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Weedinhoe's 2016 & Beyond Garden

314K views 4K replies 79 participants last post by  Weedinhoe 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Hello! I am a Georgia veggie gardener and, weather permitting, try to have something going in the garden all year long. I don't have enough space to put up masses of any one thing because I grow a lot of different stuff so the aim is to put up what I can and eat seasonally and fresh.

When I retired five years ago I decided to convert the whole garden to 4'x18' raised beds using 2x8's and lengths of 1/2" PVC pipe around the bed perimeters as stakes to hold the sides and end pieces upright. That will allow me to disassemble and move the beds to another location quickly should the need arise. It's also handy in that I can just remove the end pieces, run the tiller through the beds and then replace the end pieces.

Since I am located on a road and the garden is visible from the road, the plan is to move the beds to the back of the property behind the woods if the SHTF. There's a creek back there for water and a pond uphill from which I can siphon water through hoses.

Here are some shots of my garden.

This pic is from last year but is pretty much what the garden looks like right now:


This is the south side of the garden as viewed from the top of the garden:


And this is a view from the other side:


And finally, this is a view from the bottom of the garden:
 
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#527 ·
Yesterday morning the 3 rows of beans and peas got planted. One 18' row each of 'Contender', 'Strike' and 'Cherokee Wax'. On the fence I put up for the 'Rattlesnake' beans there's now 14' of double rowed 'Burpeeana' sweet peas, leaving the last 4' for four 'Dar' cucumber plants (short vined variety). Tractor Supply had their Burpee seed on sale in July and when I saw the peas I had to buy them for a fall trial as I've never done a fall crop.

Last evening 5th Gear and I got the brassicas planted. One bed has nine broccoli plants in it with room for a second set of nine later. There will eventually be six 'Packman', six 'Blue Wind' and six of the old time 'Waltham 29'. Hopefully I'll have a staggered harvest.



The other bed is intensively planted with 18 cabbages (6 each of 'Stonehead', 'Charleston Wakefield, and 'Red Express'), four kale (2 ea of 'Dwarf Siberian' and 2 'Premier'), four collards (2 ea of 'Flash' and 'Vates') and one lonely Chinese Kale that looks and tastes like a collard. That's the seed I bought at the Korean grocery and the pack is all written in Korean. :)



The cool front came through so I'm not worried about soil temps any more. I am getting concerned about old Irma and have a bad feeling about this one. All the prepping is done except for a few items one the "last minute list", like tying down the well pump cover if it looks like we'll get high winds.

5th Gear had an idea about putting a lot of water bottles in the freezer. They can be used as giant ice cubes in a cooler if need be, would melt slower than ice cubes and can be drunk when melted. I like it.

Everything is gassed up, gas cans topped off, the generator's ready and I guess so are we.
 
#529 ·
I thought I had picked the last watermelon but I found not one but two more hiding in the weeds! When this one was weighed I eased it down on my canning scale but had to stop when the needle maxed out at 25 lbs so I don't know how much it weighs. 30?



Anyway, the reason I posted this photo was because of the shape, or I should say "misshape". The first melon of the season was shaped fine but all the rest looked like this. I call them pinheads. LOL! But, because inquiring minds want to know, I had to search for the reason why.

The most logical reason I found online was poor pollination. That would make sense because as the weeds took over the bed, maybe not enough pollinators were able to find the flowers. The red area inside the skinny end isn't well developed so I cut it off but the fat part of the melon tastes just fine. If anyone has more input on this, I'd be glad to hear it!

Keeping an eye on Irma.
 
#530 ·
We were very lucky that Irma decided to tour the more western part of Georgia. Still we had gusts up to 60mph and lost power from 11am on Monday until 6:30 last night. It was the first time the generator was ever used in a storm situation and it kept the refrigerator and freezer in fine shape. We had run the cords into the house the day before so were ready to go.

The aftermath was just a load of green leaves and small branches around the place and in the garden. After a lot of raking last night and all of this morning, most have been cleared and moved to Mt. Brushmore.



The only casualty was the variegated Chinaberry tree in the back. As the gusts got higher and higher it started leaning more and more with the rootball gently rising and falling like it was breathing. Then one big gust came and the poor tree gracefully did a gentle faceplant.



Unfortunately I don't have a picture of it upright. It's the only variegated chinaberry I've ever seen and it was given to me by a horticulture professor from Univ. of GA. Although chinaberrys are considered a trash tree, the green and white leaves of this one were a nice bright spot against the dark of the woods behind it. I will take some softwood cuttings this afternoon and see if I can get some to root. This fall an apple tree will be placed there.

This afternoon I switch from raking and hauling debris to prepping bed edges for planting. Tomorrow I will be sowing beets, turnips and carrots and planting garlic, multiplier onions and scallion sets. Once all that is in, the only thing left to plant for fall will be the second round of broccoli and kohlrabi sets.

Edited to add: The one nice surprise was how well the newly planted broccoli, etc plants came through the storm. They were transplanted to the garden just a week ago and I was sure they would be snapped off or otherwise damaged. They came through just fine! I guess they're young enough to be flexible enough to bend with the wind and come up smiling!
 
#531 ·
The fall garden is in and I'm tired. Planting prep with the broadfork usually happens at a leisurely pace before planting but Irma had other plans. Sunday was storm prep finalizing, the storm was on Monday and storm cleanup took up Tuesday and half of Wednesday. Since I'm trying to follow the moon planting thing, the best planting days were Wednesday and Thursday of this week. That left Wednesday afternoon and yesterday morning for bed prep.

There were only four beds to fork but two of them had a bunch of fibrous roots in them from either the grapes or crapes (I can't decide which) that made forking very worky and tiring. Tired muscles. It's amazing how roots have re-invaded since spring's forking and pulling out.



There are 18’ of turnips, a third each ‘Purple Top’ , ‘Boule D’Or’ (a golden type) and a Japanese variety called ‘Hinona Kabu’. The last two are 5th Gear’s fall toys. Then there are the first 9’ ‘Detroit Red’ beets with two more 9’ sections to be planted later along with more turnips. Also 6’ of daikon radishes with more to be planted in October.

Another bed has carrots along both sides, 9’ each of four varieties. One variety is heirloom ‘Ox Heart’ which I tried in the spring. Big heavy roots, nice flavor. Another is something new to me, a very old heirloom called ‘St. Valery’. The other side has ‘Envy’ and ‘Bolero’ both of which I like a lot. They’re hybrids.

The third bed got scallions along one side with 9’ of my favorite ‘Shimonita’ and 9’ of ‘Warrior’ on the other side. I tried the ‘Warrior’ this spring and liked it very much.

The fourth bed got 18’ ‘Maiskij’ garlic, a hardneck turban type that made nice heads this spring.



The other side of the bed was supposed to be 5th Gear’s multiplier onions but the sets had all gone bad. So I put in 9’ of ‘Shilla’ garlic, also grown this spring and which was slated for kitchen use this fall but what the heck. One can never have too much garlic. The rest of that side got filled with leftover ‘Warrior’ scallion plants and 5’ of radishes.

There were four ‘Dar’ short-vined cucumber plants set out against the pea fence. This morning I put some shade over them for about a week as I forgot to harden them off and the weather has turned hot again. Four stakes, some baling twine, two old Magic Curtain panels and clothespins. Next week I’ll remove the shade on the morning sun side.

 
#532 ·
It's Saturday! Football Saturday. That means that after 12:00 today the only thing I'll be doing is watching college football. Go Dawgs! It's been a long worky week and I deserve the day off.

There was a nice surprise in the garden yesterday. Sweet potatoes! I've never grown them before and took a stab at it this spring. The variety used was 'Jewel' as it had good things going for it. It's supposedly nematode resistant, good for this area and I could buy just one at a Publix supermarket and not spend big bucks on a bunch of slips. It was an organic potato so not treated with anti-sprouting stuff.

I stuck the potato in a glass of water and as the slips got big enough to plant I'd snap them off and plant them. That resulted in four different plantings, each about 10 days apart for a total of nine hills. A gracious plenty for a test.

Yesterday was Day 118 for the first-planted hill of this 120 day variety. The leaves were just starting to yellow a little. Close enough!



I got five potatoes; the two big ones were 1.5 lbs each and the three smaller ones were a half pound each. According to instructions I found, I have to let them cure to convert starch to sugar and let the skin get tough for storage. I guess that means they wouldn't taste very good right now. So... two weeks in a hot but ventilated shed are called for.

Can't wait to try them! Sweet potato pie for Thanksgiving, for sure. One hill down, eight to go. :D:
 
#533 ·
Some Sweet Potato Thoughts

I got to thinking today about the sweet potatoes. They are planted in two places; three hills in a raised bed and six hills in an open area where the Irish potatoes were planted. I think following the Irish potatoes with the sweet potatoes is a good succession planting that will stay going forward for several reasons.

First, the sweet potatoes go in late because they really need warm weather. This year the sweet potatoes (both locations) were planted right behind the Irish potatoes, around May 25th. One came out and the other went in.

Second, the soil is already worked up, hilled (well, a bit destroyed from digging taters but easily mounded back up) and still has a little fertilizer left in there from the potatoes. I read that sweet potatoes don’t like a lot of that so leftovers are probably good enough.

And since they’re different plant families, nightshade vs morning glory, it’s a perfect match for succession planting.

Something interesting to watch as they get dug out will be the size. Online articles suggest that if you keep the vines cut to 4’ or so long, you’ll have fewer but larger sweet potatoes as energy from the vines goes to the tubers instead of more vine growth. That’s been the case for the vines in the raised bed. However, the vines in the open area have had the run of the place, scampering over the watermelons and giant eggplant. The only trimming has been via mower when they ventured out too far.

So it will be interesting to see what the tuber size will be in those hills compared to those in the raised bed and also if the vines really did root down and make small sweet potatoes other than in the raised soil where the slips were planted.

Today I read more on curing the sweet potatoes. The five I dug from the first hill are in the garden shed where it should be getting up to the 85-90 degrees they seem to require. The high humidity requirement seemed problematic until I read about someone’s method of putting them in plastic grocery bags with holes punched in the bags and potatoes in a single layer.

The theory is that the moisture coming out of the potatoes is trapped in the bag (but not too much due to the holes) and provides the humidity. The author of the article says it has worked like a charm for her for a long time. We’ll see.

After about ten days in the plastic bag, the sweet potatoes will head to the closet where the garlic was successfully stored. It’s the coolest, darkest place I have.

The next digging will be the two hills planted ten days after the first one. That will be it for what was planted in the raised bed.
 
#534 ·
The fall garden is coming along. The okra is pretty much done. The leaves have all fallen off six of the nine plants and there are few flowers coming on the three that remain. Those three are all different varieties so when a flower appears on one and there are none on the others, I’m marking that one flower for later seed collection. So far I have two different pods marked and am hoping I can get one more flower off the third.

The turnips were up Sunday, three days after sowing. Yesterday the daikon radishes popped up and today I see the beets have joined the party. That just leaves the carrots and garlic to make an appearance.



The two fall tomatoes (one ‘Juliet’ and one ‘Early Girl’) got their second story cages yesterday. It was almost too late as they were getting big but with some pruning and 5th Gear lending a second pair of hands, we carefully got the extra cages on. Then I tied the cages to a pole and each end of the pole to the pallets that the cages are sitting on. Those cages aren’t going anywhere!



Ever since Irma paid a visit the fire ants have been going nuts building mounds. Two days ago I lifted the well cover to turn on the hose spigot and felt something like spider webs on my arm. Fire ants! They had built a mound just inside the cover and I hadn’t noticed they were all over the cover’s edge. I got them brushed off quickly but still got bitten by a few.

In case you’re up north and not familiar with fire ants, they are a scourge in the South. Thousands come pouring out of a disturbed mound. You sure don’t want to be accidentally standing along the edge of a mound! Their bite stings like fire for about ten minutes, then itches and the next day develops a small pustule filled with clear liquid:



A little reading today revealed that the top of the little pustule is actually dead skin. I also learned that yes, the ants bite with their mouth but just to get a firm hold. Then they start stinging with their stinger and rotate around their mouth to sting more times in a circular pattern. I never knew that. So I will have to be more vigilant where I put my hands and continue to deal with mound destruction.

This morning 5th Gear discovered the hard way a new mound starting right at the corner of the pallets the tomatoes are sitting on. She didn't see it and her foot was standing just on the edge of it. Boy, she came out of that sneaker and sock pretty fast! By this afternoon all trace of the footprint is gone. Busy little beasts!



I still don’t have the unused beds tilled and oversown with annual ryegrass. That has to happen today. It was supposed to happen yesterday but I unintentionally got sucked into the Ancestry black hole chasing hints and before I knew it, it was five hours later and almost dark outside. Stuff happens! So around 6:30 when it’s a tad cooled off, the tilling will happen. And so it goes….
 
#535 ·
One more week of heat, so “they” say, as temps will start being more fall-like. That will be nice. :thumb:

The pace in the garden has slowed a lot. That’s nice but after the busy of spring and summer it feels like there’s something to do that I’m missing. This morning I watered the ryegrass and carrot seeds again, thinned the turnip and daikon radish seedlings and picked one lonely cucumber that got missed when the other 15 were picked a few days ago.

A few photos of what’s going on:

The fall zucchini (yes, one is a-plenty) is under wraps as that seemed to keep the vine borers at bay for a while this spring. The first baby zuke is forming so something is getting in there to pollinate. Also in the bed are volunteer ‘Bright Lights’ cosmos (self-sown from this spring’s plants) and to the left are the first three hills of sweet potatoes. The one on the far end was dug last week and the other two will get dug later this week.



The young plants are bush beans; a row each of ‘Contender’ , ‘Strike’ and ‘Cherokee Wax’ (with a smidge of ‘Golden Rod’ to finish the yellow wax row). Behind the beans are two rows of ‘Big Boy’ field peas that are blooming and setting the first pods. Behind the peas is a bed sown with annual rye and above that is the cabbage/collard/kale bed.



Here’s an insect I spied on a sweet potato bloom this morning. It’s about ½” long. I need to dig into my insect bookmarks and research this one today. Anybody know what it is?



The first few sweet potatoes have been curing in the garden shed for a week in a plastic bag. Yesterday I grabbed one of the smaller ones and steamed it to see how it’s coming along. It was sweet but I’ll let the rest stay a while longer just to see if they get any sweeter.

And finally, above the garden this morning were altocumulus clouds, middle level clouds that are cousins of a mackerel sky.



My weather field guide says that in southern states these are produced by northward outflow from tropical and subtropical systems south of the US. I guess there’s been enough of that going on lately!

Y'all have a decent week coming!
 
#536 ·
Found it! That interesting orange and white critter on the sweet potato blossom is an Ailanthus Webworm.



It apparently feeds almost exclusively on the Ailanthus tree or Tree of Heaven and a few others in the same family (the Simaroubas). These trees have spread up the eastern states all the way to Canada but I know of none around here. An article I found said the Tree of Heaven leaves are similar to black walnut but the leaves smell really bad. These moths will strip leaves and bark off Ailanthus trees but otherwise they're good pollinators and since Ailanthus are invasive trash trees, this moth can stay if I find more.

For more information, see:
http://blandy.virginia.edu/arboretum/recent-features/ailanthus-webworm
 
#537 ·
The sweet potato experiment continues. Today I dug sweet potato hills #2 and #3 (out of 9 planted). These two were started ten days after #1 since I had one seed potato in a jar and was pulling /planting slips as they grew on it. All three were planted in a raised bed.

First I found two potatoes that I missed when the first hill was dug 10 days ago (left in photo). They were attached to one of the vines I was pulling out. Hill #2 had eight tubers (middle group) while Hill #3 (right end) had just two. Go figure. Still, they all totalled 8 lbs for the day. So far the three hills together total 12.5 lbs.



The biggie from Hill #3 weighed 1 lb 12 oz.



The next four hills to be dug were planted 11 days after these last two so 11 days from now they'll be dug. They are four of the six that were planted in a different area (not a raised bed) right where the Irish potatoes were grown. It will be interesting to compare the raised bed and non-raised bed groups.

Finally, I say goodbye to another pair of old friends, my garden sneakers. One suffered a major blowout on the side where sole meets upper and was fixed with Gorilla tape. After a month it had to be retaped. Now the other shoe has a blow out and it's time to say goodbye to them... and to wet feet. :D:

 
#538 ·
Dry, dry, day and hot. Irma's rain on the 11th was the last rain we've had. Yesterday was the 15th and last of 90+ degrees. Today the cool front has thankfully arrived but there's still no sign of rain so I broke out the sprinkler for the garden. It's an oscillator on top of a ladder and the added height gives it a bigger watering area.



This morning the range is four beds wide on both sides of the center aisle. I'll leave it on about 90 minutes and then move it further up the garden. The hose is strapped to the ladder to help keep the hose/sprinkler connection rather straight. I've learned if it's not supported, over time the weight of the hose bends the sprinkler connection inside the sprinkler and it leaks badly. There hasn't been that problem since I started strapping the hose to the ladder.



This morning I picked the first Big Boy field peas, just a handfull. Also picked what's maybe the last four Homemade Pickles cukes, but I saw the first few flowers on the Dar cukes growing on a piece of fence. It's a short vined variety.

Two days ago the collards and kale got their first cutting and I found just a few white flies here and there. Grrrrr.....that requires a very careful and thorough spraying to Safer Soap to get the early white flies. That's one pest that can't be ignored or they will take over in a heartbeat. They can't have my collards and kale!

It's been a busy week power washing the house and painting porches so today is Football Day Off. I'm heading out in a few minutes to get a big batch of Chinese chicken wings and maybe some Oktoberfest beer for today's games. And then move the sprinkler again. :thumb:
 
#539 ·
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! It was 55 this morning with the same nice northerly breeze we had yesterday. That's more like it for October. :cool:

Since it's so much better for working outside, I got the strips between the raised beds mowed this morning and also pulled up the 'Homemade Pickles' cucumber vines. They were in decline after producing about 25 cukes and my suspicions were confirmed when I looked at the roots. Root Knot Nematodes. They are microscopic worm-like things that invade roots, create these knots and interrupt water flow to the upper part of the plant. You can't get rid of them, only beat them into temporary submission with starvation and frequent tilling in hot weather. :mad:



On the positive side, as the HP's make their exit the 'Dar' cucumbers are setting blooms. They're in a part of the garden that I haven't seen any nematode activity yet.



The bush beans aren't really thriving as they should. I think it's been the heat and no mulch. I hoed around them and I'll be using the last of the leave pile this afternoon to mulch them. Another good watering and a shot of Miracle Grow should help. We'll see. :rolleyes:

The carrots still aren't up. If they're not up by the time the moon turns in a few days, I will be resowing. Again, I think the heat had a lot to do with it. Glad it's gone! :thumb:
 
#540 ·
After no rain since Sep 11 we just might be getting some this weekend, a side effect from TS Nate.

Yesterday I sowed another 18' of turnips, 18' of beets and resowed the 36' of carrots as they failed to germinate. It was most likely too hot and I couldn't keep the carrot seed wet enough. Two days ago I dragged furrows for all seed and filled them with water the night before. The beet and carrot seed soaked overnight. Then yesterday after smoothing the soil over I sowed everything in a 1/2" deep line, covered it with compost to prevent soil crusting and misted well. Cloud cover and maybe rain for the next several days will help a lot.

Speaking of carrots, I had a big 15 gallon pot of soil sitting around that I was going to try growing 'Cosmic Purple' carrots in. There were two wooden blocks sitting on the top of the soil and when I moved the first one, fire ants started pouring out! After kicking the bucket over and refilling it with compost I finally got the CP carrots sown.

The cabbages, collards and kale are coming along and starting to wrap. The 'Red Express' cabbage isn't doing well; one died and one is bolting. It's been too hot for a cabbage with Canadian heritage. My bad for trying to grow it for it's quick 60 day finish. In the front half of the bed are six 'Stonehead' on the left, six 'Charleston Wakefield' down the middle and the 'Red Express' on the right. The back half of the bed has collards and kale which we've already been cutting and eating.



The bush beans already look better after they were mulched just a few days ago. From right to left: 'Cherokee Wax', 'Strike' and 'Contender'. For whatever reason, the 'Contenders' are lagging the others. Last fall they were the fastest. To the left of the bush beans are two rows of 'Big Boy' field peas. Yesterday morning I noticed that about three feet of plants at the far end look like they were sampled overnight by deer. I hope they' don't make it a habit but better the field peas than the bush beans!

 
#541 ·
Well, Nate donated a whole 2/10" of rain so we're still waiting as it's turned hot and humid again. Is this really October or August?

Success with the carrot germination! Before resowing I soaked the seed overnight and had the luck of two fairly cloudy days after sowing. They came up yesterday, 5 days after sowing! Why haven't I soaked them before? After draining in a small strainer and dumped onto a paper towel for blotting, they're much easier to handle than the smaller dry seed.

The beets and turnips are all up as are a few more garlics and the bush beans are blooming. One last bloom finally appeared on one okra plant I've been waiting on and that pod will be marked for saving. That one okra did really well when all of it's neighbors succumbed to nematodes. Gotta save that one.

Today I pulled the first 'Opolanka' radishes. They had maybe a medium spicy flavor but then the weather's been hot. They're supposed to be mild in cooler weather, It's a Polish version of 'French Breakfast' radish in size and color. I planted some more today.



Last evening I had to get out the bT spray as 5th Gear sounded the pest alert. Something was skeletonizing the eggplant leaves. Seemed like they hit it overnight because I could swear they weren't there the day before. On the underside of the leaves were lots of these 1/2" long worms. They are now history. However I need to do some research to find out what they would have become. Does anyone recognize this critter?



This evening 35' of onion plants were set out along with four more kohlrabi plants and 5' more of daikon radish seed. One more sowing of beets and turnips next month and that will finish off fall planting.
 
#542 ·
Well, Nate donated a whole 2/10" of rain so we're still waiting as it's turned hot and humid again. Is this really October or August?
Yeah, it is hot isn't it? Ran some errands to day and suddenly had sweat pouring in my eyes in the car.

Not that I am complaining, I am not a fan of cold weather.

Great thread this, will watch as you have the same climate and a lot more gardening experience.
 
#545 ·
Fall peas - This is the first fall I've messed with them. I had none of my go-to 'Wando' seed left over from spring so I bought a pack of 'Burpeeana Early' in late August since they were on sale at Tractor Supply. Never done those before. They were sown Sep 5 but don't seem to be thriving like they do in the spring. I think it's the heat. Tomorrow I will mulch them with leaves. It really helped the bush beans, something else I've not grown in the fall before. Another experiment.

Oh, and I screwed up the carrot bucket. I picked it up to move it to the carrot bed and here came the fire ants that had come up underneath it! Dang! None in the top of the bucket though.... yet. Still, not wanting to get any on me I grabbed the pot with one hand to carry it off to my side and don't you know the pot tipped and the top 2-3" of soil slid forward. I need to soak more seed and start over.

Now... how to keep the ants from getting into the bucket again. Ah ha! Build a moat around the castle. I have a really big plant saucer. I'm going to put two bricks in the center and put the pot on the bricks. Then I'll fill the saucer with a water/dish soap mix. The theory is that they'll drown trying to swim across to the pot. We'll see. And if there are any ants already in the bucket, I'll douse them if they come to the surface because I don't have another 15 gal of potting soil to use on this experiment. An experiment on the experiment!
 
#547 ·
Fall peas - This is the first fall I've messed with them. I had none of my go-to 'Wando' seed left over from spring so I bought a pack of 'Burpeeana Early' in late August since they were on sale at Tractor Supply. Never done those before. They were sown Sep 5 but don't seem to be thriving like they do in the spring. I think it's the heat. Tomorrow I will mulch them with leaves. It really helped the bush beans, something else I've not grown in the fall before. Another experiment.
Yeah I think it is the heat. I watched a youtube video of an Alabama farmer growing peas in the fall and he complained they stayed stunted due to the heat until the weather cooled off (then an early hard frost wiped out the plants just as they started to flower).

Though the snow peas seem to be doing pretty good, still I would expect english peas to be even more heat sensitive (trying to justify why I can plant them so late) so I hope they do okay. Just put a few more snow peas in, soaked them in water and let it go an extra day -- just 2 days and they were all sprouted in the cup.

Also I am not using pea inoculate, none of the local stores carry it and I haven't bothered to order any online. Will get some for the spring planting as having that in the soil is supposed to make a big difference.
 
#550 ·
It's finally starting to feel and look like fall and it's about time. We might even get some rain tomorrow but I'll believe it when I see it.

Yesterday I got the sweet peas and newly transplanted second round of broccoli plants mulched. That about wipes out the leaf pile. After raking up a big pile in fall '15 and thinking "That should be enough", I ran out early last year. So last fall I raked up a huge pile, like 10' long and about 6-7' wide, and it was just barely enough. I need to do even more this fall.

This is the damage done to the eggplant leaves by those little Southern armyworm bastiges. You'll not see them on the top of the leaf but they do their dirty work on the underside.



On yesterday's re-examination of all leaves I found lots of shriveled dead worms that the bT got and about eight or so larger and healthy 1" worms that either laughed at the bT or got missed and bulked up real quick. All the severely skeletonized leaves and small hidey hole leaves at the bottom of the plant got pruned off. The remaining will be re-examined today.

'Dar' cucumber is a short vined variety (OP heirloom supposedly of Polish origin) that I've been using the last several falls for end of season salad cukes. Descriptions say vines are anywhere from 18” to 3-4’. My experience is that they’re closer to 3-4’ and they’re almost there now. I started four plants along the old fence I had put up earlier for the pole beans. This is the first time I’ve grown them vertically and they seem to like that a lot better than crawling on the ground. They’d probably do great in a big pot, too.



Tons of flowers! They make small 4” cukes good for pickling or slicing. Here’s the first one I picked yesterday.



There are two new turnips in the garden this fall. We do the old standard ‘Purple Top’ but this fall I’m also trying a golden turnip ‘Boule D’or’ (Golden Ball) and a Japanese one called ‘Hinona kabu’ which is supposed to grow long and thin like a radish. A description says the top third is red and the rest white, growing maybe 12” long and 1.5” wide. We’ll see. These new ones are 5th Gear’s fall “toys". There are 6’ of each in the 18’ row with another row of the same recently seeded in a different bed. One more 18’ strip to be seeded next month.

Yesterday I noticed that the ‘Hinona kabu’ (on the right) is much more erect in habit than the other two. Reddish stems too. That’s the ‘Boule D’or’ on the left.



The garden will be on auto-pilot today. This afternoon I need to make a batch of breakfast sausage patties and that will use the last of the ground pork from the freezer. Right on time, a local grocery has Boston butt on sale for 99 cents a pound in a two-pack so I’ll go get one and tomorrow I'll grind most of it up for future sausage, cut off some for crock pot pork fingers and leave a small chunk to do low and slow out in the smoker at a later date.

Y’all have a super day!
 
#551 ·
Still no rain as it was a dry cold front by the time it got here. The wind that came with it had me watering stuff down in the garden this morning. Then the local weather dude said we’d have a low of 40 tonight with chance of scattered frost in low areas. I kind of doubt it as dry as the air is. Not worried about it. Still, this afternoon sister 5th Gear brought the houseplants in for the winter. They’ve had a glorious time growing all summer under the big oak tree out back and they look beautiful.

But it did motivate me to dig up the last two hills of the sweet potato experiment. There was one large one in each hill (the fat one was 1 lb 12 oz) and 11 little ones all told. Total for this summer’s nine hill, first time experiment came to 24 lbs. Not bad for a $1.50 investment in one organic sweet potato bought at the grocery for growing slips. The variety is ‘Jewel’, one supposedly resistant to the nematodes.



The hills in the raised bed yielded better than the ones growing in a flat area. Since both groups were treated and watered equally, I’m guessing it was maybe the better soil in the raised bed and the pruning of the vines to 5’ (something I read about) in that group that made them concentrate on growing potatoes instead of putting out more vines. The experiment will definitely be repeated and expanded a bit next year.

Today I put in more radishes and then resowed the carrot pot I had messed up. But before I did, I made a moat around the carrot castle, hoping to keep the darned fire ants out of the bucket. A big plant saucer, two bricks to keep the pot above the water line and soapy water in the moat. Ya make it up as ya go along. I should have put more compost in the bucket so the soil surface would get more sun. Next time.



Finally, last month I rediscovered an old friend of mine, my black grease pencil. It had been misplaced for a long time. It’s the perfect thing for writing plant names on plastic stakes in the garden. No fading ever! For those not familiar with one, it’s kind of like a waxy crayon. I also had a white one for writing on black pots but it’s still among the lost. Finding another one might be difficult. None of the hardware stores around here have them. Maybe Staples or Office Depot. Hmmm, maybe Hobby Lobby. It’s worth a try.
 
#552 ·
Today I put in more radishes and then resowed the carrot pot I had messed up. But before I did, I made a moat around the carrot castle, hoping to keep the darned fire ants out of the bucket. A big plant saucer, two bricks to keep the pot above the water line and soapy water in the moat. Ya make it up as ya go along. I should have put more compost in the bucket so the soil surface would get more sun. Next time.
For some reason the fireants seem particularly bad this year, wonder if they sense a cold winter or something. Hope your pot of carrots manages to make it this time, though I haven't noticed the fireants eating any of the carrots so they probably won't hurt them.

And yeah the weather is suddenly getting much chillier at night. Just planted broccolli and spinach transplants in the yard so colder is good, the broccoli faints after 5 minutes of direct sunlight in these 80+ degree temps and trying to keep it shaded is a pain. Just hope we don't have an early hard frost! Though if it happens it is usually just a night or two which means maybe covers might work if the soil is heavily watered.
 
#556 ·
This spring I did an experiment to see if I could grow corn in 8-seed hills in a raised bed and have enough plants for good pollination. It happened to be ‘Boone County White’, a white dent corn someone gave me. They grew just fine.



After sitting in the sun a long time and getting pretty dry, the corn finally got pulled a month ago and the best ears went into a peach basket and have been sitting in the garden shed.

Fast forward to a few nights ago. I was watching the "Delicious Destinations" tv show and the host was somewhere in S. America. And the restaurant he was at was making their own masa for their tortillas and tamales. It showed the process they go through soaking the corn overnight, grinding, etc. Wait! I have dry corn in the shed. By golly, I gotta try that. Another experiment based on an experiment.

So yesterday I found a few recipes online, shelled 2 cups of corn, and did the pickling lime boil/soak overnight thing. I also found someone in the Food forum here who was talking about making their own corn nuts so before I made the masa today I pulled out a few kernels and fried them up. Good stuff! Unfortunately I ate the corn nuts before taking a pic.



Then I made the masa in the food processor, made a few tortillas and they weren’t bad at all. Of course, I’ve never had one made from scratch before so I don’t know how mine compare but I’ll be making some for tomorrow’s lunch. They really weren't that yellow in color. The stupid LED type bulb in the range hood is a poor excuse for light. I hate those things.



Because I don’t eat a lot of Mexican food and fresh tortillas really have to be eaten right after they’re made, I don’t see me making masa again. But I sure am going to make more corn nuts. Like tomorrow! And I’m saving some of the best seed for next year in case I have a spare bed for the dent corn.
 
#557 ·
It’s definitely feeling like fall now. Cooler 70’s with a slightly chilly northeastern breeze is just what the doctor ordered for the garden plants. The collards and kale are no longer calling me a liar for promising cooler temps while they wilt in the upper 80’s. :D:

The broccoli is happy too. Today I cut the first head of ‘Blue Wind’. It’s about 6” across and was just barely starting to loosen up a tad at the very edges. Just in time! We’ll have it with the meatloaf tomorrow. Another head will be ready in about two more days.



I also got about 6 oz of bush beans as they’re starting to make. The plants aren’t as pretty as they were last year though, especially the usually reliable ‘Contender’. I think it was the heat stress that stunted all of them a bit.

Speaking of beans, the game cam has to be set up tonight. The deer are nibbling again and there were fresh tracks among the rows this morning. :eek:

The sweet peas are also stunted. You could almost hear them panting during that heat. The first flower appeared today even though that plant is only 8” tall. I think next year I’ll plant a little later and also use my old standby ‘Wando’ which is both heat and cold tolerant. After spring planting there wasn’t any left for fall so I bought some ‘Burpeeana Early’ on sale at Tractor Supply. Note to self: order extra ‘Wando’ for fall next time. :thumb:

I hand pollinated a zucchini flower today as I just don’t see many pollinators out and about since the zinnias and marigolds went away. Even the hubbub around the field pea nectaries has subsided to an occasional buzz or two.

Time to breathe a sigh of relief as the summer is officially over. :sleep:
 
#558 ·
Wow. You are still harvesting a LOT of stuff! Wonder if fishing line and cans would scare the deer away (tripwire).

When did you plant the broccoli? Last spring? My little broccoli transplants are doing much better than the spinach transplants which is kind of surprising, but they are slow growing.

My veterinarian told me the English pea seedlings should be great early producers this SPRING. Huh? Now I am wondering if the snow peas will produce before winter, if they do produce a little will they survive winter and flower again in spring. I sure hope so, but maybe it depends on the variety.
 
#559 ·
Wow. You are still harvesting a LOT of stuff! Wonder if fishing line and cans would scare the deer away (tripwire).
Last year I had heard of a fishing line fence to keep deer away. The theory is that they can't see it and so when it touches them it spooks them. It didn't work. The game cam showed an 8 point buck happily munching on field peas. The 20 lb test fishing line "fence", strung at three levels around the bed, was torn up.

When did you plant the broccoli?
Half of the fall broccoli plants (9, 3 each of 3 varieties) were started July 29 and planted out Sep 5 and the other nine were started Aug 24 and transplanted out Oct 6. It's an experiment in staggering finish dates so I don't have a ton of broccoli all at once. Of the nine forming heads now it looks like the three 'Blue Wind' are ahead of the 'Packman' and the old timey 'Waltham 29' haven't even formed buttons yet. The second nine are still young but looking really good.

This is my first time trying sweet peas in the fall so I can't help ya there! :eek::
 
#562 ·
The deer munched some more beans again and also tried a corner of the field pea plot. The bean row on the right has the most damage; quite a haircut! The game cam was set up last night but apparently the batteries had run down. Harumph. So.... I set up the deer netting enclosure again since it did the job this spring.



The camera now has new batteries and has been reset down in the garden for tonight. 5th Gear spied four does around dusk in the neighboring pasture, up the hill near the wood line. I wonder if that's who's been partaking of the beans.

While doing a quick garden check this morning I looked at the two baby zucchini coming on and saw this twisted stem and just wondered how it got that way. It doesn't matter; I just thought it odd.



I guess we're all a tad twisted in our own little ways. :D:
 
#563 ·
We had a cold front come through with some 20-30mph wind gusts two days ago and the temp was supposed to drop to the low 30's. Uh oh. The poor bush beans survived the deer only to face death by freezing. To protect or not to protect; that was the question. Fight the wind or call it good and end the season? :confused:

Somehow I just couldn't let them go as the bean plants were loaded with babies and "almost there"s. So I rigged up some quick hoops and sister 5th Gear helped me get the plastic down as best we could. One gust almost carried her away as that big 25x7' sheet billowed out like a huge sail and she was hanging on to her end of it for dear life! The heck with it. Two rows covered, the third would have to just deal with it. The cukes and zuke would have to fend for themselves too.

The 'Early Girl' is loaded and so it got hand-trucked onto the front porch and wrapped in sheets. She fit right in with Halloween, looking all ghostly. :)



The 'Juliet' tomato (about 7' tall now) and the eggplant would have to just deal with it. We picked 6.5 lbs of green cherries from old 'Juliet' and called it a day. The 'Gypsy' pepper got toted inside for the night.

Long story short, it got down to 34 with no frost due to the wind. The uncovered bush bean row, cukes, zuke and eggplant did just fine. I'm amazed. Had there been frost they probably would have been toast.

The 'Early Girl' and pepper will spend the rest of their days on the front porch.



Meanwhile, I picked just shy of a pound of green beans this afternoon and 5 of the mini cukes were ready too. Warmer weather coming this week. Some of the green cherries were added to the refrigerator pickle jar but I think I need to dig out some more pickled green cherry tomato recipes! :D:
 
#564 ·
We had a cold front come through with some 20-30mph wind gusts two days ago and the temp was supposed to drop to the low 30's. Uh oh. The poor bush beans survived the deer only to face death by freezing. To protect or not to protect; that was the question. Fight the wind or call it good and end the season? :confused:
Yeah that near freezing weather was a surprise! And today it was nice and warm again.

I am impressed you are still harvesting so much. It inspires me to plan my garden much better for next year, I honestly didn't realize a lot of the stuff produces so long and wasn't set up for it.
 
#570 ·
We finally got some rain yesterday afternoon. A cloud made up, kind of sat over us and dumped 1.5" in about an hour. That was truly needed as we've had about a half inch over the past two weeks. Of course I had watered everything in the morning but we'll take it!

Yesterday morning I pulled the first eight 'Hinona kabu' turnips. They one of the odd "toys" that sister 5th Gear chose for the fall garden. Listed as an ancient Japanese salad turnip from the 1400's, they're supposed to get a foot long. These average 6" long at the 51 day mark, which is what the packet said would be maturity. I think I'll let some of the last 18 of them grow longer to see if they really get a foot long and to see how more time in the ground affects the texture.



They are pretty tender munched raw but will be steamed for lunch today. The greens look really great and I'll give them a quick sauté too. I only grew 6' of them in the first-planted turnip row as a trial. Another 6' were in the second turnip planting and the last 6' will be sown in the final planting tomorrow. I can see more of these being planted in the spring. :thumb:
 
#571 ·
It's amazing how fast stuff can just pop up in a day or two... just when you think things are sailing smoothly.

Saturday we were blessed with 1.5" of rain. Today, just two days later, here come the fire ant mounds. This afternoon I got out the dish soap and doused four mounds in the garden walkways (two of those were being built right over the hose lying on the ground) and one right at the edge of the garlic row.

Sunday I pulled the first kohlrabi and noticed one lacy-shredded leaf on the plant. It looked just like those riddled eggplant leaves and sure enough, armyworms on the underside. So the leaf got pulled and destroyed and all of the brassicas got a bT spray.

Today on my daily patrol I spied a broccoli leaf laced up. Yep, armyworms again but just on one leaf. There's a ton of them and about the same number on the other side of the midrib, all having a dinner party.



These things can munch up a storm in only one day! It was the only leaf affected so I pulled it and have put it with the worms in a large jar where I can watch them. The ones in the pic are about 3/8" long. They're not black like the ones that ate on the eggplant so I want to see if they mature to black or if they are the green version of the pest.

The key seems to be catching them early while they're still on just one leaf and haven't migrated elsewhere yet. I'm not going to spray again since I saw no other damage and incoming rain maybe tomorrow will negate it. I will just inspect stuff very closely on a daily basis.

Pet armyworms. There's already a possum that makes nightly visits to the compost pile to see what the day's offerings are. 5th Gear has named it Paddy O'Possum. Sigh. Welcome to the menagerie. :rolleyes:
 
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