Gardening, take another look before winter

I coax them into a 5 gallon bucket and hop on the ATV releasing them by my non-gardening (downhill) neighbor's.

I am in NE Iowa I have lots of cucumbers, cherry tomatoes are doing ok, other tomatoes are still green, peas are dead, carrots doing ok, tons of green beans, onions look sick, and still no sign of watermelon,although the plant is doing well. I water once a day, but we had rain here recently.

Mark Koernke is discussing the importance of seeds, 07-31-2012, click on the 5pm show.
[link to home.comcast.net]

I've got 40 ears average 6" saved for seed.
Starting after the jars.


MMmmm chinese. Sesame chicken. Good stuff.

I can do 30 pints at a time. 20 in the tall Presto and 10 in the regular one.
I've got 36 pints.
I added 1/4 cup of salt and 2 cups of sugar. Why?
Hell I don't know. I just do shit.

Both canners are up to pressure.

I couldn't get 6 in so I took 4 out of the big canner, it'll heat quicker and then I have one full batch for the small canner tomorrow.

Almost saddening to think how much physical labor is involved getting 36 16oz jars.

I think Aldi grocery still sells 12oz metal cans of most produce, corn, beans, peas for 50 cents/can.

I've got 36 16 oz, that's 30% more than if they were 12 oz.

36 X 1 1/3 = 48.

I just spent 14 hours doing this. Minus 2 hours for breaks, 1 hour nap, lets call it 10 hours.
An hour picking.
An hour on a tractor tilling the first time (just the corn area), An hour planting. 3 hours weeding over 2 months.
I water an hour once a day if it's not too hot.
Twice when it's real hot and it's frying the plants.

Over 2 months lets say once a week, one hour.
8 hours.

Total 23 hours to get $24 worth of corn with peppers.......oh, lets add the time into peppers.....

Dammit man.

Ya'all gonna starve.

Last Edited by HnryBwmn on 07/31/2012 10:57 PM

The last 10 pints are up to pressure. Finally limped off to bed at 1:30 this morning.
Was falling asleep in front of the pooter.
We got a little rain at 1am.


I put them into the pot over a low flame to keep them hot till now.

Last Edited by HnryBwmn on 08/01/2012 06:42 AM

I know, if you paid yourself just minimum wage, I calculated my green beans would cost about $20 per qt. It's crazy but the quality is amazing.

We may be havesting honey soon. Need to suit up and go check the hives.

Ship me one, could you please?

Maybe on the same truck as the canner?

Still looking for the tractor picture......

I'll bet your a big muskely broad shouldered Russian looking gal.....

Last Edited by HnryBwmn on 08/01/2012 09:44 AM

Ha, I'm not what you picture. Check your mailbox.

You don't grow green beans? I canned 191 qts of them and 21 pts.

I've tried the last 3 years. they won't do hooey in this sandy clay soil.

I just picked 3-5 gallon and one 2 1/2 gallon buckets of peppers.....dryer is empty.
That'll be next. Also collected another 200 or so tomatoe seeds on the brown paper bag you will see in the coming pics.

I need to pick tomatoes too, a bushel at least. I'm losing the tomatoes I picked the other day. Just crushed 6 of them to put into the pot for seed settling process.

Just put about 200 seeds on the brown paper to dry.
I've collected a pint of green bell and a 1/2 pint of banana pepper seeds so far.

3 quarts of dried peppers. If I forget to point out when I get around to posting pics, notice from left to right how they become more red.

What do the beans do? Not grow? Not set fruit? What variety are you planting? I have very sandy soil and my aunt has total clay and we both grow them.

Man. Beans. You have no idea how hard I tried.

Maybe next year if we et to.

I figured you were a looker.

You should gt one of your "Russian broad shouldered" looking neighbors on your tractor and post that!!!

I'm seeing almost no new blooms on the peppers.
Lots of bananas on plants, won't pick till larger. I just picked 95% of all the green bells.
No blooms. I think maybe a little fertilizer. I've got a big bag of Wonder Grow something or other in the shed that Red bought last year. Need to get that out.

Last Edited by HnryBwmn on 08/01/2012 11:21 AM

191/21? Dang girl you are a machine.

If he ever lets you go he needs a woopin.

I'd be willing to make room for ya.

Holy COW!!! I count myself fortunate if I get enough to fill that bowl in the back! Are you feeding an ARMY??!!

I admit, I hired a neighbor's 23 year old kid to help me do the picking. I did the snapping and canning though.

My hubby is the greatest ever. I couldn't ask for anyone to treat me better. He gets into the soil part of the garden. He does all of the fertilize, tractor work, irrigation set-up. And this year, he helped me shell purple hull peas and shuck corn. He learned how to operate the canner this year too!

Despite the clishe, my tomatoes are doing great! Seattle WA

That was just one picking - I got that much every two to three days when they were making. I canned over 200 jars of tomatoes/sauce/salsa and gave away over 1,000 lbs. of tomatoes. I was VERY blessed in the tomato department this year!

Lol! Your story about the Mayor reminds me of my late parents, who lived in one of those Senior Retirement places down in Southern Oregon. There was a bit of "community garden" land, and every year there was a contest for who could grow the biggest pumpkin. Everyone jealously guarded their "secret ingredients", even going so far as to sneak down in the middle of the night to add their soil amendments so no one could see what they were. A couple of them nearly came to blows over accusations of tampering with each others' little plots. Too funny! Life in a Retirement Community! And all over pumpkins!!

Spanish for "Henry". Isn't HnryBwmn ("Henry Bowman") your GLP name?

My real first name is Michael. And I am an American Patriot.

Yes, Henry Bowman is the main character of "Unintended Consequences" a story of the American revolution
THAT SHOULD BE OCCURRING NOW.
By John Ross.

By the end of the story the US prez declares amnesty for the people responsible for 600 dead ATF and other government officials. Also a pretty accurate history of the US gun culture and a damning account for all the bullshit gun laws we suffer under.



Edit: The book is a must read. While the first 25% is a slow go setting the characters and situations, the last 2/3 is a "can't put it down."

I used to buy and send my Grandfather books by Jeff Cooper like "To Ride. Shoot Straight and Speak the Truth".
I told him to go order this one and buy it himself.

After having it for a few days I called him up, he started cussing me out.

The man never swears. He was about 85 at the time. He was like "You rotten SOB, mother Fkkr, WTH, Fukk me."
I asked what was wrong, he said "I'm up till 3 or 4 in the morning every night, I can't put the damn thing down".

He loved it.
He loaned it to an Uncle, who also had the same problem.

Bad part is that back in 1998 or so when it first came out it was $25. It is now out of print and I'm sure will never be printed again. Nor will this superb story be made into a movie, even though it would be a major blockbuster.

The cost now on Ebay is around $150 for one in good condition.
Well worth the money in my opinion.

Last Edited by HnryBwmn on 08/01/2012 06:20 PM

I got about 7 hours sleep. Uncommon for me anymore, maybe once a week.

Peppers or tomatoes today?

I think tomatoes. Peppers will keep a few days and get sweeter and gain more colors. I've got 3 gallons in the freezer I can tap into to add.

Tomatoes however are going to go hooey.
I might have a bushel.

Pull out some veni and do spagetti/chili starter?

Meh, I don't know.

Mater day.

Consider some Rotel if you use it much. I make a lot of rotel.

Rotel? No clue, explain.

Maybe that's a brand we only have here? It's canned tomatoes with peppers (typically green chili) but I use whatever peppers I want. We mix it with velveeta a lot and serve it as a dip. I also use it in casseroles.

Siberia:
Victory Seed Company

Early, bright red fruits weighing up to five ounces, can set fruits at 38 degrees, not frost hardy

With this and the long ripening tomatoes you should have fresh tomatoes all winter long.

Does anyone here have any of the late Chuck Wyatt seed?

If so what do you have?

Weird, I picked Purple Cherokee, some kind of Orange and a bunch of red giants today. With what I picked 3 or 4 days ago I've got 1 1/2 bushel to do.
Was planning to work them up but when I did the dishes to clean up in preparaton my sink was plugged.
I spent 4 hours this morning reaming 50' of sink drains.....

Fun fun. So I didn't do didly today after that.
Big acomplishment though, It's taken 4 years to plug them up so I'm good for awhile.

Made veni spagetti tonight. Tried some of my dried peppers. Tastes great.
Another batch out of the dryer. I loaded it up real heavy this time, filled a whole quart with just Green bells.
Almost a bushel.