What did you do in the garden today?

[Sally PB]

I managed to pop glass gem corn in the past

How do you test how much moisture is in the kernels? Or do you just pop a few to see if they're the right dryness?

I love popcorn. I'm thinking of growing some glass gem.

 

[TJAnonymous]

How do you test how much moisture is in the kernels? Or do you just pop a few to see if they're the right dryness?

I love popcorn. I'm thinking of growing some glass gem.

@CluckNDoodle did a video on comparing glass gem vs regular popping corn last year. Did you see it? Personally I think it's gorgeous... But I just don't have enough room to spare for it.

 

[Sally PB]

No, I didn't see it. @CluckNDoodle, can you repost a link?

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

I took the weed whacker to the big garden yesterday and it is actually looking like a garden area again. Unfortunately I had a really bad allergic reaction to all the plant matter and dirt and whatever was flying in the air. Today I moved the extra arch from the slope to the grand daughters new garden. I also moved the butterfly chair over there as well.
I'm picking up some lattice tomorrow to define the space a little better. I'll take a picture when everything is set up. I'm still tossing dead wood into that garden bed that I raised the sides on. There's a lot of wood in there now. I may finished the base with partially decomposed compost to hurry things along. First time growing strawberries. I planted the crowns in hanging grow bags and they look fine. Not really growing all that much still. It is still on the cool side. The temperature is going down to 21F overnight tonight which I'm sure they will be fine, however the next overnight it could get down to 18F. Should I cover them? The planting instructions said they needed to cold stratify, but I'm wondering how cold is too cold for bare root strawberries?

 

[BReeder!]

How do you test how much moisture is in the kernels? Or do you just pop a few to see if they're the right dryness?

I love popcorn. I'm thinking of growing some glass gem.

I just let a few dry on the plants, then pulled them and tied the husks together so the kernels were exposed (just like the decorative corn they sell in the fall by the pumpkins). I hung those in my three seasons room and left them there for a number of more weeks. Then I just pulled the kernels off one and tossed them in the air popper.

 

[Sally PB]

Then I just pulled the kernels off one and tossed them in the air popper.

Yay! Someone else who uses a hot air popper! That's how I make mine. My popper is going on 40 years old.

 

[Sally PB]

Low of 20 tonight, and 18 Saturday night. Friday, we could get 2-4" of heavy wet snow.

Sorry, daffodils. I think a lot of the buds will be fine, but the flowers in bloom might be toast.

 

[fuzzi]

In the buckets, nothing, they never try to leave. In the shallow bin, the size of a large shoebox, I do use the cover on about 80% on, just to help hold moisture for the potatoes slices as I keep that bin in the house & my house can get very dry over winter, as we have oil heat. The buckets in the pigeon loft seem to do fine without covers. The key is to check your potato slices, for the moisture they need. I slice up 1 large potato a month for them, in the house. Out in the pigeon loft about every other month over winter, they really slow down in the cold. The chicken feed pellets eventually get eaten & converted, looks like a fine dark dust (it's bug poo), so every Spring cleaning I sift & pick out the worms, pupa & beetles, dump the bug poo dust into the compost heap & set up fresh chicken feed pellets & fresh potato slices. I slice them thick, they last longer & the worms actually burrow into them. Don't put a big unsliced potato in, it would work for the worms as they'd burrow in, but then it'll get nasty & stinky, probably moldy, & you don't want that. Slices between 1 inch & 2 inches thick are best, just keep an eye on them if your place is more humid, you don't want them getting moldy. The mealworm farm should not have any odor & if it does it is too moist or a potato is stinky. The old dried out, shrunken potato slices can be discarded, but don't always toss all of them monthly, because I think the beetles lay the worm eggs on them & you want the cycle to keep going.

Thank you!

 

[Smokerbill]

Yay! Someone else who uses a hot air popper! That's how I make mine. My popper is going on 40 years old.

Haha! Mine's about that old too. There's no switch on it, just plug it in and it goes.

 

[fuzzi]

This afternoon I watered the carrot and sugar snap peas seedlings...I didn't want them to dry out, we've had no rain in a week.