WR's 2014 Spring Garden

[w_r_ranch]

Kind of taking the day off... although I did pick some stuff for tonight's supper (okra, japs, tomatoes & green beans). Today all we did was vacuum pack the frozen corn & spaghetti sauce.

The green beans are just about done, the heat is doing them in. Same with the corn, although I still have some to harvest (probably tomorrow). Will harvest tomatoes tomorrow as well & then continue canning.

 

[Rahab222]

Yes, I picked 4, whole green beans today. I do have flowers, but I've been really disappointed with my Blue Lakes in comparison to last year's crop. Do you think I should pull the vines on the trellis, or leave them for scattered green beans for soup and shade for my tomatoes? I could also go ahead and plant another round of cucumbers. The pickling cumcumbers (small) are doing really well, but the larger, disease resistant cucumbers are having difficulty even getting going.

 

[w_r_ranch]

Rahab, I'm thinking about pulling mine next week so the vines can die & then I'll be able to clear off the panels before it's time for the fall garden. I'm not interested in a few beans at a time, I personally don't think its worth the effort...

 

[Rahab222]

Sam; Okay, so you're going to pull your green bean vines next week and Whistech is going to pull his determinate tomatoes next week. Guess that's when I'll do the same to free up space for the fall garden. Are you pulling determinate tomato plants yet?

 

[w_r_ranch]

Not yet as there are still a lot of tomatoes that need to mature. Probably 2 -3 weeks worth...

 

[w_r_ranch]

Pick 26 more ears of corn & a half tub of tomatoes... It's hot, I'm literally drenched.

After cleaning up, I got the corn done & put it in the freezer... Look like we will have 22 - 4 packs for later. Anything further, we will eat fresh.

 

[w_r_ranch]

Vacuum packed the frozen corn from yesterday & made more spaghetti sauce (3 1/2 gallons).

 

[w_r_ranch]

July 1st already, how time flies when you're busy!!! We are still putting up as much as we can before the heat really kicks in & shuts most of the garden down. Some of the plants are already showing signs of stress & pushing to mature their fruit. The heat lovers on the other hand, are just crank'in.

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The eggplant, being heat lovers, are really producing. We used more than 20 pounds just making Caponata that was put up for the winter & still have to do our Eggplant Parmigiana, but we have way more than we need. Any of the local members would like some, let me know...

I will add that 'Millionaire' is the best looking & most prolific variety we have ever grown. We will definitely be planting it again next year!

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The 'Health Kick' tomatoes Have been keeping us real busy here. We still have a lot of canning ahead of us... needless to say, this variety can always be counted on to fill a pantry.

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The 'Kentucky Blue' & the 'Italian Roma' green beans have about had it & will be pulled out next week. We have numerous 2 pound bags in the freezers for the winter.

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The green peppers are still doing well & the fruit looks to be thick-walled prolific enough that we should have enough to put up both GTO Sauce & some Stuffed Peppers.

The jalapenos are crank'in out some really good sized stuffing peppers (Mrs. Ranch has been making them about every third day). We will be canning some later in the month.

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The corn is, for the most part, finished & will be pulled out next week. The plants themselves will be run through the chopper & fed to the cattle. We ended up with about 100 ears, of which 88 are vacuum packed for later.

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The cucumbers are producing well & are still covered with blooms. They are on the supper menu every night here for the duration.

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[w_r_ranch]

The Spaghetti Squash are almost done here, the heat is taking it toll & they're pushing to finish maturing their fruit. As soon as that happens, I will be pulling them out... We got some real beauties this year & they will be delicious this winter!!!

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The okra plants are huge this year & have been producing plenty already, but they should go nuts here in about 2-3 weeks!!! I plan on freezing some as well this year.

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And now the melons... Being quintessential heat lovers, all four varieties have exploded in growth & all have set enormous quantities of fruit!!! As I mentioned earlier, I'm going to have a problem if even half of them ripen, so if any members here want to come out, let me know & I'll be glad to fix you up... I'm serious.

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[whistech]

Mr. Ranch, when you have a couple of extra watermelons, give me a call and I will come and get them.

Your garden is looking beautiful and I'm still amazed at your bell peppers.

 

[ErnieCopp]

Sam,
Do you see any difference in the leaf shape and color between the Persians and the Nutmegs? And the shape of the small melons should be different. The plants i see on your trellis cause me to wonder if I sent you two packs of Persian instead of a pack of each. I only have the one variety from the supposedly different seed we planted, and the only two Nutmeg plants i have are volunteers.

So we may have to wait and start over again from the volunteers seed. The good news is that if i did make a mistake, the Persians are better than the Nutmegs.

Ernie

 

[w_r_ranch]

Not really Ernie, the leaves appear to be the same in structure, although the nutmegs are somewhat smaller in size (25-30%) & the vine growth appears to be somewhat less than the Persians although it is really hard to say at this point as they have merged. Both varieties are healthy & are growing 1 to 1.5 feet per day.

We will just have to wait & see what the fruit looks like as they mature.

 

[ErnieCopp]

Sam,
The persians are more pointed on the stem end, while the nutmegs are shaped like other cantaloupe, being more evenly oval.

My volunteers are a few weeks older than the planted ones, so i kept hoping that was the difference but it looks more and more like i lost track of the seed drying saucers. Just happy i have those volunteers so i get a second chance.

Ernie

 

[45 ACP]

Your garden looks awesome Sam! I bet it's very rewarding to see the new garden project finally complete and producing. Lots of work went into that. Very nice.

 

[w_r_ranch]

Thanks 45. It's not totally complete yet... I still have to do the asparagus bed & the area around it. I need to spray the area & the forecasts have been so off/on that I don't know what it is going to do. I got everything on hand that I need to complete this lil' project (except for the 1" aggregate) & so look forward to getting it done as that particular area is a pain to keep trimmed.

 

[w_r_ranch]

Harvested tomatoes, jalapenos, okra & some Italian Roma green beans. Hopefully tomorrow we will have enough tomatoes to make another batch of spaghetti sauce...

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[w_r_ranch]

Picked a bunch of jalapenos & some okra. Time to start do some Cold Pickled Jalapenos & pickled okra...

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Ended up with 8 pints of japs & 1 pint of okra today!

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[ErnieCopp]

Sam, We are going to try cooking Okra for the first time, and i have two pods about 6 inches long, and then they drop down to only 2.5 inches. What size is the smallest and the biggest you think we can use? Most of my first plantings did not connect, so i only have a few of those, but later plantings were more successful so those will be more uniform.

Ernie

 

[w_r_ranch]

2 1/2" to 3 1/2" is when you want to pick them. When they get big, they get woody & are no good. I'd trash the 6" ones...

When they're only producing a few here & there, I normally just wash/dry them & then freeze them till I have enough to do something with.

 

[ErnieCopp]

Okay, will do.

Thanks
Ernie

 

[w_r_ranch]

Picked another tub of tomatoes, some okra, & a couple of cucumbers. Started the last batch of spaghetti sauce. Tomorrow or Tuesday I will do the first batch of GTO Sauce.

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The watermelons are starting to scare me, there must be 75 - 100 of them, maybe more!!! These are about 6" long already...

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[ErnieCopp]

My watermelons are about right, varying from 12 pounds or so down to small ones, but the persians are the runaways this year with about twice or more per plant than last year. Very definitely a mixup on the planting here, as no Nutmegs were planted. Very glad i had the two volunteers.

After seeing your melons on the trellis i am definitely going to do that next year, and not plant nearly as many plants.

Ernie

 

[w_r_ranch]

Ernie, I planted 7 persians , 7 nutmegs, 12 honeydews & 7 groups of watermelon. I have a tendency to plant things as if I expect a so-so year... More often than not, we have a big surplus come harvest time.

This morning, we are going to pre-freeze packages of yesterday's spaghetti sauce & then roasted the tomatoes for the GTO sauce (we'll roast the onions & green peppers tomorrow) before canning it.

Need to pick more okra for 'stewed tomatoes & okra' & do a couple more cases of whole tomatoes, but we are close to having everything we need for the coming year (& then some). We still have a lot of tomatoes & eggplant, so it's time to start giving them away...

 

[ErnieCopp]

I am really interested in your trellised melon system. Are their vines strong enough to support the larger melons, do you use a home made bra to support for them, or what happens to the fruit that is up off the ground? I recall seeing some of your spaghetti squash hanging, but assume squash vines are tougher.

I planted all of my melons in one row, drip irrigated, at two foot spacing, with all the room they wanted to go sideways. That worked good, except the foliage is too dnese near the middle, so one row of trellis down the middle should be about right, if the melons will hang on.

This sudden hot spell we had split a few of the cantaloupe, but all have been very good this year.

Ernie

 

[w_r_ranch]

I have grown cantaloupe & honeydews like this for years without any issues. If a cantaloupe gets too ripe (missed it when picking) it will fall off, as would be expected. Honeydews don't do that in spite of them weighing 4-7 lbs. I wouldn't attempt trying this with watermelons though, LOL!!!

The biggest challenge we have with the melons has always been coons & possums here. As soon as I see a melon tore up, I go on a killing spree (I hate them fence-climbing thieves).