WR's 2014 Spring Garden

[w_r_ranch]

Sam, What kind of green beans are you growing?

'Kentucky Blue' & 'Italian Roma'

For some reason, my plants came on strong and now I don't see any beans or flowers. Are they going to come back?

Beans do better in the cooler springtime temperatures. Since I got a late start this year, I hope we get enough to make it through the year before they shut down.

 

[w_r_ranch]

Finished harvesting the potatoes, sorry to say I didn't get a 'lunker' but it was still a decent crop for planting them as late as I did. I reformed the row & will plant something tomorrow (don't know what yet, probably field peas). I also need to spread the remaining mulch on this row (waste not, want not).

Spot sprayed the silk on the corn to keep the ear worms away. It's looking really good so far, can't wait till it's ready!!!

 

[Rahab222]

I planted Kentucky Blue green beans, also. I think I picked 3 beans today, but I'm not seeing any flowers. I did plant them at the end of last summer and they did really well in the fall. Guess that's why - they're for cooler weather.

 

[w_r_ranch]

We had yet another bad storm last night... non-stop lightning, high winds (avg 26.6, with gusts to 33.6 MPH) & 1.8" of hard rain - almost all of it in a 45 minute time period.

Needless to say, the garden is laying flat this morning... sigh...

 

[Rahab222]

This weather missed our section yesterday. It went to the northern parts of Houston, instead. Hopefully your plants will perk back up.

 

[w_r_ranch]

Tied up the 'Health Kick' tomatoes. Ripped out 8 of the 10 'Porterhouse' tomatoes (gorgeous plants but they're not producing). Staked the jalapeno plants as they are too heavy to support themselves.

Tried helping the corn stand back up & saw that it now has 'stalk rot'. I will rip it all out tomorrow morning & burn it... We were so looking forward to having a good corn harvest.

Harvested more green beans (4.67 lbs), jalapenos, tomatoes & eggplant.

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Time to start making the Caponata!!!

 

[Rahab222]

Sam; The items you've photographed and posted are beautiful! Did all the recent rain cause "stalk rot" in your corn? Is all of it lost? Sounds like most of your plants are doing well since you're having to prop them up. I've been going out around 7:00 a.m. to tend to my garden, before it gets really hot and humid. Houston had a heat index of 104 degrees today.

 

[w_r_ranch]

It's been a while & I apologize for not posting any pics lately... I'll try to take some tomorrow.

The garden has been keeping us quite busy... The eggplant are still loaded & I need to make more caponata (the sauce of it is in the refrigerator), but the tomatoes are what's really keeping us busy.

This past week, we have been canning 'whole' tomatoes every day, as our goal is to put up 12 cases (144 quarts) again this season. We are working on spaghetti sauce about every third day. After those are completed, well work on the picante sauce & some GTO sauce. We are harvesting 1-2 meat tubs a day (which yields about 15 quarts/tub)

Mrs Ranch has been picking/freezing 4-5 lbs of green beans every few days and she has been picking & stuffing jalapenos a couple of times a week.

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[whistech]

Those canned tomatoes sure look good! Is that bay leaves or basil in the jar?

 

[w_r_ranch]

Bay leaves from our tree.

 

[Rahab222]

Everything looks great!

 

[w_r_ranch]

Since my wife commandeered the kitchen this morning, I finally took some pictures for an update... The harvest started a little over a week ago & we have been busy canning/freezing on a daily basis.

The garden itself is doing well, especially since the temps have been in the mid-90s. The big news is the corn... 10 days ago we had another bad storm (everything got flatted) & the corn ended up with 'stalk rot'. I was going to rip it all out, but then decided to see if a very heavy concentration of copper solution would save it. This did the trick, although we did lose about 15-20% of it. The remainder look to be healthy & the ears are filling out nicely & it should be ready for harvest in a week or so.

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The eggplants have gotten even larger & are continuing to set fruit. I will be harvesting about 20 lbs tomorrow to make a big batch of caponata.

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The 'Health Kick' Romas have been ripening for a little over a week now & have been keeping us busy!!! They are our main tomato variety & I highly recommend them!!!

We have 2 'Porterhouse' plants left and the few tomatoes we gotten thus far were excellent, we used them for BTLs & the slices were larger than the bread!!! Too bad they didn't produce more fruit...

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The green beans (both the Kentucky Blue & Italian Roma) are producing very well & Mrs. Ranch has been picking 4-5 lbs of green beans every few days & vacuum packing them.

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The jalapenos have been producing so well that I had to stake them!!! Mrs Ranch has been stuffing them like crazy, in fact she has 14 more ready for supper tonight!

The sweet green peppers will be ready in a couple of weeks, which is about when I'll be ready to make the GTO sauce.

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I've already told you about the corn... I can hardly wait to try it!!!

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[w_r_ranch]

The second planting of cucumbers is finally starting to take off & has lots of blooms (the first planting was a flop).

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Next is the spaghetti squash... it going nuts in this heat. I been cutting vines off to keep it contained, LOL!!! Going to be a really good crop again this year (42 of them thus far)!!!

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The okra also is loving the heat & they are blooming their lil' hearts out!!! I look forward to fried okra mid-week!!!

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And last but not least are the melons. All 4 varieties are doing well & will take over the respective area shortly. All are flowering.

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[whistech]

Mr. Ranch, your garden is picture perfect! Everything looks so healthily and vigorous. What variety of sweet peppers do you grow? Mine never look that good during the summer months.

 

[w_r_ranch]

Thanks whistech. I believe the irrigation system (and the EZ-Flow injection system) has a lot to do with the vigor. Being able to tailor the basic & micro nutrients, as well as the amount being applied has certainly helped maintain plant health... especially considering that this is the first year for this soil.

The green peppers are 'Sweet California Wonder', which is a heirloom.

 

[ErnieCopp]

Sam,
I like your idea of a trellis for the melons. The centers of my patch just keep getting more dense, and last year had a problem with humidity and downy mildew. I think a string of sheep panels down the middle of my single row, would be very helpful. I plant between two drip tubes, one plant every two feet, and let them run sideways as much as they want to. Except fot the middle of the patch, the vines are nicely spread out. Watermelons really gaining weight. Some as big as footballs. Plenty of each kind but maybe not as many as last year.

Ernie

 

[w_r_ranch]

Picked another tub of tomatoes & canned another 12 quarts of whole tomatoes (#7) from yesterday's tub. While the last batch was in the 'water bath', I picked some okra & 4 ears of corn. Then picked 20 lbs of eggplant to finished the caponata (I started yesterday, so all I have left to do is the eggplant). We will freeze tomorrow before vacuum packing it.

Mrs. Ranch vacuumed pack the green beans that I picked for her (she cleaned & froze them yesterday). Also vacuum packed the zucchini bread that she made yesterday.

 

[w_r_ranch]

Picked orka, japs & corn today. Japs have been stuffed with cream cheese seasoned w/the seeds & taco seasoning for a cold side dish with tonight's tacos.

While we were having our margaritas this afternoon, we saw a squirrel feeding on the corn (he ran off before I could shoot him, LOL!). I'll harvest a tub of corn tomorrow to make sure we get our share & lessen the temptation... The squirrel will eventually end up in s pot of stew, its just a matter of time...

 

[w_r_ranch]

Harvested another tub of tomatoes & 63 ears of corn. Since we will need the stove top to blanch the corn prior to vacuum pack it for freezing, we will start making Roasted Tomato Spaghetti Sauce instead of canning whole tomatoes today. Mrs. Ranch is dicing the onions & garlic right now...

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[w_r_ranch]

The 1st two roasting pans are in the oven. We'll start the last 2 after lunch & then start on the corn...

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[w_r_ranch]

While we were having our margaritas this afternoon, we saw a squirrel feeding on the corn (he ran off before I could shoot him, LOL!). I'll harvest a tub of corn tomorrow to make sure we get our share & lessen the temptation... The squirrel will eventually end up in s pot of stew, its just a matter of time...

Like I said, it was only a matter of time... I was sitting on the back porch & saw him feeding his face... I guess he didn't notice the laser dot on the side of his head. He is now resting peaceably on a bed of ice in a Playmate cooler. Since he ate my corn, I'll eat him.

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[whistech]

Mr. Ranch, your corn looks delicious. How did you keep the ear worms out of your corn? One less tree rat is always a good thing!

 

[w_r_ranch]

I spot sprayed the silk periodically (every 3 -5 days), but we still had a few ear worms.

I can't say that this super sweet variety (SH2) is any sweeter than what we used to grow, although I can say that it does remain very 'crisp' after cooking.

 

[Rahab222]

The Ranch's must be exhausted from all your harvesting and canning activities. Everything looks GREAT! Especially the corn. I've eaten rabbit and gator, but I can honestly say I've never eaten a tree rat...don't intend to.

 

[w_r_ranch]

Finished blanching/freezing the corn. Measured out the 1st batch of spaghetti sauce into containers that are being pre-frozen prior to vacuum packing them tomorrow. Then finished the 2nd pot of spaghetti sauce (since we just plain ran out of gas yesterday, LOL).

Then picked some cucumbers.

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