The new planting of corn

Jess, masterpiecemom, Aaron, and Sheila - welcome, and thanks for following my blog...

*Disclaimer: No weeds or blades of grass were harmed while taking these pictures. Haha! (I need to cut the grass really bad!!)

Boy, I don't mess around with planting consecutive crops of corn, do I? The plants were started weeks ago in cellpacks, and now reside in the swc's that previously held the Peaches and Cream. For the record, this new planting is Early Sunglow, and matures in about 63 days.....There's also a couple of tomato plants in the one at the rear/left...Of course they were suckers that were rooted earlier, and are brandywine black and also pineapple. I hope they do well, but don't have a clue how they'll be supported later. I'm sure something will come to mind though..

Photo below - here's the 4x8 box next to the blackberry patch that is pretty well covered in watermelon vine foliage now...However, only one melon so far, and it's the Moon and Star variety. Boy, I sure do hope things pick up soon, because the foliage is ready to give lots of energy into a developing melon.....I hope for a big one in this particular location, and will probably resort to hand pollinating flowers for any hopefuls...

Photo below - here's the squash jungle, and most plants are about 4 ft. tall at this point. Being confined to their limited space by the tomato cages prohibits each plant from getting any taller, and instead slumps downward as new top growth emerges....I just let the bottom part of the vine coil up throughout the season. Pretty dang effective, if ya ask me....

Photo below - the 4x4 planting of sweet potatoes continues to thrive, and are competing for root space in the soil with those 2 marigold plants to the right. Man, those things are really getting big! It's hard to believe that they were only seeds in cellpacks at the beginning of February....Due to their sucess, several varieties of flowers will be started from seed next year...

In other news, the storms that blew thru this week flipped the 3 swp's over that are made from cat litter buckets (the yellow ones from previous pictures). They were completely on their sides, and it was quite a struggle to maneuver them back into place with the plants so big....

Also, due to some comments from some of you on the "Mexican Bean Beetle post", it seems that I may have wrongly identified the bug....hmm, i'm gonna have to do some research and get back with ya on it. I'll most likely send a picture of it to Auburn University for identification. I bet a nerd down there knows exactly what it is. :)

Take care, and happy gardening

EG

Harvest from the week

Harvests continue to come in pretty good, and available space in the freezer for them becomes less and less these days. Maybe my parents have some extra room in their freezer, because if not we'll be giving lots of stuff away later...
Anyway, here's some pictures of a few harvests - although there were actually more from the week.

Photo below - here's several different varieties of tomatoes (some ripe, some not) consisting of cherokee purple, red siberian, stupice, giant oxheart, and brandywine. The cherokee purple are always easiest to pick out of the bunch, because the green tops are a dead giveaway at this stage of ripeness. The little red tomato at the bottom/left has a little appendage protruding from it, and was quite unexpected. Ha!

Photo below - more squash, and if the plants were to suddenly die at this point, i'd probably be elated. Heh. Oh well, i'll probably leave them until powdery mildew sets in, then replace them with some beans that granny and dan shared this year....

Photo below - A few late-arriving Santa Rosa plums that were untouched by the plum curculio. Oh, they're good - they're really, really good....Me and the wife have been snacking on them for days, and feel quite lucky to even have these few for the year. However, next year will be unmatched by previous years, because Imidan will provide me the resource needed for a relentless shock and awe campaign on the plum curculio...hehe.....

Here's another harvest of tomatoes and squash, and for the record I always pull tomatoes from the vine when blushing has begun. They'll ripen just as nicely on the kitchen windowsill, and also be protected from any bugs that might otherwise damage the fruit if left to ripen on the vine...

In other news, more melons continue to be supported by knee highs, and in all there are around 12 or 13 currently being supported in the garden. Visitors to the garden during this time of year are always a treat, because most see the melons and think "what the?" Haha....A nice honeydew is plumping up nicely too, and these were grown for the wife, of course.
Speaking of the wife, she took some of the blueberries that were harvested and made some really good muffins from them on Saturday...mmm...

Take care and happy gardening

EG

Green shield bug and a melon update

Things are happening in the garden faster than pictures can be uploaded about them as of late, but I finally had the opportunity to get some uploaded this evening. This post is pretty picture-heavy, so I apologize for anyone that might have a slow internet connection.....
Anyway, some new visitors to the garden showed up the other day, and fortunately my daily plant inspections found the little devils before they could even get started good...
One of the green beans was completely covered with Green shield bug nymphs, as seen in the picture below....

Photo below - even though all of the babies were found and destroyed, chances were - momma was in the vicinity as well. Sure enough, she was located on some foliage directly above the babies, then met her maker, too....Kinda pretty though, huh?

And now - for some vertical melon porn...Haha. While getting ready to sling some newly developed melons in the garden, I thought you might wanna see what I use for mine, so this picture was taken for any readers that might have wondered....$5 for 10 melons isn't too pricey - and if careful, you can get a couple year's service out of them.

Photo below - remember the largest melon from the last update? Well, it's gotten bigger as can be expected - but has some competition in the size department, now....With that being said, it's about the size of a volleyball right now, and hopefully will get even bigger before it's finally mature.

Photo below - like the one in the previous picture, here's another crimson sweet that continues to do well - especially with all of the rainfall that's taken place this week.

Photo below - giving the largest crimson sweet in the first picture some size competition is this black diamond that's on the same trellis....Both will weigh about 8-10 lbs. each I figure, and heavier support methods are on standby - just in case the 20 lb. mark is reached later....Anyway, things are looking pretty promising so far.

Photo below - this new arrival is Cool Green Honeydew, and set fruit right at soil level....these things taste so good that you'll wanna slap yourself silly while eating one - but only when they mature sweet, as advertised. A few more on the vine look pretty good too, but are still tiny things right now. Hopefully, there will be lots of them later....

In other news, it seems that a few Santa Rosa plums escaped the devastation of the plum curculio pest, and around 10 were harvested for fresh eating.....Although just a hint of what is anticipated next year (thanks to discovering Imidan), still - even such a small edible harvest is appreciated.

Also, tomatoes and squash continue to make the kitchen counter their home thankfully, and most will be eaten over the weekend. A backyard gardener has to love this time of year!

Take care, and happy gardening

EG

The tomatoes

Tomato plants continue to do well in the swc's, and the Giant Oxheart has actually reached 9 feet tall already. The only plant to experience any problems so far is the Red Siberian growing in the yellow swp on the left. Due to my reluctance to prune it's heavy bottom growth at an early stage, it's gotten rootbound now....Oh well, another lesson learned I guess...

Photo below - here's a few Cherokee Purple waiting to turn ripe, and the one on the left has green shoulders due to some direct sun exposure and also high humidity as of late...That's ok, it'll still be just fine on a sandwich later...

Photos below - More varieties of tomatoes, although I really can't remember which ones these are from the pictures, themselves....Oops.

Photo below - more corn ready to harvest. Man, this is some good stuff.....

In other news, the storms that came thru yesterday did a number on the sub-par trellis used to support the tomato plants growing in the 34 gallon swc next to the corn. It was pretty difficult to deal with the 7ft. tall plants attached to it, but I finally managed to put things back together somewhat...

Also, beans and blueberries were added to the weekly harvest, and it's great to have something besides squash for a change. :)

Take care, and happy gardening

EG

First of the corn harvested

Praesidia, dd, and christina - welcome, and thanks for following my blog...

Even though several harvests of squash have been gotten throughout the previous week without any pictures of them, I just had to show this one. It contains the second stupice tomato of the season - as well as the first 5 ears of Peaches and Cream sweet corn....Even though there are several more ears out there, it's actually maturing at different rates. So, we'll just pick it as it comes in, I guess....

Photo below - here's one of the clusters of muscadine grapes growing nicely, and are out of harm's way from japanese beetles at this point. You see, they only go after the tiny ones when they're still tender, and won't even mess with one as they get larger...Most years the beetles wipe out between 70-75% of them, but this year is an exception. They've allowed me to keep at least 50% I figure, and that could easily amount to 15 gallons of ripe fruit later in August/September....Oh boy, I hope the trellises hold up from the added weight...

Photo below - The blueberries are beginning to ripen as well, and a few family members got their first taste of one that's homegrown the other day...We'll likely make muffins with these little jewels later....

Photo below - remember the sweet potato slips in the video the other day? Well, here's a few of them nestled in one of the recently vacated pepper containers beside the shed. I'm sure wireworms will cause some serious damage to the tubers later, but didn't have anywhere else to plant them...As you can see, the containers themselves are beginning to degrade from exposure to the elements as well, and will make this location their permanent home now....

In other news, the pears are doing exceptionally well this season, and at least 75 were counted the other day while inspecting both trees. Woo doggie! A few jars of pear preserves will be made in early September, and at least a couple of quart bags will be frozen for cobbler, too...

Take care, and happy gardening

EG

Melonworm in the garden

It sure does pay off sometimes by going over every inch of foliage out in the garden. Sure, people driving by obviously think i'm completely insane, drunk, or possibly even mildly retarded each morning or evening - because i'm always out there looking, spraying, harvesting, or watering....But ya know what? Even if it does look silly, I find tons of problems before things seriously get out of hand.
Case in point - See this little caterpillar on a melon leaf below? It's a melon worm, and they bore straight into a developing fruit - completely ruining a perfectly fine watermelon.....And, it was discovered by scanning over the foliage the other evening....

Photo below - enlarge the picture by clicking on it, and you can see some (almost) entry points by one of the 3 worms found. I'm lucky that it never made it through the rind, or this fruit would be toast....Thank god for retarded worms, I guess...haha...

Photo below - here's the crimson sweet that looks like the best performer so far....at 6" in diameter, it's certainly well on it's way to becoming something great later on.

Photo below - several butternut squash are getting in on the fun, too - and only 1 knee high is used to keep them from falling. The reason is because the stem is so big and strong, and a person only has to add some extra support to keep the actual vine from bending under the weight. A total of 7 have achieved fruitset so far, and that's certainly more than enough for our needs.....

In other news, it seems that one of my sisters has been a lurker of the blog for a while and didn't let me know about it until Saturday.....That just proves my point that all older sisters are buttheads! Haha......Perhaps she'll leave me a comment sometime....Anyway, I gladly handed her a big sack of squash to take home, and was thrilled to get them off of the kitchen counter. Yep, i'm to the point of almost begging people to take my squash, and i'm sure you've been there before as well...which reminds me, I really, really need to construct that trebuchet for the backyard. That way, if nobody takes my unwanted produce, i'll just launch it into the woods...lol.

The picking of blackberries will begin this week, and Jude is rarin' and ready to go...We did a brief walkthrough on Saturday, and the honeysuckle vines have really engulfed everything....Oh well, these size 15's are real good for tromping onto vegetative growth, and a clear path will be made in no time at all.

Take care, and happy gardening

EG

Wanna see my melons?

Barbara and AntheaT - welcome, and thanks for following the blog....

Man, it feels good to have fruitset on the melons.....In all, there are at least ten I figure - all of which are being grown in the biggest raised bed, of course. The ones out by Jude's pen are a little behind, but hopefully will do something also in about 2 more weeks. Anyway, here's some of the largest fruit right now - consisting of 3 different varieties. If you've never seen melons suspended in mid-air before, then you're in for a treat later in the season. I'm the vertical melon man. :)

Photo below - Crimson Sweet, and seriously needs supporting at this size. Knee highs were installed after shooting this picture, and for reference - I always use the cheapest queen size I can find....Right now, it appears that this one has a good chance to achieve some nice size, because it's really out-doing the others in the garden...The amount of plant foliage necessary to give it the energy to grow well is present, and now it's just up to my watering and fertilization practices to make things happen.

Photo below - here's a sugar baby growing on the southern-most trellis of the bed. If it will grow to 8 lbs. or so, i'll be ecstatic.....However, I haven't had much luck with this variety in the past. Still, there's a first time for everything, and perhaps lessons learned in the past will make this crop more fortuitous...

Photo below - another crimson sweet, and in all - at least 5 have formed already....This variety is a pretty good performer, and I higly recommend growing it if you haven't tried it before....

Photo below - Black diamond, and the first time growing this one in the garden. A friend of mine swears by them, so I just had to try it for myself. I have to admit that the dark color green is quite appealing, and it'll get to around 20 lbs., too....

In other news, the corn appears to be about a week away from maturing, and replacement seedlings have already been transplanted amongst the existing plants. Since ears are growing at various rates, some water soluble fertilizer will need to be applied to those particular swc's to help the smallest ones catch up to the others.

Also, the slips from the sweet potato video earlier in the week have been transplanted, and are doing quite well.

Take care, and happy gardening

EG

Growing your own sweet potato slips

Crafty-cristy and C&K Williams - welcome, and thanks for following my blog....

Growing your own sweet potato slips for planting in the garden is something that all backyard gardeners should do - because it's just really easy, and kinda fun too...Although there are probably tons of tutorials on the internet on how to do it, this post is my contribution, and hopefully it will be easy to understand.
In the picture below, you can see my little sweet potato that was kept from last year's fall harvest just for this purpose, and is almost ready at this point.

Photo below - roots are the first thing to emerge after suspending in a glass of water, and this one certainly has lots of healthy looking roots in it.

Photo below - here's a closeup of the top growth....Each little "branch" can be stuck into some moistened soil, and after about a week will have it's own roots form from it.

And if that doesn't make sense, here's a video I made about the whole process. Sorry for the shaking of the camera while shooting it - it was made with my phone, and difficult to hold steady with my left hand the whole time. Anyway, you'll see me plant clusters of growth into a cellpack - although normally each individual shoot would be rooted...I hope you enjoy it!




After shooting that little video, I went inside and made a batch of blackberry jam from the ones put into the freezer last year. Man, that stuff's good - and really easy to make, too....This year's harvest will begin hopefully this weekend, and at least 2 gallons will go into the freezer, I figure....


Take care, and happy gardening

EG

First tomato of 2011

Even though it's just a 2" Stupice tomato, hey - it's the first one of the season for me! A tomato sandwich is completely out of the question, and most likely it'll just be eaten by itself. Maybe a little salt with it, I suppose....BTW, there were several more squash picked last week, but I don't even feel like taking pictures of them anymore. I'm about squashed out right now. You'll understand when seeing the 2nd photo....

Photo below - contributing to my current gardening happiness also are at least 4 butternut squash that are well on their way to becoming something that I can sling with a few well-placed knee highs on the trellis alotted for them. Vertical gardening is what i'm all about, and even though butternut is kinda difficult to sling - i'm more than happy to give them a lift.

Photo below - here's one pretty close to the soil, and i'll most likely just slide a piece of wood under it to keep it off of the ground. After all of the whining by myself about not getting any fruitset a couple of weeks ago, there's certainly nothing to whine about now. This year's planting is doing far better than the one last year in the 4x9 bed next to the woods, and more sunlight of course, is the real difference.

Photo below - fruitset on the melons has finally arrived too, and in all there are at least 5 or 6 that appear to be on their way to bigger and better things. This particular one is crimson sweet - which typically get to around 20 lbs. or so. Although it's quite nerve-racking to do so, a couple of knee highs can actually support one on a trellis. (I did a 19 pounder last year).

Now that actual melons have started to develop, their demands for water is twice what it was when the vines had began to run. An inch of water every 3 days during the next 4-5 weeks will be required, then it's back to once every 7-10 days until maturity is reached. Witholding water during the final couple of weeks is what makes them sweet, and the sweeter the better.....Due to their rapid growth in size, expect the next photos of them to be far different....

Take care, and happy gardening

EG

Constructing a stronger shelf bracket - by EG

If you are a new follower or first time visitor to the blog, i'd like for you to know that just because a person doesn't have a fancy shop or even tools on the property, it doesn't mean that they still can't produce strong, good quality shelving supports with just a few ideas and the right tools, too...My shop is my backyard, along with of course the salvaged little kitchen table with scrap pieces of OSB fastened to it as a makeshift top. I've had to "MacGuyver" things my whole life, and if you'll stick around long enough, i'll show you how to do some things on your own, too...Anyway, necessity and frugal living required me to build something from scratch the other day, and I wanted to share a post about it with you....

A new 46" tv was purchased for the living room, and of course they offered a wall mounting bracket for $99 to mount it on the wall, too. But, after seeing pictures of the bracket on the internet, I decided there was no way I was about to spend that much money on something that was that wimpy looking...So, what's a backyard tinkerer to do? Why - build my own, of course.....I figured for 50 bucks I could build one from scratch that would be at least twice as strong - so that's exactly what I did...Although the base of the tv was detachable for wall-mounting purposes, I decided to construct a shelf for it to sit on - with the shelf itself being attached to the wall and supporting the 75 lb. television....

Photo below - A piece of 1/4" thick, 1-1/2" wide, 36" long piece of flat steel purchased from the hardware section at Lowes was clamped to my outdoor work table with about 11 inches hanging off of it, because the depth of the television base required a 1x12 board to be used for the shelf. Anyway, the work table was brought to perfect level by putting some small pieces of scrap wood under the appropriate legs, then my little torch set was used to heat the piece of metal until cherry red. Once heated thoroughly thru where the edge of the table met the steel, the small magnetic level was put on it - then bent by hand until perfectly plumb. This is a pretty effective way to create a perfect 90 degree angle, and that's what was needed...

Photo below - once two of them were bent, the 10 or so inches that was left over after cutting the other end to the proper length was welded into place (with the 50 cent welder of course), and cleaned up with a 4" grinder to spruce things up a bit. If these things were gonna be installed in the living room for all guests to see, they were gonna look like they were purchased - not homemade....I may be a certified Alabama redneck, but that doesn't mean that the house needs to look like one lives in it. Ha!

Holes were drilled into both ends to accomodate screws needed for the assembly, and of course 2 more about 2" out from the corner itself....Also, since the thermostat for the hvac unit was in the way, it was relocated to the opposite side of the wall, then hole patched with some drywall mud. The new brackets were then primed and painted, then fastened to the wall using the 1/4" lag screws in the picture below.....

Photo below - not too shabby, and matches the color of the trim inside the house, too. Driving the 2-1/2" long screws directly into wall studs makes a very strong mount, and we certainly needed some strength to hold the intended weight later....

Now some thought had to be put into the wood to be used as the shelf itself. My wife put a lot of high quality materials into the interior of the house (exotic hardwood floors, all fixtures oil rubbed bronze, etc.), and I knew this wood needed to be good quality too. Since poplar is strong and looks good painted, that's what I went with for the shelving.

However, I didn't take any more photos before the television was installed. :(

It turned out quite well in the end, and I guess this whole post was mainly about letting people know that there's always options when buying something for your home. It's a lot more gratifying to construct things for yourself, and usually much cheaper too....

EG

Melons

Edwin and Organic Girl - welcome, and thanks for following my blog..

Melons are something that everyone on the property enjoys, especially since they don't have to be prepared before eating. Most things grown in the garden aren't ideal for my parents - due to the limitations by their health....
Anyway, things that can be eaten raw without a lot of work involved is right down their alley, and hopefully the 13 total plants currently being grown will fill this need.

Photo below - here's the 4x8 box next to the blackberry patch with 4 total plants in it. Honeydew is on the left and moon and stars on the right. Although the soil in the box has settled quite a bit since topping off with compost in the spring, at least 9" of soil depth remains for the roots to grow in. Since the trellises in this area provide the most surface area for foliage, I'm hoping to grow the largest melons here...there's easily enough for over 200 lbs. total....

Photo below - the tallest trellis in the garden (which is around 7ft tall) has "cool green" honeydew on one side, and "French Orange" cantaloupe on the other. The entire trellis will become engulfed with foliage in another couple of weeks, and thankfully the bees are showing up for their pollination duties. Around 3 to 4 fruit in the 5-10 lb. range from this area would certainly be great, but time will only tell. I'm hoping for at least 200 lbs. from all 13 plants combined, but more would certainly be welcomed.

Photo below - here's the 4 baby birds after hatching out the other day. Although they've already went out into the world now, I can't help but catch myself looking into the nest periodically...

In other melon related news, I accidentally snapped the end of one of the vines off while weaving it between the wire mesh for extra support the other day, and sure do hate that....It was a black diamond growing in one of the swc's next to Jude's pen, and reduced the yield of that particular vine by at least 50%, I figure..oh well, I'll just have to be more gentle in the future, because watermelon vines are much more brittle than the others...

Also, i'll get that sweet potato slip video up sometime this weekend, and just haven't had the time yet. A conversion from .3gp to .mpeg had to be performed first, and now just the upload to YouTube has to be performed. Anyway, that's my melon update for the week, and be ready for some pictures of fruitset next time....

Take care, and happy gardening

EG

The squash are still kickin'

Lance, dawninspirit, and Connie - welcome, and thanks for following the blog...

Gosh, i'm almost embarrassed to show more squash as the only thing harvested for last week, but it's the only thing coming in right now. Due to all of the melons planted, the majority of my harvests will come in during the month of August, it would seem.....Anyway, here's more squash eye candy for those that might be squashless at the moment.

Photo below - here's a shot of the entire planting of 2 zucchini and 5 yellow squash. The upside down tomato cages continue to keep them from bushing out - although one really has to keep the branches tucked into the right places...Still, it's definitely worth the effort to keep them contained to their 4ft. x 7ft. alotted space....

Photo below - here's a shot from the end of the raised bed - as it's been a while since a picture from this view has been taken...Makes ya wanna jump some hurdles, don't it? Lol

In other news, we got a pretty good shower on Sunday afternoon, and boy was I glad to see it..I'm sure it did nothing to add to the rainbarrels, but at least the garden didn't have to be watered. I'm sure that most of you wonder why I don't setup some kind of homemade watering system to do the task for me, but in reality it's enjoyable to spend some up close and personal time with each plant, because I find lots of bugs while doing it. Still, my health continues to degrade as each year passes, and I guess some serious thought needs to put into doing it....

Also, i've made a video about growing your own sweet potato slips, and will get it uploaded hopefully this coming weekend.

Take care, and happy gardening

EG