starting this years garden in 2 days

[Brushpile]

Harvested a few handfuls of these little fellers yesterday.

 

[Marshy]

Are those grapes or really tiny watermelon? Lol

 

[Brushpile]

Are those grapes or really tiny watermelon? Lol

Sour Mexican gherkins.

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

 

[chuckwood]

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.

 

[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

 

[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.

 

[chuckwood]

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.

 

[chuckwood]

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.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

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

 

[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.

 

[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

 

[chuckwood]

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.

 

[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.

 

[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.

 

[chuckwood]

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.

 

[Del_]

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!

 

[chuckwood]

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.

 

[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

 

[Marshy]

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. :/

 

[Brushpile]

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

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