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Gary350
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Re: Tennessee 2018 Garden

Does anyone have dirty knees like this. LOL. I got some hard neck garlic today it should have been planted 17 days ago. I put my garden clothes on then ran out into the rain to plant 55 garlic cloves. I said, next year I'm only planting the major food groups to fill the pantry but that idea went out the window today when I got garlic to plant. LOL. My garden is FUN I love it, it is hard not to plant a garden. It is good to have good food that taste better than grocery store that has not been sprayed with toxic cancer causing poison. Next years garden will be, corn, tomatoes, beans, potatoes, garlic, nothing else. After several months of winter then spring arrives lets see what really happens. LOL. The more the merrier. There are volunteer potatoes coming up in the location I threw down a bunch of potato peals and tilled them in over a month ago. I am not going to worry about potato plants frost will kill the tops about Nov if there are potatoes I will find them.

There are 4 baby squirrels running all over this 60 tall tree the cats are going nuts chasing after the squirrels. Cats can not even get close to the squirrels but they try. By the time I got my camera to take pics only 3 cats were still in this tree, can you see 3 cats 1 is up high.
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Gary350
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Another limb with 9 peppers got heavy & broke off of the plant. 3 peppers are starting to turn red maybe that is an indication the other 6 green peppers are ripe enough to turn red too. I learned the green peppers are hotter than the red peppers so maybe that is why my chili powder turned out not to be as hot as I expected. I have several paper plates with peppers slowly turning red.

I was up early this morning started cutting up the 65 ft oak tree into firewood size pieces to burn in the garden. It was 95 today weather man claims it will be 96 degrees tomorrow. I can not burn anything in the garden until Nov it might kill plants so we will burn it at the camp ground then I will bring the wood ashes home in a 5 gallon bucket. I have several buckets to get wood ash from 222 camp sites I can get wood ash & charcoal from burn pits for the garden. EIEIO
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Gary350
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This is my 3rd batch of chili powder. I leaned to turn on kitchen exhaust fan & set up a small fan to blow away choking fumes & slice spicy hot peppers last. Slice peppers down the center remove seeds & vanes. I had all the peppers sliced except for 1/2 a pepper when I cut a hole in 1 glove. I also learned window cleaner has a chemical reaction with spicy hot chili juice on my gloves I need to hold my breath for 45 seconds, spray gloves with window clean, rinse then spray again, rinse then get away quick. There is a toxic choking gas cloud near the kitchen stay away long enough for the fan to remove it. Spray orange color juice on cutting board & knife with window cleaner another toxic choking gas cloud. Be sure not to lean forward & get my elbows in the cutting board spicy hot pepper juice it needs to be washed away quick. Spiced peppers stay in kitchen oven on warm for 3 hours turn off heat leave them in the oven to cool naturally 3 hrs. Then air dry peppers for 24 hours then put them in the oven 1 more hours turn off heat to cool naturally about 3 hrs. If peppers are crispy like potato chips they will grind up to a very nice powder in the coffee grinder.
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Gary350
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I kept a close watch on this batch of sliced peppers in the 170 degree oven it took 3 hrs 30 min for the peppers to be dry & crispy. If the peppers over cook the color starts turning darker & darker. This is a nice orange color chili powder. It ground up to a very fine power in about 45 seconds in my coffee grinder. This is enough chili powder to fill 1 of my empty spice bottles 1/2 full.

Where is the nice cool fall weather 96 degrees again today 15 degrees above normal.
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Gary350
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It has been a while since I took pictures of the garden. Left to right flat pod beans are loaded with 100s of tiny beans they are waiting for rain & cooler weather. No rain in a while & no rain from the hurricane last week except a tiny sprinkle. Several peppers are turning red maybe 2 more days there will be some to pick. Tomato plants are looking sad I should have taken pics before I picked the ripe tomatoes. 2 kinds of sweet potatoes & 12 pepper plants with several peppers turning red. 9 okra plants and 2 rows of beans about 3 weeks old not shown far right. I planted a lot of flowers, I liked the orange marigolds and yellow marigolds best but they died the multi color marigolds lived. I wanted seeds from the orange & yellow marigolds. It is hard to take a garden pic of clouds they are straight up except for this spot over the house and driveway. Clouds look nice today. I have not done much to the garden in a long time, planted 2 rows of beans 3 weeks ago, planted flat pod beans about mid Aug, I have done no weeding in almost 2 months, no rain grass & weeds don't grow, if I don't water plants I have no grass & weeds. If I wasn't being so lazy in this miserable 96 degree heat I would have taken down the poles in the bean patch already.
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I have been collecting & drying seeds on paper plants for weeks, tonight I need to package some of them & mark them. I saved some empty water bottles for corn & beans. I saved Tylenol bottles for smaller quantity of seeds but I think my old way is better, put them in envelopes with name & date on the outside. I saved a lot of cantaloupe seeds to sprout this winter in the kitchen then eat them in salad & plant 3 seeds in the garden next spring. I saved a lot of cilantro seeds too there is about 6 months during winter cilantro is not sold in the grocery store I want to grow some in pots in winter for salsa & Mexican food. Next year will by my 4th year of saving & planting my own Blue Lake Bush beans. I saved a lot of 1" cherry tomato seeds from 5 tomatoes wish I could remember the name of this tomato, no one had 1" cherry tomato plants for sale this year I am glad I saved seeds last year, I want to plant these again next year. I probably won't plant anymore Mexican potatoes. No more orange sweet potatoes 3 per year on Thanksgiving is all we need. Garden dinner tonight was, potatoes & cheese, beans & beans, squash & onions, tomatoes ........and fried pig chop.
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Gary350
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While searching through seeds last night I found a package of beet seeds. Today after lunch I planted 2 rows of beets seeds are 2" apart. At 4:15 pm it rained hard for 8 minutes. We had 1 very nice big lightning strike that looked like it struck across the road, BOOM a very loud thunder that shook the house an rumbled through the sky for 10 seconds. Garden was dry as desert this rain will be helpful for a few days. Maybe tomatoes will start looking better like they did after the big rain we had several weeks ago. It looks like soil hills are not tall enough they will be under water, March, April, May 2019. In about 1 hour water will be dried up. I'm not going to worry about it these rows will be harvested by January.
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Standing inside the back door I can see several red things in the garden. When rain finally let up for a few minutes I hurried out and picked everything red. Tomatoes in the bucket are yesterdays harvest. Tomatoes on the 2 paper plates were picked today. I guess we will grind these tomatoes up this evening and fill another quart jar. There are several red peppers on a paper plate tomorrow I might have enough red peppers to make more chili powder. I have learned the green peppers that broke the limb off have not turned red, they are still green and starting to swivel up. Looks like I will need to cut green peppers into strips to make green chili powder before they go bad. I have found more volunteer potatoes in the garden that need to be transplanted in the potato row when rain stops. Beans need to be picked but not until tomorrow. I bought a bottle of red wine yesterday called 7 Moons it is a blend of 7 good wines it turned out to be the best wine I have had in 8 years Monday I will buy a case of those. This is $12 wine at Discount Wine, $14 at Walmart, it tastes like $35 wine. The grapes I picked a few weeks ago are fermenting I only have enough grapes for 1 gallon of wine = 3 bottles. We made a lot of fried okra for dinner tonight. Bell pepper plants are growing more peppers & the largest pepper is still not turning red.
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I decided to slice the peppers & dry them it gives me something to do tonight. Peppers were in the oven about 1 hour when we started choking, coughing, our eyes were burning, I could smell the peppers. We opened the doors, turned on all the ceiling fans, turned both bathroom exhaust fans & the kitchen exhaust fan, and turned off the oven. It ran us out of the house until the air cleared up. I never gave it much thought 90% of the peppers are hot chili peppers most are 40,000. scoville peppers. That is almost tear gas. This is a larger batch of peppers than before. Tomorrow when we are gone a few hours we will set oven on 2 hour timer so air clears before we return home.
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Wow it is raining hard weather lady claims 6" of rain today. We already had 4" of rain last night & 2" day before that. I hope this does miracles for the garden it has been a very hot dry summer. I bet the little stream behind the house will be a river it usually peaks about 18 hours after rain stops. Rain stopped for a few minutes so I ran out took some pics yard is 2" deep in water my feet are wet now I need dry shoes & socks. No clothes on the clothes line today, LOL. :D
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Wife wanted to know if we have beans for dinner. I said, there will be if I go pick a few for dinner. Rain stopped about 30 minutes ago 1 pm now is a good a time as any to pick beans before rain starts again. I have several old pairs of shoes for projects like this so I put them on. Soon as I stepped into the garden it was like quick sand shoes went into the mud and were gone. LOL. Shoes are almost worthless in this mud. I picked beans, washed off with the water hose, changed pants, socks, shoes, then washed & cut beans. I'm not sure what wife is making for dinner but it includes, corn, beans, onions, chicken. The flat pod beans are at several growth stages, some beans should have been picked days ago they have large white beans inside yellow pods. I guess it is gardeners choice to pick flat pod beans at the time you like, pick early you get flat pods like snow peas, pic few days later you get pods with small beans, pick several days later you get large white beans. I like the white beans mixed in with the flat pod green beans.
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I guess I was not thinking when I sliced up so many 40,000. scoville peppers I have no use for chili powder this spicy hot. I set the pan on the patio table in the rain yesterday, this morning I dumped it in the garden. From now on I only dehydrate sweet peppers.
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In reference to your bean picking post one above, I was reading that thinking you probably had fun out there getting stuck in the mud, losing your shoe.... Haha :>

...in reference to the hot peppers you dumped in your garden.... I hope the little kitties don’t walk through there and get the stuff on them.... :|

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Gary350
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applestar wrote:In reference to your bean picking post one above, I was reading that thinking you probably had fun out there getting stuck in the mud, losing your shoe.... Haha :>

...in reference to the hot peppers you dumped in your garden.... I hope the little kitties don’t walk through there and get the stuff on them.... :|
Before I dumped the peppers in the pan of rain water I tasted them to see if they had flavor or any spicy hotness left. They were not hot & had no more flavor than a paper plate. I was hoping if the spicy hot was gone & sweet bell pepper flavor was still there they would still make good no spicy chili powder = paprika.

I did have fun in the mud. Wife laughs at me all the time she says, your like a little kid in the garden all the time in the dirt & mud. LOL

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Gary350
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I bought a $2 bundle of oriental yard long beans at the Farmers Market Friday a few weeks ago. I sliced them and we cooked them several different ways. First we put some in a crock pot with a slice of bacon & cooked them all day like we would Blue Lake Green Beans. Yard long beans were good but flavor was missing it must be the bean flavor inside the blue lake bean pods, these are pods only no beans inside. We tried them is Chinese stir fly I can tell when I bit into 1 there is almost no flavor a lot less flavor than real green beans. We tried yard long beans is vegetable stew & vegetable soup they are good filler but not much flavor I assume they have vitamins & minerals & are healthy to eat like other green beans. I mixed yard long beans about 50/50 with BBQ bake beans, the bake beans were good the yard long beans seem to be more of a filler with little green bean flavor. Yard long beans are not bad at all, if a person likes slightly milder flavor beans this is a good choice I am sure it probably has food value. People at Farmers Market say, yard long beans need to grow on a fence or poles so that means extra work for me next year if I decide to grow them. Curiosity always gets the best of me I have to grow them just to do it & see how they grow & have a few to eat & have fun even though I don't care much about eating them but they might be easier to pick than Blue Lake green beans. Yard Long beans are a hot climate bean if you live in the south & have trouble growing beans in 100 degree weather try growing yard long beans. I am curios about harvest size vs blue lake green beans. The beans inside a blue lake green bean pod adds extra bean flavor to the green bean that you do not get with yard long beans, if you pick blue lake beans before beans form inside the pods they might taste like yard long beans. I never pick blue lake green beans before beans form inside the pods they would be tiny pods, harvests small, less flavor.
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I don't have many grapes but it is enough to make 1 gallon of red wine. I squeezed the grapes by hand then put, juice, pulp, skins all together to ferment slow. Skins contain the red grape color & flavor this has been fermenting very slow at 68 degrees for about 3 weeks. Yesterday I drained off the juice and put it in a 1 gallon jug to finish fermenting. Soon fermentation will stop and a few weeks later wine can be separated from the sediment & a few months later 3 bottles will be ready to drink.
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Now your talking!!

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Gary350
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Sweet 100 tomatoes are so sensitive to being touched when they are ripe they fall off. Keep your hand under the tomato when you pick it so when you touch the tomato it falls into your hand. It has been raining every day rain drops have knocked a lot of tomatoes on the ground. I was very careful to pick about 20 good tomatoes when I dripped them into my basket the tomatoes split open. I guess tomatoes are full of rain water and stressed to the limit when they fall only a few inches they split open. Being split open is not a problem as long as we eat them now they probably will not keep well in the refrigerator. Too much mud I just have to wait to pick other things.
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These 7 rows have turned into a mess. This was a place to throw kitchen scraps all summer grass grew waste high we finally cut the grass a month ago then I tilled it. After it rained 3 weeks ago volunteer potatoes started coming up. I created a hill row to transplant all the potato plants which is now row 6. Then I created row 5 to plant soft neck garlic and row 7 to plant carrot seeds. Then I created row 3 & 4 for hard neck garlic. After that I made rows 1 & 2 for beet seeds. 1000s of baby 1/2 carrots are coming up in row 7 so are volunteer potatoes. Hard neck garlic is coming up in rows 3 & 4 so it volunteer potatoes. Volunteer potatoes are coming up in rows 3 to 7. There was no soil for row 1 & 2 it got pushed over to create rows 3 to 7. I shoveled soil from another location to make rows 1 & 2 that is why there are no volunteer potatoes there and no beats there yet either. Potato plants will be a shade problem for other plants but in about 6 weeks frost will kill potato plants they will not be a problem anymore garlic & carrots will have sunlight. I have 80 gallons of compose I can put over row 6 to protect potatoes under the soil from freezing I will dig them up about Dec 30 to see if there are any potatoes. A month ago I bought a bag of organic potatoes at the grocery store today I notice eyes are growing sprouts so wife pealed 3 potatoes to make vegetable stew now I have about 25 potato eyes to plant in row 8. No more rain until Monday so maybe I can create row 8 this weekend. If I had not made hills none of this would have grown in this water. Row 1 needs more soil it is not tall enough.
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Garden vegetable stew for dinner, corn, peas, onions, garlic, carrots, potatoes, green beans, with stew meat and corn bread. Wow this is good I had to have seconds.
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Looks like a nice quick wine recipe! I wanted some grapes so bought a vine on sale at a big box store when arriving here. But forgot that those stores seem to always have so many plants that aren't meant for one's particular area. So, it turns out Muscadine grapes aren't anywhere near right for this Ag zone here in the U.P. of 3b to 4a!

So, now the plan is to dig it up, put in a 5 gal bucket and take back to AZ in a few weeks. I won't be there summers to water it, so will probably give it away.
Have been researching some zone 3 grapes for next year of course!

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Taiji wrote:Looks like a nice quick wine recipe! I wanted some grapes so bought a vine on sale at a big box store when arriving here. But forgot that those stores seem to always have so many plants that aren't meant for one's particular area. So, it turns out Muscadine grapes aren't anywhere near right for this Ag zone here in the U.P. of 3b to 4a!

So, now the plan is to dig it up, put in a 5 gal bucket and take back to AZ in a few weeks. I won't be there summers to water it, so will probably give it away.
Have been researching some zone 3 grapes for next year of course!
Muscadine grapes are native to TN, AL & GA they grow wild here. We have hot summers and mild winters. Summer weather is 95 to 107 but year after year average about 98 to 100. Winter is below freezing at night several months warning up to 45 to 60 during the day. We have 3 months of none stop spring rain here in TN but very dry June to Sept small rains once a month about like Phoenix. I use to live in Phoenix AZ area it might be too hot for Muscadine grapes but Tucson AZ is probably better suited for Muscadine grapes and north of Phoenix elevation about 2500 ft is probably good for Muscadine grapes. I had grapes in AZ they grew very fast 2nd summer plants were loaded with grapes I kept watching them waiting for them to be ripe. One morning at sun rise grapes were ready, I had breakfast then put on my clothes went out to pick grapes they were gone, birds got them all in 1 hour. I cut vines down that was the end of growing grapes. LOL. I saw Muscadine grapes at farmers market 2 weeks ago $8 for 1 pint that is crazy expensive grapes are $1 a lb at the grocery store.
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I picked all the peppers that look completely red and some that were 90% red. I have learned peppers picked green will go bad before they turn red but if the peppers are more than 50% red they will turn completely red in 1 or 2 weeks inside the house. These large peppers are labeled sweet chili peppers but they have a very mild spicy hot flavor they will make a good mild chili powder. Largest pepper is 2.5" diameter and 7" long. Plants still have a lot of green peppers.
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These chili peppers are very spicy hot I may pull up all the plants I have no use for anything this hot and both my Sons don't want any more. I pickled some of the jalapeno last year but I never ate them so I guess I won't have a use for them this year. I won't be planting these again
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Flat pod beans should have been picked several days ago. I picked a few beans but beans inside the pod are large enough to eat. I like these large white beans from the pods I wish I have a large crock pot full of them. I am going to let the rest of these beans make seeds I need about 380 seeds to plant next year. If I have extra beans they will make good soup.
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After a week of rain I see volunteer potato plants coming up everywhere. I had 1 potato patch that I planted also 3 volunteer potato patches from potato peals. I think the potato peal volunteers made better potatoes than the potatoes that I planted. More than a week ago I started transplanting all the volunteer potato plants to 1 row but now I probably have enough volunteers to make another row of potato plants. If I don't transplant the volunteers to a hill fall rain will rot them and hard freeze in Feb will kill the potatoes too close to the surface. Should I transplant them or not? It will be nice to have a larger crop of winter potatoes if they actually make potatoes they only have 5 weeks before first frost.
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We had 18" of rain. TV weather Lady says Nashville had 21" and about 60 miles west they got 26".

Okra needs to be picked every day but we had a whole week of pretty much none stop rain okra never got picked. Today I cut off all the large 8" long okra pods and let them fall. I saved 2 more large pods for seeds. This will give me about 100 seeds for next year about 80 more seeds than I need.
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My purple hull beans and yard longs beans are growing slow in this weather sun is low in the sky now 61 degree angle the plants are not getting very much full sun. The Mexican potatoes are looking good now the weather has cooled and we got so much rain. It makes no difference if they grow I have already decided not to grow purple hull beans or yard long beans next year. I wish these 40 trees around my yard were 25 ft shorter.
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Today I made hill row #8 and planted 25 potato peals with eye in them. In the past it has taken a month for eyes to grow a plant weather then was in the 30s at night and 50 during the day. Weather was 75 today and will continue to be warmer than 50 for several weeks so potato eyes may grow plants sooner than a month. I am guessing there could be plants in 3 weeks. Spring potatoes are a 4 month crop but once plants are 3" tall it is a 3 month crop. If plants are up by Nov 1st harvest will be about Feb 1st but being cold I probably can not harvest until April. There are several volunteer potatoes in several places I have decided if I transplant them it will probably stunt their growth it will be best to leave then where they are with a marker so I know where to dig. I am having fun but do not intend to put any work into this potato crop. I am not going to cover hills with straw after frost kills plants. In the past I have noticed plants do not need to grow large and live long to produce potatoes. I will keep an eye on this we don't usually get a hard freeze until mid to late Jan when weather report says we will have a hard freeze I will check to see if there are potatoes in the soil, if so I will dig them all up.
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Okra plants are making more okra than we want. When plants first started making okra we were enjoying eating it about every other day for several weeks. Now we are not so excited anymore and not cooking if very often. I cut off all the over size okra pods yesterday and today there is enough okra for dinner. Today's pods will be too large tomorrow. Oh well we will eat okra several more times before Nov 1 when frost kills it.

Okra is terrible stuff if not cooked right. No one up north knew how to cook it. When I moved to TN 1977 I refused to eat okra everyone said it is good. It was nasty horrible stuff up north. About a year later I saw some golden brown crispy looking stuff that looked so good I had to check it out WOW that is so good. I ask, WHAT is that stuff? It is fried okra. NO WAY okra is terrible stuff. Where are you from? I am from up north. No wonder you don't like okra southern fried okra is the only way to cook it that is good. I learned how to cook okra now I love it.

Relatives in Michigan said it snowed there night before last. I like snow for only 1 day per year. LOL
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We decided to take a vacation it was good to get away from the garden all week. There was a lot of ripe tomatoes on the plants when we returned home, lots of red peppers too. Okra is too large again pods need to be cut off. Red pepper have a milder less spicy hot flavor than green peppers. I think jalapeno peppers will make good salsa with the rest of the ripe tomatoes the garden makes. Weather lady says, our temperature is 15 degrees above average for this time of the year. We usually need to wear a light jacket this time of the year it has been 85 day & 62 at night. All these red peppers are spicy hot, probably too hot for us. 1 dried red pepper will be enough spice for all winter.

We took the vintage camper to the smoky mountains it was nice we camped next to the stream we could hear the water all night with all 8 windows open. Temperature 75 day, 62 night. We drove about 90 miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway stopped at every pull over, every over look, water fall, stream, river, etc. & took pictures. Visitor center at 6200 ft elevation it was about 70 degrees. Winter camping in 20 degrees and snow is more fun than 100 degrees in the hot humid miserable heat. Sleeping with all the windows open, 62 degrees the breeze blows right through the trailer, sound of the stream is nice all night.
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Location: TN. 50 years of gardening experience.

I have been watching & waiting for several weeks hoping this sweet bell pepper will turn red and it finally is. It is red only on the front side maybe a few more days it will be all red then it can be picked. This plant has only 1 pepper. Another plant next to it has 5 large green sweep bell peppers I hope they turn red before frost in Nov.

There is a different variety of sweet bell pepper 30 ft away 3 plants making no peppers at all. All 3 plants blossomed 3 weeks ago still no peppers.

Lots of unwanted peppers on other plants.

Large okra on other plants need to be cut this evening.
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Gary350
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Location: TN. 50 years of gardening experience.

These Mexican potatoes were planted about 4 or 5 months ago. 30 plants bolted and made seeds in 98 degree heat these 5 plant continued to grow. I tried to eat a piece it is woody like trying eat a summer time carrot. I know woody carrots will turn soft & sweet if left to grow a few months after frost these might do the same thing. Near the top sun turned them green. The row of Mexican potatoes I plants a month ago bolted already it has been in the 90s for a month, 87 today, 90 again tomorrow, 15 degrees hotter than average. TV weather said, we have broken several hot weather records this year. I could plant more seeds tomorrow an grow Mexican potatoes into the winter months to see what happens but I don't think I will. It is probably a waste of time to search for a magic trick to make plants grow in a climate they don't like. Grocery store Mexican potatoes are round and about the same size and shape as a grapefruit, they make good, baked potatoes, french fries, mashed potatoes, fried potatoes, hash brown potatoes, we tested them before growing our own.
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Gary350
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Location: TN. 50 years of gardening experience.

My yard long beans look like they are doing better than purple hull peas. Yard long beans have runners looking for something to climb. I think there are only 5 purple hull peas still alive and they are not growing fast. Mexican potato plants were looking good until plants bolted now they have nice flowers. I think bolting was from 95 degrees for a month. Mexican potatoes should start doing better if weather would get normal our day temperatures should be in the 70s and night time about 55 instead of 90 every day.
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Gary350
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I picked a basket full of green tomatoes & ripe tomatoes then I removed all the dead tomato plants yesterday = Saturday. There is still 1 tomato plant growing next to the okra it was planted from seed over a month ago. There is 1 more tomato plant only 12" tall it will never make ripe tomatoes unless he have no frost until Christmas. .

Flat pod beans are making seeds for next year.

Pepper plants are still there we hope to have several sweet red bell peppers.

I removed the basket weave fences, removed all the wooden stakes, removed all the flowers.

Sweet potatoes vines keep getting larger with more blossoms, potatoes should be ready to dig up but I will wait 1 more month hoping for the largest crop as possible. Satellite potatoes need more time to grow larger.

Soon as potatoes are gone, okra, beans & peppers are gone I can till the soil an garden will be finished this year. Well maybe not I still have winter potatoes growing.
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Gary350
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Yesterday evening I planted my 4 Wild Black Cherry trees here where 2 of my 4 blackberry bushes died. Humidity was so bad yesterday photos were white like heavy fog. New pictures today look better. Clouds look nice today.
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Gary350
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We had unexpected visitors today. Husband & wife from Cuba live 40 miles away they heard I have free hot peppers they came to get jalapeno peppers. I gave them about 30 red jalapeno an a grocery bag of green jalapeno. They also wanted the 7" long mild red chili's my plants had a dozen of those. Wife saw there was a lot of 7" long green chilies she said, I can make stuffed peppers with the green chilies so I gave her all the largest ones that were large enough to stuff. They left with 2 grocery bags of hot peppers. This was like Christmas to them. My plants have escaped early dead I will let them grow maybe the Cuba family will return and want more peppers before frost kills them. :)

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Gary350
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We have learned something interesting. Grind whole tomatoes with skin & seeds in the food processor, fill jars & put them in the refrigerator about 3 days later pulp floated to the top an juice goes to the bottom. I used a soda straw to suck up some liquid it tastes exactly like tomato juice with no red color. Rather than cook tomatoes in crock pot several hours to remove water siphon water off with a small hose. I think there is a lot of good flavor in that water that will be lost by removing it. The pulp can also be dipped out with a spoon with holes but when you get near the liquid pulp gets all mixed into the water then it needs to set in refrigerator a few days again to separate. If you like tomato juice save it in different mason jars to be canned.

These 5 jars are for soup & chili the water needs to stay.

If you want factory style tomato sauce add cooking oil & corn starch cook in a large pot until it becomes thick 10 minutes then can in mason jars. We are not adding oil or corn starch we don't want to eat any more oil than we already have to its not very healthy.

I am using the pressure cooker for this it is the only pot I have that holds quarts beside a very large pot that fits over 2 stove burners and holds about 15 quarts. I only have 5 jars today so the 6 jar canner works best. I don't need to pressure can tomatoes but I will let it come up to 15 psi then turn it off to cool naturally for several house. Quarts are suppose to water bath boil about 20 or 25 minutes it will take that long for this to heat up to 15 psi then another 20 minutes to cool down to boiling temperature more than enough time for canning tomato quarts. This is the easier way for me I don't have to stand around and keep checking it soon as I hear steam stove gets turned off.

LOOK at this amazing picture of TN sky with NO clouds wow this is rare it looks like AZ sky. TN usually has 50% clouds but winter we have a lot of over cast gray sky all winter.
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Gary350
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This evening I am making fertilizer & calcium for the garden. We had 3 stacks of cut wood that have been drying all summer from several trees & limbs, pine, oak, black locus, elm, maple. I wish I could do this in spring but after 3 months of spring rain wood will be too wet to burn. After fire is out I usually save wood ash in 5 gallon bucks to use on the garden next April & May.

Pine needles are good to get the fire started. Large logs burn slow the smaller sticks shoot flames 10 ft into the air & help the big longs burn faster. The 30 gallon metal barrel keep everything under control wind at the moment is dead calm. .

3 places online says N-P-K value of wood ash is 0-1-3 with 10% to 31% calcium. Hardwood has more calcium than soft wood. If enough urine is added NPK can be 10-1-4.
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SQWIB
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I would look into making some bio-char also.
I have had pretty good luck with it so far.



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