Year of the Patriot: Gardens

[bjrogg]

I use my GPS to make a coverage map showing where I already applied product. As you can imagine it would be difficult to see where I applied without one. This makes application much more accurate.
Bjrogg

[GlisGlis]

Thanks Pat. Believe me, not everyone seems to see it that way. Pretty sure there’s a bunch of people out there that hate what I do that have never met me, or know anything about my farming practices.

ignorance is hard to defeat.
I really admire your work. The sheer amount of commitment, the knowledge needed and the strength of mind to face the weather and the whims of nature is not for everyone.

[osage outlaw]

This is the first year we have grown a garden.  We planted pumpkins, gourds, and sunflowers.  It's been a lot of fun to watch them grow.  We walk the perimeter at least once a day.

[bjrogg]

Ain’t it cool Clint? My favorite part is watching everything grow.

That’s a lot of pumpkins. You’ll be able to see them grow by the day.

Bjrogg

[bjrogg]

Here’s a picture of our red clover again. It’s growing nice and soon will be above the wheat stubble.
Bjrogg

[bjrogg]

Our Navy Beans are looking really good to. Really they are looking to good. White mold is a nasty fungus we battle with in our climate. It thrives in cool damp conditions with lots of vegetative growth. These beans have great potential if they don’t develop white mold. The mold will rot the straw and stems. Sometimes the beans are even fine but the pods fall off the rotten straw. Rotten straw is all you are left with to harvest.

The same weather that is perfect for setting pods is perfect for white mold. To hard to guess what this crop will amount to, but it sure looks pretty now.

Bjrogg

[bjrogg]

Speaking of weather. This field of Navy Beans got torn up pretty good by hail. It really shredded them. It should look like the other picture. Hard to say yet how this field will fair. It’s not looking as pretty right now though.
Bjrogg

[Marc St Louis]

I have to say that is a lot of Pumpkin.  I only planted 2 vines which have set 3 fruit so far one of which is already starting to turn orange...the flowers are edible

Planted some Chard this year but I find I prefer Lambs Quarter, also planted a few Leeks





And of course some Turnips

[Stoker]

Tomatoes are fruiting well. potatoes are flowering, sweet corn is 5' high, everything else is doing pretty good in this extreme heat wave. Pour the water to it

[Eric Krewson]

I had some garden left over after I planted my normal stuff so I planted a 20x20 cantaloupe patch, I only had 5 seeds come up but they branched and spread out to completely cover the area.

I counted the cantaloupes yesterday and found I had 38 in this small patch, a couple were turning tan.



A critter had taken a bite out of one of the ones that was almost ready so I picked it even though it needed a few more days in the field.



I cut it up and found it was pretty good, last year I forgot to save seed, I am not making that mistake this year. This is an heirloom cantaloupe with a French name, I can't remember what it is and can't find the same in any of the heirloom seed catalogs.



I put up an extra low strand of electric fence to keep the crawling critters like coons and ground hogs out of my patch after I saw that one cantaloupe had been munched on.

[Eric Krewson]

drying time, first apples then green tomatoes.

I like to fry green tomatoes, squash and okra together in a skillet, I have found dried green tomatoes rehydrated and breaded makes the perfect addition to a skillet of squash and okra. The key is to add them and some sliced onion when the other ingredients are 75% done. If you add them earlier they will burn.

Apples;


About 50 small apples dried, there were a lot of worms and bad spots.


Loading green tomatoes in the dehydrator.


Loaded and drying.

[bjrogg]

Sound yummy Eric.

My Navy Beans are almost done blossoming. The pods are “setting” and growing nicely. First picture you can see earlier blossoms have pollinated and pods are getting bigger lower in canopy. Higher later blossoms are just starting “pin” beans. Each blossom has the potential for 6 to 8 beans normal average.  Second picture shows more of a close up of pin beans just emerging from pollinated blossoms

Bjrogg

[bjrogg]

I see I have a couple watermelons starting to form. I enjoy watching how fast they can grow
Bjrogg

[Digital Caveman]

If it is so much more hassle to spread, hopefully it is cheaper to get?  Hopefully the techxperts cooked that stuff well enough , but it's probably better than the chemical stuff they mixed up before.

[bjrogg]

The biggest problem isn’t the work involved spreading it although it is a consideration. The biggest problem is the storage limitations and requirements that it be spread within 21 days. It’s being made every day but we don’t have land available to spread year round. I probably wouldn’t work at using it as much as I do if I didn’t think it was a good idea and a renewable resource that has previously been treated as a waste product. I think this particular product has potential. It still has its problems, but I think they are headed in the right direction.
Bjrogg

PS I’ve been told by more than one person. If it isn’t cooked enough you will have tomatoes growing everywhere. So far no tomatoes