xtron
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Re: My 2017 garden

store bought corn meal is usually plain old field corn, same as is fed to livestock.
I grow reid's yellow dent and grind it with a wonder mill jr. it's a bit of work, but well worth it as fresh ground corn makes the best tasting corn bread.
if you want to make corn tortillas, you can nixtillate the corn....make it into hominy. there are instructions on the net...it's a bit involved and some time consuming, but a skill worth having. the hominy is then dried and ground into masa herania , which can then be used to make tortillas. nixtillated corn is more digestable than plain ground corn.

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Gary350
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I forgot how easy it is to shell a few ears of corn by hand the way my Grandfather showed me 55 years ago. We have 36 lbs of shelled corn.

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Gary350
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LOOK what I found on ebay for $15 this is the same grain grinder that Northern Tool sells for $50 plus sales tax.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Grinder-Cor ... 2511910543

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Gary350
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We picked a few peppers today.

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Sliced them and put them in the freezer.

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I tilled the garden today trying to get it ready for a few fall crops and spring crops. Bell peppers are doing much better in this cool weather, 7 new tomato plants are doing better than the remaining old plants, Napa cabbage was planted too early it is going to seed, Russian Kale and Pac Choy are slowly getting larger, volunteer potatoes are looking good.

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One of the things I really admire is your work ethic and how you immediately can, freeze, dry and grind, your produce. I always intend to do that, but end up either giving it away instead, or letting it limp along in my fridge! So love your posts, pics and industrious spirit - as well as the fact that I can live vicariously through you!

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Gary350
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$15 Ebay grain grinder makes corn meal from yellow corn but it does not look yellow color like grocery store yellow corn meal. Grocery store yellow corn meal must contain yellow dye. This homemade yellow corn meal looks gray/yellow color.

I have a few lbs of Silver Queen white corn that I grew in the garden I have turned 1 cup into white corn meal, it looks white color. We are making corn bread for dinner tonight from Silver Queen corn meal. :) We will see how it turns out.

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Yellow corn meal above. White corn meal below.

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This $15 grain grinder from Ebay is basically worthless junk as it comes in the box. It took me about 5 hours of work in the work shop to make this grinder work. You get exactly what you pay for. I had to use the 4" wide belt sander to make both grinding discs flat. I used the bench grinder to remove all the flash metal on the castings. I used the 1" belt sander to smooth up all the ruff edged. Bolt holes had to be re-drilled screws will not fit and the ones that fit are off center. 3 side triangle shape hole for crank handle did not match 3 side triangle shape shaft so they had to be fixed to match. Assembly bolts do not work they needed spacers for the adjustment to adjust. Nothing fits very well casting is ruff as a corn cob. Hopper did not fit metal needed to be removed for it to fit and sanded smooth. Grinder screw was egg shape with bad metal places that all needed to be ground off and made round & smooth. The grinding plate is in the wrong place and there is no adjustment, the factory spacer was trashed and replaced with 2 flat washers and a pin. After testing the grinder 3 times, taking it apart and making changes I finally got the grinder to work very well. I ground up 1 cup of white corn meal in about 3 minutes. Grind once for course grind corn meal or grind 2 times for fin grind corm meal. Corn bread is in the oven.
Last edited by Gary350 on Tue Oct 03, 2017 4:30 pm, edited 4 times in total.

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applestar
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Looks good -- let us know how it turns out. I have dried red corn that I'm going to (have been meaning to) grind up but haven't got to it yet.

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Gary350
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I am surprised the white corn meal is so golden brown, wow it looks good. The corn bread is soft as cake. I love the crispy crust around the outer edge it is crunchy like bread crust. It tastes a lot like cake with not much sugar. I think if we add some vanilla and a little more sugar we won't be able to tell its not cake. Factory corn meal always has gritty corn meal feel in the surface crust and edge crust but this has no corn meal gritty feel to it, its just soft like cake. I think this white corn meal could be substituted for white yeast bread flour in home made bread. Next time we make corn bread I will use 3 or 4 tablespoons of Dark Brown sugar instead of 2 tablespoons of white sugar. I bet 1/4 cup of Hershey's Cocoa, 1/2 cup sugar, vanilla this cornbread will pass for real chocolate cake. LOL.

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I forgot to mention this grain grinder is NOT Cast Iron, it is cast steal. It must be made from a whole assortment of different types of steal it is too hard to file, hack saw blade just rubs on the metal. It must be about 55 Rockwell C hardness. You need abrasive sanding discs, abrasive grinding discs, carbide tools to work on this metal. A $10 dremel tool from Harbor Freight will be very helpful.
Last edited by Gary350 on Tue Oct 03, 2017 7:16 pm, edited 3 times in total.

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lakngulf
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Impressive. Enjoy reading about your endeavors with all crops.

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Gary350
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I forgot to list the corn bread recipe. I found this recipe online, not sure this is a good recipe for this test. For the 2 of use we need a smaller recipe. If we cut these recipe in half there won't be much left over after dinner.

1 cup corn meal
3/4 cup flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 tsp soda
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 tsp vinegar
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon melted butter

I have an idea. WHY does a person need corn meal? How about a can of cream corn or cut corn off the cob from your garden. Put corn and all the other stuff in kitchen blender or food processor until corn is liquid then pour into the baking pan.

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Wow, that is something I would like to try.
I just always assumed real Corn Bread wasn't supposed to be real sweet?

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Gary350
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We are still eating from the garden. Dinner tonight was so GOOD. German tomato salad, spaghetti, garlic bread. We are still getting tomatoes & kale for the kitchen table. Wife made homemade spaghetti sauce from garden tomatoes in the pantry with herbs & garlic this is always very good. Kale & tomatoes are both doing better in this cooler weather.

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Recipe for German tomato salad per bowl. 1 tomato, 1 green onion, 1 kale leaf, 2 tablespoons orange juice, 2 tablespoons zesty Italian dressing, black pepper.

Kale is growing faster than we can eat it. Time to find new ways to eat kale. Tomorrow for breakfast I will try a Smoothy with, orange juice, yogurt, kale, banana. I bet it will look like a Green Milkshake.

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Bell peppers are doing very well I picked some more, sliced and diced them for the freezer. Wife likes them for stews and soups.

I planted 100 garlic yesterday. Going to plant 100 more garlic in another 30 days. Going to plant, carrots, cabbage, chard, cilantro, Napa, Pac Choy, spinach, beets.

Russian red kale is getting taller. Parsley is doing good too.

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Gary350
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We made 15 bean soup with corn bread for dinner WOW this is good. I had 2 bowls of beans with 3 pieces of corn bread for dinner last night, 1 bowl for breakfast, 1 bowl for lunch, almost 2 bowls for dinner today. Beans for breakfast tomorrow, probably beans 1 last time for lunch tomorrow. Very easy to make from a 65 cent pack of dry beans from the grocery store. Directions on the package. We started it in a large crock pot 1 evening. 3 ham hocks went into the large crop pot with 8 cups of water to cook all night. Beans soaked all night in another pan rinse, soak, drain, rinse, drain. Next morning beans go into the large crock pot with 3 ham hocks plus, 1 pint of garden tomatoes, 1 large onion, 4 garlic, 1 lb of German sausage, add cajun spice pack that comes with the beans, cook all day it is ready to eat about 5 pm. Remove bone and the remains of the ham hocks then it is ready to eat. Salt and pepper to taste. Never add salt to cooking beans they get tough as rubber balls. We made corn bread yesterday and today too.

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Last edited by Gary350 on Fri Oct 13, 2017 11:02 pm, edited 7 times in total.

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Gary350
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This evening I made cinnamon rolls.

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LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL :) :) :) :) :)
Last edited by Gary350 on Fri Oct 13, 2017 11:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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ElizabethB
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My fall garden was planted very late. Mid September instead of early August.

All of my tomatoes are in full bloom. 3 of the 8 plants have young fruit - from marble size to golf ball size. Cauliflower an broccoli are growing like crazy. I picked 2 cucumbers today with more on the way. Tomorrow I will harvest mustard green leaves. Kale in 2 or 3 days. Spinach in a week.

I did not have a good germination rate on lettuce - time to plant more.

I had low production expectations so I am happy with anything I harvest.

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Gary350
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ElizabethB wrote:My fall garden was planted very late. Mid September instead of early August.

All of my tomatoes are in full bloom. 3 of the 8 plants have young fruit - from marble size to golf ball size. Cauliflower an broccoli are growing like crazy. I picked 2 cucumbers today with more on the way. Tomorrow I will harvest mustard green leaves. Kale in 2 or 3 days. Spinach in a week.

I did not have a good germination rate on lettuce - time to plant more.

I had low production expectations so I am happy with anything I harvest.
When I lived in Arizona I planted my garden in November, best garden I every had. I was able to grow things I have never grown before and things I have grown did much better. Kale, chard, broccoli, squash, tomatoes, potatoes, beans, peppers, onions, garlic, cilantro, basil, thyme, grew from Nov to May 115 degree heat killed it. Melons, okra, sweet potatoes thrived in the hot summer weather. No clouds in the ski full sun all day really was full sun all day 5:15 am to 8:20 pm.

WHO is the moron that put 30 pictures of cinnamon rolls on here. LOL LOL LOL :)

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So, have you eaten all of those already?

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Gary350
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pepperhead212 wrote:So, have you eaten all of those already?
Cinnamon rolls? They are gone.

I usually make a small recipe, sometimes I make a large recipe. It has been a while since I made a large recipe, I double the recipe several times to use up a 5 lb bag of flour dough rolls out about 20" wide 7 feet long. Once the dough it rolled up it can be stretched longer to get more cinnamon rolls. 7' long can be stretched to about 10' or 12'. Cover with melted butter, dark brown sugar & cinnamon then roll it up. Cut pieces can be any thickness you like 1", 1.5", 2". I often cut them what ever thickness works best to get an even count in the baking pans about 1.25" thick is good after they raise they are about 2.5" thick 5" diameter = about 65 to 120 cinnamon rolls. Stretching the roll makes the cinnamon roll diameter smaller. Need a big group of people to eat a large number of cinnamon rolls. I might make another small batch of cinnamon rolls today I am trying to get back in practice I use to be better at this, not sure if it is me or is flour today different than 40 years ago. I bought another bag of flour yesterday. I used a yeast starter last time it sure does speed things up.

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ElizabethB
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Gary - isn't it wonderful having such a long growing season?

New tomatoes on 2 more plants. 6 out of 8 with fruit.

I have been talking to the tomato plants - words of encouragement.

I have never considered, nor did I intend to plant cucumbers in the fall. Silly me.

George came home from Lowe's with cucumber plants. Between the store and home he lost the tag. I have no idea what variety they are. George said they were Chinese or Japanese long cucumbers. IDK. They grow like crazy. I picked the first 2 and have been watching the young ones. I kid you not - they grow 1/2" to 3/4" a day! Crazy.

George was in Houston at the beginning of the week for business then went to his fishing camp on Toledo Bend. He can't wait for dinner tonight. His mouth is watering for garden fresh cucumbers and mustard greens.

Since the greens are young and tender I make Simple Southern Wilted Greens.

1 lb. mustard greens
1 Strip Applewood smoked bacon cut into 1" pieces
1 large hard boiled egg - chopped
1 TBSP. butter
Sea salt and Fresh ground pepper to taste

Boil, peel and chop the egg
Rinse the greens in cold water and drain in a colander
Cook bacon pieces until fat is rendered and bacon is crisp.
Remove the bacon and set aside.
Add greens to the bacon drippings
Toss until greens begin to wilt
Remove greens to a bowl and add butter
Toss to coat
Add bacon pieces and egg
Toss
Salt and pepper to taste.

Options:
Add 1 clove minced garlic or 1 Tsp. roasted garlic to the bacon drippings before adding the greens.
Cook until just fragrant then add greens

Add 1/4 cup sliced green onions - whites and greens - to the pot when you add the mustard greens.

With 1 lb. of greens we each get a serving.

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Gary350
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ElizabethB wrote:Gary - isn't it wonderful having such a long growing season?
New tomatoes on 2 more plants. 6 out of 8 with fruit.
I have been talking to the tomato plants - words of encouragement.
I have never considered, nor did I intend to plant cucumbers in the fall. Silly me.
George came home from Lowe's with cucumber plants. Between the store and home he lost the tag. I have no idea what variety they are. George said they were Chinese or Japanese long cucumbers. IDK. They grow like crazy. I picked the first 2 and have been watching the young ones. I kid you not - they grow 1/2" to 3/4" a day! Crazy.
George was in Houston at the beginning of the week for business then went to his fishing camp on Toledo Bend. He can't wait for dinner tonight. His mouth is watering for garden fresh cucumbers and mustard greens.
Since the greens are young and tender I make Simple Southern Wilted Greens.
1 lb. mustard greens
1 Strip Applewood smoked bacon cut into 1" pieces
1 large hard boiled egg - chopped
1 TBSP. butter
Sea salt and Fresh ground pepper to taste
Boil, peel and chop the egg
Rinse the greens in cold water and drain in a colander
Cook bacon pieces until fat is rendered and bacon is crisp.
Remove the bacon and set aside.
Add greens to the bacon drippings
Toss until greens begin to wilt
Remove greens to a bowl and add butter
Toss to coat
Add bacon pieces and egg
Toss
Salt and pepper to taste.
Options:
Add 1 clove minced garlic or 1 Tsp. roasted garlic to the bacon drippings before adding the greens.
Cook until just fragrant then add greens
Add 1/4 cup sliced green onions - whites and greens - to the pot when you add the mustard greens.
With 1 lb. of greens we each get a serving.
I love Mustard Greens I have totally forgotten to plant them this year. I best get some Mustard Green Seeds ordered on Ebay in the next few minutes.

I planted 100 garlic a week ago 60 on the right side are coming up.

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Gary350
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Before dark I planted seeds, 250 Broccoli, 100 Red Chard, 500 Russian Red Kale, 100 Cabbage, 100 Rainbow Chard, 500 Carrots, 200 Peas, 300 Turnip Greens, 100 Napa Cabbage, 100 Blue Kale, 200 Pak Choi, 1000 Celery, 60 Beets, 250 Mustard green seeds are ordered. The whole garden is covered with seeds this will look amazing when it all comes up. It is all planted in patches. All the seed packs are from Ebay, about $1.25 to $1.65 per seed pack, free shipping. I hope all those seeds do not grow what does a person do with 100 cabbage? 5 cabbage will be enough. I had too many seeds no reason to save them.

I harvested all the large bell peppers today, sliced them and put them in freezer zip lock bags.

We ate corn on the cob from the freezer 8 times in the past 2 weeks. Things get lost in there if you don't have a plan to eat it at least 3 or 4 times a week. It all needs to be gone by July. Garden harvesting starts about 2nd week of July. When freezer starts getting low we buy things we don't really need like ice cream. Today we bought chocolate frozen yogurt.

There was 2 more tomatoes in the garden today.

3 more weeks until first frost. I am not going to cover anything up to save it. I guess there won't be any garden tomatoes on the kitchen table for Christmas dinner this year.

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Gary350
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I planted Cilantro in 7 rows, 15 feet long, 6" apart, 150 seeds. I have never planted cilantro in Fall. If plants lives all winter I want to harvest all the seeds for Coriander spice in hot weather. A problem I have had in the past, anything I plant in the fall garden that lives all winter is always in the way of planting my spring garden. I need a garden dedicated just for Fall and one just for Spring. I don't think cilantro will go to seed until about hot weather in July I will need that garden space for other things 1st of May.

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ElizabethB
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I have a list of heirloom tomato seeds to order for spring planting.

I have plotted plant placement in my 2 existing boxes and the 2 George promised to make for me after hunting season.

Table height gardening is the bomb!

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Gary350
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42 degrees this morning Kale is liking this cold weather it is has doubled in size in a week. I harvested some for dinner and my Son came over and harvested a bunch of Kale before the rain now it has grown larger than it was before we removed all the leaves. These 6 plants were planted in April 7 months ago. I have been spraying the under side of the leaves with the garden hose to remove bugs and bug eggs water pressure blows them away. Kale salad is very good we need to find other ways to eat Kale. Kale soups sounds good to me but wife says no way. Fried Kale is good too. Kale salad with Zesty Italian dressing is good. German tomato salad is the best with garden tomatoes. Kale yogurt smoothie with a little Orange Juice is good.

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Kale smoothie, orange juice, yogurt, banana, kale.

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ElizabethB
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Gary

I have a small amount of kale - more seeds planted between plants for a second crop. I want the kale to make chips. George satisfies any sweet cravings with fruit. His issue is salty cravings. He turns to cheese. That is OK as long as he reduces the protein from another source. He forgets. Kale chips will give him a salty, non protein, alternative.

BTW - your gardens are beautiful.

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Gary350
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I planted 243 garlic bulbs.

I wish I did not have to wait until April to buy onion sets.

Last year I planted 3 kinds of onion seeds none of them grew.

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Gary350
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Wife is cleaning out the freezer she made Chili 3 days ago, we have been eating chili for 3 days. I ate chili for breakfast this morning and we still have some chili left. Lots of garden vegetables in this, a whole quart of tomatoes, garlic, onion, herbs, beans. Sometimes it has green beans. Sometimes it has the white beans inside the green beans.

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Wife made vegetable beef stew today this is the best one so far. She found a pack of stew mean in the freezer it went into the crock pot with onions, garlic, and 2 cups water with a pack of Swedish meat ball seasoning right after breakfast. After lunch she added carrots, 2pm she added potatoes & celery. 4pm add, corn, peas, stir in a pack of country gravy mix with black pepper. Add salt.

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I planted pea seeds yesterday, tomorrow I am digging up all the pea seeds and throwing them in the yard. I need a different variety of pea that will produce a larger harvest.

I made another small batch of cinnamon rolls I had to try out, peanut butter cream cheese frosting, it is very good. Before I could get the camera 2 cinnamon rolls were gone. LOL

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It was 31 degrees this morning with a light frost. It warmed up to 65 and I planted onions today. There are crops that do good in 25 degree weather, there are crops that do good in 15 degree weather, there are crops that do good in 5 degree weather, I have them all planted, Carrots, garlic, onions, Kale, broccoli, bok choy, Russian kale, beets, mustard greens, turnip greens, cabbage, Napa, peas, others. I have them all planted.

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Wow no one commented about those adorablenesses? Let me — (as my DD would say) SOOOOOOOO CUUUUUTTTTTTTE !!!!!!!!

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Gary350
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My grandmother & mother both had 1 of these gizmos I had a lot of fun in grade school turning the crank to make garden sliced, carrots, potatoes, cabbage and other things.

Vintage copy $29.50 free postage on Ebay. It makes, potato chips, french fries, hash browns, coleslaw, sliced carrots, sliced celery, sliced apples, graded & sliced cheese, sliced onions, more.

I made Potato chips with 2 potatoes to have with chicken salad sandwiches for lunch. Chips are deep fried 375 degrees in good healthy organic heirloom oil until golden brown, about 10 minutes. LOL.

Next time Alice needs, sliced, graded, chopped, vegetables, onions, carrots, potatoes, for, stew, soup, salad, etc. I am turning the crank. LOL :)

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Gary350
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I have skinny plants in the garden. I started these from seed in August not sure why they are so skinny they look like they need fertilizer but plants grew fine in this same row April to August. When weather he is 100 degrees tomatoes suffer really bad. Planting tomatoes so they get cool morning sun and full shade after lunch works miracles for a while until temperature reaches 100 degrees. I think the shade is what caused my plants to have aphid problem that killed several of the plants. Tomatoes rarely have a bug problem planted in full sun but plants produce few tomatoes in 100 degree heat. We have been having a lot of rain, clouds, over cast weather maybe that is why my tomato plants are so skinny. New plants have been making small ripe tomatoes and doing slightly better than the 6 old plants that I managed to save that were planted in April. A few days ago it got down to 32 degrees 1 night tomatoes got frost bit in the tips ends of a few leaves. Crazy weather it was 80 yesterday and suppose to be 82 today. I sure do hope I get a few ripe tomatoes before the next cold spell I want to know what these tomatoes taste like so I can decide if I am planting my spring garden with these seeds or buying new plants at the garden store. I usually plant 6 varieties of tomatoes very year no matter what the weather does we always have ripe tomatoes, I planted all Big Beef this year heat and aphids killed most of the plants. Cherry tomatoes seem to do much better in hot weather.

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Gary350
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Garden, 243 garlic plants, onions beds not planted yet next to garlic, about 500 onion seeds in pots, bell peppers with no more peppers, kale for dinner every day, Rhubarb looking good, large boc choy, peas are coming up, napa and boc choy in rows, tomato plant with 1 ripe tomato that makes 2 total. Cat follows me every place I go she has to inspect everything.

PS these are not raised beds, garden is under water usually March to May soil needs to be 3" higher than water to keep onion & garlic plants from rotting. If boxes hold water like a pond wood will need to be removed.

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Gary350
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Boc Choy, Russian Kale, Tomatoes, garden salad. It was so good I ate 2. I never ate boc choy before I didn't know it was so good. Boc Choy is so easy to grow, frost will not kill it, online says freeze down to 15 degrees will not kill it.

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It’s really great to see you getting all these wonderful harvest from your garden.

About the skinny tomato plants — I remember you mentioned that in another thread, too. I was thinking
- did you add more nutrients to the soil? Maybe the previous crop depleted it?
- after August, the sun gets lower in the sky and loses intensity, more shadows are cast so overall less sun. If this is the same location that the summer tomatoes produced well in, its possible you need to plant tomatoes in sunnier location for the fall crop?

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Gary350
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applestar wrote:It’s really great to see you getting all these wonderful harvest from your garden.

About the skinny tomato plants — I remember you mentioned that in another thread, too. I was thinking
- did you add more nutrients to the soil? Maybe the previous crop depleted it?
- after August, the sun gets lower in the sky and loses intensity, more shadows are cast so overall less sun. If this is the same location that the summer tomatoes produced well in, its possible you need to plant tomatoes in sunnier location for the fall crop?
I broke 1 of my own rules this year, I planted only 1 variety of tomato. I usually plant 4 to 6 varieties so no matter what crazy weather does we get 150 lbs of tomatoes for the pantry, lots of tomatoes to eat summer and fall for the kitchen table, and have tomatoes for Christmas dinner. Big Beef made a lot of tomatoes this year but they did not do well in 98 degree summer heat plus they had a aphid problem that almost killed the plants. I planted a dozen new tomato plants from Big Beef seeds in the locations where other tomato plants died the new plants just never took off like spring plants do but they are producing more tomatoes than the old plants that survived. I don't fertilize very much, I give spring plants about 1 small hand full of 15/15/15 stirred into the soil around the plant and nothing else the rest of the year. I learned from past experience fertilizer can kill plants if temperatures are above 85. The new plants I planted from seeds in pots only got a tiny sprinkle of fertilizer but nothing after planting them in the garden. Hot August weather is not a good time to plant new plants they need water every day for about 2 to 3 weeks to get them established, watering the garden is something I never do it makes grass and weeds grow too. When weather turns hot 3rd week of June the garden has no grass or weeds all summer. 5 of the new tomato plants died and 7 very skinny plants are still making tomatoes. A light frost last week killed a few tomato leaves but the plants are still doing good. Now that we are having cooler weather I can fertilize but its a bit too late we might have a killer frost next week. I do fertilize my tomato plants with wood ash all summer about every 3 weeks it is loaded with lime and potash. I give other plants wood ash too it is great for BER in, tomatoes, melons, peppers, squash.

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Joined: Mon Mar 23, 2009 1:59 pm
Location: TN. 50 years of gardening experience.

This is my spring garden planting map. Corn rows are 30" spacing and others are 36" spacing. Plant location depends on several things, how much sun the plant needs, how much shade the plant needs in the hottest part of the day, how soon crop is harvested and gone. I already see 2 mistakes but so what you get the idea melons need to swap places with tomatoes so tomatoes are closer to the house back door since they will hopefully grow from April to mid November and Melons need more full sun than tomatoes and tomatoes like shade after lunch. OH poop I forgot the bell peppers looks like 6 plants will fit at the south end of the 35' long tomato row..

Left to right G is 243 garlic already planted and room for about 80 more plants. 3 ft wide patch 18 ft long.

Next 0 = Onions 3 ft wide patch enough room for about 320 onions when sets are available March.

SP = Sweet potato patch 9 ft wide 18 ft long this should produce 125 to 180 lbs of potatoes depending on weather.

M = Watermelons & CA-= Cantaloupes we should get about 25 melons from each patch, 12'x35' patch.

P = Russet Potatoes I have no clue what to expect for this but we hope to get 150 lbs of potatoes 3'x35' patch.

T = Tomatoes 1 & 1/2 rows 150 lbs of the pantry and tomatoes for dinner table every day until Christmas.

B = Green Beans 3'x18' patch. 8 rows of seeds, row spacing 3" apart, seed spacing 3", this always works good.

X = Peas I never planted peas in spring so we will see how it turns out.

C = Corn, row spacing 30", seed spacing 7", 360 plants, 72 day crop. Harvest mid July replant and harvest again Oct. Plant 3 beans between each corn plant to provide nitrogen for the corn plant this has worked good several times.

I almost forgot row S north end of row X is 6 zucchini plants.

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applestar
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Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

Wow! But I’m gonna be right there with you planning next year’s garden as soon as this year’s is really done for. Hard freeze — low 20’s maybe even dip down below 20 this week end will put a finish to my garden too.

But I was surprised to see you planning to grow Russets next year. You’ve mentioned several times that they don’t seem to do well in Tennessee garden....

Subject: When to plant potatoes relative to last frost?
Gary350 wrote:Red Pontiac potatoes do very well in TN they don't seem to mind the 100 degree hot weather but we like white potatoes much better than Red potatoes. I have had potato tops killed by frost several times it never seem to hurt the potato crop maybe smaller tops require less energy so more energy going into making potatoes not tops. I use to grow a wonderful large crop of potatoes when I live in Illinois now I live in TN and my potato crop always seems really small compared to IL, I think this is normal for TN it is so much hotter here than up north. I have planted potatoes in September several times cover them with 8" of soil so they don't freeze and 2" of straw the tops freeze off and the potatoes set in the soil all winter Dec to April and there is always a good crop of potatoes. I have grown a lot of different type potatoes some do better than others in this hot weather. I have come to believe TN is to hot for most potatoes. My Red potatoes usually grow the size of a tennis balls a 20 ft row will fill a bushel basket full, my white Russet potatoes 20 ft row will fill a 5 gallon bucket. Russets probably do much better up north in cooler weather. Experiment growing different potatoes where you live and don't worry much about tops that freeze off they always grow back.

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Gary350
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Joined: Mon Mar 23, 2009 1:59 pm
Location: TN. 50 years of gardening experience.

applestar wrote:Wow! But I’m gonna be right there with you planning next year’s garden as soon as this year’s is really done for. Hard freeze — low 20’s maybe even dip down below 20 this week end will put a finish to my garden too.

But I was surprised to see you planning to grow Russets next year. You’ve mentioned several times that they don’t seem to do well in Tennessee garden....
I talked to several people at Farmers Market they all said, there is too much rain in TN you have to keep potatoes out of the mud. 1 person plants his potatoes on the side of a hill. Other people said, shovel your soil up into a mound plant potatoes above the water.

Plan A shovel soil from both sides of my potato row into the potato row so the soil in the potato row is 6" higher than the rest of the garden.

Plan B buy seed potatoes March keep seed potatoes in the refrigerator until about 2nd or 3rd week of May, being a 4 month crop plants will have to deal with about 2 months of 98 to 100 degree weather and very little rain.

Plan C is build planting boxes 3'x35' then buy a pickup truck load of soil at the garden center to fill the boxes. Plant potatoes in March.

Plan D keep seed potatoes in refrigerator 4 months plant them in the garden 1st of July harvest in Nov. If this will work potatoes can be planted where corn was.

In about 2 weeks I need to mark all my rows then put in the planting boxes and fill them with soil to have them ready for March.

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Gary350
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Joined: Mon Mar 23, 2009 1:59 pm
Location: TN. 50 years of gardening experience.

Garden vegetable chicken pot pie wow this is good. Put 2 chicken breast, 1 can cream of celery soup, 1 can cream of chicken soup in the crock pot then add any garden vegetables you like. We put in, green beans, corn, potatoes, carrots, peas, onion, garlic. Cook on high 9 am to 4 pm. Fill Pyrex dishes with the filling then cover the tops with pie crust. Bake 350 until golden brown. Let cool about 20 minutes before eating. I made another Pac Choy Salad with Russian Red Kale.

Weather report for tonight 34 degrees but no frost warning? Weather report tomorrow night 31 degrees but no frost warning? How can it be 31 with no frost? Only thing in the garden I would like to save from frost is tomatoes but it is time to let them go, I am not into covering plants up every night to save them for a few more weeks. Not sure I believe there will be no frost 31 degrees will kill them anyway.

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I harvested 41 green tomatoes and 2 bell peppers from the garden. Wife puts several of these green tomatoes in the refrigerator then takes some out once in a while to get ripe on the window seal. We will have ripe tomatoes for Thanksgiving dinner and maybe for Christmas dinner too it is only 6 weeks away.

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300 Chive seeds came in the mail today. I will plant these is a fancy flower pot in the kitchen then move them out side after they germinate and get larger. I have 8 large flower pots of little green onions in the grow room soon as they germinate and get larger they go outside too. I built a tiny grow room inside the shed.



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