What did you do in the garden today?

[Kiwibird]

It's the first day of spring here tomorrow. I didn't get much garden time today, but I did plant out a seedling melon because its roots were just beginning to show through the bottom of the punnet. I hope the weather stays warm enough for it to thrive, but I will direct sow more seed later in the season as backup.

 

[jewelsoftime]

We harvested less than 1/2 of the first set of corn this afternoon! We blanched it, cut it off the cob & stuck it in the freezer. We will finish it up tomorrow. We picked 52 ears, 60 cups cut off the cob for a total of 16 meals for our family. Hopefully we will get close to the same amount tomorrow! Then, maybe by next weekend we will be able to pick & freeze the secondary ears!

I told my husband that I wanted to put the cobs into the freezer so that I can pull them out as a treat for the chickens. His comment to me " I thought you were going to say that you wanted to keep them for toilet paper"...he cracks me up...

This is the tallest our corn has ever grown!
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Blanched
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I portion them into ziplocs, then place them into food saver bags. Each has two meals worth, I can reseal the bags after I take the first portion out.
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I'm usually am just a reader but have to ask how you keep the worms off your corn or are they not a problem. We just can't get rid of them, nor the squash bugs, cucumber beetles , and this year aphids have taken over the whole garden.

 

[littledog]

I have an eggplant plant (my first!) and it is just now flowering....it is about 30 inches high, and is strong and sturdy and healthy looking-- and lots of "blooms"...Im just worried it took so long to happen-- will there be time enough for the fruit to grow before winter? Im in southern Ontario...so we will have frost in about 6 weeks......

Ooh, it will be tight...you might get some. I seem to always run into a similar situation with eggplant, too. Maybe cover them with some clear plastic row covers and mulch for warmth? Even if you only get small ones, you can ripen them inside and still make ratatouille or add them to roasts or soups. That's usually what I end up with, lol.

 

[Kiwibird]

I'm usually am just a reader but have to ask how you keep the worms off your corn or are they not a problem. We just can't get rid of them, nor the squash bugs, cucumber beetles , and this year aphids have taken over the whole garden.

Can you buy beneficial insects over there, to eat the bad bugs or their larvae? I find them very helpful here, especially with aphids, but also with some of the other pests.

 

[drstratton]

I'm usually am just a reader but have to ask how you keep the worms off your corn or are they not a problem. We just can't get rid of them, nor the squash bugs, cucumber beetles , and this year aphids have taken over the whole garden.

This year has been extremely unusual for us! The only real problem we've had so far have been aphids, they made our broccoli completely inedible! We are usually battling squash beetles almost from the get go, but we haven't seen any! This is the first time we've grown corn in many years, we previously had problems with corn worms & smut, but again not this year. My husband was getting prepared to deal with them, but no worms! I wish I had some advice to give, but we just got lucky...except for the aphids!

 

[Sueby]

Morning everyone! Beautiful outside, nice & cool. I have a couple days off work so I'm canning all the beans & making some more squash bread.

Recipe?

& @NewBoots
I use this Ball recipe for Dilly Beans, but I always add a few slices of jalapeno for some heat & pickle crisp for crunch. My sister & I went out to a couple cideries yesterday & brought a jar I made earlier this summer & they were good, but not spicy enough. I might look into purple beans next year too, good idea. Plus they'd probably be pretty canned!
https://www.freshpreserving.com/blog/dilly-beans
Dilly Beans

Preserving method: Water bath canning
Makes about 6 (16 oz) pint jars

An old family classic! Feel free to kick up the flavor by adding a few pinches of crushed red pepper or chili powder to the brine.
You will need

• 3 lbs green and/or yellow wax beans, trimmed and cut into jar-length pieces (about 4 inches)
• 3 3/4 cups vinegar
• 3 3/4 cups water
• 1/3 cup Ball® Salt for Pickling and Preserivng
• 6 cloves garlic, crushed or thinly sliced
• 6 springs of dill

Directions

1. Prepare boiling water canner. Heat jars in simmering water until ready to use, do not boil. Wash lids in warm soapy water and set aside with bands.
2. Combine vinegar, water and salt in a large saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat, stirring to dissolve salt.
3. Place 1 clove crushed garlic and 1 dill sprig into a hot jar. Pack beans cut side up leaving a ½ inch headspace.
4. Ladle hot brine into a hot jar leaving a ½ inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Wipe jar rim. Center lid on jar and apply band, adjust to fingertip tight. Place jar in boiling water canner. Repeat until all jars are filled.
5. Process jars 15 minutes, adjusting for altitude. Turn off heat, remove lid, let jars stand 5 minutes. Remove jars and cool 12-24 hours. Check lids for seal, they should not flex when center is pressed.

@Sueby YEs, you can shove Dill weed flowers in with pickling. It's rather pretty. Just rinse it off well and inspect like a hawk. No one wants pickles with baby caterpillars.

If it happens just call then tequila pickles and move on.

Thank you! I wasn't able to find any dill yesterday so flowers it will be! I didn't get any swallowtail caterpillars on my dill this year, so hopefully there will be no bugs! I'll put the glasses on though.

Have a great day all.

 

[igorsMistress]

Good morning gardeners. We got an actual rain shower last night, not a lot only 1/4 to 1/3 inch in my rain gauge this morning, but enough to wash the dust off and the ground is still wet. I'll check the covered garden after work to see if it needs watering though, it takes a pretty good rain to get wet in there. Have a great day everyone!

 

[Compost King]

Overnight I picked all my red Cayenne Peppers, not many green ones left. Since they are in pots I am going to cut some back and put them in the greenhouse I plan to build. I have a lot of Thai hot peppers and trying to figure out what to do with them, they are really bad for cooking because they are too bitter, they likely would not ferment well because that makes bitter flavors stand out, Maybe I will pickle them in Apple Cider vinegar, even if they taste bad after that the vinegar might turn out great... hate to waste $10 worth of Vinegar just to see if I can make crappy peppers taste good. I do like the heat the bring so I figure Vinegar is best way to extract the heat and the sweet apple cider vinegar (with the mother of course) might cancel out the bitter.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

Good morning gardeners. Yesterday was beautiful. The temps were in the mid 70's although we did have a bit of a brisk wind. I picked some more blushing tomatoes, a few green beans, two jalapenos and an okra. I also thinned the endive and radishes. Nothing really planned for the garden today. I started a pot of tomatoes for sauce. There are more Romas in there then anything else. After this pot of tomatoes cooks down enough I'll switch it to a smallerpot so I can start prepping the peaches. As for your salsa verde not being as spicy hot as you would prefer @karenerwin, mine came out rather mild when I used jalapenos, however you could kick it up a bit with swapping out the jalapenos with some serranos. The flavor is similar, but the serranos have more heat. Also, toss in some of the seeds. Congratulations on the rain @igorsMistress. I'm sure it rinsed the dust away for a little while. My birds nest gourd plant is finally succumbing to squash beetles. I need to rip it out of the pot and send it to the compost pile. Yes you can buy beneficial bugs here @Kiwibird. A neighbor at my former house bought ladybugs online. I hadn't considered that since I had some overwinter in my house. However, I think they took off too soon before the bad bugs arrived. Love the idea of growing corn @drstratton, however I'm concerned about creating an open buffet for my local deer. One of my neighbors planted corn this year and I am curious when the deer will strike. No lovely garden pictures today, however, one of my Peace Lily's is blooming like crazy. Have a great day everyone.

I can find 6 new blooms and two older ones that have turned green.

 

[Acre4Me]

Yesterday, picked green beans! Quite a lot!

Here is the bean bed. On right are 2 kids of regular green bean. On the left are 2 kinds of French green bean (thinner), and in the middle are the beets that are quite happy. Oh, and here and there are carrots amongst the beans. Not sure if they will have enough time to grow fully before frost, but the beans will die back to let in more light, so the carrots might do ok. This bed is 16'x4'