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Gary350
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Re: Tennessee 2019 Garden

TomatoNut95 wrote:Five foot pepper plants?????!!! Oh. Wow!!! Mine NEVER get that big! My garden stinks.

Yeah, what kind of tomatoes are those? Beautiful!
Big Beef, Big Boy, Brandy wine, Beef Master, Cherry, Amish Paste.

I dig an 8" diameter flower pot size hole in the garden then throw in about 1/4 cup of 15-15-15 fertilizer, 1 cup of wood ash, and a hand full of rusty nails or old rusty food can from kitchen in the hole. Stir fertilizer and wood ash into to a quart of loose soil in bottom of hole then fill hole with water. Hour later when water goes down put 1" of soil in the hole then plant your tomato plants deep. Cover bottom 50% of tomato with soil tomato plants have the ability to grow roots any place soil touches them so the whole bottom 1/2 of the plant becomes roots. All those roots give the plants a good water supply in hot weather only time I water is about the first 7 days after planting then mother nature is in charge of keeping them alive. My plants are 6ft tall now. Never give tomatoes nitrogen unless they have yellow leaves you will get very large plants and not many tomatoes. Wood ash is 20% to 30% calcium this is good for BER. Wood ash is also very high potash = potassium this produces lots of very large tomatoes. It is not too late to plant tomatoes I planted 2 Roma and 2 cherry tomatoes 6 days ago from seeds they are coming up already. Today I pull up the smallest plants and leave the largest 1 to grow. If your careful use a kitchen spoon to transplant these time tomato plants.
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Today we are going to Can more tomatoes. We hope to have 7 quarts in the canner today. About 6 am I picked tomatoes & few other things. I only got 1/2 of a Beef Master that is not rotten all the others are deformed and rotten like last year. I'm not planting Beef Master tomatoes again.
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Deformed Beef Master.  Unless I have figure out how to correct the deformity & rot problem these plants need to be pulled up they are wasted space.  I can plant Roma seeds here.
Deformed Beef Master. Unless I have figure out how to correct the deformity & rot problem these plants need to be pulled up they are wasted space. I can plant Roma seeds here.
Deformed Beef Master.  Unless I have figure out how to correct the deformity & rot problem these plants need to be pulled up they are wasted space.  I can plant Roma seeds here.
Deformed Beef Master. Unless I have figure out how to correct the deformity & rot problem these plants need to be pulled up they are wasted space. I can plant Roma seeds here.

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applestar
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I believe your deformed fruits are due to fasciated blossoms :arrow: Subject: Megabloom/Fasciated blossom and fruits

If fused fruits in this variety is NOT typical, you may be able to find other sources that have selected for less or no tendency to form the fasciated blossoms.

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My Black Beauty here looks like two tomatoes fused together. I think it was born on a megablossom.
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Based on this official photo at Bonnie Plants, I think they selected for tendency to grow smooth doubles/megablossoms that would evenly grow to produce the fused beefsteak typically called “boat-shape” but maybe under heat stress, the fasciation/fusion is not uniform and pollination is uneven, ending up with the lumpy-looking fruits.

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Heat stress is probably what's wrong with my oxheart. I'm fixing to just remove the plant. Is it too late to start tomato seeds now? I could try another one for the fall.

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TomatoNut95 wrote:Heat stress is probably what's wrong with my oxheart. I'm fixing to just remove the plant. Is it too late to start tomato seeds now? I could try another one for the fall.
No it is not too late to plant tomato seeds they germinate very quick 3 days in hot weather and grow faster than buying plants that are already 6" tall. I am going to pull up these Beef Master tomato plants today then replant Roma tomato seeds. I should have ripe tomatoes Sept 23. Cooler 80 deg weather should produce a lot more tomatoes than hot weather. My Brandywine tomatoes have only produced 2 tomatoes so far they are slow produces I should pull them up too and plant more Roma seeds. Roma make good pizza sauce.

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7 quart jars of stewed tomatoes with celery & onion ready for the pantry. I have been using pressure cooker 30 min at 15 psi it is boiling water out of the tomatoes. Maybe I do water bath canner next time.

Taco salad was so good last night we had taco salad again today only bigger with more tomatoes & more cilantro.
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It finally rained yesterday evening about 6 pm both rain gauges show it rained 2" in 30 minutes. Cucumbers were 1" diameter at 5 pm too small to pick. It is amazing cucumbers can grow 3 times larger in only 13 hours. I am not making any more pickles and have no clue what a person does with cucumbers besides pickles. I guess I throw 9 cucumbers in the compose pile.

I dumped the onions on kitchen country to inspect them and let them dry a few hours. They need to dry a few day on the table in the garage so I took them there. I forget 130 garlic has been drying on the garage table for over a month it is time to cut off tops and put garlic in the kitchen. Oriental lady told me, "No remove skin, you eat."
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Subject: Infused water
tomf wrote:I had some at a hospital when waiting for my wife to get checked out. So I found some recipes on the net. This one is lemon, lime. cucumber and ginger cut up in slices. You just let what you add seep into the water, you can keep adding water to it when you drink some. It gives the water a nice flavor and adds vitamins and good things to the water with out much calories, some recipes say no calories. It is a way of getting us to drink more water and less juice. The cucumber in it is good, who would have thought.

Image
Also :arrow:
Subject: Recipes for Cucumbers? How Do You Eat them?

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5 gallons of Roma Flat pod beans today.
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Oh wow! Beautiful beans!

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That is a hill of beans. My sister likes beans. Depending on the type and age of plants and where they are grown, I have gotten pepper plants to grow 4-5 ft tall and one got up to 8 ft tall because it was reaching for light between the citrus trees.

You can make pickles out of cucumbers, but not all of them work well. Some will lose their crunch fast. You can make a cold cucumber soup, add cucumbers to vegetable smoothies, namasu (japanese pickle), add cucumbers to sandwiches, gazpacho, cucumber raita, cucumber sticks, cucumber dips and salad dressing. cucumber appetizers, Hollow out cucumber and fill cucumber cups with filling, banh mi sandwiches. Serve a a side with Thai food, it has a cooling effect after the hot and spicy foods, cucumber bread ( similar to adding zucchini to bread). I admit, sometimes I have too many cucumbers too. They don't end up in the compost, usually they liquify in the bottom drawer of the frig.

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I would probably faint if one of my pepper plants got 8ft tall!!!! What kind of pepper was it, @imafan26?

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A Hawaiian tabasco chile. It resembles tabasco or super chili. It is long lived especially in the ground. The longest I had one was about 10 years.

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Is there a way I can get my pepper plants to come back? Like cutting them down and mulch them before the first frost?

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TomatoNut95 wrote:Is there a way I can get my pepper plants to come back? Like cutting them down and mulch them before the first frost?
I would try putting a Harbor Freight Blue tarp over them in 6ft tall poles, use ropes on each corner to hold it up like you would a tent. I did this when I lived in Arizona plants are much cooler than direct sun and do much better in hot summer weather and fall too.

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This morning I picked all the tomatoes that look ripe enough to eat right now. After washing them I cut them into small pieces then cooked them in a 3 gallon pot. I strained out the skins then puree the skin and mix it back into the cooked tomatoes for extra flavor and thickness. This made 5 quart jars and there are several tomatoes left over.

I had several Amish Paste tomatoes they had to be sliced into 6 pieces right through each seed section so I could push out the seeds and jelly stuff into the trash. I saved only the pulp with the skin after cooking skins were puree into the tomatoes for added flavor and to make tomato sauce thicker.

I had 1 quart jar extra from yesterday that will go into the cooker today with these other 6 jars the canner holds 7 jars.

I decided not to pull up the Beef Master tomatoes yet they have ripe tomatoes. Ripe tomatoes are such a waste of time about 60% of it is green stuff in the middle and there are several rotten places in several of the tomatoes. It takes a lot of time cutting tomatoes into lots of pieces to save only the good part of the tomato.

I found a place to plant several Roma tomato seeds where potatoes use to be so Beef Steak can stay a few more weeks before I pull them up.
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More ripe tomatoes, I only have 10 empty quart jars left. Marconi peppers are big 9" long. Big Bertha pepper plants are loaded with too many peppers to count. We want Red color peppers but never get those until cooler Oct weather not sure why?
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Nice tomatoes! Beautiful pepper! Ah, Big Bertha! Love that bell pepper! Too bad it's a hybrid or I'd save seeds from it.

I know peppers take forever to turn their colors, but I've never had to wait until October 'til they do. Must be the weather?

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5 more quarts of tomatoes for the pantry.
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We arrived home today from a week vacation in Michigan, unloaded the vehicle then ordered a pizza. After pizza I checked the garden we had storms that blew limbs out of the tree and kicked 2 bell peppers from a plant. I picked up peppers, picked squash & several cucumber. I just started picking tomatoes when a storm came then after the storm I picked more tomatoes leaving them on the ground to be picked up later. Another bigger storm came now rain gauges both show 6" of total rain for a week. Rain had not completely stopped so I picked up tomatoes in the rain. Rain is warm an feels very good. I rinsed dirt from tomatoes in 3 buckets then rinsed them again on the patio table. Tomorrows delima is what to do first we only have 1 quart mason jar left & no seals, we need to make a trip to grocery store for food. Tomorrow first order of the day will be, drink coffee on patio, listen to birds, feed cats, feed dog, & feed birds, relax a while. We might not go to store until after lunch. Blackberry bush has more berries maybe I pick those early or maybe not? Wife is already asleep on sofa.
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Hope you had a great vacation! Ah, pizza! Thanks for making me drool! Nice tomatoes, cukes, squash, peppers, cookies and chips! :)

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This year we are targeting certain grocery store produces to can in mason jars. We have already canned about 15 quarts of stewed tomatoes with celery, onions, garlic. We also canned about 15 quarts of whole tomatoes. Today we are canning tomato sauce in quarts. Cut tomatoes in 1/2 like an orange or lemon then slightly squeeze to squirt out the seeds, jell & juice. Cut off the top to get ride of stem and any bad tomato and anything that looks, clear, green, yellow or white color. There are too many tomatoes to be fooling around with trying to salvage 1/4 or 1/2 of a bad tomato. First I tried the preferred way to cut tomatoes in 1/2 to remove seeds & jell then I tried holding stem end up then cut off 4 slices around the stem. Stem & core are not wanted core is usually green and white. I can push out jell with seeds with my fingers then dip tomato pieces in a water pan to wash out remaining seeds. Pulp & skin is all we save after cooking to a boil then puree in food processor color is blood red it looks and tastes exactly like grocery store tomato sauce. There is 1 quart is Amish Paste tomatoes the other jars are all mixed tomatoes, big beef, big boy, beef master, brandywine. Fill each jars then put in 4 fresh picked basil leaves before putting seal & ring to can in water bath canner.

Today we are having very good garden dinner, corn on the cob, fried squash, sliced tomatoes, fried okra, hamburger on BBQ grill. Why can't we eat like this year round, last time we ate like this was about Oct about 9 months ago. Maybe I freeze okra this year. Probably can't freeze or can squash. I need to make another blackberry cobbler. Wow dinner was good.
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Chinese stir fly for dinner with garden, corn, green beans, peppers, onions, garlic. Also broccoli, carrots, chicken. I found a zipper spider in front yard bushes, I was going to move it to garden then changed my mine. There are no bugs in garden, only bugs I saw all summer was first week of May. Birds are doing a good job keeping bugs gone.
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Am loving that good-looking food! And I've never heard those spiders being called zipper spiders. Those are Garden Spiders or Orb Weavers. But actually, judging by the web pattern, the name 'zipper' suits it, to.

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The stir fry looks good, even though it looks a little strange to me to see carrots cut that way in stir fry. What did you use to flavor it besides the garlic?

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imafan26 wrote:The stir fry looks good, even though it looks a little strange to me to see carrots cut that way in stir fry. What did you use to flavor it besides the garlic?
One of our favor easy to do sauces is, Tikka Masala sauce in a jar. I can not make India Tikka Masala sauce at home that is this good. First time I tried this I was very surprised how good this is most sauce in a jars is not even close to the real thing. On a day when I'm too lazy to make my own sauce I use this sauce in the jar. I love India food sometimes we would rather have this than oriental, plum sauce or sweet & sour sauce.

I have this Sweet & Sour stir fly sauce that was given to me by a Vietman lady. Stir 1 tablespoon corn starch into 1/4 cup sugar then add, 1/8 cup vinegar, 1/3 cup soy sauce, 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper, 3 garlic cloves chipped, 1 teaspoon lemon juice. Stir until it begins to boil when it gets thick remove from heat.

Plum Sauce is good too. 1/4 cup plum jam, 2 tablespoons soy sauce, 1/2 teaspoon white vinegar, cook & stir on medium heat until it boils and becomes smooth.

Orange Plum Sauce. 1/2 cup plum jam, 1/2 teaspoon grated fresh orange peal, 1 pressed garlic clove, 2 tablespoons soy sauce, 2 tablespoons orange juice, 1 teaspoon corn starch. Stir well, bring to boil until sauce becomes thick, remove from heat.

1/4 cup Orange Marmalade Jelly, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 1 pressed garlic clove, 1 tablespoon orange juice, 1 teaspoon corn starch. Stir until it boils and gets thick, remove from heat.
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We are having an exceptionally good year for tomatoes because of this mild 67 to 82 degree weather. Our typical 98 to 100 degree July weather usually puts a stop to tomatoes and kills several of the plants. Our pantry is stocked with all the tomatoes we need and I picked another bucket of tomatoes this morning. I looked at the tomato plants 10 minutes ago there is another bucket of tomatoes to be picked. If weather keeps being this nice we will soon be swamped in tomatoes. 1" cherry tomatoes are starting to get ripe.

Garden harvest every day determines what we eat for dinner every day but now vegetables are coming too fast with more than we can eat. I picked more okra and more squash, looks like we will be eating it tomorrow. It might be time for a garden vegetable pizza with thin sliced, squash, tomatoes, jalapenos, peppers, onion, oregano, basil. 3 zucchini plants are making on squash and we don't care.

I picked several jalapeno peppers & 1 red Marconi pepper today. I sliced 1 of the jalapeno peppers and put it on dinner, red peppers have a nice mild spicy flavor I like. It looks like something took a bite out of the Marconi pepper what every it was must have become bird dinner no worms no bugs to be found anywhere..

I have decided to let green beans & cucumbers make seeds. 1 good ripe cucumber will give me more seeds than I need. White beans will make seeds for next year and if there are too many white beans they might become, soup, stew, chili or something else. There is probably a bushel basket of beans to pick my Son says he has more than enough for now.

Water melon plants are growing fast trying to take over. I have been moving vines to make them grow in a circle.

Aug 1st is the date potatoes should be ready to harvest vines are looking brown color it is about time to pull up the vines. Soil is very soft now from all the rain we had it would be easy to harvest potatoes today but I will wait maybe it will rain about August 1st.

Tomorrow morning we may be busy with corn it looks like about 50 or 60 ears are ready to pick. Too many ears to eat at one time so we have to cut it off the cob to freeze or can.
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Yesterday evening I decided no point in waiting 1 more week potatoes are ready to harvest. I pulled up the plants 1 by 1 most of the potatoes pulled up with the plants. I picked off the potatoes then threw the plants in a pile. I took potatoes to patio table then spread then out to dry over night.

We were up at 5:30am this morning, had coffee on patio with birds, cats, dog. I was 64 degrees this morning. This morning I cooked hash brown potatoes for breakfast. Bathroom scales show 30 lbs of potatoes in each bucket. 60 lbs of potatoes should last about 5 months, several of the smaller potatoes will be planted for a winter potato crop August 1st.
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I picked a few corn this morning making sure silks were dry & crispy as dead grass. Once corn reaches maximum sweetness it looses it sweet flavor fast I would rather pick corn a day too soon than a day too late. We are cooking ears 3 minutes, cutting off the kernels, then canning corn in 1 pint mason jars. Wife made chicken salad for lunch I am ready to eat, sandwich and 3 ears of corn makes a good lunch.

It turns out 5 ears of corn will fill each jar loosely packed then filled jars with water 1/2" from top. After pressure canner comes to a boil cook 55 minutes at 15 psi. Corn can not be packed tight in jars it swells up and can bust the jars.

I picked more tomatoes 2 buckets full & a few extra got 72 lbs. Pantry is full.

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A-MAZING!!! :clap:

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I did nothing in the garden today, I am tired from yesterday so I mostly stayed in the house out of sun & 94 degree heat. I advertised 74 lbs of garden ripe tomatoes for sale $1 per lb online Market place 35 people said they were coming, first 4 people bought them all. I gave away some green beans, squash, okra but no one wanted a free cucumber. I couldn't even sneak a cucumber in with anyones bag they see it and give it back. LOL. 2 people picked their own free green beans. People offered to pay money for me to pick them green beans, I don't like to pick green beans for myself, I won't pick beans for anyone else not even for $50 a gallon. More corn & tomatoes might be ripe tomorrow but tomorrow is Sunday they need to wait until Monday. I started to throw out those very large 20 cucumbers that did not get picked while we were gone on a week vacation but decided to cut 1 in 1/2 to see what it looks like inside. I was very surprised large cucumbers are no different than small cucumber only larger, seeds are soft too. So I started cutting them up for pickles just to see if they would all be good and make a good batch of Bread & Butter pickles. I had a pan full of sliced cucumbers in 30 minutes plenty to fill a 1 gallon jar. I have 2 quarts of Bread & Butter pickle brine left over that needs to be used up so I decides to make a gallon of pickles. I sliced up a Marconi Red pepper, sliced up a Big Bertha Green pepper, sliced 9 garden golf ball size onions, 1 garlic clove. I poured in salt, ice, stir every hour for 4 hours then drained & rinse them. Now I have a 1 gallon jar of Bread & Butter pickles to take camping. Next camping trip with 50 other campers September a gallon of Bread & Butter pickles will be on the Pot Luck dinner table. I still have pickle brine left over maybe I make 2 pint jars of pickled green beans to use it up. Wife said, holy junk those are large pickles. LOL.
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This evening we made a garden pizza for dinner with our own homemade pizza sauce, homemade pizza crust, garden onions, garden peppers & garden zuchinni. Pizza crust recipe is on Lilly White All Purpose flour package.

We have been working on making a very good Pizza Sauce since last summer we finally have a very good recipe. I start out by picking very ripe tomatoes from the garden then let them set in the kitchen for several days until they get riper and the flavor changes. After a few days tomatoes acid is lower and tomatoes get sweeter. Cut tomatoes in pieces what ever size & shape works best for you to push out all the, seeds, jell, juice, vanes, green, yellow, & white color stuff and core so all you have left is tomato pulp with skin. Put tomato pieces in food processor puree pulp & skin. Then bring to a boil AIR will cook out and volume becomes about 10% less. Measure out 3 cups of tomato sauce cook it down to 2 cups. If you want extra thick rich tomato flavor measure out 4 cups of tomato sauce then cook it down to 2 cups. After tomato sauce has been boiled skins will be softer puree again in food processor.

Pizza Sauce Recipe
2 cups tomato sauce.
1 garlic clove diced
1/4 small onion diced
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
1 tablespoon dry Italian Seasoning from Dollar Tree store $1 per bottle it contains, marjoram, thyme, basil, savory, rosemary, oregano.
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper or 1/4 of a RED color jalapeno pepper.
2 tsp olive oil
2 tsp corn starch

Bring sauce to a boil stir until it becomes thick turn off heat let it set 30 minutes with a lid on pan to prevent herb flavors from escaping. After 30 minutes dry herbs have become soft puree sauce again to grind herbs into the tomato sauce. If your sauce is not thick enough add a little more olive oil & corn starch. When Pizza sauce cools it gets thicker.

I gave up using home grown garden herbs I get better good flavor using factory made Italian Seasoning. I know factories have figured out a way to make a good consistent produce, they are better at it than me. I can't grow savory & marjoram anyway plus I have no clue if I grow the correct herb varieties for pizza sauce.

Spicy flavor is optional, leave it out if you don't want it slightly spicy. I have spicy flavor adjusted for us it is barely noticeable spicy.
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This morning I picked 97 ears of corn. Still more corn in garden to be picked. We cut corn off the cob and filled up 9 more pint mason jars for the pantry. We have 2 bags of corn 5 lbs each for the freezer. We have plenty of corn for the winter to eat and for stew & soup. This is peaches & cream sweet corn.
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About 8 am I started picking corn and pulling up all the plants. About 9 am my Son arrived he took, 40 ears of corn, 10 lbs of tomatoes, basket of okra, and some potatoes home. About 10 am people that bought tomatoes 2 days ago arrived and bought 16 lbs of tomatoes, 1 dozen ears of corn, a basket of pickle cucumbers. We have met a bunch of very nice people selling vegetables. Wheel barrel has 101 ears of corn, my son took 40 and the visitors took 12 ears that equals 153 ears today. Counting the 175 ears we already harvested that equals 328 ears of corn total. I learned new things about corn this year, it takes 5 ears of Peaches & Cream corn to fill a 1 pint mason jar. Next year if we want 15 pints of corn and about 50 to eat for the kitchen table I only need 125 corn plants. I never fertilized corn much in the past ears were always small it took a lot of plants to put corn on the kitchen table. Fertilizer means I only need to grow about 1/3 the plants I usually grow this takes up less garden space to grow other plants. A 40 ft long corn row needs 1 lb of Urea when plants are 2 ft tall then another 1 lb of urea when corn ears make silks. I planted corn seeds this year 6" to 7" apart random spacing. We don't need anymore corn we have 30 ears in the refrigerator so this wheel barrel of corn needs a new home. I will have it listed on market place in about 5 minutes.
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Joined: Mon Mar 23, 2009 1:59 pm
Location: TN. 50 years of gardening experience.

Corn plants are gone. Wheel barrel of corn is gone too. Amish Paste tomatoes suddenly died not sure if they were determinant tomato plants or if 97 degree weather killed them it has been hot for a week. Beef Master tomato plants died too no lost I will remember never buy these again. I have been setting outside listening to thunder for 45 minutes. No rain just thunder it echos back and forth through the clouds. No lightning strikes to the ground just high elevation thunder that echoes through the clouds for 15 seconds then starts again it sounds like a continuous on going thunder. After corn plants were gone I found a volunteer pepper plant so I put a tomato cage over it. When corn was small I planted 2 types of squash they are still here.
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Gary350
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 7396
Joined: Mon Mar 23, 2009 1:59 pm
Location: TN. 50 years of gardening experience.

This is today's harvest. I have 4 New Mexico peppers just enough to make 1 pint jar of Enchilada sauce with, onion, garlic, cumin, oregano, salt. I think having 8 ft tall corn plants on the south side of pepper plants shaded peppers and kept them cool enough to produce peppers in July, but we did have a mild summer this year in the 70s and low 80s maybe that was helpful. Oct cool weather 8 pepper plants will load up with 100s of peppers I hope to make 20 pint jars of Enchilada sauce. Maybe if I put up shade tarps to keep sun off pepper plants maybe they continue to blossom & grow peppers in this heat. I am going to make 1 more quart jar of pickled mixed vegetables with, broccoli, onion, garlic, carrots, red & green peppers, green beans, celery, cucumbers. Wife is making potato salad today using up more of our little garden onions. We have too many jalapeno peppers we ate some on pizza and other foods. I am going to make a bowl of salsa today for evening dinner.
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Gary350
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 7396
Joined: Mon Mar 23, 2009 1:59 pm
Location: TN. 50 years of gardening experience.

I poured a quart jar of our homemade Bread & Butter pickles into the food processor and turned it into pickle relish. Wife made potato salad with our garden, potatoes, onions, & relish. I cooked Bratwurst German sausage on the BBQ grill, I had mine on a bun with mustard and Bread & Butter pickle relish. Sliced garden tomatoes too, I ate a whole large tomato. Kennebec potatoes sure are good this is the first year I have grown these they are much better than, Russet, Idaho & Pontiac potatoes. I will grow Kennebec potatoes again for sure.
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SQWIB
Greener Thumb
Posts: 970
Joined: Tue Feb 16, 2016 9:21 am
Location: Zone 7A - Philadelphia, PA

Wow, I'm tired just reading everything you have been doing, very impressive.
Love to see what folks are doing with their produce.
You mentioned you would never grow Beefmaster again, if you don't mind me asking, why not?



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