions, carrots, and peas planted. Got a hard freeze coming saturday that I'm not too happy about. Covering plants is a hassle. I've also planted some peach trees that are blooming right now, and I'll have to cover them with old sheets. The chicken wire is a trellis for the sugar snap peas to grow on. No taters in the ground yet, I do that when the moon phase is dark. It's an old wives tale that root crops go in during dark of the moon, but I've found out through experience that there is something to this, so I follow this method of planting by moon signs. I realize it may just be coincidence, but I've had more failures while planting under the wrong sign, so call me superstitious. I've got 2 more plots a bit smaller than this one, but they get planted after frost danger is gone. This year I may go a week or so past the official last frost date, I don't trust the weather.


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## chuckwood

Sagetown said:


> Good for you chuckwood. Gardening here looks to be a wash. We keep getting so much rain, no one is able to get into their gardens to do anything, and I'm talking for the last few months. No prepping, no nothing. I plowed my last fall, and it's solid mud.



Here in TN, we're also having the usual spring rains, but there has been enough space between rain periods for things to get dry enough to till. I got my tractor stuck a couple times in a wet corner and had to pick the plow up to get out, but other than that no problems. I feel lucky for myself and badly for y'all.


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## ChoppyChoppy

Ground frozen harder than a wedding night you know what here still.


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## Marshy

Our snow pack has been reduced to about a foot of icy snow. Maybe in another 4 weeks we'll see the dead grass emerge and something green in 6 weeks.


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## chuckwood

Here comes the hard part of my gardening operation, but once it's done, that's pretty much it. I load a trailer with last years matted down leaves, pulled by a four wheeler. The leaves I get free from the city in the fall, they deliver by the dumptruck load. They get rid of something they don't want, and I get free mulch! I straddle the rows with trailer, and spread the leaves out everywhere in the garden, covering everything except my plants with a heavy layer. It's hard work with a pitchfork but good exercise. I used to load the wagon with a small front end loader tractor, but didn't like the idea of constantly starting and shutting off the engine, that's hard on motors and starters. I also didn't like the other idea of the tractor sitting there all day long mostly at idle, burning diesel and needlessly running up the hours on the machine either. I found out that I could do it almost as fast with a pitchfork. Once the leaves are down, I do very little additional weeding or watering. The leaves keep the soil cool and wet. And after a year, they are completely composted into the soil and make it richer. When all my hours are added up, I believe I save time this way. I don't have to waste all those hours tilling in between rows, I don't need to add drip irrigation hoses, and the soil is getting rich enough to where fertilizer really isn't needed much anymore. This method works really well with potatoes. What I have planted so far is cabbage, broccoli, romaine lettuce, spinach, onions, beets, carrots, sugar snap peas, and potatoes. I have a huge cabbage crop every year that I use to make sauerkraut, that stuff keeps easily in glass canning jars for over four months. You can keep kraut longer if you store the jars in an extra refrigerator during the heat of the summer and fall. The other veggies get canned, dried, or frozen. I plant large amounts of leeks (not in the ground yet) in spring and freeze them in fall, very easy to do and they make very good soup. Going out today to buy my tomato plants, this year I'm making my own V8 juice and canning it.


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## les-or-more

Nice looking garden.
You suck though, ground still frozen solid here and 4" of wet snow night before last!


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## Greenthorn

Looks like you got a nice size garden, we have 3 different garden spots, I only managed to get 1 tilled so far, gots me spinach lettuce peas onions planted in this one. I have 300 - 350


tomato plants started in the green house.


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## ChoppyChoppy

I end up going over to the farm next door. I don't have time to deal with a garden, much like they don't have to mess with firewood... so it's a win win.
I tried planting cukes for several years. Either it rained too much, was too cold ("summer" might touch maybe 60 sone years) or the darn moose ate them.


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## Fubar

chuckwood said:


> Here comes the hard part of my gardening operation, but once it's done, that's pretty much it. I load a trailer with last years matted down leaves, pulled by a four wheeler. The leaves I get free from the city in the fall, they deliver by the dumptruck load. They get rid of something they don't want, and I get free mulch! I straddle the rows with trailer, and spread the leaves out everywhere in the garden, covering everything except my plants with a heavy layer. It's hard work with a pitchfork but good exercise. I used to load the wagon with a small front end loader tractor, but didn't like the idea of constantly starting and shutting off the engine, that's hard on motors and starters. I also didn't like the other idea of the tractor sitting there all day long mostly at idle, burning diesel and needlessly running up the hours on the machine either. I found out that I could do it almost as fast with a pitchfork. Once the leaves are down, I do very little additional weeding or watering. The leaves keep the soil cool and wet. And after a year, they are completely composted into the soil and make it richer. When all my hours are added up, I believe I save time this way. I don't have to waste all those hours tilling in between rows, I don't need to add drip irrigation hoses, and the soil is getting rich enough to where fertilizer really isn't needed much anymore. This method works really well with potatoes. What I have planted so far is cabbage, broccoli, romaine lettuce, spinach, onions, beets, carrots, sugar snap peas, and potatoes. I have a huge cabbage crop every year that I use to make sauerkraut, that stuff keeps easily in glass canning jars for over four months. You can keep kraut longer if you store the jars in an extra refrigerator during the heat of the summer and fall. The other veggies get canned, dried, or frozen. I plant large amounts of leeks (not in the ground yet) in spring and freeze them in fall, very easy to do and they make very good soup. Going out today to buy my tomato plants, this year I'm making my own V8 juice and canning it.
> 
> View attachment 418566
> View attachment 418567
> View attachment 418568


nice setup Chuck , it looks like you got it going on .


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## chuckwood

Greenthorn said:


> Looks like you got a nice size garden, we have 3 different garden spots, I only managed to get 1 tilled so far, gots me spinach lettuce peas onions planted in this one. I have 300 - 350View attachment 418579
> tomato plants started in the green house.



I notice that you have a fence around yours. That would cause problems with my leaf mulching method, but through the years, I've seriously thought about doing it due to all the damage I get from groundhogs. They did a lot of damage this year right after I planted my cabbage and broccoli. What really burns me up about what they do is they go down the row eating maybe just half of each plant, taking only the very best tasting parts I guess. But this year my golden retriever has killed four of them, and I think she's got 'em all. When I let her out, she has a route she goes on and routinely checks each groundhog burrow to see if she can get anymore. Hunting is what she prefers to do before anything else.


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## Greenthorn

Yeah, the fence is only around our leafy lettuce and spinach garden...its to keep the rabbits from devouring all of it. I have serious groundhog problems now also, I think the .22 is coming out this year. They really love my squash n gourds. They even took bites out of our tomatoes, wifey says that's it...kill em!


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## Marshy

chuckwood said:


> Here comes the hard part of my gardening operation, but once it's done, that's pretty much it. I load a trailer with last years matted down leaves, pulled by a four wheeler. The leaves I get free from the city in the fall, they deliver by the dumptruck load. They get rid of something they don't want, and I get free mulch! I straddle the rows with trailer, and spread the leaves out everywhere in the garden, covering everything except my plants with a heavy layer. It's hard work with a pitchfork but good exercise. I used to load the wagon with a small front end loader tractor, but didn't like the idea of constantly starting and shutting off the engine, that's hard on motors and starters. I also didn't like the other idea of the tractor sitting there all day long mostly at idle, burning diesel and needlessly running up the hours on the machine either. I found out that I could do it almost as fast with a pitchfork. Once the leaves are down, I do very little additional weeding or watering. The leaves keep the soil cool and wet. And after a year, they are completely composted into the soil and make it richer. When all my hours are added up, I believe I save time this way. I don't have to waste all those hours tilling in between rows, I don't need to add drip irrigation hoses, and the soil is getting rich enough to where fertilizer really isn't needed much anymore. This method works really well with potatoes. What I have planted so far is cabbage, broccoli, romaine lettuce, spinach, onions, beets, carrots, sugar snap peas, and potatoes. I have a huge cabbage crop every year that I use to make sauerkraut, that stuff keeps easily in glass canning jars for over four months. You can keep kraut longer if you store the jars in an extra refrigerator during the heat of the summer and fall. The other veggies get canned, dried, or frozen. I plant large amounts of leeks (not in the ground yet) in spring and freeze them in fall, very easy to do and they make very good soup. Going out today to buy my tomato plants, this year I'm making my own V8 juice and canning it.
> 
> View attachment 418566
> View attachment 418567
> View attachment 418568


With all that green compost matter added to your garden year after year so you find it throws off the PH balance of the soil? Do you add brown compost matter too? What about lye, do you use it? Too many leaves will make it acidic I believe (correct me if I'm wrong) which the tomatoes love but other plants like peppers not so much...


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## chuckwood

Marshy said:


> With all that green compost matter added to your garden year after year so you find it throws off the PH balance of the soil? Do you add brown compost matter too? What about lye, do you use it? Too many leaves will make it acidic I believe (correct me if I'm wrong) which the tomatoes love but other plants like peppers not so much...



Yes, leaves will make it more acidic, particularly if there are pine needles mixed in. However, I also apply ashes from my wood burning stove to my garden. That, and the ashes from two other wood burning households keeps my PH balance at around 6.5 to 7. Wood ashes are rich in Potassium and other minerals that plants like. Potatoes and tomatoes like acid soil. All my kitchen scraps get composted and go back into the garden.


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## Marshy

I need the ground to dry out a little so I can control burn the weeds in my garden from not planting anything last year. I let it grow in because I was too busy. :/


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## Perry pioneer

Some nice looking gardens here good job. I got my first tomato the size of a marble on my plant right now! Update three tomatoes plants still growing from last year.


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## chuckwood

There's a bunch of chatter in the firewood forum about how cold it was a couple nights ago. Well, I'm supposedly in the deep south region here in TN, at least according to the Farmer's Almanac, and we just had scattered frost. It didn't scatter in my favor, and some of my tater plants have been damaged. They'll survive, it's happened before. They'll just be a bit retarded - sorta like these here global warmin' alarmists.


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## chuckwood

Good so far. Messed up by planting old carrot seeds I had stored in the freezer. I assumed that less than half would come up. I was wrong. Today I'll spend hours on my hands and knees thinning them out. Got cabbage, romaine lettuce, onions, broccoli, spinach ready to pick, beets, carrots, sugar snap peas (yum), and lots of taters. Tomatoes doing good, have yet to plant corn and pole beans. Planted lima beans too early, they didn't like the cold and most of them rotted instead of sprouting. They seem to be hot weather only plants, like okra.


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## Perry pioneer

That's a real nice garden, you should have a real bounty buy summers end.


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## chuckwood

Taters are doing great. I've got 2 1/2 long rows. Four varieties. Russets for baking and making mashed taters, red pontiacs for steaming, canning, and tater salad, yukon golds for just about anything you can think of, and something new, blue gooses - blue taters that are more healthy for you but taste just like regular taters.


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## R DeLawter

chuckwood said:


> Taters are doing great. I've got 2 1/2 long rows. Four varieties. Russets for baking and making mashed taters, red pontiacs for steaming, canning, and tater salad, yukon golds for just about anything you can think of, and something new, blue gooses - blue taters that are more healthy for you but taste just like regular taters.
> 
> View attachment 428756



Is that mulched leaves on the taters? Can tell you really put some time in the garden,


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## ChoppyChoppy

Got snow last night here in the higher areas. I haven't planted yet but it's about time. I usually wait till at least first lawn mow for the year which I'd need to do soon.


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## chuckwood

R DeLawter said:


> Is that mulched leaves on the taters? Can tell you really put some time in the garden,



Yeah, I've covered nearly all of my garden with a heavy layer of mulched leaves in between rows. After that I don't need to water or weed.


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## Brushpile

Groundhogs, deer, rabbits, make it hard to get a good crop started. That spray repellant that smells like rotten eggs and ass works good($16 a bottle) til the plants get big enough, but you have to reapply after every rain. Had some bhut jolokia (ghost pepper) seeds from a few years ago, I had lost. Didn't expect many to sprout, so I planted them all. Now I have about 200 little plants. 6 varieties of heirloom tomatoes, 5th yr asparagus, jalapenos, habeneros, cucumbers and tomatillos, salad greens on the back deck up off the ground.


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## chuckwood

Brushpile said:


> Groundhogs, deer, rabbits, make it hard to get a good crop started. That spray repellant that smells like rotten eggs and ass works good($16 a bottle) til the plants get big enough, but you have to reapply after every rain. Had some bhut jolokia (ghost pepper) seeds from a few years ago, I had lost. Didn't expect many to sprout, so I planted them all. Now I have about 200 little plants. 6 varieties of heirloom tomatoes, 5th yr asparagus, jalapenos, habeneros, cucumbers and tomatillos, salad greens on the back deck up off the ground.



I had groundhog problems back in March, but my golden retriever took care of them. She seems to find them good eating. She'll spend hours around a groundhog hole trying to dig 'em out. Killed five so far this year.


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## bowtechmadman

Just finished my garden...finally. I like the leaf idea, I bag my grass clippings to use for the same purpose (weed/moisture) thinking I will have to start pulling leaves from the woods!!
I have found that fishing line works about as good as anything for combating deer...they don't like running into something they can't see.


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## R DeLawter

Yum for the dog.


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## chuckwood

bowtechmadman said:


> Just finished my garden...finally. I like the leaf idea, I bag my grass clippings to use for the same purpose (weed/moisture) thinking I will have to start pulling leaves from the woods!!
> I have found that fishing line works about as good as anything for combating deer...they don't like running into something they can't see.



I'm real lucky with my leaf mulch. The city brings me as much as I want in late fall and it's free. So far I've not had deer problems. They can be bad in both urban and rural areas.


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## chuckwood

This years okra and corn looking great. I had to separate my okra patch into another area. My okra plants were getting the same blight that aftects my tomatoes. So far, the new patch is working out. Okra is easy to freeze, just chop it up, stick it in vacuum seal freezer bags, and you're done. Corn is looking great and my pole beans are emerging that I plant in the corn after it's around a foot high. I get bushels of corn and beans out of a relatively small area. I cover the entire area with a heavy layer of leaves, that keeps weeds from growing and the soil wet.


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## R DeLawter

Our city used to give it away but now sell it for $35 per load. (your truck).

Chuckwood, ... Do you spread that all by hand or with a pitchfork? Thanks for the pictures.


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## chuckwood

R DeLawter said:


> Do you spread that all by hand or with a pitchfork? Thanks for the pictures.



I spread it using a pitchfork. I have a 4 wheeler and a trailer that I use to do the spreading. I load the trailer with leaves and pull it up and down the rows with the machine, straddling the rows when the plants aren't tall enough yet for the 4 wheeler to knock them over. It's hard work and takes a few days, but when it's finished, I'm pretty much done until harvest time. No more tilling to do, and no more watering. Even during long periods of no rain, the soil will still be moist under the leaves. Since these are last year's leaves, and they've been sitting around in a big pile out in the weather for 8 months, they are already compacted and partly composted when I'm spreading them in the garden. Also, the 4 wheeler has large, fat tires on the back, and I'm constantly driving over the leaves that I've already spread as I move up to the next section. This compacts the leaves a lot, I want the leaves to be heavy and dense so they cool the soil and prevent moisture from evaporating out during the hot weather. When next year rolls around, and it's time to plow again, that thick layer of leaves is no where to be seen, it's like the stuff just melts into the soil. Each year, my soil gets a little looser and a little darker.


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## chuckwood

Summer heat has kicked in, and my corn is growing incredibly fast. This year, I planted some cabbage that was advertised to produce heads as big as basketballs. And sure enough, I've got some that big. I let the Romaine lettuce go to seed, thinking I'll save seeds for planting again in the fall. The problem with planting lettuce in spring is that you only have a narrow window of time to harvest before hot weather makes the plant bolt and send up giant seed stalks. Apparently, the lettuce seeds are built to disperse in the wind like dandelion seeds, or it seems to look that way. Anyhow, I've uploaded a couple pics of my lettuce plants along with the corn and cabbage.


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## Sawyer Rob

My gardens are doing very good, I mulch mine in with grass hay that I cut/load on my snow mobile trailer,






Then my better half, spreads it down the rows....we now have the front garden all mulched in,






NOW, on to the back garden!





SR


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## Marshy

I like your guys mulch methods. I'm going to have to look into finding some mulch material. Here's my little garden before and after weeding. At least I smartened up and spaced everything out so I can run the tiller between most everything.


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## chuckwood

We've had lots of rain, so it looks like I'll have a great crop of sweet corn this year. Gonna can and freeze most of it. Tomatoes are coming in, and harvested a total of 6 bushels of carrots this year. Relatives got a lot of 'em, they freeze easily. Next chore is digging up all the taters.


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## Marshy

When will your corn be ready? Looks good. I will have a larger garden in the future. I love to juice my veggies, carrot is yummy.


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## Brushpile

Harvested a few handfuls of these little fellers yesterday.


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## Marshy

Are those grapes or really tiny watermelon? Lol


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## Brushpile

Marshy said:


> Are those grapes or really tiny watermelon? Lol


Sour Mexican gherkins.

http://modernfarmer.com/2013/11/coolest-cucumber-never-met/


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## chuckwood

Marshy said:


> When will your corn be ready? Looks good. I will have a larger garden in the future. I love to juice my veggies, carrot is yummy.



Corn might be ready within a week. When the ears get fat and the tassels dark brown they're good to go.


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## Sawyer Rob

I don't grow carrots... They sell 20 pound bags of washed carrots here for $2.50 per bag.... I'm NOT going to grow them at that price!

SR


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## Del_

Our first corn was Vision (no photo) and was on a month ago. It's a 65 day corn that comes up good in cold soil.

Our second crop of corn is Silver Queen. We've been eating it for ten days. What the photo shows is six rows on 36 inch centers with the plants about a foot apart in the row.

Two rows yielded 130 ears which we cut off of the cob and froze last evening. The other 4 rows will get harvested tomorrow and should have 260 ears which we will cut off of the cob and freeze wednesday evening. We will still get fresh corn from the second and third ears per stalk for the next week to ten days for fresh eating. Our third crop of corn in the second photo is Stowell's Evergeen which should be on in about three to four weeks.







Stowell's Evergreen corn. Other plants in the beds are three beds of late planted okra and our third planting of yellow squash. Beside the corn are four types of winter storage squash.


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## chuckwood

Sawyer Rob said:


> I don't grow carrots... They sell 20 pound bags of washed carrots here for $2.50 per bag.... I'm NOT going to grow them at that price!
> 
> SR



Somehow, my carrots have turned out to be a lot sweeter and better tasting than the commercially available ones. Maybe I've hit on just the right amount of soil additives like rock dust and tons of mulch for my carrot patch. That's partly why I grow my own. I never much liked cooked carrots at all until I started growing my own.


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## chuckwood

Del_ said:


> Our first corn was Vision (no photo) and was on a month ago. It's a 65 day corn that comes up good in cold soil.
> 
> Our second crop of corn is Silver Queen. We've been eating it for ten days. What the photo show is six rows on 36 inch centers with the plants about a foot apart in the row.
> 
> Two rows yielded 130 ears which we cut off of the cob and froze last evening. The other 4 rows will get harvested tomorrow and should have 260 ears which we will cut off of the cob and freeze wednesday evening. We will still get fresh corn from the second and third ears per stalk for the next week to ten days for fresh eating. Our third crop of corn in the second photo is Stowell's Evergeen which should be on in about three to four weeks.
> 
> View attachment 436963
> 
> 
> 
> Stowell's Evergreen corn
> 
> View attachment 436964



Cool! My variety this year is golden queen. If it tastes really good, I may continue planting this variety. I also grow pole beans in my corn, and it helps to have tall, strong stalks so the beans don't weigh them down to the point they fall over. Ordinarily, I plant candy corn variety, which has shorter and smaller stalks, but sure does taste good, really sweet.


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## Sawyer Rob

chuckwood said:


> Somehow, my carrots have turned out to be a lot sweeter and better tasting than the commercially available ones. Maybe I've hit on just the right amount of soil additives like rock dust and tons of mulch for my carrot patch. That's partly why I grow my own. I never much liked cooked carrots at all until I started growing my own.



Good point, but they grow them in huge fields here, so you have choices where you buy them... I rather like the carrots grown in muck fields...they are sweeter.

SR


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## chuckwood

This year I almost lost my okra. The entire patch was wilting badly and lower leaves were dying and falling off. I've planted a lot and it was a lot of work. The problem is fusarium wilt and other similar funguses, same stuff that attacks tomatoes. Fungus is encouraged when there's lots of rain and cool weather, as we've been having. Four days ago I sprayed with something new, a copper/soap based fungicide. I've been using Daconil with very poor results. The copper stuff seems to do the job, so I'm hoping for a lot of okra, canned and frozen. My only hesitation with using a lot of copper fungicide is having the stuff build up in the soil and kill microrganisms in it that I wish to keep. Synthetic fungicides will decompose in the soil and become harmless. Copper won't do anything but sit there forever doing it's thing, it can't decompose any more than it already is.

Here's a pic of what I was processing today, canning tomatoes. They're dead ripe.


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## Del_

Chuck those are some nice looking carrots.

What cultivar are they?

Oxheart?

It' get's pretty hot early down here N/E of Atlanta GA for carrots.

I noticed the beans growing at the base of your corn. Look like you plant beans when the corn is up a foot or so already? When do you plant those beans?

Are they Cherokee Cornfield pole snap beans? http://www.southernexposure.com/cherokee-cornfield-pole-snap-bean-14-g-p-8.html

This year for beans we've grown Kentucky Wonder black seeded pole, Blue Coco pole, Purple podded pole, Potomac pole, Deans Purple pole and Contender bush. Canned 76 quarts total and froze some. Experimenting around some to find what we like best. Next year trying out Red Swan bush and Empress Bush from Seed Savers Exchange.

We've been growing Burmese okra www.southernexposure.com/burmese-okra-5-g-p-131.html the last few years and saving seed. This year we didn't start the seed in pots until about May 15 as we are growing it as a second crop behind potatoes. It's a great cultivar!


http://www.southernexposure.com/burmese-okra-5-g-p-131.html


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## chuckwood

Del_ said:


> Chuck those are some nice looking carrots.
> 
> What cultivar are they?
> 
> Oxheart?
> 
> It' get's pretty hot early down here N/E of Atlanta GA for carrots.
> 
> I noticed the beans growing at the base of your corn. Look like you plant beans when the corn is up a foot or so already? When do you plant those beans?
> 
> Are they Cherokee Cornfield pole snap beans? http://www.southernexposure.com/cherokee-cornfield-pole-snap-bean-14-g-p-8.html
> 
> This year for beans we've grown Kentucky Wonder black seeded pole, Blue Coco pole, Purple podded pole, Potomac pole, Deans Purple pole and Contender bush. Canned 76 quarts total and froze some. Experimenting around some to find what we like best. Next year trying out Red Swan bush and Empress Bush from Seed Savers Exchange.
> 
> We've been growing Burmese okra www.southernexposure.com/burmese-okra-5-g-p-131.html the last few years and saving seed. This year we didn't start the seed in pots until about May 15 as we are growing it as a second crop behind potatoes. It's a great cultivar!
> 
> http://www.southernexposure.com/burmese-okra-5-g-p-131.html



I'll try some of the Burmese next year, looks like they have heavy yields. Carrots are a mix of Nantes and Chantenays. I'll plant some more later for fall, they seem to tolerate mild frost ok. Pole beans this year are a mix of leftovers I pulled out of the freezer from years past. Got Rattlesnake, Kentucky Wonder, and Blue Lake. Blue Lakes are my favorites because they are stringless, saves time in prepping them for freezing/canning. I plant beans when corn is around a foot high. They work together well, the beans provide nitrogen that corn needs. At the end of the season, I bushhog the corn patch, grind everything up, and plow it under for next year. By that time, the bean vines and corn stalks are completely decomposed.


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## chuckwood

Spent the last couple of days doing canning chores. 28 quarts of tomato juice. Kitchen don't have ac and I do it with a fan and sweat a lot.


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## Del_

We've got an All American pressure canner and can do 19 quart jars at a time. We run in on a tripod with a propane burner out in the garage to keep the heat out of the house. 19 quarts of tomatoes and 76 quarts of beans so far and all have sealed down good.


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## chuckwood

Del_ said:


> We've got an All American pressure canner and can do 19 quart jars at a time. We run in on a tripod with a propane burner out in the garage to keep the heat out of the house. 19 quarts of tomatoes and 76 quarts of beans so far and all have sealed down good.



Well, my canner only does 7 quarts at a time. And a 19 quart canner would save a lot of time. I'll google this canner you're using and see what I can find.


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## Del_

chuckwood said:


> Well, my canner only does 7 quarts at a time. And a 19 quart canner would save a lot of time. I'll google this canner you're using and see what I can find.



http://www.allamericancanner.com/allamericanpressurecanner.htm

I've had this one for ten years:
http://www.allamericancanner.com/allamerican941pressurecanner.htm

And this one for 35 years:
http://www.allamericancanner.com/allamerican921pressurecanner.htm


For tomatoes we freeze them whole until we get enough to do 19 quarts and then run them throug the 'Squeezo'...... and then fire up 'Fat Boy'. If the big one ever blows you'll hear it in TN!


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## chuckwood

Del_ said:


> http://www.allamericancanner.com/allamericanpressurecanner.htm
> 
> I've had this one for ten years:
> http://www.allamericancanner.com/allamerican941pressurecanner.htm
> 
> And this one for 35 years:
> http://www.allamericancanner.com/allamerican921pressurecanner.htm
> 
> 
> For tomatoes we freeze them whole until we get enough to do 19 quarts and then run them throug the 'Squeezo'...... and then fire up 'Fat Boy'. If the big one ever blows you'll hear it in TN!



Well, I just looked at those websites and also looked on Ebay for any used All American brand pressure cookers. It seems that you have the mac daddy of pressure cookers, the 941 which was going for as high as $600 on ebay. Mine is a Presto model, and holds as many quarts as the 921 does. I got the Presto at Walmart, so maybe it's made in China, who knows. But what's so cool about these All American cookers is that they are still made in Wisconsin, if I'm reading correctly. They've got a big price tag, but looks like the quality is really there and it's a solid unit that will last a lifetime if maintained and used properly. I'm gonna take a look at how many hours I spend canning and how many hours I'd save with the 941. When my corn and beans all come in at once, the 941 would save a lot of time, maybe pay for itself in a few years. It would give me an excuse to do some welding, and weld up a canning stand to support a propane burner and a 941. It would be almost 3 times as fast as the canner I've got now.


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## Sawyer Rob

I also have All American brand cookers, except instead of buying one HUGE one, I have two med. sized units, both hold 7 qts each, but one is a little taller and will hold 19 pints...






For us, it's just so much more versatile having two med sized canners as I normally do the canning alone and 7qt. is enough for me in a day anyway... lol BUT, if needed I can fire up the second canner for a double load...

I have several other canners too, but they need new seals ect... The All American canners NEVER need a seal!

SR


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## Marshy

Del_ said:


> We've got an All American pressure canner and can do 19 quart jars at a time. We run in on a tripod with a propane burner out in the garage to keep the heat out of the house. 19 quarts of tomatoes and 76 quarts of beans so far and all have sealed down good.


I wonder if you have to pass a background check to purchase one that large anymore. :/


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## Brushpile

Marshy said:


> I wonder if you have to pass a background check to purchase one that large anymore. :/


Thus why it's called the "All American".


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## Del_

Be warned that the All American 941 weighs too much to be used on a stove top burner.

All American also makes autoclaves and they have built in electric elements. I really wish I had one as I'm sure it would be very convenient. Don't know what they cost but I'd bet over $1K.

I like the idea of having two 7 quart canners. Like I mentioned, we have both a 7 quart and a 19 quart and sometimes we just use the 7 quart. What is nice about the 19 quart though is the time saved and the ability to do any number of quarts up to 19 at one time.

Yes it hurts to put out the big bucks but it is one of those investments that once made you'll never be sorry.

I don't know about a background check but it wouldn't surprise me is All American doesn't report some sales to Homeland Security. I do most of our canning late at night and sit near mine so I can adjust the gas and have the garage door open.

I hope a peace officer never comes up on me and ask what in the hell is that?

My response will be, 'Sorry officer, you can't look in there at the moment". 

BTW, I never do any quick cooling of my pressure cookers. I know some do but I've read it stresses them. Sometimes I do run a house fan on on to cool it off a little quicker but never any wet towels, etc.


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## chuckwood

Del_ said:


> Be warned that the All American 941 weighs too much to be used on a stove top burner.
> 
> I like the idea of having two 7 quart canners. Like I mentioned, we have both a 7 quart and a 19 quart and sometimes we just use the 7 quart. What is nice about the 19 quart though is the time saved and the ability to do any number of quarts up to 19 at one time.
> 
> BTW, I never do any quick cooling of my pressure cookers. I know some do but I've read it stresses them. Sometimes I do run a house fan on on to cool it off a little quicker but never any wet towels, etc.



I've never run two 7 quart canners at the same time, but I'm going to try it sometime and see how much that speeds things up. I cool my canners down with fans, seems to save a few minutes. I've read all over in the canner literature to never quick cool one by quenching, don't know why, but I'm not going to try and find out. When my beans and corn come in, I'll be spending a lot of time in a hot kitchen. Sometimes what I do is stay up at night canning and sleep during the day. Don't have ac in the kitchen. Only ac I've got is the somewhat portable window units. I do know people that can outside or in a basement, but it's convenient to have everything going on in the kitchen where the food prep is also happening.


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## Sawyer Rob

I want to clear up something I said earlier, my canners hold "seven" one qt. jars each, so they aren't seven qt canners... Did I do a better job of making that clear now?? lol

I let my canners cool on their own, and can a little at a time, NO marathon going on here!

SR


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## Sawyer Rob

OK, my gardens are producing like crazy, here's what my "back" gardens looks like,







As you can see, I "mulch" heavy,






and I have almost zero weeds,






These pepper plants are a bit shorter than last year, but they are still producing nicely,






These are Yukon Golds... I looked under the mulch, they are doing great!






The heavy mulch really cuts down on the watering too....GREAT stuff, well worth the time it takes to put it down!

SR


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## chuckwood

Started picking corn today. Conned my grandchildren into helping me, they did it with some complaining, it was hot. We picked maybe six bushels, but there's still plenty more. I'll be up all night processing and canning. The racoons did some minor damage that I discovered. They pull the corn stalks down and then shuck and eat the corn. I'm not too concerned, there's plenty for everybody.


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## Del_

Looks good Chuck.

We cut off the cob and froze about 400 ears of Silver Queen.

Next up is Stowell's Evergreen. It's been dry here the past three weeks and watered some this evening. 

We have tanks and store about 5,000 gallons of rain water.

BTW, no chemicals in our garden.

I was a licensed pesticide applicator for about 20 years but haven't touched the stuff for 15.


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## chuckwood

My main crop of pole beans is coming in. I've already harvested 2 bushels this morning and will be continuing to pick throughout the day. Looks like I'll have way too much and some relatives and friends will be getting some of it, but they'll have to come over and pick 'em. It doesn't take too long to pick a bushel when there are clumps of them everywhere and you grab them by the fistful. I'll probably be processing and canning beans all through this coming weekend and maybe even into next week. I also can my potatoes, and I cook canned beans and taters together. They're ready in about 15 minutes. First fry up a bunch of bacon, then add a small bowl of chopped onions, brown the onions in the bacon fat. Pop open a can of beans and a can of taters and heat them up. That's all there is to it. The beans and taters are already precooked in the canning jars. So the only stuff you are actually cooking is the bacon and onions. I can eat this day after day without getting tired of it.


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## chuckwood

I waited a little too long to pick some of my pole beans, so I made shellie beans or southern style beans. Been busy processing and canning for the last three days. Here's the result so far, and I've got more to do. Even though it's more work, I like 'em this way best.


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