Harvest has started!

[Charlie MV]

We harvested the first 50 ears of corn this morning. They are already creamed and headed for the freezer. This is the most exciting time of the year. We have about 450 more ears to go and we're set to eat until next July. Sweet corn is the second best thing there is.

[Toms92gp]

We harvested the first 50 ears of corn this morning. They are already creamed and headed for the freezer. This is the most exciting time of the year. We have about 450 more ears to go and we're set to eat until next July. Sweet corn is the second best thing there is.

Corn is one of my favorites. I got about 100 ears last year. I got some in the freezer still. I didn't grow any this year, but next year I'm going to do a veggie garden again and grow some.

[JennyC]

Cool! I didn't grow any corn (huuby won't eat it), but I have a major blackberry stockpile growing in the freezer, and we're on cobbler #3 for the season as of tonight (hey, we need to build up for the winter, right? ) I also put the first batch of chokecherries in the freezer tonight.

Summer squash we're eating daily. I need to start saving some for the freezer, I guess.

Now there's a race on to see if I'll be freezing peas or canning/drying tomatoes next.

[pete28]

We only have a few ears of corn as of yet but we have oodles of green beans and cucumbers

[Charlie MV]

Cool! I didn't grow any corn (huuby won't eat it), .

My MIL handed me a quart pot of corn she was creaming yesterday to taste. I handed it back empty and was invited to leave the kitchen.

[Cuke]

Wow,I would love to plant corn,but have no room in my garden for it.The only thing I've harvested so far is dill,but I'm close to tomatoes.We recently had a hailstorm so our garden is ruined so I'm not expecting a big harvest since it killed off a cucumber plant and damaged many tomatoes.

[cheshirekat]

I harvested radish weeks ago. I've also been harvesting a lot of herbs for quite a while, though just enough for a meal or tea. I've also been getting to harvest quite a bit of my leaf lettuce even through the hot days - go figure. The romaine stopped being tasty last week, but since it's still growing, I will let it grow and add the growth to the compost. Same with the arugula.

I have peppers I'd love to harvest as they are big enough to eat, but I'd rather wait for them to get as big and lovely as they should. No tomatoes are ripe yet. I have one tomato I expected to be ripe for the holiday, but it isn't and I'm woefully disappointed about not having homegrown tomatoes for the burgers we barbecued today. Well, at least I'm sure I will have tomatoes for the Labor Day barbecue.

I think this has been a tough year for my first year growing a lot of veggies. We didn't really get Spring weather. It started to warm up and then it got hot and has mostly been hot every day, no cool days. Rain has been in our dreams. The nights have been fairly cool until this week so the tomatoes were probably confused. The peppers are doing better than the tomatoes. This surprises me because previously, it has been the exact opposite - the tomatoes always bear fruit and ripen before the peppers do. I'm not complaining, it is just strange - especially knowing the peppers love hot weather and have no tolerance for cool temperatures, the likes of which we have had plenty of at night. Although I am growing several new varieties for us. The jalapeños we usually grow are the ones that haven't fruited at all. They may no longer be our favorite pepper to grow.

I think we will be seeing good growth and fruit on the tomato plants in the coming weeks now that the overnight temperatures are more summer-like - if I can keep the plants from turning to dust from the daytime temperatures and lack of rain. For all those who are enjoying tomatoes now, savor a few bites for me.

[petalfuzz]

Wow! That's a lot of corn! I never bothered planting corn as we eat it so rarely. I think we've eaten 2 or 3 ears each this year only.

The only thing I've harvested is the lettuce so far...

[JennyC]

I got my first hot pepper today! Also put ten pounds of apples in the freezer over the weekend. I'm havesting potatoes, but not happy about it -- my vines died at the new potato stage.

The squash continues...

[cheshirekat]

Hot pepper, yum! Which variety of hot pepper did you harvest today? Did you cook it? What dish did you use it in? Or what recipe are you planning to use it in?

Inquiring minds want to know.

[JennyC]

It's a cowhorn pepper, which I've never tried. I don't know how hot it is, either. Not sure what to do with it yet. I think I'll look up the heat and then decide. Right now I have some peppers from the store that I need to use up, so I may eat just enough of what we grow to give it a good try and then figure out how to dry the rest. Or, given our humidity levels, maybe I'd do better to freeze it.

[Editing to add I've just looked it up, and cowhorns are rated 15,000-30,000 on the Scoville scale, which is lower than a cayenne but much higher than a jalapeno. I may make hot sauce with them, or southern-style hot vinegar for greens.]

I also harvested the first few pods of field peas today -- enough for some for me and for husband to try and see if he likes 'em. Some of my plants are yellowing, so I hope I get more.

[rootsy]

Took some zucchini off last night, been picking peas for a couple of weeks now along with broccoli. I am about 2 1/2 - 3 weeks out on the first sweet corn. Have had 4 1/2" of rain in the past 2 weeks... Tomatoes are wilted from excess moisture, hopefully they'll come out of it. Melons and corn are loving it though.

[img]https://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n27/jaroot13/corn.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n27/jaroot13/corn4.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n27/jaroot13/garden.jpg[/img]

[Charlie MV]

That looks like Disneyland to me Rootsy. Wish I had that kind of space. I finished the corn harvest. We got 482 ears. Yesterday I ran all the stalks husks and the cobs we skinned through my chipper. It made a nice pile for compost about 3'x4'x4'. Stuck my arm in today and it was slimey and hot. I hope it makes good compost. I've never composted corn but Opabinia said it would work so off I go.

We planted a second crop of 60 okra, 80 bush beans, pole beans and butterbeans the last few days. We're prepping for more squash, peppers, tomatoes and cukes to go in August 1.

[rootsy]

All of the field corn to the left of the photos on the other side of the big fence posts (385 acres in that field) will be chopped green for silage and put into the bunker for the cows to munch on all winter as part of their diet. Chopping silage is essentially a process where a chopper (either self propelled or pulled by tractor) goes down the rows (generally 3 to 4 rows at a time) and cuts the stalk off 6 inches or so above the ground and then chops the corn (stalk, ear and all) and blows it into a wagon or truck. The wagon or truck then unloads it into a pile, it is pushed into the 3 sided bunker and once the bunker is full it is covered with plastic. Once it begins to ferment it gives off a very unique odor which can be smelled (depending upon wind) for at least a good 1/2 mile.... Eventually it will turn brown. It is used up for food long before it turns into usable compost.. generally about a years time, just in time for the fresh to be put into the bunker. It'll begin coming off of the field to be turned into food the End of August , First part of September.

[Charlie MV]

We've run the corn parts through our chipper making it about the consistency of chainsaw dust. The pile will be 4x4x4 feet when we're done. Is the smell going to pi** off the neighbors? Hopefully it will decompose quicker being chopped up. You reckon adding hay and or grass clippings will reduce the odor? We don't have your space. We only have 385 minus 383 .

[rootsy]

it'll be a uniquely sweet smell... shouldn't be very bad with only 64 cubic feet...

[mbaker410]

I picked my first two cucumbers yesterday and they were great. Not bitter at all and very tasty. They were only about 6-7 inches long and about 1 inch thick but like I said they tasted great!

No tomatoes, peppers or broccoli yet though. Still waiting.

Mike

[JennyC]

Now eating field peas and getting more hot peppers. No sweet peppers yet -- just blooms. Those I planted out as seeds, so we'll have to see if they have time to make.

I should have peaches in a week or two. It looks like I'll actually get some -- the bugs got one tree a lot more thoroughly than the other.

I'm still getting some blackberries, but the Japanese beetles are getting more.

Eating some radish seed pods, since all my radished bolted.

Walnuts, hickory nuts, and pecans all swelling promisingly, and I hope to have amaranth seed for flour in a few days.

Gotta love this time of year. I'll be crazy with canning tomatoes shortly -- I planted a lot of determinates, and they're waving big green fruit at me. I think my Romas and my Rutgers will make at about the same time, sigh. Oh! Must fry some green tomatoes tommorrow...

[rootsy]

Well it's that time of year, had to add a sign to the post. I'm now getting more from the garden than we can eat and freeze or share with the neighbors... Puts a few extra dollars a day in the pocket...

Zucchini, banana peppers, cukes, broccoli and peas at the moment... Tomatoes are beginning to change a bit and the bell peppers are growing. The first of the sweet corn is about 2 weeks out...

Once the sweet corn and the melons come on things should really take off and hang steady until pumpkins are ready...

[img]https://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n27/jaroot13/Picture4383.jpg[/img]

[mbaker410]

I have harvested 4 more cukes and now have 15 baby tomatoes on the way.

Here is a pic of my cukes.

[img]https://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d187/mbaker410/Plants%20and%20Vegetables%202008/DSCF1996.jpg[/img]

I think I might let the next round go a little bigger as these were bigger than the first and still tasted great but needs a little more time.

Mike