Garden Progress

[BUGEYE]

For me it’s all about tomatoes. . .

I mostly agree with this ^ ^
I've cut back on what I invest my
labor and water on, mostly because
of the cost of whatever at the grocery
store. Things like potatoes and onions
can be had here fairly cheaply, so
I buy those, and they're about as good
as what I can grow.
But there's no comparison when you're
talking about tomatoes 
I've never had a store bought tomato that
tastes anywhere close to what my home
grown tomatoes do.
I can take tomatoes off the vine out here
and just sit down and eat just those tomatoes
like it was an ice cream cone.
The flavor and texture is completely different
I always look forward to that first fresh tomato
every year

^^^^^^^^^^ THIS ^^^^^^^^^^
I over watered my tomatoes and killed every one.
Then a friend gave me two cherry tomato plants and I just stuck'em in the ground and ignored'em and they are producing 100's of cherry tomatoes.

[Bob Riebe]

Minnesota is in a severe to extreme drought but with constant watering the gardens are great; farms without irrigation are hurting badly.

Squash fruit are now on the vines and looking good, as are some musk melons I put in.

Just picked last of first two sweet corn plots and it is good; they Festivity and Martian Jewes sweet corn but as they were planted very close together I got some Festive Martians.

I thought I knew every type sweet corn there was but those two I never heard of . They must be open pollinated type .  Where did you  order the seed I like to  read up on them.

Here are where I bought them, both are very good but I like my sweet corn a bit on the more mature side. (My mother liked it VERY mature, she would cook what most farmers would have given to the hogs. )

https://www.redwoodseeds.net/products/festivity-sweet-corn

https://www.redwoodseeds.net/products/festivity-sweet-corn

I do net searches looking for uncommon/ little known types of corn, including sweet corn.
Finding it can be hard as too many times it comes about from looking for one type  and a line to a link where a gardener says  -- I used to get x, y or z comes up.

I did join Seed Savers Exchange, and variety one can get there, for many vegetables is amazing; it is not a money saving method but if you want to find stuff you cannot get  off of the net web sites it is the place, without hours of searching, to go.

Here is another place with a large seed selection web site. (He is also a member of SSE)
https://www.sandhillpreservation.com

[Bob Riebe]

For me it’s all about tomatoes. . .

I mostly agree with this ^ ^
I've cut back on what I invest my
labor and water on, mostly because
of the cost of whatever at the grocery
store. Things like potatoes and onions
can be had here fairly cheaply, so
I buy those, and they're about as good
as what I can grow.
But there's no comparison when you're
talking about tomatoes 
I've never had a store bought tomato that
tastes anywhere close to what my home
grown tomatoes do.
I can take tomatoes off the vine out here
and just sit down and eat just those tomatoes
like it was an ice cream cone.
The flavor and texture is completely different
I always look forward to that first fresh tomato
every year

Before my taste buds became semi-useless I grew potatoes because different varieties do taste different; when I made French Fries some types were a goodly amount more tasty that others; the same for mashed potatoes.
I still grow them now because variety is the spice of life and on a good day I can still tell the good from the average, so I still spend enough money I could buy 100  pounds or more,  from a store for the seeding taters I buy.  (I hate throwing away carry over still good for planting but I was putting too close to 100 plus or minus plants and I/we only use a fraction of what was used when we still had  families to gather at holidays and I would make French Fries , large amounts, often just for me.

Tomatoes I grow/grew mostly for chilli base I would make, though I used to eat a lot of tomato sandwhiches.
Now I/we eat a fraction of the chilli we used to and I rarely make a tomato sandwich though , the good bakery bread I used is also gone; miss that a lot.

I tried to cut down on the number of plants this year but still ended up with 8 nursery bought and 1 volunteer which is twice what I should have; I did buy the Big Boy / Big Beef types she wanted so 4 of them are just for her and she had better chow down.
I like the spicey ones that bite back but rather than two to four Green Zebra, this year I have only 1.

[mcbammer]

Minnesota is in a severe to extreme drought but with constant watering the gardens are great; farms without irrigation are hurting badly.

Squash fruit are now on the vines and looking good, as are some musk melons I put in.

Just picked last of first two sweet corn plots and it is good; they Festivity and Martian Jewes sweet corn but as they were planted very close together I got some Festive Martians.

I thought I knew every type sweet corn there was but those two I never heard of . They must be open pollinated type .  Where did you  order the seed I like to  read up on them.

Here are where I bought them, both are very good but I like my sweet corn a bit on the more mature side. (My mother liked it VERY mature, she would cook what most farmers would have given to the hogs. )

https://www.redwoodseeds.net/products/festivity-sweet-corn

https://www.redwoodseeds.net/products/festivity-sweet-corn

I do net searches looking for uncommon/ little known types of corn, including sweet corn.
Finding it can be hard as too many times it comes about from looking for one type  and a line to a link where a gardener says  -- I used to get x, y or z comes up.

I did join Seed Savers Exchange, and variety one can get there, for many vegetables is amazing; it is not a money saving method but if you want to find stuff you cannot get  off of the net web sites it is the place, without hours of searching, to go.

Here is another place with a large seed selection web site. (He is also a member of SSE)
https://www.sandhillpreservation.com

  Thanks , I'll certainly check those out . I  like saving my own seed . 

[Mule 11]

For me it’s all about tomatoes. . .

I mostly agree with this ^ ^
I've cut back on what I invest my
labor and water on, mostly because
of the cost of whatever at the grocery
store. Things like potatoes and onions
can be had here fairly cheaply, so
I buy those, and they're about as good
as what I can grow.
But there's no comparison when you're
talking about tomatoes 
I've never had a store bought tomato that
tastes anywhere close to what my home
grown tomatoes do.
I can take tomatoes off the vine out here
and just sit down and eat just those tomatoes
like it was an ice cream cone.
The flavor and texture is completely different
I always look forward to that first fresh tomato
every year

I have been having tomatoes on sandwiches and burgers for awhile now and have not gotten to the fulfilled state yet. I also buy local tomatoes for a small stand and sometimes put some of mine out. My kids get the proceeds as I want them to see there are different ways to turn or make an extra dollar to enhance your income.

[Ranger99]

I'm either going to have to
try some more different varieties
or expand my allocated tomato
growing area ( likely both)
because I'm not satisfied with
the low yield I've had the last
few seasons. After growing and
eating these good tasting
tomatoes, buying from the store
doesn't work for me at all.
I've been out of fresh tomatoes
for a week or two, and every
time I make a sandwich or
make something that I can
use tomatoes in, I can't enjoy
whatever dish it is

[Ranger99]

I didn't mention that I got one
lonely zucchini for all my efforts 
Ate it last night for supper
Peeled, cut up, steamer, then
browned in a skillet with onion
and S&P

[wtxbadger]

For me it’s all about tomatoes. . .

I mostly agree with this ^ ^
I've cut back on what I invest my
labor and water on, mostly because
of the cost of whatever at the grocery
store. Things like potatoes and onions
can be had here fairly cheaply, so
I buy those, and they're about as good
as what I can grow.
But there's no comparison when you're
talking about tomatoes 
I've never had a store bought tomato that
tastes anywhere close to what my home
grown tomatoes do.
I can take tomatoes off the vine out here
and just sit down and eat just those tomatoes
like it was an ice cream cone.
The flavor and texture is completely different
I always look forward to that first fresh tomato
every year

Absolutely agree on home grown maters versus store store bought. Thinkin Guy Clark sums it up best.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TWwyhCVBDg

[Bob Riebe]

I have dug up 7/8ths, really more like 25/39ths of my potatoes down South.

I am assuming lack of heavy rain took it toll, as even though I watered for an hour to three hours when ever I was home the  ground was generally dry.
Now I did not water parts of the garden evenly and where it was hit a little less really was obvious.

Right under the sprinkler if was fairly normal for wetness, slighty glumpy, but all but there it was dry to very dry when digging potatoes.
Most of the potatoes came up clean and in that Black Gumbo that is NOT NORMAL, ever. in some places it was tolerably moist, potatoes still came out clean,  but 8 inches down  it was like loose  not even  damp crushed dirt; I picked up a clump , when there were clumps, crushed it and it ran through my fingers like sand.

98.6 percent of the potatoes were the size of a goose egg down to pheasant egg; very few marbles and very, very few larger than a baseball.
Reds bulked up better than white or yellows.
Out of all that digging I got one bushel; a few years back that many plants would have filled three to four bushel baskets, real ones.
I figured that there would be not normal results as the leave mulch, approx.12 to 16 inches deep when applied, weas still over three inches deep in some places.
Worms were happy on the surface and down about two inches it was moist and there were a lot of them there,  a lot on the surface under the leaves.

In an odd occurrence I has a small onion patch about three by twelve inches and two sunflowers came up in it; the onions right next to, or on top of the sunflower roots were the largest, though only golf ball size..
The soil was 75 percent potting soil mixed with the Black Gumbo and I pulled or scooped out most of the onions with my fingers the way you run a feline pooper-scooper through the kitty litter and this was the day after I watered it for 90 minutes.

Picked  a bunch of sweet corn ears of varying varieties, Shoepeg was mixture of yellow and white with some cobs mostly yellow but there was not much separation of varieties in space so they were side by side with some rows containing two or three varieties.
I will go back in two days to get back working on the garage and will pick the last and leave the rest for the squirrels over winter as I do not eat much any more and I do not want a fridge full of corn cobs taking space plus I have a fair number there already in very cold water.

I had three muskmelon but some thing broke them off of the stem and picked holes in the side; one was nearly ripe, one gold on the inside but not sweet and the other was green; ate two and put all three in the compost bin, which I water heavily with the roses. :tiphat:

[Ranger99]

The peppers have surprised me
this year.  I put up another jar
of pickled peppers yesterday.
Haven't been able to do that in
a good while

[Bob Riebe]

Got back down to my South garden a few days ago; As I left the North garden the radio was broadcasting severe storm warnings of damaging wind and hail

Fifty miles North of my North garden they got hit very hard; all the damage I had up north was snapped off Mulberry tree, that , THANK GOD, did not hit the  house or tear up the paver stone patio.
Down south , the wind knocked out, finally, ALL the dead branches out of a maple tree that has made keeping the lawn clean a pain in the buttocks for two years now, BUT, I also got 41/2 inches of rain during the week and when the wind hit, 1/3 of my corn was laying on the ground.

I tied up the ones that were worth it and pulled a lot of the rest but a goodly number of that was sweet corn whose stalks were already brown and week.
Oddly, Lornenzo's corn, a breed I had never tried before, even though it was tasseling and starting to form cobs, was unevenly quite short and very tender.
One half of it was lying on the ground, but tall stuff next to it was still standing.

Snapped off my volunteer Sunflowers,( I do not know how people can grow those, I RARELY have some that is not snapped off ) .
I finally got the much needed rain but actually too much , too late as in reality most items are now ripe, so the rain does not do much , except, the tomatoes , with that sudden down pour they are ripening too fast and splitting open now. 

[Ranger99]

Just gathered a decent mess of
yard long green beans. Now I
have to rinse em and cut em up
and get em in bags and in the
freezer. 
I can't figure why I get the inconsistent
yield except for the seed quality.
One thing about it though, when
they go they go . With a big enough
patch and if they were doing well,
a man sure wouldn't want for some
green beans to eat . That's got to be
the inspiration for the beanstalk fable
because you could just almost
watch em grow

[Bob Riebe]

I dug seven hills of Grand Duke potatoes today; first plants to totally wilt up North.

I got 65 potatoes out of those hills and only five marbles, with two large bakers, and the rest from tennis ball to baseball size.
I am surprised that up North the potatoes are quite a bit larger than down South, but then the North garden gets timed irrigation every other day although where I was digging, the sprinkling does not really reach that far but then we had a good rain as the ground was moist 16 inches down.

I have pulled all but the decorative Indian Corn up North, ears do not look really ready to pick so will leave that standing till It looks like if I do not take it down it will not make a good shock; Oddly in this dry year, Corn Smut is the most serious I have seen in my entire life, hitting every different type of corn I planted .
Sadly I did not spot any when it was ready for the frying pan.

Although I have ten hills still in the ground down South, looks like the first year ever the North will out produce the South.
These are the first truly large potatoes I have had up North since I first put the garden in thirty plus years ago; first year was great as potatoes love new soil, and a garden shop here had white potatoes simply called Luther Burbank potatoes and when I read up on them, they were noted for being very large.
Have not found them since and Jerry's Garden shop is sadly long gone also. Sad I tip my hat to you.

[Mule 11]

How do you store your potatoes Bob?

[Dee]

We store ours in the pantry in a plastic grocery bag. 

[Mule 11]

My Grandfather wrapped his in newspaper and kept them in the crawl space under his house in plastic perforated trays. Butt. He grew a crap load, not bought at 3 to 5 pound bags. Curious as to how other cultivators store there’s.

[Bob Riebe]

How do you store your potatoes Bob?

I put them in multiple corrugated card-board tote boxes, covered with an old blanket (each a bushel more or less)  in the basement in a room that stays about 50 degrees, and  at my South Garden house I put them in the kitchen next to the North wall which is about 55 degrees covered with old jackets.

I some times shake the boxes so they loosen up a bit, and recently, often put the marbles, golf ball size and smaller in their own box.
I rarely have any go bad but while in the spring time planted all the carry-overs , or did, until I decided I just make my life more miserable by planting 80 hills between two gardens , plus or minus depending on year, and ending up with more than I could ever use.
(It really makes me feel miserable when I throw away in the compost heap between one and two dozen small potatoes, in spring , sprouting and ready for planting, because I just have no need for so many.)
 I love growing potatoes, especially trying new varieties, just to see how they turn out.

The money I spend on new seed spuds,  many years, I could buy enough at the store for many, many years,

I have friends and relatives come and take as much as they want but their families are shrinking and I cooked a Sunday Dinner for more than 3 people for the first time in five years this year, i.e. the big holiday family feeds are history,  and they only can take so many.
My cousin's mom, who is 96 and survived eighteen hornet stings two day ago, she was back home from the hospital, living alone,  the same day, eats a LOT, and I mean a LOT,  of the marble/chicken egg size, praise the Lord yet she is 100 pounds at best.

[Dee]

This will be the first time in almost 50 years I'll have room for a decent sized garden, and I can't wait. For potatoes I'm gonna try stacking tires. I've heard it works well, and saves space.
Anybody tried that?

[Bob Riebe]

This will be the first time in almost 50 years I'll have room for a decent sized garden, and I can't wait. For potatoes I'm gonna try stacking tires. I've heard it works well, and saves space.
Anybody tried that?

That is one of the alternatives to planting in ground that is well known but ladies and gents I communicate with at a garden sites have not tried. (And those with limited space have tried darn near every thing.)
It looks likes just as much labor as in-ground but give it a shot a let us know.

I have tried all the in/on-ground modes and simply digging deep, no hilling,  has produced best yield and potato size; ladies and gents who have used potato bags or in large pots say they get a good number of potatoes but they are small in size. (Laying seed potatoes on the ground and then covering with straw was the most disappointing style I ever had, twice, small potatoes and not a large yield.)

[Ranger99]

This will be the first time in almost 50 years I'll have room for a decent sized garden, and I can't wait. For potatoes I'm gonna try stacking tires. I've heard it works well, and saves space.
Anybody tried that?

Now's the time to make friends with some
of those cattle ranchers and get a couple of
truckloads of manure spread around if you've
got your spot laid out.
Might even want to go dig a few holes to
see what kind of soil you're dealing with
first.  It might be to your advantage to start
building raised beds and fill those with
manure. Taters do good in loose sandy
soil. If you have a bunch of caliche like
west and south of here, you might want to
go containers and raised beds
I have a junky horse trough that I want
to try to make some redskin taters in.
I need to dig up a bed load of sand from
the country and I'm intending on mixing
sand and manure and potting soil

[Mule 11]

I got hit 3 times above my right ear once from 1 bald faced hornet before I knew what hit me. Man that hurt. Lucky for me he did not call for reinforcements.

[wtxbadger]

Except for the corn everything we grew this year was in raised beds and all I have to do is run my small tiller around them to control the weeds. Sure has been nice.

I have noticed this year that there were not near as many honey bees or yellow jackets and haven't seen a single bumblebee this year. I imagine the big freeze in February put a big dent in the population.

[Ranger99]

Well I had to learn my lesson again
I think I got one whole squash for
all my efforts this go round.
I'm going to have to double up on the
tomatoes and figure out some kind of
something to plant to make a meal
with

[Mule 11]

Well I had to learn my lesson again
I think I got one whole squash for
all my efforts this go round.
I'm going to have to double up on the
tomatoes and figure out some kind of
something to plant to make a meal
with

Some plants do well in areas others don’t. Ask around at garden centers and locals that grow there own to see what survives and prospers in your area. Maybe?

[Ranger99]

I know I've said it before,  but I still
think the seed that's available to us
is responsible for the success or
failures we have
Years ago I used to carry my granny
to a large local nursery to buy seed
for the season, and they had seed
out of a large container that they
sold the home gardeners 
IIRC,  it all sprouted and made good
yields. I can remember having enough
regular yellow squash to eat and to
put in the freezer too
Of course,  there's no longer any
nursery places anywhere around
here anymore, and I haven't had any
satisfactory results from the seed
from the mail order places
I'll probably eventually try one of
those heirloom seed exchange
places

[Dee]

The key is to get heirloom seeds, instead of hybrids.

[Buckskin]

Great year for pickles, tomatoes, beets and peppers for me.   I have hot peppers coming out of my ears from poblanos, jalapenos, habaneros, ghosts, scorpions, jig saws and carolina reapers.  I'm set for my hot sauce now for a while.  Just put up a gallon to start fermenting this week.

Pictured from hotness left to right are jig saw (2 million scoville units), scorpions, yellow ghost and habaneros.

[Bob Riebe]

All the potatoes are out of the ground now and I have a nice yield, not way more than I can use, about two bushels total.

Pulling corn stalks that are bent and broken and composting them, I will pull the rest this week and make decorative corn shocks out of them.

Tomatoes and Chiles are still going strong now that rain has returned; squash did very well this summer , best in years.

[Mule 11]

Had a nice crop of tomatoes this year. Green peppers were not enough but I’ll still be freezing some. My new strawberry plants are doing well and looking forward to spring on those. (Finally have a reason to look forward to spring).

[Ranger99]

I have lots of banana peppers to
harvest, but I didn't have time today.
If we don't get hail here in a little
while, I'll have a big basket full tomorrow.
I saw a bunch of quarter sized green
tomatoes too. I'm hoping the bad
weather peters out before it gets here