2023 garden season

[Backyard Lumberjack]

I finally took some pics of the garden after I have it a good weeding.

Things here don't look near as good as some of the other gardens posted on here. We were very dry earlier which made it a real struggle to get things to come up. I think the sweet corn took it the hardest. Now we have been too wet over the last couple weeks.

This was my haul last night.

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New fruit beds this year. Bed in the foreground will be rhubarb, raspberries, and blackberries. The bed in the background will be blueberries once I get the soil ph adjusted.

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Brassicas on the left, and melons in the middle. Peppers are in the middle of the melon patch as I ran out of room.

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The potato patch. Row on the right is fingerlings planted a month earlier than the other two. Middle row is russets, left row is more fingerlings.

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Sweet corn, with onions on the left.

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And then tomatoes. Mostly paste tomatoes but also a couple cherry and couple slicing.

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And the strawberry bed after I renovated it after harvest was done.

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you got it going there gg! nice yellow wax harvest! those white cauliflowers sure look tasty, too!

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

Good advice here. Taters need lots of fertilizer and water. But don't go too heavy with the N fertilizer or you will get very bushy plants. I mulch mine as well with straw, keeps the weeds down, moisture in the soil, and helps prevent taters from getting sunburnt.

i always think 0-20-0 for spuds...

 

[muddstopper]

My beans are doing well. I picked my second gallon today and quit when the pail was full.

I don't have a pressure canner (just missed one on CL) and my freezer is full. I'll probably make room and just freeze them. Blanch first?

Still, I don't understand why you can't can them in a hot (boiling) water bath. Just extend the cook time from 20 minutes(?) to one hour. A 10 psig increase raises the boiling point to approximately 240 F which supposedly reduces the cook time to a third.

"Google" says you can't because of low acidity. Says you have to pickle them. I don't see what acidity has to do with it. Bacteria is killed at 170(?)F and longer processing time would be no big deal for 6 - 10 quarts.

I have ate pickled beans all my life, got some in brine as we speak. The thing about pickle beans is they are not supposed to last for years, only from season to season. You should have them eaten by the time your next crop comes in. Pressure canning is a whole different deal. I have pressure canned beans still left over from a couple years ago. Now, I dont know all the science behind preserving foods. Air is the killer for beans, pickled beans dont have the acid of other foods. If it gets exposed to the air, it can get infected with botulism spores and turn deadly. Pickled beans has to be kept in a cool place. Pressure canned foods are exposed to high temps and the jars are sealed under a vacuum that prevents exposure to outside bacteria. I pickle beans, corn, okra and tomatoes just about every year. If I plan on keeping them long term. I put the pickled beans in a clean jar with a new lid and place upside down in a water bath canner, with just enough water to make sure the lids are fully submerged, bring to a rolling boil for about 10 minute and then remove from the water and listen for the lids to pop which means they have sealed. When it comes to canning, the Ball canning book is my wifes bible. She water bath cans most everything, from grapes and straw berries, peaches, and apples to pork sausage

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

We used to make our mater juice that way. Several years ago I bought a Jack LaLane Juicer, Game changer. We just wash and cut the maters into quarters and run them thru the juicer. The juicer removes all the seeds and runs the pulp out the back. I then rerun all the pulp a second and third time and we end up with a fairly thick juice. Add a little salt, cook and then place in jars and waterbath canner. I can juice a 30lb box of maters in about 15 or 20 min and a box will make about 11 quarts.

my way is a bit slower. but still comes up with delicious tasting DIY tomato juice!

this morning:

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

our summer garden is coming to an end for another season! with that in mind and some KP duties called for, ie... don't let the excess tomatoes become ripe for compost, i decided to make some homemade tomato juice. been years since i made any. and i had some stuff in refer (KP; veg drawer clean out) that would be good, too. celery, garden carrot left overs, scallions, some onion, even a very ripe cuke! still flavorful. so i got a pot and started with all but the tomatoes. then cut up what i had. had some nice saving for burgers, etc and some still ripening. then cut up all my very ripes and what i had trimmed but not eaten, too. even couple from grocery. i told QB oh, and get some tomatoes, too. lol. she did. 2 made up a nice batch, tossed in some bay leafs, too. cooked for 30 mins or so. tasted. bit flat. so i seasoned it up a bit. tasted. perfect! i plan to use the pulp, too. thinking mite roll in flour and pan fry.

last night:

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

not sure how i will use the tomato juice. had a glass this evening. cold. delicious! but we are working on a couple of ideas....

one for sure ~

 

[muddstopper]

Wind night before last wiped out my Pencil Cob corn I had planted here at the house. It was just starting to tassel. Didnt just blow it down but broke it off about have way up the stalk. I have 3 or 4 stalks left I hope will produce enough for seed. I do have two rows planted at my sons house, its tasseling now. My White polific is just now starting to come in, I picked about a dozen ears today. Some of those stalks are 12ft tall. I had to pull the stalks over to reach the ears of corn. Ears over a foot long and 16 rows of kernels per ear. I think by the end of the week I will be over run with corn. We will pick what we need for freezing and pickle a few jars and the rest we will leave to get hard for grinding into corn meal.

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

Wind night before last wiped out my Pencil Cob corn I had planted here at the house. It was just starting to tassel. Didnt just blow it down but broke it off about have way up the stalk. I have 3 or 4 stalks left I hope will produce enough for seed. I do have two rows planted at my sons house, its tasseling now. My White polific is just now starting to come in, I picked about a dozen ears today. Some of those stalks are 12ft tall. I had to pull the stalks over to reach the ears of corn. Ears over a foot long and 16 rows of kernels per ear. I think by the end of the week I will be over run with corn. We will pick what we need for freezing and pickle a few jars and the rest we will leave to get hard for grinding into corn meal.

would like to see a pix of those and up against a ruler, too!

 

[djg james]

Go ahead and let us know how it works in 6 months. Me? I'm pressure canning them.

Didn't say I was going to do it, just asking if it was possible or not.

 

[Stonesforbrains]

So I smoked the Hyros paprika peppers for a couple hours and then dehydrated them. Made about four tablespoons of ground paprika.

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

View attachment 1101442View attachment 1101443
So I smoked the Hyros paprika peppers for a couple hours and then dehydrated them. Made about four tablespoons of ground paprika.

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

seems this might fit in here... a freebie, then...

 

[muddstopper]

would like to see a pix of those and up against a ruler, too!

OK, I will take a few pic when I go back to harvest. Surely you dont have doubts as to corn reaching 12ft tall and ears a foot long, or is it the 16rows of kernels per ear.

 

[farmer steve]

OK, I will take a few pic when I go back to harvest. Surely you dont have doubts as to corn reaching 12ft tall and ears a foot long, or is it the 16rows of kernels per ear.

Here's a pic of some of mine from 2 years ago. The ear was almost 8' from the ground. The ear was around 16" long. Row count on this variety is around 14.

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

there are many ways to grow taters and everybody has different ways depending on location/weather/etc. The sunburn problem is no problem here for me since I drag dirt up til I have mounds 3' wide at bottom and 1.5' to 2' at the top. This mound stays soft and they fill with spuds of nice size, if I can keep enough water hauled to them.
This year I only planted a couple short rows for our own use,--- no give-aways this time.

the biggest red i ever grew, big russet sized was a seed spud under a row of pine needles....

i baked it, and boiled the others...

 

[Orange Ripper]

Morning folks!
Been a while since I updated here! After having some of the lettuce we’ve got on the go, and our Peppers starting to get some heft to em, hopefully be ready soon ! Other than that we never really planted much as time had other things on the schedule to take care of that were of more importance!

 

[muddstopper]

would like to see a pix of those and up against a ruler, too!

Ruler pic as per your request.

Some of those stalks are over 13ft tall. I videoed the stalk measureings, but for some reason I cant get them sent to post. It was 7ft from the ground to the 1st ear of co

Most of these ears where 10in long after the tips had been cut off.

taters grown in buckets

Tenn Pencil Cob dentcorn, just now starting to tassel. Estimate close to 10ft tall.

 

[sonny580]

I had white Hickory King one year that got that tall, --- only got a couple ears that survived our wind here but it would have made some great hominy!
IF I had the time I would make some supports of some kind to keep wind from knocking it down and then you would have a chance of going full season with mature corn!

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

Ruler pic as per your request.
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Some of those stalks are over 13ft tall. I videoed the stalk measureings, but for some reason I cant get them sent to post. It was 7ft from the ground to the 1st ear of co
View attachment 1102460
Most of these ears where 10in long after the tips had been cut off.
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taters grown in buckets
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Tenn Pencil Cob dentcorn, just now starting to tassel. Estimate close to 10ft tall.
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wish i could grow sweet corn like that! best deal down here currently, this week. is 25-cents an ear... most around 88-cents or more/3! i did grow some corn that tall once... sweet corn said the package... was field corn!

impressive, though! lol

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

the heat is rather bad here. day after day, triple digits. pine trees suffering or think it's Fall. needles falling galore and no winds! the heat has been affecting my garden, too...