2018/2019 SFG in Brooks, GA

AtlantaMarie wrote:What are the taste differences between them, Yolos?  

Beware - I smoked for 40 years so my taste buds are not very discerning but - 

There were only 3 varieties that had pods mature enough to pick today.  The Green Arrow and Wando peas are just not maturing so they would have to be very tasty to even plant again because they take so long to mature and we have such a short spring.

Of the three picked this morning, the Strike pea was the least flavorful and the Alaska and Progress were tied.  

What I do with the peas is to pick them in the morning, then shell them, mix all the varieties together that I picked that morning, then blanch for 2 minutes, measure out in side meal serving sizes and seal in Food Saver Bags, then when we are ready to eat just drop the bag in simmering water and let them heat up.  No further cooking just thawing.  So by the time we get around to eating them, they taste the same to me.

Have you ever grown Telephone pole peas?  They get really tall for trellising.  I saw them in Bakers catalog.
I like how your peas are a crop that can be frozen.  My one dislike of snap peas is that they do not freeze well.

Turan wrote:Have you ever grown Telephone pole peas?  They get really tall for trellising.  I saw them in Bakers catalog.
I like how your peas are a crop that can be frozen.  My one dislike of snap peas is that they do not freeze well.

No I have never grown the Telephone pole peas.  My info says the DTM are anywhere between 68-85 days depending on what website you are viewing.  Because our spring is so short, DTM might be too long.  The three pea varieties that are producing now are Strike (48 days in the fall but longer in the spring) , Alaska (50-60 days per online but this year due to cold spring took much longer), Progress (60 days with normal spring weather).  Maybe I can try them in the fall ?????????????

yolos wrote:. . . blanch for 2 minutes, measure out in side meal serving sizes and seal in Food Saver Bags, then when we are ready to eat just drop the bag in simmering water and let them heat up. . .

I noticed "simmering" instead of boiling.

Spinach bolted already.  Cut it down and put it under the wheat straw which is in between rows of my Rattlesnake Beans.  The Spinach was blocking the sun from the cucumbers so maybe now the cucumbers will grow and start climbing the trellis.


Tied up and tried to sucker my tomatoes but I do a pretty poor job of suckering.  At least a week of rainy weather has arrived.  I am afraid the diseases will start to set in so I tried to open the tomatoes up a little bit so they can dry out a little between the rain showers.

Brandy Boy growing very robustly.


Same with my Better Boy.


I have now planted 4 plantings of Silver Queen corn 7-10 days apart.  The plantings consist of 1/2 of a 3 foot by 8 foot bed each planting.  Here are the first two plantings of the corn.  Each planting consists of 16 plants.


The Shell Peas are still alive and producing.  The heat wave that just ended may have caused some blooms to drop without setting peas but there are still plenty of baby peas growing.  Now that we have at least a 7 day window of cooler weather they may continue to produce a healthy crop.  I have been harvesting about an average of 1 cup of shelled peas each day.  

The potatoes were also set back by the heat wave.  The Red Norland potato tops are dyeing (sp) but the Russets are still alive and will at least thrive the next 7 days of cooler weather.

I have harvested so much lettuce that my daughter is taking it to the school lunchroom a couple times a week and feeding her fellow teachers.  The Black Seeded Simpson is the only variety that has turned bitter in our heat.

Stellar as usual.

+1.... Looks wonderful!

Harvested a few Red Norland new potatoes today.  For some reason the tops of about 1/3 of my Red Norland potatoes died so I dug them up.  Got a few edible potatoes and many little bitty ones.  I guess the real warm weather last week affected the potatoes.  But it only affected the Red Norlands and not the Russets.

First blush on two tomato varieties.  I planted 8 varieties at the same time and these are the first to start to blush.  Seeded in trays 2/19 and transplanted to garden 4/8.

Brandy Boy - It is usually one of the first to blush.  Now the decision is to pick it now or wait.  I usually pick at first blush to keep them from splitting.  But this one does not look like it is ready to split.  Except it has rained at least once a day for over a week so it may be getting mushy inside with all this water.


And the Juliet grape tomato.

I am thoroughly jealous!
Everything looks wonderful!

I am always jealous and in awe of Yolos' garden.

My corn support system did not work for this thunderstorm for two main reasons.  The Florida Weave that I use was not raised up on the stalk of the corn.  It was still just about 12 inches above the ground.  As the corn stalk grows taller, I need to raise the Florida Weave higher on the stalk.  I did not do this and this contributed to the failure.  Also, I used one bamboo pole across the width of the bed to keep the stalks from blowing over.  I put one bamboo pole across on the narrower side.  I should have used one bamboo pole on each side of the stalk.  Oops.

Corn Bed Number 1 - After wind damage


Corn Bed Number 1 - After raising the stalks and putting up better support.   After a lot of work, it is now back to normal and I should not have this problem again.  Hopefully.


Corn Bed Number 2 - After Wind Damage

Corn Bed Number 2 - After raising the stalks and putting better support.   After a lot of work, it is now back to normal and I should not have this problem again.  Hopefully.


Corn Bed Number 3 - After Wind Damage.


Corn Bed Number 3- After raising the stalks and putting some support around the corn.  I ran out of bamboo poles so I temporarily used some small fencing to keep the stalks upright.  I will have to complete the rest of the bed after I plant a new batch of 3' x 4' for my final planting.


This is my final attempt at keeping my corn from being blown over.  Note that there is a bamboo pole on each side of the stalk and the Florida Weave is higher up on the stalk.  Hopefully this should keep the stalks from blowing over no matter which way the wind blows from.

Wow, the wind really knocked your corn stalks!  How fast was the wind?
You got 5 corn beds and did I understand correctly that you are planting more?
I like your temporary fencing idea, very beautiful and creative.
R

Roseinarosecity wrote:Wow, the wind really knocked your corn stalks!  How fast was the wind?
You got 5 corn beds and did I understand correctly that you are planting more?
I like your temporary fencing idea, very beautiful and creative.
R

I have three beds that are 3' x 8' that I use to plant corn.  These three beds were diagnosed with Southern Blight which is a soil borne disease.  About the only thing you can plant in them for 3 to 5 years is corn.  So what I do is divide each bed into 2 plantings (3' x 4' each planting).  I succession plant so I am planting one 3'x4' section every 10 to 14 days.  So I get about 16 ears every 1 - 2 weeks.  We usually eat about 8 ears fresh and then I shave off the kernels and freeze the rest.  I have already made 5 plantings and have one more planting to go.

Don't know how fast the wind was blowing but the rain was going sideways.

Four to Five gallons of frozen tomatoes that were peeled and pureed (and a few deseeded and some just whole) that were frozen in 2017.  My intention was to make sauce out of them and then refreeze.  I never got around to it but now I need the space in the freezer so I will have to do something with all of it.  By the time I boil it down and thicken it up, it will probably reduce one-half in volume.

Tomato sauce is a good way to reduce bulk.

yolos wrote:Four to Five gallons of frozen tomatoes that were peeled and pureed (and a few deseeded and some just whole) that were frozen in 2017.  My intention was to make sauce out of them and then refreeze.  I never got around to it but now I need the space in the freezer so I will have to do something with all of it.  By the time I boil it down and thicken it up, it will probably reduce one-half in volume.

My daughter and her friend processed a whole lot of tomato sauce today.  They split the fixins.  Each girl got 24 cups (6 quarts) of cooked spaghetti sauce (no meat yet).  Tasted delicious.  We threw away about 2 gallons of crushed tomatoes because they did not have dates on the containers so we thought it best to trash them.

Very good.

How is the corn doing, now?

sanderson wrote:Very good.

How is the corn doing, now?

Thanks for asking Sanderson.  The corn completely recovered after I stood it back up and tied it to keep it from blowing over again.  My earliest planted corn now has silks appearing and pollen dropping so it is on the way.

Some results so far this spring and early summer.

English Peas - planted between 2/19 and 2/23.  Final harvest was 5/31.  I harvested 25 pounds, which is equivalent to 29 cups, which converted to 20 side dishes.  Blanched and stored in Food Saver bags that were the appropriate size for side dishes (about 1-1/2 cup per side dish).

Garlic - planted 4x6 in late Oct 2017.  Harvested all on 6/10.  That is earlier than usual.  I think the heat wave we had in May affected the harvests for onions, garlic, peas and potatoes.  Heads were smaller than normal.

Onions - Ga Sweet - planted 2/27 and harvested 6/10.  Compared to last year they were smaller than normal.  I should have planted these in Nov/Dec.

Lettuce - Salanova - planted on 2/27 and continually harvested until it turned bitter on 5/27.  We had so much lettuce that my daughter was taking it to school and sharing it with fellow teachers.

Potatoes - Planted Red Norland and Russet Norkotah on 2/18.  Harvested all on 6/10.  The Red Norlands were about normal but the Russet Norkotah were much smaller than normal and less quantity.


Beans - Fortex Pole Bean - planted 3/31 and final harvest was 6/11.  Harvested 2 pounds 8 oz in an area of 4 squares.

Beans - Rattlesnake - planted first batch on 4/20 in a 2 x 9 bed.  I have been harvesting every other day starting 6/16 from this bed.  So far, I have harvested 11 pounds 12 oz and I am just getting started.  I planted another area of these beans on 6/14 and another planting on 6/19.  

My bean harvesting helper.


06/16 harvest


06/18 harvest


6/20 harvest


Tomatoes are also starting to come in very heavy.


Cucumbers are almost ready to start harvesting.

Cowpeas - planted a few days ago - 4 x 12 of Pink Eye Purple Hull, 4 x 8 of Lady Cowpeas, 4 x 8 of White Acre Cowpeas.

Bush Lima Beans - planted 6/19.

I'm glad your corn recovered and is starting to produce.

What a cute helper you have! Does he like gnawing on the beans? Start 'em early! Are those Rattlesnake?

I forgot about the Pink Eye Purple Hull I recently ordered. So, I went into the kitchen and counted out 35 seed and put them in a bowl of water. All sank but 4, they're just floating on top. Are those bad ones? I know, stupid question but I thought I would ask. I soak beans for 30 minutes before planting.

sanderson wrote:
What a cute helper you have!  Does he like gnawing on the beans?  Start 'em early!  Are those Rattlesnake?

I forgot about the Pink Eye Purple Hull I recently ordered.  So, I went into the kitchen and counted out 35 seed and put them in a bowl of water.  All sank but 4, they're just floating on top.  Are those bad ones?  I know, stupid question but I thought I would ask.  I soak beans for 30 minutes before planting.

My helper does not yet eat beans that have not been cooked.  Doesn't have enough teeth yet to chew them up.  No, I don't think those are Rattlesnake Beans.  I have been harvesting the Rattlesnake beans when they are about the size of a pencil because at pencil size they are stringless.  Those are the Fortex Pole Beans that are stringless at almost any size so I let them grow a little bigger.

I never soak any cowpeas or beans before planting so I don't know about floating.  I think the only thing I presoak  and presprout are the English peas because I am planting them when the ground is still cold so they germinate inside and then I plant them outside.