Preparing For Those Summer Crops

Daughter Fred went into the hospital to have grandson Owen a few weeks ago and brought her tomato seedlings over barely breaking the ground for Mom to care for. They liked it so much they stayed awhile : ) Those of you that have children know what I mean! Sometime this week they are going home. Mom says so... We are hoping that it will be dry enough that they can work the soil in her garden. Meanwhile I take them in and out everyday as weather permits and allow them to bask in the sunshine on those sunny days preparing them to go into the garden permanently.

As for me I try to time my tomatoes to be ready the first of June. Rarely do I even attempt to plant them before then. Lately I have gotten several comments and questions on this. Traditionally the weather is just too unstable before June for us and this year is no exception. We have had beautiful weather for the last couple days and I have planted many seed crops such as corn/beans/squash but don't be in such a hurry to stick out those young plants. I like to make sure that mine are hardened off well before just sticking them out there. And for us a perfect example is tomorrows chance of hail and high winds. That weather scenario so typical this time of year as a result of hot air and cold air colliding. So my plants are just now being potted up into larger pots to allow them plenty of root room in their pots. They will really start to grow now as I start to harden them off outdoors. Usually on my porch railings at first where they receive only the morning sun for a few hours. After a few days of that then they graduate to the picnic table out in full sun for a few days. From there they are ready for the garden.  In another 2 to 3 weeks they should be perfect for that row in my own garden.   

Perfect temperatures for your tomatoes to set fruit are from 65 to 80 degrees. Temperatures lower than 55 will cause misshapen fruit. Temperatures over 95 will sometimes cause reduced fruit set and temperatures below 50 will cause the same. We have night time lows forecasted in the high 40's for next week. So you have accomplished little setting out large blooming plants this time of year in my area. As a general rule even if your plants are blooming they will not set fruit this time of year with the temperature extremes anyway without a greenhouse or covering of some kind.  Patience is such an important part of gardening!   

 

My sweet pepper plants are just now ready to be potted up and are not far behind the tomatoes. Sweet peppers do not like cool weather at all and will just languish if the temperatures are too cool. Pollen sterility can occur in temperatures over 90 degrees. Less than 60 degrees equals poor fruit set or night time temperatures great than 75 can cause the same thing.  We humans try to rush these thing but there is a reason these are summer fruits.

Meanwhile it will not be long before I try replanting some of the onion starts I have lost to groundhogs and snowstorms of late.  I have lost so much time it will be interesting to see what they do. A great deal will depend on when it turns off really hot. 

Basil are coming along and will go into the garden about the same time as the tomatoes and peppers. 

And my second crop of broccoli and cabbage are just about ready to harden off. I have no idea what the future will bring with these little guys and the temperatures again will tell the story. If it turns off hot I will have to attempt a third crop in the fall which may be my best hope anyway. 

 

For now we wait. Temperatures last  weekend were again in the 30's so I will simply nurse my warm weather crops along inside, moving them outside on the porch on sunny warm days and see what happens over the next week or two. They are calling for 70 and 80 degree days for this week  after some 90's last week. If that continues it would help us immensely on catching up on some of our gardening projects. What would help even more is rain once a week or so and not every day. Gosh aren't I picky and I will have to take what I can get and make the most of it! I think I am getting whiny in my old age : ) 

For now O Wise One and I are busy mowing and planting seeds. So far we have 6 rows of corn, green beans, red beans, cucumbers, purple hull peas, and red beans planted. The mustard greens, carrots and beets are up and growing and we spent the week adding straw to the potatoes and onions.  

Hoping everyone has a wonderful weekend and hope to see you again on Monday!

Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter

Good Morning..Just Thought I'd Drop By

We woke up Thursday morning to a friend on the front porch greeting us. Seems that in the last storm he became frightened and flew away from the neighbor's house several miles away.

Since we had a yard full of chickens, turkeys and such we seemed like pretty hospitable folk so he just thought it looked like a good place to hang out. 

O Wise One has shut him up and called the young man that owns him to let him know that he is safe and really needs to return to his own flock. 

As for me I'll be washing peacock poo off the porch railings : )

Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter

Guests In The Chicken House

During our early May snowstorm we had a great many limbs fall in the yard. There were also a great many that were damaged and are still in the trees. So now every time we have a small rainstorm with any little small wind involved we are still getting limbs that fall. 

   

Rocky and Bullwinkle love it when they fall in their pins. They can strip the bark and leaves off those limbs faster than any critter I have ever seen. 

And somehow during all these falling limbs we have ended up with these little guys in the chicken house. My guess is that they are some sort of Martin, (Mom looks like a Purple Martin) but even more strange is that the chickens do not mess with them at all.

Despite the fact that they are no longer in the giant maple towering over the chicken yard the mother has obviously continued to feed them. They have nestled out a small nest in the straw in the corner of the chicken house and are surviving nicely it seems. 

Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter

Starting Sweet Potatoes

One of the last crops that I start in the house are my sweet potato slips. Two potatoes stored from last year were placed in jars with wooden bamboo skewers stuck into the sides of the potatoes to hold them partially out of the water while roots form on the bottom of the potato in the water and sprouts form out the top of the potato. 

These potatoes had already started sprouting before I had even gotten them in the window sill.

 

Once the leaves start to form the sprouts can be broken off and planted or placed in another jar of water until roots form. Sweet potatoes are a hot weather crop and for us are one of the last summer crops to go in the garden, usually in mid June. That gives us a good month or more to prepare and root our sprouts.

Once the weather warms up good my sprouts are taken out of the water and placed into the soil. I put milk jugs with the bottom removed over the top of my sprouts to protect them from full sun for several days and to help hold moisture until they get established.  After about a week the jugs are ready to come off.

Here you can see the jugs have come off and the sprouts have started to run in last years garden.

Once your sweet potatoes really take off they will cover a very large area of your garden.

And if you are lucky at the end of the year this is what you get.

Last year I planted 13 sweet potato slips. This year I am limiting myself to 6 because I still have sweet potatoes to be dehydrated and it is May.  They just loved all that heat last year with that drought!

Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter

Times Of Plenty

Our spring here was running pretty cool overall and really wet as springs go. And at the least 4 weeks late  too! But the work continues with our first crops starting to roll in.  My days are filled with almost daily asparagus gatherings to be trimmed, washed, blanched, frozen and vacuum sealed. 

On this particular day we added rhubarb to the harvest list.

Once the rhubarb is trimmed, it is washed and cut into about 1 inch chunks. 

From there it goes on baking sheets to be frozen.  The frozen chunks are easily broken apart.

Once frozen it is vacuum sealed in bags.

Since I already have rhubarb in jars, in bags in the freezer and strawberry rhubarb pie filling in the freezer this is going into gallon bags. When time permits, later in the year, I will be making rhubarb wine from this fruit. 

Since I have already put up some asparagus in canning jars the harvests are being frozen now for use during the winter. It is washed, trimmed and blanched once it makes it in the house. 

Once blanched, drained and cool to the touch I place it on baking sheets and freeze it overnight. 

Then the frozen spears are placed in vacuum bags and sealed, then labeled and then they go into the freezer. So again I am making regular additions to my freezer and the preparations for winter 2013/2014 begin. Some contributions to my freezer are by multiple gallons at one time and others are 4 to 5 bags added every day or two. They all add up to the same thing for my family though. The ability to open a freezer, jar, or pantry door at any given time and have healthy, home grown food readily available.  

Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter