What did you do in your garden today?

[DirtMechanic]

Made the third planting of corn today to insure a great supply of fresh sweet corn all summer June, July, August, and September. This follows the first planting on April 1 and the second planting on May 1 and should provide continuous supply of fresh corn for the table. View attachment 54171

After years of experimenting I've found the triple sweet honey select variety the best tasting fresh garden corn available. We will freeze some but consume as much of it as possible fresh giving some away to friends and family.

There is just nothing like the joy of fresh sweet corn from the garden.

How would you compare that variety to silver queen?

 

[marlingardener]

I weeded most of the tomato/pepper patch, picked lettuce, got some baby carrots, and then collapsed!
I'm calling a friend on Tuesday to come get green beans, turnips, small carrots and potatoes, and some home-baked bread. She is a dear person and deserves every bit of what I can share with her.

 

[Meadowlark]

How would you compare that variety to silver queen?

Its sweeter, more tasty. I'd compare G90 to Silver Queen and Honey Select is superior to both, IMO.

 

[DrMike27]

A before and after of my new in-ground experiment. I have 3 raised beds and wanted to see if I could actually grow something in the ground. The wife agreed with the stipulation I give her a ‘white picket fence.’

 

[Colin]

Hi,

Made the third planting of corn today to insure a great supply of fresh sweet corn all summer June, July, August, and September. This follows the first planting on April 1 and the second planting on May 1 and should provide continuous supply of fresh corn for the table. View attachment 54171

After years of experimenting I've found the triple sweet honey select variety the best tasting fresh garden corn available. We will freeze some but consume as much of it as possible fresh giving some away to friends and family.

There is just nothing like the joy of fresh sweet corn from the garden.

Well done Meadowlark. What strikes me is the amount of space you all seem to have in America; here in the UK a new council estate could be built on your space?

Kind regards, Colin.

 

[Meadowlark]

Colin,

Yes, the American West still has lots of open space and Texas offers perhaps the best of it all for those who love the outdoor life...but some people hate it, LOL.

Not sure what constitutes a "new council estate" but we are mighty happy with life here in Texas where individual freedom is cherished perhaps like no other place. Thanks for your comments.

 

[marlingardener]

Colin, you reminded me of a Japanese family that visited us in upstate New York. She was absolutely convinced we had a farm (a nice vegetable garden and several flower beds) since we had one and a half acres. Huge by their standards. Her husband went through several rolls of film, snapping photos of everything from rooms in the house to the gardens, wood shed, and the dog!

 

[Esther Knapicius]

I guess some of you folk with huge veggie garden freeze a lot for the winter.

 

[Meadowlark]

I use several different methods of storage depending on the veggie.

For example, onions are dry stored in a well ventilated shed. I can usually keep them this way from one season to the next depending on how many we eat and how many we have. Grow about 200 pounds per year.

Potatoes same dry storage and in addition I keep some in crisper fridge drawers and can about 15 jars for winter soups. . Again about 200 pounds per year.

Let's see, canning works for green beans, carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, and corn. About 30 jars of green beans and tomatoes less for the others for a year's consumption. Pickling also used on okra, asparagus beans, peppers, beets, cuckes, and a few others. I guess pickled okra is about the favorite and we ran out last year so going to pickle more this year. Okra is so prolific here... its easy to grow enough to feed everyone.

Corn we mostly eat fresh. I stagger plant so it doesn't all come in at once but still freeze a little and can a little. Probably harvest 500 hundred ears each year...much given away and some consumed by the cows, but most eaten by us.

Cow peas...blackeye, purple hull, crowder, zipper, etc. we eat fresh but do freeze several bags each year. I use peas as my primary N2 source for the plants and weed prevention/soil builder and along the way harvest a few for the table. We do freeze a few bags of "dried" beans. I like to harvest them just slightly green and use them just like fully "dried" beans but find they cook much faster and taste much better than store bought pintos. Trying a new "Bingo" bean this year.

Winter veggies...broc, kale, cabbage, brussels, radishes, turnips, lettuces, etc we eat fresh all fall and winter.

Throw in some peaches, plums, pomegranate, grapes, and various berries and we eat pretty good here on Meadowlark Ranch.

So in summary, I don't actually freeze that much but do store/preserve a lot of what we eat year around.

 

[Logan]

Potted on 8 blackcurrant cuttings. Last year I had a sucker shoot on 1 of my hybrid tea roses so i pulled it off and potted it on, it's rooted. I'm thinking of trying to do rose grafting on it. Been looking on YouTube and found a good video. Also I found 8 Silver birch seedlings that i potted on, going to grow them on and plant them out in the small wood by use. They cut a lot of the poplar trees down because they were getting too old but there's a lot of space.

 

[Sean Regan]

Had a bit of a clear up after the rain and windy weather yesterday. Went round with the brush and the garden vac. Dead-headed one rhodo and tidied the garage. I always hang on to too much stuff. But if I go through it regularly I do find things with which I decide I can part. If I went through it less often I'd never throw anything out.

 

[Sean Regan]

I must stop leaving around catalogues that come with plant purchases. Like these she got me to order less than a week ago that she'd seen on TV in the coverage from the Chelsea Flower Show.

Loropetalum chinensis 'Fire Dance' Chinese Witch Hazel.

So just now she's seen this in the catalogue and got me to order it.

Acer Palmatum, Taylor.

Hopefully, I'll be something I'll be able to train............ My wife's untrainable.


That's fifty quid she's got me to spend on the garden just in the last week. Though thinking about it, I've spent nearly twice as much.

 

[Sean Regan]

Didn't do much today.

Went to Wyevale to buy another ceramic pot and pot mover, for the new acer we've ordered. This one will be going on the patio for now.

Also bought three more alpines for the former waterfall. I'm slowly filling it, I'll let nature take over now.

Started the re-paint of the pagoda. Did the "grey, white and gold bits." The white may need another coat. The brown and red bits will get done tomorrow or Saturday.

The sorin, "that thing on the top" was the biggest challenge when I made this over thirty years ago. I tried to make it look as authentic as possible.



Just shows what you can do when you put your mind to it.

I made it by putting "stuff" on a long steel threaded rod.

From the bottom,
it's the cap off a Decleor shaving gel cannister.
1 drilled out wooden cupboard knob
9 drilled out brass cupboard knobs.
9 re-cycled shower curtain rings
9 green plastic milk carton tops.
1 nut and a couple of washers (there's another nut on the other end of the rod under the shaving gel cap)
A drilled out plastic garden lighting stake and two wooden beads from an old necklace.

 

[DirtMechanic]

Picked the first bucket of yellow squash. Found 1 nasty fungi I have seen before. No known cure for it so I am going to try a little betadine in the area it crops up. Between the chicken based tomato tone and the fish fertilizer I have become the pied piper of all our cats and dog.

 

[DirtMechanic]

Rainy day so I just shuffled plant trays around and potted up petunia cuttings. Took a plant order from a customer that showed up and she hired me to do spring, summer and fall yard care and such.

Yesterday morning. Took a chance the night before and planted my dahlias, glads and some baskets. No frosts in the forecast but I've had to drag out coversheets in years past.
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Looking good!