dirtdiva
Senior Member
Posts: 548
Likes: 929
Email: cannedquilter@gmail.com
|
Post by dirtdiva on Jun 7, 2021 5:13:31 GMT 10
Early June gardens are slow on the warm weather crops such as beans, tomatoes etc due to a really cool and rainy spring. Bumper crops of asparagus and rhubarb though. Cabbage is just starting to head. Carrots are blanched and in the freezer and I have a small stand going to seed in the boxes to save seeds from. We have finished redoing the three boxes and are now doing lots of hot composting to side dress the crops in the boxes this year as the soil settles some. Here is a PDF link from the University of California, Berkeley that explains the process. Most in the U.S. just refer to it as the "Berkeley" method. It works really well at producing compost fast but is labor intensive. It is a good way to use up all those spring prunings when you have lots of them. vric.ucdavis.edu/pdf/compost_rapidcompost.pdfI am hoping to harvest more rhubarb this week for the freezer. It grows great here with a little protection from the afternoon sun. A great perennial crop with lots of uses. Also continue to harvest asparagus and freeze. The pear and apricot trees that we added this spring are coming along. My husband used #9 wire and made me some limb spreaders to train the young limbs on the small pear trees. Pears tend to want to run straight up and the spreaders help to spread the tree out and open up the crown. Cuts down on diseases because of better airflow as well. Just think a piece of wire with an "S" bend on each end.
Blackberries along the south fence line along with a catalpa tree. This is a great homesteading tree if you like to fish. It hosts a type of sphinx moth that the caterpillars are great catfish bait. The plus is that the worms can be harvested and frozen in cornmeal in the freezer. When defrosted they come back to life! Year round catfish bait. Figs sprouting back from the roots each spring. Small mulberry tree is bearing already at just 3 years, grapes on fence along with lemon balm at the base of the grape vines. I use the lemon balm dried for tea. 12 blueberry bushes spread around the property. Blueberries are actually native to this mountain region and grow well in the area.
Everything gets recycled into flowerpots eventually! Raised beds reworked with greens, seeding carrots, chives, garlic, green beans and cucumbers. The old mailbox holds gloves, sunscreen and tools. The blue barrel is a water barrel. The blue tarps in the background are all compost piles covered to protect them from the rain. The north perimeter with 4 large elderberry clumps and black currants. Spring is winding down now and as we go into summer the temperatures are starting to climb. Average temperatures in the summer are in the 80's (f). We continue to receive more than our fair share of rainfall.
|
|
dirtdiva
Senior Member
Posts: 548
Likes: 929
Email: cannedquilter@gmail.com
|
Post by dirtdiva on Jun 9, 2021 0:14:56 GMT 10
|
|
dirtdiva
Senior Member
Posts: 548
Likes: 929
Email: cannedquilter@gmail.com
|
Post by dirtdiva on Jun 24, 2021 0:34:15 GMT 10
Gooseberries are done. Temperature 86 humidity 98%. This makes gooseberry picking not so fun. My gooseberries have thorns and even with a long sleeve shirt on look like I have been fighting with a herd of cats.
12 bags so far frozen and vacuum sealed.
Native plum or Choctaw plum after the Choctaw Indian tribe. Super sweet and juicy. Surprisingly freestone. I am going to make liqueur with these.
|
|
|
Post by Stealth on Jun 24, 2021 13:53:25 GMT 10
I have had seeds stay viable for many years. Make sure the seeds are very dry. Every few years I clean some out and plant them as cover crops. This is a fantastic idea Diva, I think I'll do another seed order soon and lay them away. You're right, there was a massive run on seeds when the pandemic finally hit it's stride last year and I'd like to get ahead of that even if I'm not actively growing large crops at the moment.
|
|
dirtdiva
Senior Member
Posts: 548
Likes: 929
Email: cannedquilter@gmail.com
|
Post by dirtdiva on Jun 24, 2021 23:25:09 GMT 10
I have had seeds stay viable for many years. Make sure the seeds are very dry. Every few years I clean some out and plant them as cover crops. This is a fantastic idea Diva, I think I'll do another seed order soon and lay them away. You're right, there was a massive run on seeds when the pandemic finally hit it's stride last year and I'd like to get ahead of that even if I'm not actively growing large crops at the moment. Even now Stealth here in the states seed supply is questionable. Fruit trees now almost have to be ordered a year ahead of time and I am having a hard time finding things such as soil supplements/additives and pesticides such as neem oils and pyrethrins. In all my years of gardening I have never seen shortages like this.
|
|
|
Post by Stealth on Jun 25, 2021 14:38:02 GMT 10
dirtdiva That's crazy... And concerning . I'll definitely have to put an order in. As a side note, I actually bought some pyrethrin seeds specifically to grow the flowers to dehydrate and make my own dried powder to use. Looks like that's going to be a solid play in the future.
|
|
dirtdiva
Senior Member
Posts: 548
Likes: 929
Email: cannedquilter@gmail.com
|
Post by dirtdiva on Jul 6, 2021 20:05:45 GMT 10
July in the garden. It is 4:30 am and headed out at first light to pick green beans and beets. Predicted high today is 87 with humidity will feel like in the 90's. Rain chance for the next two days though of 50%. Fruit harvesting blackberries, plums, and black currants. Remaining crops of elderberry, figs, blackberries and grapes. Will leave mulberries for the birds. Vegetable gardens harvests of beets, green beans, squash and zucchini. Canning green beans and pickling beets in the heat of the day. Cucumbers and tomatoes are both still setting fruit. July is also the time to start planting fall crops of carrots, cabbage and planting a succession crop of green beans, mustard greens, turnips and another planting of cucumbers and squash for late season. Still freezing plums and when they are all harvested will defrost and make liqueur with them. Old hen has Fourth of July chicks that the neighbor children have named Yankee, Doodle and Dandy Had to remove them from the flock and put them in a chicken tractor with fine mesh because of a large snake found lurking near them. Herbs collecting for drying borage, lemon balm, peppermint, dill and basil. Also drying some wild plantain for a future salve.
|
|
dirtdiva
Senior Member
Posts: 548
Likes: 929
Email: cannedquilter@gmail.com
|
Post by dirtdiva on Jul 26, 2021 5:41:45 GMT 10
Late July in the garden is busy. We have a haze that has settled across the property from the wildfires far away. There are no fires in Tennessee just smoke and haze. We continue to have regular rainfall averaging about an inch every week at the minimum. Down in the valleys and basin temperatures are running pretty hot right now. Memphis heat index today is 104 Fahrenheit. Here on the plateau due to elevation we run in the mid 80's with a heat index of about 90. The freezer and pantry are filling fast. The plums have finished producing and the plum harvest has been frozen for later. It ended up being an absolute bumper crop. When things slow down with food preservation I will concentrate on dealing with all the fruit in the freezer. Some will be made into fruit leather, some wine, some liqueur, some dehydrated and some left frozen for smoothies and oatmeal additions. I am now picking blueberries and blackberries. The blackberries will produce all the way into the autumn now. It is a scramble everyday to keep up with picking, cleaning and preserving everything that is being produced and we struggle to stay ahead of it all. We look forward to cooler weather and a long winter rest at about this time of year. We still have a shortage of traditional canning jar lids in my area but I am using my new reusable lids and have had no problems with them thus far. Below are pickled beets. These lids have ended up being an excellent canning investment thus far. We still have lots of harvesting and preserving to go. Figs and elderberries. Tomatoes, purple hull peas, green beans, okra, sweet potatoes, winter squash, watermelon and cantaloupe, lots of summer squash coming in right now and cucumbers. My fall cabbage are growing for fermenting kraut for the winter. Covid or not it is just another year and another harvest for us.
|
|
|
Post by spinifex on Jul 26, 2021 9:41:00 GMT 10
your garden and produce preservation is truly outstanding!
|
|
dirtdiva
Senior Member
Posts: 548
Likes: 929
Email: cannedquilter@gmail.com
|
Post by dirtdiva on Aug 8, 2021 6:50:50 GMT 10
Thanks for the mention spinifex we have had a great many years to practice. August in the garden: August here in the mountains of Tennessee are our hottest days. While much of the country swelters in 90 and 100 degree temperatures we have hit in the 90 range 3 days thus far due to our elevations. Rain is scarcer here but still more than enough to meet the needs of the garden with just a little watering of very young seedlings and such. And if you have a good mulch not at all! We are down to 4 fruits left to harvest. Grapes, blackberries, elderberry and fig as the last. Figs won't be ready until the end of September most years. This variety is Chicago Hardy. I actually have 6 plantings of figs around the property. A great homestead fruit that is super easy to propagate and easy to preserve. It is rarely seen in supermarkets in the U.S.
Elderberry is a native that was once heavily relied upon by the native Americans as well as early pioneers. When I was a child elderberries were seen in road ditches and fencerows everywhere. Now that everyone sprays you rarely see a stand these days here. Another easy native that is disease free, pest free and easy to propagate and grow. Not only does it have medicinal qualities it is very high in Vitamin C and makes great tea, wine, jams, jellies, syrups and pies.
While we have been enjoying large slicers and small plum tomatoes I am waiting for the row of determinate paste tomatoes to ripen so that I can make tomato products for jars. The row has about 20 plants with huge clusters of tomatoes just hanging waiting to ripen. Thus far the foliage is healthy with no damage from stink bugs or tomato horn worms and I give them a weekly milk spray to try to stay ahead of bacterial and fungal issues. Working so far. The milk spray also works for downy mildew on cucumbers and squash. Here is a link to info from Washington State University on Milk Spray. s3.wp.wsu.edu/uploads/sites/403/2015/03/milk-and-roses.pdf
|
|
dirtdiva
Senior Member
Posts: 548
Likes: 929
Email: cannedquilter@gmail.com
|
Post by dirtdiva on Aug 8, 2021 9:59:07 GMT 10
Potatoes and Purple Hulls are coming in. I grow my potatoes a little different than most. I don't plant a big crop of potatoes but maybe every 3 years to restock my store of canned or dehydrated potatoes in my stores. I always have a few hills of volunteers come up on those off years for fresh. I plant potatoes with peas as this was the way my grandfather grew potatoes. They are a staple in the south and planted in March (St Patrick's Day) where I live. Also a staple of the southern U.S. and an old time crop is the purple hull pea. A legume in the cowpea family. I plant an heirloom variety call Pink Eyed Purple Hull. They are drought resistant crop tolerant of poor soils and darn near bullet proof. They can be consumed by humans and my grandfather would dry them and also grind them up for the livestock. Once picked the pigs and cows could be turned into the fields to graze them. Cowpeas! A great cover crop for me also. Produces lots of carbon for compost piles too. The only problem I ever have with these is aphids sometimes which is easily controlled. A small furrow is dug a couple inches deep and the potato piece with the eye was dropped down the furrow and covered. Once the potato sprouts and grows the soil is then hilled up around the base of the potato plant leaving only a few leaves at the top. You continue pulling soil up around the plant until you have a substantial hill at the base of your plant. This I do with a hoe. Once the potato blooms it starts producing potatoes in that hill and then starts to die back. Then in the area between the hills down the row I plant purple hull peas. The peas grow and cover the potato hill as the potato foliage dies and the potatoes size up and mature. The purple hull plant covers the potato row smothering out any weeds, shades the soil keeping it cool and moist and because it is a legume adding nitrogen back to the soil. Even better the plant put on peas above the foliage making them easy to pick. You know they are ripe when they turn purple! Then once the peas are picked you can either pull the plants and feed your compost bin or give them to livestock. I pull the pea plants and throw them in between the potato hills then dig my potatoes and pull the soil over the top of the finished pea plants. I let the pea plants decompose under the soil all winter and usually by spring they are gone feeding the soil there. The peas are canned or dried. Purple hulls can be added to bean salsas and I make a dish similar to "hoppin john" which is a rice dish with these peas and onions and spices added. The potatoes are canned and dehydrated in slices or shreds. Then in a couple years I will repeat the process. My pantry always stays stocked up on these items and I produce double the crops in the same area. That real estate in that garden is valuable.
|
|
|
Post by SA Hunter on Aug 10, 2021 1:00:18 GMT 10
Elderberries - a very famous fruit, even in a Monty Python movie - LOL
|
|
dirtdiva
Senior Member
Posts: 548
Likes: 929
Email: cannedquilter@gmail.com
|
Post by dirtdiva on Aug 18, 2021 21:58:07 GMT 10
We are in what is called the "dog days" of summer. Hot and humid are the norm. In the last 2 days we have gotten almost 4 inches of rain compliments of the last tropical storm moving in off the Gulf of Mexico and moving north dumping rain as they go. In the garden I fight Downy Mildew this time of year and especially on cucumbers, squash and melons. I am spraying a twice weekly covering of milk spray on the leaves to stay ahead of an infection but not sure with the rain how much good it is doing.
On the tomatoes I religiously remove leaves from the bottom of the stem up as I go to prevent as much splashing from the soil as possible in an attempt to keep the leaves as dry and up off the ground as possible. I have started a treatment of neem oil in an effort to keep the foliage healthy until the fruit ripens. In this kind of rain and humidity it is a challenge.
Harvesting tomatoes, okra and cucumbers. In a short time I will have another harvest of peas ( second crop) and a second crop and third of green beans. I plant succession crops every 3 weeks and these all go into jars for storage. The plants once picked of their harvest add huge amounts of carbon to compost piles. These crops feed the compost piles that refill the beds all while the legumes sequester nitrogen back into the soil.
As the beds are emptied I have worm castings from the worm beds to add back to the gardens as they are emptied for the winter season also. I will also dig in some soybean meal or cotton seed meal to slowly break down over the winter months for fertility as well. Between the compost, worm castings and meal additions that will provide enough fertility that my beds require no additions of fertilizer through the growing season.
50 pounds of soybean meal or cotton seed meal both run about $17 for 50 pounds at the farm supply store.
Seed saving has begun for me with a large platter of carrot and zucchini seeds drying now. On the list I will also save some pea and bean seeds and this new variety of okra I am growing.
Keep gardening DD
|
|
Beno
Senior Member
Posts: 1,235
Likes: 1,396
Location: Northern Rivers
|
Post by Beno on Aug 19, 2021 9:56:19 GMT 10
DD it sounds like an amazing climate to grow a wide range of fruit and veg. hot wet summers and cold snowy (?) winters. There is a place in Australia, Mildura, where you can grow cherries and mangoes together. Some places are really gardens of eden.
|
|
|
Post by milspec on Aug 21, 2021 18:51:03 GMT 10
I'm willing to sponsor you as a horticultural genius when you want to move to Australia
|
|
|
Post by SA Hunter on Aug 21, 2021 22:02:44 GMT 10
I'm willing to sponsor you as a horticultural genius when you want to move to Australia Me too!
|
|
dirtdiva
Senior Member
Posts: 548
Likes: 929
Email: cannedquilter@gmail.com
|
Post by dirtdiva on Aug 22, 2021 12:12:58 GMT 10
DD it sounds like an amazing climate to grow a wide range of fruit and veg. hot wet summers and cold snowy (?) winters. There is a place in Australia, Mildura, where you can grow cherries and mangoes together. Some places are really gardens of eden. Beno I had to google it and the pictures that came up were breathtaking! Looks like one of those places I would love to visit.
|
|
dirtdiva
Senior Member
Posts: 548
Likes: 929
Email: cannedquilter@gmail.com
|
Post by dirtdiva on Aug 22, 2021 12:15:03 GMT 10
I'm willing to sponsor you as a horticultural genius when you want to move to Australia Lol Milspec if I were 30 years younger I would probably hold you to that
|
|
frostbite
VIP Member
Posts: 5,440
Likes: 6,962
|
Post by frostbite on Aug 22, 2021 12:19:19 GMT 10
I'm willing to sponsor you as a horticultural genius when you want to move to Australia Lol Milspec if I were 30 years younger I would probably hold you to that If you were 30 years younger I would pay your airfare 😁
|
|
|
Post by Stealth on Aug 22, 2021 17:42:32 GMT 10
And then I'd pay to fly you to which ever budding gardener needed your expertise lol. Honestly, your experience and skill shows. I've noted down a lot of things that you've mentioned so that when I finally get my life sorted and my family have our own growing space we'll at least know where to start! I'm about to start on my spring planting. It's tricky, what with so many things being closed at the moment it's tough to get the products I need to get started. I haven't bought the stuff I need to have a good growing bed yet but we really need to get a move on. Beans in particular are needing to go in for germinating and I just haven't done it yet. I guess it's part of the lockdown misery. That being said I'm sure I'd start to feel better if I could get my hands into some soil. Might do that tomorrow morning. Hit up my local gardening supplies mob nice and early to avoid any 'crowds' and get started. It's not difficult physically. Just a bit of a mental funk I think. I'm going to grow some nasturtium this year though, hopefully the bright colours will give a bit of a pop to our otherwise drab yard
|
|