Posted on 07/10/2009 3:59:55 AM PDT by Red_Devil 232
Good morning to all of you gardeners. Toward the end of last weeks Gardening Thread there was a short discussion about saving Heirloom Tomato seeds. Many of you might have missed the information so I thought I would start this weeks thread on that topic.
I have corn in a raised bed...my understanding is that corn should be side-dressed with nitrogen when two feet tall. My local feed store sold me a bag of white ‘pellets’ that could also double as ‘ice melt’ in the winter. That made me a bit nervous. 46-0-0...is this safe to side dress corn? (I know...keep it a couple of inches away from the plant; then water it in...right?) Or should I return this, and try something else?
LOL I make picked beet eggs but my recipe came from my Great Grandparents’ Pennsylvanian Dutch side not Iowa.
Use care in a raised bed—it’s just like a big pot.
We sell a 34% nitrogen—34-0-0—for sidedressing corn. You do it when the corn is about knee high. Go about 8-10 inches from the plant and string some down the row.
I’m guessing you’re in the north or west. Here in the south we’ve been eating corn for at least a month. It’s long past the sidedressing stage. :}
Rain! Beautiful, slow and great for the garden falling now. Looks like some heavy stuff may be moving in but it looked the same yeaterday and it all just went away. This won’t be going away but maybe it will calm down!
I'll go light with this stuff...corn is real nice right now, and I do not want to ruin it...
I have a plastic container full of tomatoes that are ready for canning. I just weighed it - 19 lbs. I doubt I will get them all canned today but I have to start now. Water in two pots heating up!
Yay! WE’ve been putting up maters for a couple weeks now. Had a bunch of yellow in the garden so i bought 1/2 bushel of red to even out the acid.
The lemon boys don’t get blossom end rot!? Neither did the brandywines byt they fizzled out in the heat.
We’re getting—much needed—rain here. All day, heavy at times.
Have fun!
The bad storms that were north of me are coming through now and as I hoped they have calmed down considerably and we are getting some nice drizzling rain!
Thanks for the advice. We will definitely do that next spring.
yeah ,,, the good old days often weren’t so good. grin
The trip to the outhouse in Jan-Mar in Northern Iowa was not all that pleasant. Come to think about it July and Aug was pretty bad as well, and the other 8 months were barely tolerable.
Yeah and I walked to and from school, up hill both ways ......
I can beans but freeze most other stuff. Probably by the time I have enough time to can everything, I will no longer care. LOL
Have fun!
:}
Have fun! What variety did you plant? I don’t plant corn, but the most popular variety around here is silver queen. Had some ambrosia last year—very tasty. Tried some devotion this year. Pretty good.
Yes, canning tomatoes even in a boiling bath in the middle of July takes time and prep. But darn those guys sure are tasty in mid Jan.
We got about 6 gal ziplock bags put up and I may do more. It’s hard to work all day and then try to get anything done at home.
Why don’t you use a pressure canner? Cuts the time about in half.
I understand that pressure canning tomatoes (just tomatoes) makes them very mushy! I prefer to be able to have a nice fairly firm 1/4 slice of a tomato out of one of my jars than to mush. I can mush them up as I wish after the jar is open.
And I think pressure cooking would take more time.
btw... my First Wife says folks prefer Water Bath for tomatoes because the jars don't lose juice like they do in a pressure cooker? She canned our tomatoes with the pressure cooker...
I don’t pretend to understand all that. I just know that pressure cooking green beans cuts the time in half, and no, they’re not mushy. The maters I put in the freezer are, but they’re mostly for chili and veggie soup.
Thanks for the link!
Not sure...I rule the hot peppers with an iron fist, so I 'let' my wife plant some corn to keep her busy. :-)
She planted some more at the in-laws, and left the empty packs sitting on top of the stakes at rows' end. I know it is 'eatin corn'...
I’ve had hens live to be 5-6 years old. They usually just ‘give up the ghost’ and die peacefully in their sleep, usually ‘at their post’ in a nesting box.
Then they get a proper ‘burial’ at the end of the farm lane (about a mile from the house; don’t want to lure the coyotes to my hen house!) as I leave them there for coyote food. They’re ALWAYS gone by the next morning; the dogs and I walk the same route each morning and evening.
Circle of Life and all that rot. ;)
The highest mortality rate I had was a few years ago when I had a rouge, pregnant female racoon getting into the coop and killing hens. You know, I don’t MIND that Nature has to eat, but if you’re going to KILL my hens, then EAT them! She didn’t; she did it for fun, the jerk.
A Hav-A-Heart trap later, laced with peanut butter bread (Heck, I’D crawl into a trap for peanut butter!) and she was caught...and dispatched, but I won’t go into details here; it’s a family site, LOL!
And really, that’s the only problem I’ve had with other critters pestering my hens. I even had a Great Horned Owl roost in the coop one night; it was late fall and chilly, so the hens just cuddled right up to him on the roost, LOL! Simply amazing! (And solid proof that they’re not all that smart; sleeping with the raptor enemy? Come on!)
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