Day 179 of 365

Another day without rain.

• Low: 74
• High: 91

Planted:

• field corn

Harvested:

• blueberries
• plums
• cucumbers
• dill seed
• tomato

Seed saved:

• dill

The field corn was a second planting to reseed the huge blank patch. No matter how far it matures, I'll be able to use it, kernels, ears, or just tassels and leaves.

We didn't get a lot of plums this year; it was the first year for this little tree to bear fruit. I think I'll freeze them and add them to this year's batch of mixed fruit jelly.

Day 155 of 365

Scattered showers throughout the day. With thunder this evening.

• Low; 67
• High: 87

Rainfall: 0.1"

I'm still dehydrating Swiss chard. I reckon I picked too much yesterday. Makes me wish I had the 9 tray Excalibur instead of the 5 tray.

Field corn is up!

June 3 - 9, 2012

Temperature Range

• lows: 55 - 66° F
• highs: 74 - 84° F

Rainfall: 1.55"

Planted:

• cowpeas, Ozark Razorback (saved seed)
• field corn, Truckers Favorite (saved seed)

Harvested:

• peaches, 
• sand cherries
• garlic

Preserved:

• dehydrated peaches
• froze peaches

Egg Counts:

• Sun. 8
• Mon. 7
• Tues. 8
• Wed. 6
• Thurs 8
• Fri. 6
• Sat. 7
• Week's Total: 50

Observed & Accomplished
Sunday

• day of rest
• buckwheat is blooming
• plan to plant 3rd section of corn tomorrow

Monday

• rain. No corn planting
• tried to get broody hen off empty nest. several times
• picked a few more sand cherries. very tart

Tuesday

• more rain
• made our 1st peach pie of the year!
• peaches have less worms than last year but many are rotting on the tree. Need to research

Wednesday

• drizzle
• volunteer cosmos blooming in front yard
• black eyed susans blooming
• front herb bed is a mess

Thursday

• harvested garlic even though it was too wet
• dehydrated peaches
• gave broody hen 3 eggs to set
• more drizzle

Friday

• picked & dehydrated peaches

Saturday

• Dan tilled where we harvested the wheat and I planted cowpeas
• planted the last 4 rows of field corn
• froze almost a quart of peaches
• not enough peach harvest to can yet

May 6 - 12. 2012

Temperature Range:

• lows: 50 - 64 ° F
• highs: 70 - 86 ° F

Rainfall: 0.5"

Planted:

• 16 sweet potato slips (Vardaman, home grown)
• field corn (Trucker's Favorite, saved seed)

Harvested:

• broccoli
• lettuce
• parsnips

Egg Counts:

• Sun. 4
• Mon. 7
• Tues. 11 (1 from everybody)
• Wed. 7
• Thurs 8
• Fri. 5
• Sat. 9
• Week's Total: 51

Observed & Accomplished

Sunday

• day of rest
• noted pea pods; lots, just need to fill out

Monday

• identified fire blight on one pear tree.  treated as per Gardeners Organic Handbook of Natural Insect & Disease Control
• id'd some sort of small (Flea?) beetle on turnips. Sprayed with pyola
• sprayed aphids on broccoli & cabbage collards with pyola

Tuesday

• rain
• buckwheat sprouting
• beans up
• wheat turning brown, need to keep an eye on when to harvest it

Wednesday

• tomatoes up
• volunteer dill coming up in the peas

Saturday

• raked hay until it started to drizzle
• planted sweet potato slips
• started planting field corn

Sept 11 - 17, 2011

Temperature Range:

• lows: 53 - 63
• highs: 63 - 89

Rainfall: sprinkle

Planted:

• turnips, white globe purple top (saved seed)
• mangels, Colossal Long Red (Shumways)
• cabbage seeds, Late Flat Dutch (Henry Fields)
• Egyptian Walking Onion sets, (Chris)

Harvested:

• last of the broom corn
• mature cukes for seed
• cowpeas
• onions, the ones I could find
• almonds
• volunteer turnip (only 1)
• a few more ears of field corn
• Vardeman sweet potatoes

Seeds Saved:

• antique marigolds
• giant marigolds
• cowpeas
• pole beans, KY wonder

Preserved:

• two hard cheeses
• handful sweet pepper, frozen

Egg Counts:

• Sun. 4
• Mon. 1
• Tues. 4
• Wed. 1
• Thurs. 4
• Fri. 4
• Sat. 2
• Week's Total: 20

Accomplished:

Sunday
• day of rest
Monday
• harvested last of broom corn
• started weeding strawberry/asparagus bed in search of the onions
• made mozzarella
• cleaned up several summer garden beds
• watered fall garden
• watered fruit trees
• pulled some wheat heads for a sample of flour & pancakes
• shelling cowpeas
Tuesday
• planted cabbage seed, turnips, mangels, Egyptian Walking onions
• watered onions
• hunted for wild muscadines. No joy.
• made hard cheese
• froze sweet pepper
Wednesday
• cleared out front flower bed
• deadheaded marigolds
• watered almond & crabapple trees
Thursday
• checked for dried pole beans, found a few more ears of corn
Friday
• harvested Vardeman sweet potatoes
Saturday
• no garden activities

May Wk 3: 15 - 21

Temperature Range:

• lows: 47 - 61
• highs: 60 - 88

Rainfall: only sprinkles

Planted:

• sand cherry bushes (Burgess)
• butternut squash (saved seed)
• borage (Pinetree Gardens)
• field corn, Truckers Favorite (Shumway)
• black oil sunflowers (feed store)

Harvested:

• peas
• Swiss chard
• yarrow
• calendula
• comfrey leaves

Eating our own:

• fresh strawberries
• fresh peas (in salad)
• fresh Swiss chard (in salad)
• fresh goats milk, including:
• yogurt
• cheese
• whey
• fresh eggs
• canned strawberry jam
• canned sweet potatoes
• canned Swiss chard
• canned green tomato salsa
• canned dill pickles
• canned cucumber relish
• canned pizza sauce
• frozen bell pepper
• dried wild onions (in rolls)
• dried figs (in cake)
• stored pecans & hickory nuts (in salad)

Egg Counts:

• Sun. 5
• Mon 6
• Tues. 5
• Wed. 4
• Thurs. 5
• Fri. 5 + stash of 3
• Sat. 5
• Week's Total: 33

Accomplished:

• mulched early potato beds
• finished planting corn field
• watered main garden

Observations:

• fall garden is a weedy mess

May Wk. 1: 1 - 7

Temperature Range:

• lows: 37 - 63
• highs: 68 - 83

Rainfall: none

Planted:

• white broom corn (Baker Creek)
• okra, Clemson Spineless (saved seed)
• eggplant, FL High Bush (Seed Savers)
• habanero peppers (Pinetree Garden)
• cosmos (saved seed)
• black oil sunflowers (feed store)
• summer squash, Bennings Green Tint (Pinetree Garden)

Harvested:

• lettuce
• strawberries

Egg Counts:

• Sun. 5
• Mon. 5
• Tues. 6
• Wed. 4
• Thurs, 4
• Fri. 6
• Sat. 6
• Week's Total: 36

Eating our own:

• fresh lettuce
• fresh goats milk
• fresh eggs
• fresh beets
• fresh carrots
• fresh strawberries
• canned green beans
• canned tomato soup
• canned pizza sauce
• canned dill pickles
• frozen summer squash
• frozen okra
• frozen green pepper
• dried cantaloupe

Accomplished:

• continued mulching strawberry bed
• fenced off corn field

Observations:

• pea pods filling out
• corn coming up!

April Wk. 4: 24 - 30

Temperature Range:

• lows: 50 - 67 F
• highs: 77 - 84 F

Rainfall: sprinkle

Planted:

• bergamot seedlings 
• bergamot seeds (Shumway)
• skullcap seedling 
• Roma tomato plants (local feed store)
• Vardaman sweet potato slips (Shumway)
• summer savory (Pinetree)
• dill seed (saved)
• field corn, Truckers Favorite (Shumway)

Transplanted:

• volunteer marigolds

Harvested:

• strawberries
• yarrow
• wild onions
• carrots

Egg Counts:

• Sun. 4
• Mon. 6
• Tues. 5
• Wed. 7
• Thurs. 6
• Fri. 4
• Sat. 4
• Week's Total: 36

Eating our own:

• fresh lettuce
• fresh strawberries
• fresh carrots
• fresh broccoli
• fresh eggs
• canned green beans
• canned blueberry jam
• canned apple butter
• canned pizza sauce
• canned sweet potatoes
• canned strawberry jam
• frozen green pepper
• goats milk

Accomplished:

• covered old strawberry beds with black plastic
• starting to mulch strawberry/asparagus beds
• tilled corn field
• trimmed branches overhanging corn field

Observations:

• Blooming: irises, honeysuckle, wild roses

Oct. Wk 1, 3rd - 9th

Temperature Range:

• lows: 44 - 54° F
• highs:  66 - 80° F

Rainfall: none

Harvested:

• sweet peppers
• Swiss chard
• beet greens with baby beets 
• dried State 1/2 runner beans (for seed & soup)
• buttercup squash
• dill seed
• sunflower seed heads (last of)

Preserved:

• froze sweet pepper
• froze eggs

Problems noted:

• black rot(?) on curing sweet potatoes

Accomplished:

• started removing amaranth seed from heads
• pulling dead bean plants
• pulled out the last of the dead sunflower stalks
• thinning beets & eating steamed thinnings
• hilled fall potatoes (mostly volunteers)
• sprayed zucchini plants with Soap Shield (copper solution) for powdery mildew
• cleaned out old cantaloupe bed, pulling dried vines & weeds with seed heads
• fed weeds to the goats (much appreciated)
• working on new fencing mostly
• husked popcorn
• shelled dried sweet corn for seed

To Do:

• finish amaranth seed
• get something to store amaranth seed in
• mulch fall garden
• work on fall fruit tree & shrub nursery order
• finish pulling out dead squash and cucumber vines
• clean out chicken coop & spread on garden for tilling
• till summer garden
• plant green manure cover crop of annual rye

Homestead Cuisine:

• baked chicken, steamed baby beets with greens, potato salad with pickle juice in mayonnaise and ripe sweet pepper

April 17, 2010

Temperature:
~ low 59 F
~ high 79 F

Planted:
~ Stowell's Evergreen sweet corn (untreated)
~ white half-runner bean
~ marigold plants

Harvested:
~ broccoli (fall planted) - 1.1 oz
~ carrots (fall planted) - 2 ct, 2.3 oz
~ radishes (spring planted) - 8 ct, 3.1 oz

October 20, 2009

Temp:
~ low 32° F
~ high 56° F
First frost

Harvested:
~ rose hips - 0.8 oz

Notes:

• Cleaned up garden, took down corn stalks, sunflower stalks, green beans, and all but one tomato plant.
• Covered the green pepper plant last night and did not lose it to frost.
  
• Another frost advisory tonight, will cover both green pepper & tomato
  

Sept. 10, 2009

Temp:
~ low 62° F
~ high 69° F
Overcast all day

Plantted:
~ garlic

Harvested:
~ okra - 5.1 oz
~ tomatoes -8 ct, 2 lb 9 oz

Problems:
~ corn smut noted - discarded plants

Sept. 4, 2009

Temp:
~ low 59° F
~ high 83° F
Mostly sunny

Harvested:
~ corn - 12 ears
~ corn silk - 0.5 oz
~ green beans - 7.3 oz
~ okra - 1.4 oz
~ tomatoes - 6 ct, 1 lb 10.1 oz

Preserved:
~ corn - 3 ears frozen
Sprayed:
~ green beans - with Pyola for some small, black, unidentified bug

Sept. 3, 2009

Temp:
~ low 56° F
~ high 80° F
Sunny all day

Harvested:
~ corn - 7 ears
~ cukes - 1 ct, 0.7 oz
~ green pepper (turning red) 1 ct
~ okra - 3.9 oz
~ tomatoes - 8 ct, 3 lb 5.6 oz

Preserved:
~ corn - 2 ears frozen
~ cucumbers - 7 pints bread & butter pickles canned. Used Ball Bread & Butter Pickle Mix. [NOTE - the back of the pack calls for 7 pounds of cucumbers, I had 3.5. I used half the mix but ran out of liquid before I ran out of cukes. Had to mix up the rest of it to finish out the cucumbers. ]
~ tomatoes - 5 pints spaghetti sauce canned (for pizza!) Used one of my garden green peppers in the recipe

Notes:

• Bought 360 lbs dolomitic limestone for the production garden today (9, 40 lb bags)
• Bought 50 lb bag of triple superphosphate (need 38 lbs). I looked at rock phosphate as an organic alternative, but the price to do the production garden would have been astronomical.
  
• Ordered a 50 lb of kelp meal from Gardens Alive!
  

Weekly Totals: Aug. 23 - 29, 2009

Temperature
Avg low - 66 ° F
Avg high 84 ° F

Rainfall: 0.1"

Harvested:
~ corn - 4 ct
~ cucumbers - 18 ct, 3 lb 11.8 oz
~ figs - 12.2 oz
~ green beans - 2 lb 2.2 oz
~ green peppers - 1 ct
~ okra - 9.9 oz
~ tomatoes - 38 ct, 13 lb 14.6 oz plus the tomatoes Dan sold on Friday

August 29, 2009

Temp:
~ low 65° F
~ high 85° F
Fog and drizzle early, clearing later in the day.

Harvested
~ corn - 4 ears
~ cucumbers - 3 ct, 9.8 oz
~ green beans - 3.5 oz
~ okra - 2.7 oz

Watered:
~ corn
~ green pepper
~ green beans
~ and a few tomato plants.

Notes:

• Figs are done. Only a couple of unripe ones still on the trees
• Compost has not been doing well, needs to be watered more often
• Need to finish fall planting & tend weeds in fall garden! Needs mulch.

August 16, 2009

Temp:
~ low 69° F
~ high 84° F
Mostly cloudy
Rainfall - 0.18"

Watered:
~ tomatoes
~ corn
~ broccoli - 2nd row (still not up)

Harvested:
~ cukes - 3 ct, 6.2 oz
~ green beans - 5.7 oz
~ tomatoes - 5 ct, 1 lb 10.9 oz

August 6, 2009

Temp:
~ low 65° F
~ high 86° F
Mostly sunny but garden remains too wet for more fall planting

Coming Up:
~ broccoli

Harvested:
~ blueberries - 1.5 qts
~ straightneck summer squash - 1 (double), 7.9 oz
~ okra - (1st one) - 0.4 oz

Sprayed:
~ Cucurbits: with copper based solution for powdery mildew

Noted:

• that I seem to be losing the battle against powdery mildew. It's spread to the cukes and squashes.
• tomatoes beginning to ripen
• corn tassels on newly forming ears
• butternut squashes beginning to form
• finally I find a few teeny pumpkins. I've had tons of flowers but no fruit.

July 27, 2009

Temp:
~ low 68° F
~ high 88° F
Rainfall - 0.13"
Thundershower last night. Clear & sunny this morning.
Increasing cloudiness in the PM with an afternoon thundershower.

Finished planting & mulching the Leyland Cypresses.

Mulched Dan's arborvitae, which though looking like it's dying, is sprouting some new growth.

Cleared out around the blueberry bush. Watered it too. Lots of berries which are just beginning to ripen. Picked 2 quarts. (See this post.)

Sprayed green pepper & tomatoes with Enz-Rot. Tomatoes still look good though another of the peppers has it.

I've noticed for awhile that the green bean leaves are a yellowish-green. The bottom leaves are especially yellow. Likely a nitrogen deficiency. Sprayed with a solution of fish emulsion. Had some leftover so I sprayed the corn too.

Corn is 3 feet high and beginning to flower.

July 21, 2009

Temp:
~ low 65° F
~ high 80° F
Overcast all morning. Partly sunny in the afternoon.

Watered corn, green pepper, sunflowers, and green beans.

Bought a used chipper/shredder (yay!)