The 2014 Get Dirt Under Your Fingernails Thread

[hoosierdaddy1976]

don't have a canning setup (yet), but did shuck, blanch, cut, and freeze 38 qt bags of corn on saturday. lady on the board of directors at my wife's work gave it to us. gonna taste so much better than store-bought frozen corn, and any bit helps when feeding a family of 7.

 

[CindyE]

Do any of you plant a cover crop, like cereal rye in the fall? I have been thinking about it. I would have to use a weed eater, hoe, or other hand tool to cut and kill it though.

 

[Zoub]

Do any of you plant a cover crop, like cereal rye in the fall? I have been thinking about it. I would have to use a weed eater, hoe, or other hand tool to cut and kill it though.

I am thinking about it with the intent to just knock it down next year and use it in place of straw. I still need to discuss it with one or two people who I go to for advice. I am pretty sure if I don't do it this Fall I will next year as I have an acre or more lined up for next year along with a few toadies (kids) to help as needed. I may also do this organically so a cover crop goes a long way towards helping accomplish that if you knock it down.

 

[CindyE]

I am thinking about it with the intent to just knock it down next year and use it in place of straw. I still need to discuss it with one or two people who I go to for advice. I am pretty sure if I don't do it this Fall I will next year as I have an acre or more lined up for next year along with a few toadies (kids) to help as needed. I may also do this organically so a cover crop goes a long way towards helping accomplish that if you knock it down.

my garden is probably at least 80% organic, and i'm working on making it completely organic, or as much as possible. when I got started, I didn't know much about GMOs, garden chemicals, etc. This year all of the tomatoes, peppers and corn were organic, plus a few other things.

 

[bwframe]

A strange purple blossomed plant turned up in my peas. I appears to be a pea plant but the rest have white blossoms. I'm no pea authority, but all I've ever grown have had white blossoms. Snap dragon?

 

[mom45]

That looks like a Sweet Pea flower to me.

 

[bwframe]

That looks like a Sweet Pea flower to me.

That's probably what I had confused with when I said snap dragon? Yes, it resembles flowers I have seen.

 

[mom45]

That's probably what I had confused with when I said snap dragon? Yes, it resembles flowers I have seen.

I googled the image and it sure looks like them.

My garden is done, but I still have quite a few flowers blooming and am picking apples like crazy. The neighbor lady and I have made close to 30 apple pies for the freezers. I think the five we made today are the end of our pie making for this season. She is 79 and does the crusts while I do all the peeling/slicing and filling making. Soon, I will need to dig my dahlia, canna lily and crocosmia tubers/bulbs. I still need to get my potatoes and onions stashed in the root cellar.

 

[hooky]

We're still getting a half dozen tomatillos 3 or 4 times/week and they're still blooming. Tomatoes are basically done. Peppers are still going and I have some turnips to get out of the ground.

 

[bwframe]

I googled the image and it sure looks like them.

My garden is done, but I still have quite a few flowers blooming and am picking apples like crazy. The neighbor lady and I have made close to 30 apple pies for the freezers. I think the five we made today are the end of our pie making for this season. She is 79 and does the crusts while I do all the peeling/slicing and filling making. Soon, I will need to dig my dahlia, canna lily and crocosmia tubers/bulbs. I still need to get my potatoes and onions stashed in the root cellar.

Wow, you have a lot going. That is a lot of pies.

 

[bwframe]

We're still getting a half dozen tomatillos 3 or 4 times/week and they're still blooming. Tomatoes are basically done. Peppers are still going and I have some turnips to get out of the ground.

I still have a fair amount of green tomatoes but they seem to be rotting before ripening. I fooled around and got lazy with the Daconyl and the blight took hold of the plants. The recent monsoon of rain has provided more laziness, loosing a lot of peppers to rot. I hope to still freeze and dry some.

I just canned 25 half pints of Korean BBQ sauce, made from what may be the last of the good tomatoes.

 

[CindyE]

We might get a few more cherry tomatoes, I may pick some green ones and let them ripen. Peppers are still going. This has been a great year for big bell peppers, but looks like not much longer, of course. Dug up some of the garden and started cover crop mix. Also have some kale, chard, spinach and lettuce going. Trying parsnips again, too.

 

[hooky]

I still have a fair amount of green tomatoes but they seem to be rotting before ripening. I fooled around and got lazy with the Daconyl and the blight took hold of the plants. The recent monsoon of rain has provided more laziness, loosing a lot of peppers to rot. I hope to still freeze and dry some.

I just canned 25 half pints of Korean BBQ sauce, made from what may be the last of the good tomatoes.

Last year, we had a ton of green tomatoes at the end of the year so we pickled about 20 quarts of them. Some with dill and some with jalapenos & onions. First time I'd done that with green tomatoes and they've been good.

 

[mom45]

I was hoping for a bunch of green tomatoes at the end so I could make more relish. I ended up pulling them all a month ago because even the green ones were rotting on the vine from the crazy weather we were having. Luckily, I found a dozen jars of relish hiding under a box of apple sauce in the closet so I should be able to stretch it to next year. Had to buy a new freezer today. Our spare decided not to work when I plugged it in to make sure it was still good. I have a half a pig to pick up in a couple of days so I was getting ready for that. New one is plugged in and already cold. Put a dozen fresh chickens in it that I had picked up the other day from a friend. I'm hoping that I'll have enough room for a deer if hubby decides to take one, but we'll see how much room 100# of pork takes up and go from there. The upright is full of beef, fruit, veggies, pies, etc.

 

[K_W]

Today was a leaf battle day... but I have a new weapon this year.

<--- My yard --- Neighbor's yard --->

 

[hooky]

Which way does the wind normally blow?

 

[Jason R. Bruce]

Ended up with about 600 jars put up this year, everything did really well, still haven't gotten it all tucked away in storage. Between dehydration, freezing and cellar storage I'd say we put away more food this year than ever before. I killed 5 deer in 3 hunts early this month so that padded the meat storage before I headed west on a coyote hunt. Just got back home and my raised beds are filling out with some last minute spinach, lettuces and herbs. I found that 3-5 year old seed in the barn while preparing for my trip and figured I might as well throw it in the dirt, looks like a 60-70% stand, but I planted it so thick there will be plenty coming in. If it makes a few salads before the hard freeze hits, it's a win. Or maybe the turkeys & chickens will pick it clean? I just can't stand throwing seed packets in the trash!

I will be doing some totally different things next year in the garden just for kicks, my storage is WAY ahead so it's time to relax on the typical vegetables. Does anyone have a preference for online seed catalogs? I'm going to have a BUNCH of open garden available next season and would like to try some new things. Maybe giant pumpkins, odd colored sunflowers and other random stuff?

 

[hooky]

Heirloom Seeds | Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Co is where I've been buying seeds.

 

[88GT]

I have always have good results with Burpee. I've also purchased from Seeds of Change. And truth be told, I've been known to buy my seeds from Menards, not that they have anything in stock now.

 

[bwframe]

I was hoping for a bunch of green tomatoes at the end so I could make more relish....

Got a recipe for this mom45? My step mother is requesting some. TIA!