WR's 2014 Spring Garden

[45 ACP]

Looks awesome!

 

[whistech]

Mr. Ranch, looks like your garden had an explosion of growth last week. Absolutely beautiful!

 

[Rahab222]

WOW! Your garden looks amazing, Sam. Do you and Ms. Ranch do all the canning by yourselves? I'm sure this site will be getting plenty of pictures from me once the bug invasion starts... This has been one of the advantages of an extended spring this year - delay, delay, delay.

 

[w_r_ranch]

Thanks everyone.

Yes Rahab, we do all of our own canning & cooking (we enjoy the process & always have). We normally have more than enough to share with our older neighbors, as many of them can no longer garden for themselves. We consider it a small way of thanking them for their friendships over the years.

 

[Rahab222]

Well, this site has really gotten me thinking about stepping my gardening up a notch - to canning; simple stuff like jams, salsa, pickles, etc. So...I bought myself this really COOL, Ball Jam and Jelly Maker that makes four half pints of jam or jelly at a time. Everything's automatic and the recipes come with the machine. I made 8 half pints of blackberry jam to put up for Christmas gifts today I did cut the sugar in the recipe from FOUR CUPS?!!!! to two cups and added two extra cups of blackberries. It came out MAHVELOUSLY - I know because I licked the spoon I just plugged the machine in, put in the pectin, blackberries and 1 tsp. butter and turned the machine on. After four minutes, it beeped me to gradually add the sugar and put the lid on. The 21 minutes required to let the machine make the jam was the time I needed to prepare my Ball jars and get my water bath going. I am SO EXCITED! HEB was having a sale on blackberries for .91/half pint. So yes, I bought my berries. THEN I had enough blackberries left to make Sam's Blackberry Cobbler recipe to take to a family funeral in Louisiana tomorrow. It looks beautiful! So I did two advanced things today, for me, and I'm ahead of the game on Christmas. We'll be driving to Louisiana tomorrow, so I'll be keeping my eyes open for any roadside farmers peddling fruits from the bayou. When I get back, I'm going to give candied jalapenos a try to put in my Christmas baskets with the jam. This new jam and jelly maker is going to really make people wonder at what point I turned into Martha Stewart? I will say, my whole kitchen looked like it blew up from today's effort, but it's clean again now and I'm ready for our road trip tomorrow.

BTW, Sam, I hope all your neighbors appreciate the amount of time you put in on them. You just can't go wrong with a good food gift.

 

[ErnieCopp]

Sam,

I would appreciate a copy of your Blackberry cobbler recipe. We have them running out our ears here, and looking for more ways to use them. They have never been my favorite berry, but Linda has made some very good compote and freezer jam from some of them. But i want her to save some room for the Loquats i already have and the dried figs and raisins i will have. I do not dry the fruits enough for dry storage, I leave them slightly soft and freeze them.

Ernie

 

[w_r_ranch]

Here you go Ernie... Blackberry Cobbler

 

[w_r_ranch]

Since it's been a couple of weeks since the last progress report, I figured it was time. The garden really liked the recent rains & the warmer temps as you can see when you compare them to the last pictures.

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The eggplants are of course 'heat lovers' & have more than doubled in size. There are a good number of fruit on them as well!!!

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The tomatoes have exploded & I had to tie them up again as they are getting heavy with fruit. The 'Health Kick' Romas (leftmost 4 rows) have always been good producers for us & it appears that we will be doing a lot of canning again this year. The 'Porterhouse' variety (rightmost row) is new to us & doesn't seem to be as productive. I'll reserve judgement on those for now... The plants themselves are huge.

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Next are the green beans & the potatoes... The potatoes should be ready for harvest in about 2 weeks (+/-) as they have started dying back & falling over. I can no longer get down the pathway between them & the green beans.

The green beans (both the Kentucky Blue & Italian Roma) really had a growth spurt & have pretty much covered their trellis. One day last week, Mrs Ranch picked 2 lbs & never told me... I thought she bought them, LOL!!! I guess I wasn't looking at the base of the plants.

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Peppers, both sweet & hot... What can I say... I'm addicted to them, especially the jalapenos!!! I don't care it they're raw, cooked, pickled or stuffed!!!

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Now the sweet corn... It's been at least a decade since I grew corn, but now that I got the space & since it's been so expensive to buy... 'Sun & Stars' is a bi-color super sweet variety (Sh2) & it is looking great so far!!!
It just entered the 'tassel stage' this week.

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Continued in the next post...

 

[w_r_ranch]

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Next on the list is the Spaghetti Squash... They may start slow, but when the weather turns warmer (hot) they take off!!! They store real well & we'll still be eating them this coming winter.

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No southern garden is complete without Okra. Here we only grow 'Clemson Spineless', another heat lover.

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And last but not least, are 4 varieties of melons. They are traditionally planted late as they hate cool soil... All of them were planted on May 1st & like the spaghetti squash they are slow to start... however once they take off, they will completely fill in that section of the garden in no time.

If you've never had the pleasure of eating a home grown melon, you are missing an opportunity to taste heaven on earth!!! These are prized by everyone here & the worst part of growing them is trying to keep the coons & possums from helping themselves (a lot of which will die trying again this year, I'm sure). A couple of years ago I killed 53 coons by Labor Day... Wish I could still get $15/pelt.

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I want to note here that the 'Nutmeg Cantaloupe' & the 'Persian Melon' seeds were very graciously supplied by my friend Ernie. Thanks again Ernie!!!

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This coming week, I need to mulch the rows in the melon bed...

 

[ErnieCopp]

Sam,
That is a beautiful garden, and all that rain looks like it has done you more good than damage. How do you handle the mulch between garden seasons. Do you mix it in when you till or rake it back?

I am thinking about pruning back the Cantaloupe leaves that shade the melons so they will get more sunlight. Has anyone tried that, or does the amount of sun have an effect on the ripenning process, or does the sun have to go through the leaves to benefit the melons?

My melon plants became too dense last year, so i do plan to prune them to aid air circulation and reduce the chance of nold, but would like to spread out the harvest time on the melons by pruning some and leaving some in the shade.

Ernie

 

[whistech]

Mr. Ranch, your garden gets more beautiful every time you post an update and I am envious, but I know you put in the hard work to get it that way.

 

[majorcatfish]

Very nice update .....

 

[w_r_ranch]

How do you handle the mulch between garden seasons. Do you mix it in when you till or rake it back?

I always mulch in the spring, about a month after planting, which pretty much keeps the weeds at bay & in the fall, I rake it back prior to reforming the rows & planting the 'fall' garden. After that garden is harvested, I till everything under, form the rows & start again. The mulch is an excellent source of organic matter & really helps in weed suppression.

 

[Rahab222]

Sam, You have the most beautiful and best organized garden I've ever seen. It's absolutely gorgeous! Thank you so much for sharing your pictures. I'm trading tomatoes for homegrown watermelons that my cousin is growing on several acres (family land) outside College Station. You're right, you'll never taste a better melon than the homegrown ones.

How do you store all your potatoes?

 

[w_r_ranch]

How do you store all your potatoes?

I spread them out on 'bread trays', which stack & allow for air circulation.



They spend about 2-3 weeks curing in the party barn (where I do most of my cooking).



After that, I move the racks into the guest house (which is cool & dark, as we don't have all that many overnight guests anymore).

 

[Rahab222]

You are very blessed to have all the space you have. Thanks for sharing your experience.

 

[ErnieCopp]

Sam, I am a big fan of mulching, too, but i have only used coarse mulch in permanent plantings. I did not know whether garden soil could handle and absorb coarse mulch annually. I have been buying a much finer mulch for my garden, but may try some a little coarser next year.

Ernie

 

[w_r_ranch]

Course mulch would take too long to breakdown & it is mainly used for ornamental purposes in flower/shrub beds.

I always use the finely shredded pine bark mulch which breaks down much quicker. It also compacts much denser to help even out the soil moisture & inhibit weed growth. It is an added expense & takes time to spread, but it adds much needed organic matter to the soil & is certainly a big time/labor saver over the course of a year. It is worth every penny spent, IMO.

 

[ErnieCopp]

i think that clarifies it. The mulch in your garden is mjuch coarser than what they sell out here, because yours is pine bark, and they make mine from just green waste, What is often used out here for heavy mulch is much too big to decay in a year, But since what you show is bigger than mine, i am going to try to get something coarser next year as mine disappears too soon to suit me.

Ernie

 

[w_r_ranch]

I mulched the melon rows today & cleaned the greenhouse...

 

[w_r_ranch]

Last night, I took a stroll through the garden & saw that the corn has started setting silk, so this morning I sprayed the entire garden (concentrating on the corn) with Bt to keep the 'earworns' from ruining our crop. Also saw the all the melons are starting to vine.

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[w_r_ranch]

Well it's that time of year... With the forecast calling for a minimum 91 degrees for the next 10 days, I figure it was probably best to harvest the potatoes now before they steam in the ground. Got about 60% of them in before my back told me to quit, so I'll finish tomorrow morning. The biggest one this far clocked in at just shy of a pound (I'm still hopeful about getting a lunker).

Mrs. Ranch harvested some of the green beans & is fixing to freeze/vacuum pack them.

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[whistech]

Mr. Ranch, I would be having green beans with red potatoes and a ham hock and chopped onions thown in. That to me is a perfect meal.

 

[w_r_ranch]

LOL!!! Green beans (w/bacon) & new potatoes just happens to be on the menu for tomorrow, along with a rack of ribs.

 

[Rahab222]

Sam, What kind of green beans are you growing? For some reason, my plants came on strong and now I don't see any beans or flowers. Are they going to come back? I need to harvest my last box of red potatoes, too. I'm going to try to get up early before the heat sets in for the day. We're sizzling in Houston, too. I needed to water and fertilize today, but only got around to a few of my 4' x 4' boxes. I can't believe everything is already so dry. I spent today canning strawberry jam, as I had a bunch of strawberries I needed to process before they got too soft to use. I'm still looking for more blackberries... Tomorrow will be salsa making day to use up a lot of these tomatoes I picked before they go bad, although I've given a lot away. I want to include salsa in my Christmas baskets with the jam for gifts. My brother said he'll come and help me blister these on the pit tomorrow. Looks like we'll be doing it at night, as I don't want to be standing in front of a furnace outside in this heat. Any tips or pointers for this?