Tennessee 2025 Garden

[Gary350]

I went to the garden to get carrots for dinner when I see all the broccoli heads hanging upside down. Stems are very soft and feel dead. I trimmed up the broccoli at the picnic table then took them into the house. Oh well I was going to pick broccoli next week the day before 7 degree weather.

I usually thin out carrots by pulling up all the large carrots first to allow smaller carrots room to grow larger but that is a waste of time with 4000 carrots to deal with. I pulled up a hand full of tops each time to see what I get. Trim and wash carrots outside then take them inside.

[Gary350]

My son came over to get 4 cabbage heads and about 90 carrots. I washed and ate 1 raw yellow carrot the flavor is very good. Some people claim yellow carrots don't have much flavor. I think yellow carrots have plenty of good flavor it tastes different than orange carrots and different than red carrots. I heard carrot tops make good pesto, I need to find a recipe.

[applestar]

I hadn’t thought of using carrot tops for pesto. I do use them in soups and such.

Fun way to tweak pesto recipes is trying different nuts (and oils) to see what matches the flavor of the herb best.

Most nuts work better in pesto if their skins are removed, and you get different results from hot water soaking (wet) vs. lightly toasting and rubbing between towels or wearing gloves (dry).

[applestar]

I’m convinced part of your success is coming from all the work you did to work in organic matter in the past, and the way you use wood ash to supplement.

I’m not as comfortable with fire starting and management, so I have to rule out all issues like windy days, drought conditions, whether I can stay with the fire or I have a lot of tasks to get done around the garden….

But a couple of days ago, it occurred to me that maybe I DON’T have to think in terms a big fire— just a small, well controlled, contained one. I was all excited to try the idea out the next day … and it turned out it was raining steadily.

[Gary350]

I’m convinced part of your success is coming from all the work you did to work in organic matter in the past, and the way you use wood ash to supplement.

I’m not as comfortable with fire starting and management, so I have to rule out all issues like windy days, drought conditions, whether I can stay with the fire or I have a lot of tasks to get done around the garden….

But a couple of days ago, it occurred to me that maybe I DON’T have to think in terms a big fire— just a small, well controlled, contained one. I was all excited to try the idea out the next day … and it turned out it was raining steadily.

I don't have a big fire about 5 gallon bucket full each time. Sometimes I have 5 to 10 buckets of cut up wood to burn. 3 ft long sticks don't need to be shorter to burn. I have a $50 Walmart burn pit with metal grill for cooking outside. When I want to burn up tree limbs and lumber I put a 55 gallon metal barrel in the burn pit, fire is down inside an nothing blows away. Metal barrel was $10 on market place I drive 5 miles to pick it up. Early morning there is often no wind for 2 or 3 hours and grass is wet with dew that is the best time to burn. Empty coffee containers with lids is a good place to keep wood ash until I need it. When several coffee containers are full I pour them into 5 gallon buckets with lids. I like to mix wood ash with fertilizer plants get calcium every time I fertilize. Wood ash is about 25 to 30% calcium depending on what type wood was burned. City and country code says my burn pit is legal because it does not set on the soil 4 legs hold it up.

I always keep a water hose handy just incase of unexpected sudden wind. May 2024 wife bought me this tiny hand chain saw, I was very surprised how handy this thing is. It will cut 2" tree limbs very easy. It is also handy to cut down corn stalks and trim trees. It has 2 rechargeable batteries and battery charger. Batteries last several hours before they need to be recharged.

[applestar]

Thanks for the useful and practical tips @Gary!

I’ve copied them in my notes to reference

[Gary350]

42° and most of our 4" of snow is gone so I picked 1 cabbage and several carrots to make coleslaw. I have seen several YouTube videos where people that grow carrots claim the largest carrots always grow next to the wooden boards around the carrot bed. So I grabbed a hand full of carrot tops next to a wooden board around my carrot bed and pulled up several good size carrots. Carrots 10" away from the board are much smaller. What is the science that makes this happen??? Coleslaw turned out good, chopped yellow carrots are not very noticeable mixed among green cabbage. Carrots add crunch and good flavor to coleslaw. Soon it will be time to plant potatoes.

[Gary350]

About March 1st I planted seed potatoes. 3 rows are 30 ft long, 1 row is 10 ft long. I planted whole potatoes mostly 5 eyes per potato with a few, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 eye potato. Each 30 ft row has 200 eyes = 200 plants. 3 rows = 600 plants. Row 4 is random mix of 2 types of potatoes with many eyes too many to count there might be 100 plants in this short row. 600 plants plus ??? might be 650 to 700 plants. Plants get taller and look nicer every day. I poured 100s of caster bean seeds in the potato rows hoping to kill the moles.

[Gary350]

April 1st we had 100s of tornados and 30" of rain in 5 days, 36" of rain in 7 days, and more rain. 1 tree in the yard blew down.

[Gary350]

Soil was soft after the 3 ft if ran so I started digging up 4 rows of carrots about 20 ft every day. I dug up 64 lbs. of very good carrots. My son came to get carrots 2 or 3 times and our freezer is full so I tilled the rest of the carrots under. We eat carrots with every thing. Mashed carrots on an ice cream cone looks like orange sherbet ice cream.

[Gary350]

Last frost this year was 2 weeks early. We had 87°f weather 2 weeks ago and soil temperature is 66°f so I planted the entire garden 2 weeks early. Corn, beans, melons, not up yet. We had a week of 35 mph now warm temperatures & soil is dry as desert. Blue birds are busy feeding babies. 300 onions and 100 garlic look good.

[Gary350]

I mulched corn & bean seed rows to see if that makes them germinate better & sooner and it did.

I planted all 25 of my Kajari oriental Melon seeds it was 87°, then it got cold and 3 weeks later 1 seed grew. Kajari melons are 65 - 70 day crop, 7" melons. 2 month crop is much better than waiting 4 months.

I also have Sugar Baby melons 90 day crop.

Rain every day potato plants are noticeable taller every day.

[Gary350]

Birds must be happy they sing very loud every morning. I have blue birds in 2 different houses. I put 37 tomato cages on 2 melon rows. I planted small 65 day melons, Kajari tiger, Canary, Hales best, and 90 day sugar baby. I buy most of my seeds on Ebay $3 free postage. 5 corn rows seeds were about 99% germination.

[applestar]

So exciting to see plainly green rows of those tiny seedlings!

And I see you have your giant chickens up

Looks like great start for your garden

[Gary350]

We are still having rain every day but it is about to fizzle out, evening rain instead of all day ran. After 37" of rain I stopped counting, TV weather said 41" a week ago, probably 48" by now. Lots of rain potatoes love it, showers forecast today & tomorrow that could drop 1" or 2" or 3" every evening. I decided to check out the garden after lunch. Kennebec potatoes are starting to blossom. 1 of the 8 celery plants has died. Cilantro is still small. New potatoes soil is lifted up & split open no new potatoes appear to be exposed to the sun. Looks like 2 melon plants died and several seeds never germinated. Tomato plants that I bought are fine & almost tall enough to tie them to the stakes. Pepper seeds never germinated. Corn is growing slow I forgot to till Nitrogen into the soil before I planted seeds. Egyptian Walking Onions 8 in the garden, 4 at the mail box, have about 12 sets on each plant & sets will also grow about 12 sets. I hope to make a winter onion bed with the Egyptian onions, I should never need to grow onions again plants continuously reseed themself. When temperature gets to 90° I will plant more, melon seeds, pepper seeds, tomato seeds. YouTube video shows oriental people made there own machine to hill up onions same as hilling up potatoes, it is suppose to grow larger onions. I was always told to move soil away from onions so bulbs grow larger.

[applestar]

Looking good! I’m looking at rain for the rest of the week here… but probably not over 30” like your area. I was thinking 2.6” in the last 24 hrs is a LOT


…Those might be giant single stalk (or multi-stalk) scallions — they end up looking like leeks and are grown hilled way up — over half of the stalk. But not leeks with flat folded leaves — they have hollow tube leaves like regular onions.

I’m trying to grow them for the 2nd or 3rd year in row — having trouble just pushing soil up around them — various techniques including planting them between boards, inside PVC pipe, etc…. Trying to decide what to do…..

…

[Gary350]

TV said, no rain today. It has been raining 4 hours so far. I stopping counting when rain passed 48".

300 G90 sweet corn 90 day crop.
150 Roma green beans 65 day crop.
300 white onions 3½ month crop.
50 red onions 3½ month crop.
100 garlic 9 month crop.
50 French Fingerling potato plants 3 month.
600 Kennebec potato plants 3 month crop.
7 celery plants.
Several Cilantro plants.
Several Thai Basil plants.
8 Sugar Baby melon plants 76 day crop.
8 Tiger melons plants 60 day crop.
2 Hales best cantaloupe plants 90 day crop.
2 Canary Melon plants 90 day crop.
16 Egyptian walking onions with about 130 sets so far.
1 Jalapeno pepper plant.
4 Carman sweet pepper plants.
1 Row of 1000 Zinnia flowers.
6 Big Beef tomato plants.
1 Heirloom 1" cherry tomato plant.
1 Jelly Bean tomato plant.

Nothing much to do now but wait. First harvest will be potatoes about late June. we could go camping for a month.

[Gary350]

Garden is still mud. After another 10" of rain & 3 days of very dark over cast sky garden continues to be mud. TV said, record breaking above average rain an no 90° temperatures yet. Corn has grown another 6" taller. Bean plants have blossoms. Potato plants show no signs of dying yet. Cilantro has gone to seed. Melon plants are ok so far they don't like mud. Every time we have 2 days of sun I plant more melon seeds then a week of 50° rain melon seeds rot in the mud. Zinnia plants get NO nitrogen this year I hope to keep plants very short 2' tall, 5 ft tall Zinnia plants fall over in all directions making a 10' wide row of Zinnia flowers. Tomato plants have several 2" green tomatoes & yellow leaves need to be cut off. TV said this morning, 4 more days of rain. The only plants in the garden that don't like all this wet is melons. 2 Blue Bird families laid more eggs. I don't recall Blue Birds every having 2 families per year.

[Gary350]

There was no rain yesterday after 1 pm and no rain forecast today....YET. Wow 5 ft of rain plants love all this water. Corn is 43" tall time to fertilize corn again. Bean plants are loaded with blossoms. Many onions bulbs are tennis ball size. Potato plants still have blossoms. Melon plant vines are about 30" long. I tied up tomato plants to stakes. Pepper plants are too small to tie up. Garden is almost zero work until about June 25 onions, potatoes, beans, might be harvest time. We might have ripe tomatoes in 1 or 2 weeks. I have fun watching the birds, I watch bird chirp videos to learn which birds I hear. Certain birds chirp there lung out very loud all day. Robins & Mocking birds are the loudest. I never knew Robins did all this loud none stop chirping. The older I get the more words I forget how to spell. NO nitrogen on Zinnia plants is keeping plants short with 100s of flower bugs. When mud finally dries up I can till the soil that will be something to do for 20 minutes.

[Gary350]

3 days of hot dry desert then 3 days of rain corn grew 2' taller its 6' tall now. Corn does not need irrigation yet, I hope it keeps raining irrigation is too much extra work. Bean plants are starting to grow 100s of beans. About 2 more weeks garlic & onions might be ready to harvest. Red potatoes are almost ready to harvest but white potatoes need a few more weeks. Melon plants are growing faster and plants have lots of small melons. Zinnia flowers are starting to look nice soon we will have lots of, butterflies, birds, bees, on the flowers. Tomatoes & peppers need a few more weeks to grow larger. Soon it will be harvest time we will be busy. Next Friday is my good luck day, Friday 13.

[applestar]

It’s already looking like a wonderful food jungle!

Did I say I LOVE those giant chickens

[Gary350]

It’s already looking like a wonderful food jungle!

Did I say I LOVE those giant chickens

You should make your own chickens they are very easy. Find a chicken photo online then print it on 8x11 paper. Draw a 1" graph over the chicken. Draw a 6" graph on a sheet of plywood. Transfer dots from small graph to large graph then connect the dots and cut it out with a jig saw. Paint it any color you like. You can make any animal you like and make it any size you like. Do you remember connect the dot pictures in 1st grade.

[Gary350]

My son came over for dinner, then we dug up his Red Norland new potatoes. Scales shows 9 lbs. 5 oz. of new Red potatoes. I planted 8 seed potatoes March 7. Red seed potatoes weighed almost 2 lbs. See picture, we dug up the first 8 potatoes in the 1st row to the left. If you zoom in on the first 8 potatoes to the left you can see they are RED color, all the other potatoes are Kennebec white potatoes. 10 feet of French fingerling potatoes were planted later that day and I forgot to take a picture. I planted a total of 100 ft of seed potatoes. In ≈ 2 more weeks we will see how many new Kennebec potatoes there are.

[applestar]

It’s already looking like a wonderful food jungle!

Did I say I LOVE those giant chickens

You should make your own chickens they are very easy. […]

Thanks!
I’m definitely putting this on my projects list and have copied your instructions

[Gary350]

This morning I decided to look see if potato plants are ready to dig up. Calendar says June 7 is correct date. This 10 ft row is ready harvest but the other 90 ft is not ready. Calendar says, garlic & onions should be ready June 20. Melon vines need to be trimmed but not today. We are remodeling the house I am removing the wall between the kitchen and dining room.

I was working on the kitchen remodel job when wife said, would you please dig me some potatoes for dinner. I dug up about 2 ft of a 10 ft row and got 4 lbs. 15 oz. of new potatoes. This row is a mix of French Fingerling & Kennebec white potatoes. I had a bucket of small potatoes March 7 that I did not need so I poured the mixture in a 10 ft row and covered it up. 3 months later I dig up 5 lbs. of new potatoes per foot. French Fingerling is also known by 30 other names. French fingerling are very prolific 1 seed potato will grow 30 new potatoes.

We have 5 more days of rain in the forecast starting tomorrow. 5 ft 5" of rain plus more, wow.

[Gary350]

I pulled up 47 garlic. Its not the best crop we ever had and not the worse crop either. Some garlics are too small to be called a whole garlic, all total the crop is about = to 25 or 30 garlic.

Wife wanted some onion for dinner. These onions were planted from saved seeds very few seeds germinated.

I planted seeds in this tray and don't remember what I planted. Oh well when leaves get larger I will know what they are.

[applestar]

Are they squash? Cucumbers?

[Gary350]

Are they squash? Cucumbers?

I think those tiny plants are peppers. If I plant squash or cucumbers now it will attract 1000s of stink bugs that spread to the whole garden. I might plant squash & cucumber August 1st we need about 2 gallons of Bread & Butter pickles. Fried squash is very good.

We have 6 more days of rain forecast, garden plants are loving this rain.

[Gary350]

This evening I pruned my melon plants, same way you prune grape vines. Also prune off the suckers same as you remove suckers from tomato plants. If vine have several blossoms cut the vine short so each vine will grow 3 melons. 1 set of roots will grow 3 melons very large and fast. Plant melons plants in a row 1' apart. Don't crowd root you don't want plants trying to steal moisture from each other. The nice thing about removing lots of leaves bees have a much easier time finding blossoms to pollinate. If bees can't find the blossoms then plants have fewer melons. Mulch the soil to hold moisture for the roots. Set melons on mulch the melons won't rot. When watering plants only water the root not the vines. If vines get too wet they rot and die. Poke a pin hole in a plastic milk jug full of water set 1 next to each plants so water goes only on the roots. Roots like water but plants don't. Plants love hot dry soil and 115°f temperatures. Best melons I ever grew was when I lived in Phoenix AZ. TN is too humid for melons mulch or sand works great. Melons were 1" diameter a few days ago, not melons are tennis ball size.

[Gary350]

Zinnia flowers are looking good today, they attract lots of, birds, bees, butterflies to the garden.

[Gary350]

This morning I started digging up more potatoes in the 10' row when it started to rain at 10 am. It rained all day, we have rain forecast for 6 days. Another 5 lbs. 13 oz.

[Gary350]

This morning I dug up the last 8 ft of a 10 ft row of new potatoes. I am getting an average of 5 lbs. of new potatoes every 2 feet.

Photo shows 19 lbs. 14.6 oz Total in all 4 baskets.

Kennebec on the right is 10 lbs. 6 oz of new potatoes.

French Fingerling is 9 lbs. 9 oz.

Next year if I plant double rows, 6" between rows, 6" between seed potatoes, I should get 5 lbs. of new potatoes per foot. A 30 ft row should produce, 5x30= 150 lbs. new potatoes.

This will save garden space.

I have 90 more feet to dig up that should = 45x5= another 225 lbs. of new potatoes.

Wife loves these French fingerlings toss several in a pot of stew it is NO work at all.

[Gary350]

Today NO rain? This evening I looked at the garden, onions are almost ready to pull up. Beans are almost ready to pick. Potatoes almost ready to dig also. Planting the garden is much less work than harvest. Too much to think about all at once.

[applestar]

LOL I know what you mean albeit not at the scale you are growing. I always have to save a little energy and enthusiasm to clean and put away the harvest every time, and to cook them into meals when there are enough (or too much )

[Gary350]

Bees, butterflies & birds have found the Zinnia flowers. Flowers are looking nice today. Rain stopped for 5 hours.

[imafan26]

Great harvest. I too would be overwhelmed harvesting and storing that much bounty.

[Gary350]

Yesterday evening I noticed the small garden onions are ready to be pulled up the tops are dry brown color and have fallen over. I pulled up all the dry stem onions and laid them in rows, about 5 minutes later we had a 1 hour hard rain that gave the garden another 3" of water. We had slow rain most of the night.

Today sunny and nice weather onions were dry by 4 pm. I removed some of the leafy skins & leaves then put onions on the, Garlic Onion drying table. The largest onions still have green stems they won't be ready for the drying table for 1 or 2 more weeks in 90° hot sun unless it keeps raining. I don't have room for all the onions in the drying table, I should have remove the dry garlic its been drying for a week or longer.