Posted on 06/04/2010 5:00:06 AM PDT by Red_Devil 232
Good morning gardeners! Wow June is here already. I hope all of your gardens are flourishing. Can you believe that last year at this time there were freeze and frost warnings for the North, Northeast and some of the higher elevations? This year the freeze warnings seem to be contained within a certain household in Tennessee. I just had to say that, couldn’t help myself!
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Sunrise: 4:25am
Sunset: 11:34pm
We were also only able to get 2 different brands of compost, and they both are manure based. The bed is conveniently located at the edge of the back patio, so watering, tending, and harvesting won't be a problem.
I got my 2 ft x 7.5 ft bed planted this week. Then,I read out that cukes, squash, and pumpkin should not be planted with melons, because they can make the melons bitter. So when my cuke comes up, I plan to transplant it to a pot.
I planted 2 watermelons, and 2 cantaloupes. We were able to put together the frame for the vines from odds and ends of re-bar, electrical conduit, and copper we had throwing around. Had to buy a couple of elbows for the conduit. All that is left to get is some nylon netting to attach to the supports.
I tried some dwarf corn, planted 4 squares of 4 each. When my husband looked at my list of everything I planted, he just shook his head. He plants everything in nice neat rows with lots of space between, and has always refused to plant corn, because it takes up too much room.
It is going to be interesting to see what happens. Now I am looking at the other side of the patio. If I used the whole width I could put in a 3 ft x 12 ft bed.
I am also looking at the play yard, and thinking a 2 ft by 30 ft along the outside of western side might be good too. It has 30 ft of carnahan fence that would be located at the back of the bed and could be used for plant support.
If the one I just planted does well, I will definitely be making some more.
343.
:-)
Exactly.
How are you Kathy?
Every thing is well I hope.
Thanks for the nice post on the thread for the soldier we lost the other day. *hug*
I have a tassel on my corn. I don’t know if it will ever turn into an actual ear of corn, though. Depends if a bee makes it here from the commercial corn fields or one of my wild plants (under where the bird feeder used to be!) at the right time.
We honor your soldiers as well as ours....God Bless and watch over them all.
I am well, watching over parents aging before my eyes, but still in relatively good health.
My garlic is about 3/4 the size of your photo. I am trying to find a late season crop to plant in their space after I harvest them.
Did you know that each silk on an ear of corn is responsible for a kernel on the cob? If you have poor pollination due to weather, you will get an ear that has 'missing' kernels.
Corn is really an interesting plant.
The cauliflower was great. I just cut it up, steamed it in th microwave and put butter and cheese and grated pepper on it. It surprised me how little I knew about cauliflower and harvesting it. Next time, I’ll knnow better. I think I’ll try it again in the fall.
Did not know that about the relationship between the silk and the kernals. It makes sense, though. It also makes for some good trivia to have on hand, or lore to share with the grandchildren. Thanks.
You’re most welcome ;~)
Cool, thanks for the info. This year is my first corn-effort. I have two or three plants in a corn-beans-squash plot, and then I have some corn plants that grew from the bird feeder in another location.
While checking on my corn today I saw that a cutworm had hit 3 hills for a total of 6 plants and we had extra seedlings left on the cold frame so we replanted and my wife found the biggest and fattest cutworm we have ever seen. The plants are outgrowing the protective wire cages that protect them from the Quail. I will start hilling them up soon and I HAVE TO hill the spuds again. The rain has slowed the ripening of the Raspberries and raised h*ll with the Rose buds causing them to mildew and rot.
Corn can be hand pollinated by going down the rows and shaking the plants to drop the tassel dust on the corn ear silk. If you only have a few plants you can snip a couple of sprigs of the tassel and pat them on the silk. The timing varies according to your climate and temps...
That corn under the feeder could be Field Corn and I think another name for it is Dent Corn and I would not recommend using that to pollinate as your eating corn could be tough and tasteless. It would be better to snip a few tassels of your eating corn and pollinate with that and do it on 3 different days a couple of days apart. My 5 rows are 12’ long with 2 plants per hill 1’ apart and I may get 2 ears per plant for a total of 120 ears of good eating sweet corn...
OK. WHat are you going to do about the cutworm(s)? (Preparing in advance.)
I have one 4 x 8 bed devoted to corn — 2 varieties. I’ve planted one half of the bed with an early variety and next week will plant the other half with a variety that matures a little later. I mounded the dirt in raised rows with furrows between and planted the corn in the tops of the rows — 4 8 ft. long rows — rippled like corduroy.
I’m more worried about racoons after my friend’s experience when the ‘coons stole ALL of his corn in one night — climbed the fence and took all of it. He had to install a wire roof over his planting bed.
I have a neighbor who is have a terrible problem with ‘coons this year. The ‘coons got into their basement through the cat door and tore up everything and ate all the cat food. Now they are coming back every night. They’ve set a trap and have gotten 4 ‘coons in 4 days. I’m sure of the count because they call my husband every morning who goes over with his Ruger and dispatches the little devils to ‘coon heaven. We loaned them our trap last night and set up 2 traps to see if we could catch 2 ‘coons at once. Sure enough, as we drove away from their house we saw more ‘coons on their driveway and in their woods. They are using marshmallows for bait, and it seems to be working.
Corn roast at the Benders' in August!
Just had corn on the cob that we froze last August...
So, how did you freeze it? Shuck it, clean it, and lay it on a cookie sheet? Or, do you have a different method. (Preparing just in case I get any corn out of my corn patch.)
I’m planning to expand my corn patch next year. The current effort is an experiment, just one hill. Maybe next year I can have 4!
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