Garden out and doing great

[Patriotic Stabilist]

We forgot the camera, we went up to the duplex where our corn and melons are planted. The corn is over 7 ft tall, the sprinklers were running. They are tasseled out and pollinating the ears of corn that have set on. Each stalk has one or two ears.

Tidbit that all you farm boys may know. Each piece of silk on an ear of corn connects to a kernel of corn.

The melons are blooming and looking good, watermelon and cantaloupe will be setting on soon.

 

[Bartcephus]

Thanks for the canning tip... The Ball Guide to Canning... Should have though about that. I've seen "Ball" jars and lids for years. :thumbsup: My gardening skills did not "bloom" until I had a mentor though. SWMBO a/k/a "Super Wife" just fixed us an after church dinner for two harvested from the back yard garden. AHHHH life is soooo goood!

 

[jimmyj]

Sorry if I missed it but what variety of tomato do you use for your canning? They are so nice and big and full looking. Mmmmmmmmm:licking:

 

[Patriotic Stabilist]

There's several kinds, beefsteaks, big boy, and better boy I believe. When I pull them up later I will go back and pull out my lable stakes and post the kind.

I finished my tomato juice today, canned 23 quarts, that makes 40 quarts total and that's enough.

Tuesday likely finish my tomato canning will can 10 more quarts will make 70, thats enough if hubby is gone.

Going to look into making tomato sauce, haven't made it before, will put it in pints.

I bet that sweet corn is awesome, I can hardly wait. Don't know the kind, hubby went to the feed store and bought whatever they had in bulk.

 

[jinman]

Tidbit that all you farm boys may know. Each piece of silk on an ear of corn connects to a kernel of corn.

That's right Carolyn. If you only have a few rows of corn and you are afraid of all the pollen from the tassels will blow away, you can take a paper grocery bag and collect pollen and then dust your young ears of corn to make sure the silks all get pollen.:thumbsup:

 

[Patriotic Stabilist]

What I have so far, need to clear my bottom shelf and move that stuff.

 

[SandburRanch]

What I have so far, need to clear my bottom shelf and move that stuff.

---------------------------------------------------------------OMG, what you need is a micrometer that reads to 0.0001" accuracy instead of 0.001". It looks like that one jar may be off just a half a hair in the row:laughing:.

 

[Bartcephus]

Carolyn,

Well I did it.... I bought the book.... "Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving" 400 delicious and creative recipes for today. Looks like I have some investing to do before I start. I saw a pressure canner at Wal-Mart for $64.00 or so. Jars are about $9.00 a dozen. I kinda quit looking from that point. Seems like the minimum is a water bath, jar racks, filling funnel, Jar lifter, jars, lids, and of course PRODUCE.:licking: I saw a recipe for Shrimp Cocktail Sauce. Sure wish I'd planted some horseradish. Anyway thanks for the tips.

 

[Patriotic Stabilist]

If you have a Big Lots check there jars may be cheaper. I bought some Harvest Made or something like that last year, still made by Ball. I understand there is some new brand coming out Penally, not spelled right and they are made in china, they said a couple dollars cheaper but I won't buy them. I try to buy American made no matter what. I prefer the Ball canning lids, Kerrs are ok, but both have a bigger gasket sealing area. I got some other kind one year and lost a few jars, the seals let go. This year only 1 failed to seal and I immediately put it in the fridge and we used it.

Also check an estate sale or thrift store, if some older folks are getting rid of things you may well find jars or a pressure cooker there. My pressure cooker holds 7 quarts, and have to look up but it will also cook 2 layers of pints. It's a canning one. One of the older ones I believe is better. Or maybe even ebay.

I buy a lot of items online. Especially from Lehman's non electric catalogue. Great stuff. So far their wheat is less then other places. But I read in the WSJ yesterday wheat has gone up 91% in a year, 17% last week alone with all the droughts and floods. It's around $8 a bushel now. And other countries that cannot raise enough, Tunisia, Egypt and on are buying otherwise they face revolutions. So I expect bread products to go nuts this coming year unless rain comes or stops depending on where you live.

They also said one of the Walmart CEO's said big price raises are coming this year to the stores.

I just picked the last of my beans, they were dying. It's 96 today and its burning things up out there. I pulled the beans, the squash vines are done, they are coming up. Pulled 35 of my big onions, have some smaller ones planted. Cutting my last cabbage, the thing is almost big as a basketball. And I'm picking tomatoes, my neighbor is going to can. The only thing I want to do out there is can some of those banana peppers. Last time they were mushy.

So need to get the tiller out then water what's left. That's sage, brussel sprouts, bell peppers, one eggplant, cukes, banana peppers, onions, and tomatoes.

I think I will be dressing out chickens in a week or two and very soon freezing corn, so its working out pretty good.

 

[Patriotic Stabilist]

Another place you may want to check is Ace Hardware, I ordered a bunch of plastic containers for the corn. You can have them delivered to their stick store and save shipping by you picking up. We have one not far away, they have a lot of items for canning. I just ordered some more 1/2 pint jars as I want to can more chicken for chicken salad and a pint is to much for that. Some pints are ok if you are using it in soup or noodles.

Looks like the first year prices are a killer. I have had to add some more and I sure don't like the prices.

 

[Mounted Madness]

Interesting. We have a chance of frost, and I BBQ'd some Texas corn with steak all in one tonight. :licking:

I've got most of my garden in, but with the frost warning, I have it covered 'just in case'.

Our growing season is about 120-130 days without risk of frost. Must be nice to have your 'spring' crop in the can. :laughing:

Congrats on that. :thumbsup:

 

[Patriotic Stabilist]

Do you folks really like living where its that cold so much of the year?

We are from Indiana and even in this heat I have never missed those winters.

I'm not saying that this year might do me in since it was 96 yesterday and its still May, ouch.

Hope you get some nice warm days so you can get your garden growing.

 

[jinman]

Jars are about $9.00 a dozen. I kinda quit looking from that point.

Do you like garage sales? If you can resist the temptation to buy a lot of other stuff, you can sometimes find really good canning supplies at garage sales, especially jars and rings.

 

[Bartcephus]

Thanks for the tips folks. Carolyn, your garden sure has the jump on mine. We have had rain this week in NE Texas (Bowie County). My squash just started producing. Tomatoes had a few fruit but now are bare and waiting on the blooms to fill out. Harvested some jalapeno, broccoli, califlower, leaf lettuce, onions. Potatoes going gangbusters, corn just about 8"-10" high. Cabbage beginning to get about the size of baseballs. Garlic looks real sad for some reason. Herbs doing ok. Watermelon is about 8" tall. I caged my tomatoes this last weekend. Planted some okra yesterday and pulled out the califlower stalks. Weeds are really hurting my onion beds. I need to find a way to keep that in check. Its amazing how fast things can grow with warm temps, fertilizer and water.... I'll start builting my canning arsenal... at least I have some time.... I do have about 25 tomato plants, I expect I should be able to preserve some. I also like habenero jelly and jalipeno jelly. I like to dehydrate the hot pepers and grind them up into seasonings too. Gives a little kick to some foods. Again, Thanks

 

[Patriotic Stabilist]

I've posted pics of everything else, so here are some onions. I only had 35 of these left, I planted 200. These are the best onions I've ever eaten, Texas Sweets.

 

[jeffreythree]

Seeing all your veggies makes me hungry :licking:, even though it is not meal time. They make me wish I had planted 10 times what I have now, but I figured I better learn to crawl before I try to run.

 

[Patriotic Stabilist]

Hubby is up mowing at our duplex. He took the camera to take pictures of the corn, I will post. I bet you its going to be ready before he thinks. We are irrigating it and its growing like crazy.

I put the chickens on some broiler feed, wish I had known about it before. They said it will really make them fatten up or meat up I hope. I don't want to keep them much longer, maybe 2 more weeks.

I'm going to try brining them to make them more tender, but if not, I can brown them then finish out in a pressure cooker. I didn't mark my calendar, but think they are around 12 weeks old.

 

[Patriotic Stabilist]

Ok, you ready for corn and melon pictures? He also took a picture of the duplex while there. We had the back garage redone last fall, it was just an old tin garage before.

 

[jinman]

Hey Carolyn! There's something up in the trees watchin' your corn. I don't know, but they look mighty hungry to me.:laughing:

I had to have some fun with you, and I know now if you get 'coons in your corn you will surely blame me. At least I'm a long ways from Houston and you won't be able to find me if the 'coons get your corn.

BTW: Your garden and duplex rental look terrific. That duplex looks very neat and just the kind of place most people are looking to rent.

 

[Patriotic Stabilist]

We bought it as the end of an estate sale, they just wanted to get rid of it, in 1992. Property values here were in the tank worse then now. It's only been empty when we redid the back apartment. That lady lived there from 1983 till about 4 or 5 years ago when she moved into a house rental. We raised the rent $150 a month on that unit, had raised her a bit over the years but not enough. If these ladies move we can easily get another $100 to $150 out of each unit. The neighborhood isn't the best looking but its safe, this is the best looking place there.

We want to put a new furnace in the back unit this year. We keep places up and don't let them get in disrepair. And we want to put a board fence down the left side, a real dump over there. If the front tenant ever moves we will tile the front like we did the back, paint, clean and maybe redo the bathroom totally, just old. One unit is 1200 sq ft, the other 800.

We gave a whole $35k for it, its on an acre and now we have city water and sewer as of a couple years ago. It was annexed into the city which added better policing and fire protection. Not a half mile away is a brand new elementary and middle school.

It's a well built house, a contractor built it for his mom and the back unit was for the caregiver, the lady that had lived there so long.