Tennessee 2018 Garden

[Gary350]

2 months ago when I tilled my garden it was about 1 day too soon for wet soil on south side of garden in full shade, wet soil turned into dirt balls that were like stones in the garden. Dryer soil on north side of garden in full sun tilled up nice. I tilled south side of garden several times all it did was stir up the dirt balls that were still there. Few days ago after doing several experiments I learned, if I smack the soil hard with flat side of a 1"x2" board 3 ft long dirt balls shatter into dust. Hammer did good to get rid of dirt balls 1 by 1 but very time consuming and flat shovel was not very effective. Soil surface is now much better for planting seeds.

Here are tomatoes I planted about 10 days ago in the garden from last years saved seeds. I water them every day until roots are large enough to take over its about time to remove smaller plants & let 1 larger plants grow on their own at each of the 4 locations.

[Gary350]

71 degrees this morning, I set outside every morning with my coffee to watch the birds, cats & squirrels. Baby cats are so funny and fun to watch they are on the move all the time, running, jumping, climbing, it is hard to get a photo with all 7 cats in the same picture. Several run up the tree while the rest run into the garden chasing each other through the plants. The cats in the garden see the cats in the tree so they run up the tree about the same time cats in the tree see cats in the garden so they climb down and run to the garden. Cats hide in the potato patch then jump out on another cat they tumble and roll then run off through the peas, tomatoes & beans. Little cats are so cute they do sideways jumping movements at each other and stand on their back legs like big bear attacks at each other. They are having so much fun. Red birds are the number 1 birds in the garden all day I search for bugs and can not find any, so far so good. I hear the wren chirping its lungs out but it is rear that I see the wren. I see, titmouse, chickadee, blue jays, red birds, wood pecker, sparrows, and birds that look like sparrows with red head and red tail feathers. Sometimes I see the blue bird fly across the yard. Cats are about ready to give away we are considering keeping 2 this time.

[Aida]

Your plants are looking fantastic! Such a big and well organized garden. I wouldn't be surprised if those kittens never want to leave, they look like they are having way too much fun.

[Gary350]

I harvested 8 onions from the garden for dinner, sliced & dices the whole plants to cook with fried potatoes. No reason to wait for all 400 onions to get full grown at the same time we are going to eat them as they grow. We are eating the 350 garlic plants as they grow too. The largest onion I harvested was a little bit smaller than a ping pong ball. I have 2 types of onions I don't remember which is which so I got 4 of each plus herbs, oregano, thyme, marjoram.

Tomorrow big leaves around outside of cabbage head become cabbage rolls for dinner. Maybe those big broccoli leaves can be broccoli rolls?

[Gary350]

Seed potatoes blossomed today & yesterday. Organic potatoes blossomed 3 weeks ago. It appears organic potatoes are 3 weeks ahead of seed potatoes.

About 20 years go I planted seed potato cutting in 1/2 gallon pots inside the house. It was 72 degrees F in the house day & night 4 weeks later potato plants were 6" tall. Same potato cuttings in garden 35 degrees at night & 70 during the day takes 7 weeks to get 6" tall plants. A person with short growing season could get 3 week jump start planting in flower pots then transplant to garden. I could plant in flower pots next year to avoid rain & mud but 100 potato plants in pots plus transplant will be a lot of work but 20 plants would be much easier.

[Gary350]

It is interesting that my whole potato patch blossomed again for the 2nd time. I wish I had known to keep notes, several weeks ago I shoveled 6" of soil on the potato plants then about a week later plants blossomed. About a week ago I shoveled another 6" of soil on the potato plants and about 1 week later they blossomed again. Yesterday I shoveled another 6" of soil on the potato plants again it will be interesting to see if plants blossom again in about a week. I am finished shoveling soil even if that helps to produce more potatoes I am finished. Texas Potato Growers say, each plant will produce 2 to 3 lbs of potatoes. If my 90 potato plants produce 180 lbs of potatoes that is a lot of potatoes. If plants produce 270 lbs wow what will we do with that many potatoes and no cellar to keep them for the winter. If shoveling more soil on the indeterminate potato plants produces more than 270 lbs that will be a more potatoes than we need. This years crop will help me to learn how many potatoes to plant next year. I might be taking a load of potatoes to the homeless shelter just have to wait and see when the crop is harvested. We have gone camping several times in the past 2 months I could have missed seeing some of the potato blossoms we were gone 4 to 7 days each time.

[kayjay]

Amazing garden. I grew Carmen peppers a few years ago; they were really nice.

Nice kitty cats, too. I bet they do a good job of keeping squirrels and chipmunks away. They're the bane of my existence here.

[Taiji]

That's really wonderful! I feel kind of sheepish with my little nubbins of plants just beginning. I hope my long days up here will kick in and grow some big stuff!

[Gary350]

I might want to grow my own strawberries next year considering what they cost. The Farm 1 mile up the road pick your own strawberries $4 a lb. Walmart has strawberries $3 a lb. Aldi's grocery store has strawberries $2 a lb so we bought 32 lbs form Aldi's in the past 3 weeks $64 plus sales tax $70.40. Today we made 12 more small mason jars of Strawberry Jam. Sure Jell instructions says, 5 cups strawberries plus 7 cups of sugar but we changed recipe to 6 cups chopped Strawberries plus 2 cups of sugar stir and cook for 30 minutes to dissolve sugar and evaporate some of the liquid. Add the Sure Jell stir and cook some more then pour into jars, put on seals and rings, stand upside down until Jam is cool. We ran out of small jars we only had 11 cup size jelly jars so 1 cup of Jam had to go into a 1 pint jar. Last week we perfected the recipe making 6 jars of Strawberry Jam. We ate about 5 lbs of strawberry short cake and the rest of the berries are in the freezer. Reducing sugar in the strawberries gives them a much better strawberry flavor plus jam is thin easy to spread on bread, toast and pancakes. My grandmother called Jam, Strawberry Preserves.

[Gary350]

My tomato plants have reached the stage where they are growing so fast I have to pull them into the wire tomato cages every day. Tops that were too short yesterday are tall enough today to pull into the next wire ring of the cages. Plants have 100s of blossoms and about 20 green tomatoes. I usually don't have ripe tomatoes until about July but this year it looks like we may have ripe tomatoes in a few more weeks. Plants that I bought must be older than plants I usually get and I did get my plants in the soil a week or so earlier than I usually do we were still having frost so plants needed to be covered at night in April. We had several big rains this week some of the tomato plants seem like they grew 2 ft taller. I fertilize my plants with wood ash potassium makes lots of big tomatoes and calcium prevents BER.

[Gary350]

Corn is doing good it is about 2 ft tall. Corn on south side is short soil must not be very good there. There are 7 rows are 12" apart with 36" down the center and around all 4 sides for the tiller. White sweet potatoes have finally started to grow vines. Orange sweet potatoes should be making vines soon. Melon vines are getting long. My russet potato crop has blossomed again for the 3rd time. Every time I shovel more soil on potatoes plants they blossom again about a week later. Tomato plants that I planted from seeds directly into the garden a month ago are doing good.

[Gary350]

I harvested 2 chili peppers today. WOW these are FIRE HOT chili peppers I will not be eating these. I bit the tip end off 1 pepper then ran to the sink washed it out with all the water I could get. They will make good paint stripper. I don't know the name, I can not find the marker tag in the garden.

[Gary350]

My Swiss chard took a long time getting this big probably because this soil bed acts like a very dry raised bed since I never water it, 2 days of rain a week ago was helpful. I made a dinner salad, Swiss Chard, beet tops, carrot tops, onion and onion tops. It turned out to be a good salad. My Swiss chard is under a shade tree it only gets morning sun then shade after lunch, it would have bolted by now if it was in full sun. Spring carrots were slow to germinate and slow to grow but tops make an GOOD salad I will probably have all the tops eaten before plants every make a crop of carrots. Onions continue to grow larger and we keep eating them before that are ready. Onion tops are very good in, oriental soup, stir fry & other things too. I am not sure what this stringy stuff is growing on the beet leaves I've never seen this before, I wonder if it is ok to eat.

[applestar]

You are going to like this, Gary350. I believe your stringy thing is Dodder

NATURE | Dodder Vine Sniffs Out Its Prey | What Plants Talk About | PBS

[Gary350]

You are going to like this, Gary350. I believe your stringy thing is Dodder

NATURE | Dodder Vine Sniffs Out Its Prey | What Plants Talk About | PBS

This is very educational. After reading about Dodder Vine online I think I probably got Dodder Vine seeds in a package of carrot seeds from China, online says Dodder Vine is a common problem in China. Carrot seeds arrived to late to plant but I planted them anyway and nothing grew so I later planted beet seeds in the same place it was a late crop but it did grow. I will harvest the small beets we will eat them for dinner if they are good. Online information says, do not plant any host plants where dodder vine was and it will die. Today I will pull every thing up and burn it. I might need to water the soil so all dodder vine seeds germinate and die.

After lunch I pulled up the beets with all the Dodder Vine. Dodder Vine feels exactly like corn silks & sticks to every thing like corn silks. I had it stuck to my, hands, finders, arms, pant legs, shoes, it sticks to anything it touches. I had to be careful to pick it off of me and get it in the trash can with the other plants. After I pulled up the beets I discovered there were several Marigold flower plants hiding in there but no Dodder Vine stuck to it.

[Gary350]

Today I harvested 3 small cabbages, about 100 small carrots & 18 small beets. Cabbage is in the crock pot cooking. Wife is going to boil beets & carrots for dinner. Hotter drier weather is on the way no point it letting these vegetables stay in the garden I can plant more last week of August. We are having a good dinner this evening, 3 vegetables with German Sausage on the BBQ Grill.

[Gary350]

Nice 3 1/2 hour rain the garden sure can use this water. Looks like all the rain we did not receive the past 6 weeks just came down the garden has 2" of water standing in it.

https://www.facebook.com/gary.weaver.50 ... 127898136/

https://www.facebook.com/gary.weaver.50 ... 971231285/

[applestar]

Gary, I can’t see those — When I click on those links, they take me to Facebook login screen and it says you have to log in to continue.

[Gary350]

Gary, I can’t see those — When I click on those links, they take me to Facebook login screen and it says you have to log in to continue.

I tried to upload video to the forum but I get a message that says, no videos. I uploaded them to my Facebook page then copy and paste them here. If your on FB log in you should be able to see videos.

[Gary350]

I harvested 42 hard neck garlic today. If I had done good soil preparation last year I would have had larger garlic this year. My garlic was 3" deep in hard soil, the hard soil prevents garlic from growing large but this is a very good crop anyway several bulbs are as large as grocery store garlic. Garlic cloves needs to set right on the soil surface then covered with something soft that stays soft like organic material to survive the cold winter. Organic material is soft & sand will work too. I have a 100 gallon container or compost that was originally about 6 pickup truck loads of tree leaves to cover garlic & onions first week of Sept this year. This crop was a test to see how well hard neck garlic grows in my area turns out I am in the sweet spot area I can grow hard or soft neck garlic. Hard neck is suppose to have shorter shelf life and less flavor than soft neck. I still have soft neck garlic to harvest soon as plants die.

3 of these garlic plants made sets in the stem, I have 12 sets to plant in Sept. I assume I plant these 12 sets like I would garlic cloves?

.

[Vanisle_BC]

I tried to upload video to the forum but I get a message that says, no videos. I uploaded them to my Facebook page.

Gary, those were movies you wanted to upload?

[Gary350]

Quick easy salad in about 5 days. I saved several 1000 melon seeds last summer to plant this year. Pictures shows about 150 cantaloupe seeds on left & about 150 watermelon seeds on right. Cantaloupes are growing faster than watermelons for some reason they were both planted about 1 minute apart. Sprinkle seeds on the soil then cover them with soil they were up in 3 days and large enough to eat about 2 days later. I cut them off with scissors, wash & rinse, ready to eat. I like mixing 1 bottle of Honey Mustard dressing with 1/2 bottle of Zesty Italian dressing it makes a good salad dressing. These are good, not much difference than lettuce or other greens. Tomorrow I eat the watermelon plants if they are large enough.

It is also easy to make bean sprouts, easier than doing it in a jar in the kitchen. A 1 lb. bag of dried beans is 69¢ at the grocery store. I have tried, Navy beans, Kidney beans, Lima beans, they are all good in salad or stir fry. Sprinkle beans on soil then cover with soil and water they will be ready to eat in about 5 days. You can also pull these tiny plants up with the roots, wash & rinse then eat plants whole. A little practice you can plant the perfect number of seeds to eat for each harvest, try growing lettuce in 95 degree weather. LOL. Many years ago I grew seeds in large flower pots in the kitchen all winter but no place to do that at this house.

[Gary350]

Tonight dinner was taco salad with little water melon plants for salad. Easy an best taco salad every. Cook meat, onion, garlic in skillet then add 69¢ pack of taco season mix. Mix cheese flavor corn chips crunched into smaller pieces with salad. Put meat mix, salad mix in bowl top with cheddar cheese, salsa, sour cream and anything else you like even beans or rice. I put some little garden carrots in my taco salad. This will be extra good when it have ripe tomatoes.

[Vanisle_BC]

Good looking salad Gary. Here's an impromptu one we had last night (not Entirely from the garden)

Shredded Romaine, cabbage & turnip leaf, arugula
Bean sprouts & diced apple
Crispy fried bacon bits
Half a beaten egg (left from earlier tempura) fried in the bacon fat & chopped.
All tossed in Caesar-dressing dregs rinsed out with plum wine.

Served with sliced ham - pretty nice.

[Gary350]

I was surprised to fine 2 ripe tomatoes in the garden today, I really did not expect a ripe tomato for another 2 weeks. This is something new I have never tried, Supersweet 100. I was told these are good so I decided to give it a try. I can not describe the flavor, they do not taste like, Beefsteak, Big beef, German Johnson, Beef master, Super star, Rutger or Celebrity tomatoes. Plants are loaded with little green cherry tomatoes smaller than the cherry tomatoes I planted last year. I planted last years cherry tomatoes again from saved seeds. BC that sounds like a good salad it gives me an idea for our next salad.

[Gary350]

I would love to make 10 gallons of bread & butter pickles like my Grandmother did but first I need to know if I can make pickles worth eating. It is still not too late soon as corn is harvested I will have room to plant cucumbers in the garden about July 20. In the mean time we buy Bread & Butter pickles to make our own relish in the food processor then put relish back in the pickle jars. We never eat pickles on anything, we only put sweet relish into things like, potato salad, chicken salad, bean salad, coleslaw, hot dogs, and other things. We use lots of relish in summer but not so much in winter, it takes a whole jar of $2 pickles to make a large bowl of potato salad.
.

[Gary350]

Corn has grown about 3 feet taller since the last rain about 2 weeks ago when we had 5" in 3 days. Sweet potatoes, white & orange are both doing good no harvest until frost kills the plants in Nov. Melons, cantaloupe & watermelons are both growing 2 times faster than sweet potatoes. Peppers plants in 2 locations are starting to make a few peppers. It won't be long now potatoes harvest probably in August. Peas are starting to make pods we might have a harvest soon. Tomato plants are big and loaded with tomatoes we hope to have ripe tomatoes in 2 more weeks. Green bean patch has spread out wide into the walk areas and starting to grow baby beans. Soon it will be time to harvest several things and plant something new. I might do a second crop of corn & beans just wait and see how the first crop does. Cumberland Black Raspberries look and taste like Blackberries, plants are loaded with berries, looks like we will have several berry cobblers from this little crop. Cumberland black raspberries have very few seeds, cobbler, pie, juice, wine, is 90% fruit & juice vs 10% juice from most wild blackberries. Cumberland black raspberries are wild plants native to TN, I have taken cutting with me to every place I have lived it takes a few years to get a large crop from 1 cutting. We ate more of the onion crop today is a pot of beef stew, about 1/2 the crop has been eaten already. No Qcomeburs.

[Gary350]

Spanish steak for dinner was very good & easy to make. Potatoes, onions, garlic, tomatoes, came from the garden. Here is the recipe. Cover meat with vinegar, salt, black pepper, flour, brown in hot oil, add garlic & onions cook 5 minutes. Add 1 can enchilada sauce, 1 pint of garden tomatoes, 2 large thin sliced potatoes. Cook until potatoes are done about 45 minutes. Next time I cook this I am going to throw in some green beans. WHY is the recipe photo sideways it was not sideways on my computer when I uploaded it?

[Gary350]

I harvested more garlic, another 52 hard neck garlic & 76 soft neck garlic. I left garlic in the soil an extra 3 weeks to let the tops dry in the hot sun somethings this makes the heads fall apart into a hand full of cloves which makes garlic easier to cook with you don't have to pull cloves apart. I learned a new trick cut a clove in 1/2 then squeeze each piece the center pops out of the skin just like squeezing a grape out of its skin. I like growing hard neck garlic best, after planting cloves tops grow up in 4 or 5 days it takes soft neck garlic 2 to 3 weeks to grow tops. Be sure to plant hard neck garlic 50 days before first frost and soft neck garlic 70 days before first frost. Very soft soil lets the roots grow bigger & better garlic. Plant cloves so top ends are flush with soil surface then after frost kills the tops cover plants several inches deep with very soft organic material or straw. Remove all the soft organic material in spring after last frost.

[Gary350]

114 onions harvested today. We have already eaten several onions in, potato salad, stew, salads, sandwiches, stir fry, etc. I have 3 more onion crops planted in 3 different places to see how, date, sun, temperature, rain, soil, shade, effects each crop.

[Gary350]

I have 4 onion crops planted in 4 different locations each one gets a different amount of sun. Look how slow onions grow in cold weather. Look what more sun vs less sun does to onions. Last summer my best onion crop was planted about May 15 it received about 4 hours of cool morning sun then full shade until dark. Real 12 noon is 1:12 pm by the clock at my house. Use a sun dial it will tell you when sun is straight up. If you have no sun dial use a wooded stake hammered straight up in the soil when shadow is pointing North/South according to your compass it is Real 12 noon. Actually magnet north is not the same at turn north.

A month ago when air temperature was 90 degrees plants in 50% and 60% sun Bolted = Blossomed = made flowers = made seeds. Plants were probably 130 degrees in full sun no wonder they bolted they have no shade until 4 pm. Plants getting cool morning sun when air temperature is 70 degrees are not bolting. Later in the day air temperature is 95 degrees, plants are 95 degrees in the shade & no blossoms. Yesterday was the longest day of the year, sun rise was 5:03 am not sure what sun set was about 8:25 pm.

[Gary350]

Super sweet 100 tomatoes have been producing ripe tomatoes for a week. Tomatoes are ripe on all 4 plants & taste the same today as they did 1 week ago so I am convinced this is their true flavor. Tomatoes are very high acid with a strong acid flavor plus another flavor much like sour green apples that will make you pucker up. At the moment I will let them grow if I don't find a use for these I will pull the plants up. This is the type thing a person runs into when growing new things, some are good and some are not. Its has been years since I tried growing different tomatoes I am glad I saved seeds from last years cherry tomatoes they are just as good as, Big Beef and Beef Master but I lost the tag and don't remember the name.

UPDATE. We left a bowl of super sweet 100 tomatoes on the kitchen counter top 2 days neighbor one of us wanted to eat them. Today with lunch I ate 1 of the tomatoes and was surprised it does not taste like the same tomato. Sour acid flavor is gone the tomatoes are very sweet with a good flavor. This is very interesting I have never noticed any tomato flavor change much after setting for 2 days unless it is not completely ripe yet. I know tomatoes continue to get riper after they are picked so that must be what is going on tomatoes got riper 2 days in the kitchen and flavor got better. Tomatoes were bright red on the vine as you can see photo was taken 15 minutes after they were picked.

[Gary350]

First harvest of green beans this year. We need to get a ham bone next time we are at the grocery store, we will have beans & corn bread for dinner one night this week. These 7 cats sure are fun they follow me every place I go I almost got all 7 in the photo. Did you ever pick beans with 7 cats?

[applestar]

One of our two cats LOVE beans — she Would have been chomping away if you left the basket in front of her like that. LOL

[Gary350]

First harvest of peas this year just enough for stir fry dinner this evening. This is a mix of about 50% Alaska Snow Peas, 50% Sugar Snap peas & only 2 Wando peas. Only 7 wando seeds germinated from 250 seeds.

[Gary350]

We threw all the peas into the stir fly wow it was good. Pods from, Alaska snow peas, Wando, Sugar Snap, were all tender easy to eat. I was worried we would have to remove peas from pods. Garlic, onions, broccoli, peas, all came from the garden. Next time we make this we are going to put in some cashews. Thai sweet & sour sauce recipe is, 1/3 C soy sauce, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup vinegar, 1 T corn starch, 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper, stir & heat until thick, stir into meat then add vegetables serves 2 old fossils. Peas are not climbing the fence they grow together in a tangled wad of plants that fall over and lay on the ground. Next time I plant peas I am not putting up anything for them to climb on.

[Gary350]

It is a little bit hard picking beans with 7 cats but it is fun, cats think every bean that moves is something to play with. Picking beans with no cats gets boring. It started to rain an the cats all ran away. Rain turned into a big thunder storm that felt good. Wife wanted me to come inside, I told her rain feels better than 96 degree hot sun. I crawled on my hands & knees in the mud and picked 2 baskets of beans & 2 peppers. I decided I need a glass of ice tea and wife said lunch is ready so I had to wash all the mud off me with the garden hose to go inside an put on dry clothes. Pea plants are loaded with peas after I make some more German Bread maybe I will put my wet clothes on and pick peas. Garden was dry as desert rain came at the perfect time when, corn, beans, peas, potatoes, are at the final stage making a good crop to harvest.

[Gary350]

Another harvest of peas today enough for another stir fry dinner. Pods are not big some only have 1 pea most have 3 peas. I found 2 pods with 4 peas inside. Not a big harvest for a double 30 ft row of peas. Maybe peas need fertilizer so far I have not fertilized them. Looks like peas will produce all summer same as beans. Plants are not good climbers they keep falling off the fence wire and lay on the ground. Maybe fence wire needs to have a ruff surface. 35 years ago I learned peas & beans will not climb slippery bamboo poles. I think I might remove the fence wire and wooden stakes and let the plants lay on the ground that will keep the plants in their own row & might be easier on my back to pick peas. OH well we should still get a stir fry dinner about once a week maybe all summer that could be 18 stir fry dinners before first frost.

[Gary350]

I harvested 1 of my cilantro plants today for the seeds. I bet this plant has 1000 seeds on it. I want to plant about 20 seeds every week all summer to keep a continuous supply of cilantro for salsa and Mexican food. I have 3 more cilantro plants to pull up very soon.

Corn might be ready to harvest in 2 or 3 days. All this rain we had made a big difference in the corn crop. My rain gauge shows 1/16" short of 6" of rain. Wow I did not realized it rained that much.

[Gary350]

Another harvest of 71 onions. I planted 2 types of onions wow they taste good. Wife is going to make another pot of stew today to help use up some of the last onion harvest. I have onions planted several places in the garden in any row that had available space I plants a few more onions. We had fried pork chops with onions for dinner last night and potato salad had onions in it too.