It’s amazing how fast everything is maturing. Tonight, I’ve got to pick several Umpqua broccoli heads, which I’ll cut up and freeze. (I have lots of dehydrated broccoli on hand already.) It’s so sweet I could eat it three meals a day. And the three cauliflower varieties, Amazing, Purple of Sicily, and Rober are all getting huge. I haven’t seen any heads forming yet, but soon. And I think they’ll be gigantic from the size of the leaves. All of our sweet corn is tasseled out and has set ears, many having three ears per seed as much of it has stooled out, setting tillers (new plants), next to the main stalk. I can’t wait to start having fresh from the garden corn on the cob! Corn at our local market is 79 cents an ear! Holy cow!
It seems like everything is going up in price. I’m not talking about 20 cents an item, more like a dollar or more! One more reason to plant more food. I just saw a can of roast beef hash for $5.79, and not a #10 can either — 16 ounces. Whew! We’re having BLTs tonight as the tomatoes are getting ripe. They taste so good; the drool runs down your chin!
I checked our muskmelons and the Okas have already set nice softball-sized melons. I’m glad as it’s Will’s very favorite melon. Now if he doesn’t get sick from eating them. Likewise, the watermelons all have little melons setting on them and I have basketball sized Atlantic Giant pumpkins. Those babies double in size daily it seems. Walking back to the house, I checked some of my fancy daylilies and was awed at some of the blooms. They are so beautiful! I also spotted the very first acorn on one of the white oak trees Will brought when he moved here from Washington, years ago, as a tiny seedling. He found a few acorns sprouting in sidewalk cracks and rescued them. Planting them in cups, they grew. So, he packed them in his luggage when he came here. Of course, we planted them and now the trees are 20 feet tall. How cool is that?
I had my knee checked out today as it has been pretty painful, and I needed to make sure nothing was wrong. Fortunately, the X-rays were great and there was no infection. So, I’ll just have to keep icing it and doing my exercises as it continues to heal. — Jackie
Our pole Green beans have many flowers, but no beans. We live in Pomona, Calif just south of Los Angeles, and the temp.between 90 and 100 degrees. Any suggestions? Also we had lots of very aggressive, volunteer tomatoes come up, a gift of a plant given to us last year. Turns out they are called plum tomatoes, very small, yellow tomatoes and what a shock when we bit into it! We were expecting it to taste like a nice Red cherry tomato,, no way! We didn’t care for it at all. Do all yellow tomatoes have that much taste different? Also these Are not keepers, you have to eat them right now. Thanks for the help Bev
It’s very common for beans to produce no beans when a heat spell has hit. The plants blow their blooms as a survival tactic. When it cools down a little (God willing!!!), they’ll make lots of beans for you.
Your volunteer tomatoes were probably the offspring of a hybrid tomato. As you’ve found out, the seeds are viable, but you never know what you’ll get. You were unlucky in getting a nasty tasting yellow tomato. NO, all yellow tomatoes don’t have a nasty taste. Some of our favorites are VERY good. If you really hate them, I’d recommend yanking up the plants and picking up any dropped tomatoes, so you don’t have a repeat next year.
My prayers for your knee! I’m now 3 weeks post op from right knee replacement. It’s certainly no surgery for sissies-a rather painful ordeal. I’m glad to be able to ambulate short distances with a cane. The weeds have overwhelmed my gardens in the 3 weeks. I’m trying to rescue them but can only tolerate 1-2 hrs at most each day. Still I am so happy to be in the garden again. Your veggies and flowers look great. There is so much to be grateful for.
I’ve been thinking and praying about your knee replacement. No, they don’t tell you how the pain flattens you for awhile. It’s good you’ve graduated to a cane. It gets better from there. Don’t overdo it on the weeding. I did and now I’m suffering more knee pain and inflammation. Everyone’s got lots of weeds this year. Pooey!! Hang in there.
Had my left shoulder done last thursday. Had my right hip done November twenty eighth, My forty first anniversary. And had my right shoulder done just before my knee. Five joint replacements and 1 to go.
Wow! I’m impressed. Now you’re bionic woman!! I hope everything is healing/healed well.
Jackie,
Those flowers are gorgeous!
And your garden, well that is pure heaven!
I planted oka melons here in Oregon. They are marble size a little over 2 months later. I don’t know what’s going on.
My Cinderella pumpkins are huge so I guess that makes up for it. Lol
My corn is just starting to taste. Fingers crossed. I saw some at our local farmers market for 99 cents an EAR! Couldn’t believe it!
I sure hope your knee settles down.
Thanks Toni. Once those melons start to set, they grow like crazy. A buck an ear! Holy cow!
I’m in far north California. My watermelons have done great, before the crows got them. Nevertheless, I noticed last year that my garden was a month behind our zone is supposed to be. Today in reading garden notes and notes of garden advice from the local nursery, I realized I’m not even in the zone I assumed for oh, 15 years! And it makes a difference, just in case it’s your issue as well; wrong expectations.
If I lived close to you I would work for corn. Prices are crazy. I did break down and buy three ears early this year and savored each bite. We do not have space for it, living in town.
I am old enough to remember the joke:
What do you call a buccaneer?
An awful lot to pay for an ear of corn!
Not a joke any more, I am afraid.
I just can’t believe the cost of everything, doubling, tripling and worse! Sure, the economy is just fine….
I can’t grow sweet corn due to coons and deer — and I live in town! I was blessed twice by gifts of sweet corn which was delicious and some into the freezer to enjoy on a cold snowy day.
Right at this moment it is raining for the first time in weeks. If rain had not come today, I’m pretty sure my garden would have been finished. This is the first “real” rain in a very long time. The brief showers of less than measurable amounts and heavy due have kept things alive but not thriving.
Yep, we couldn’t either, but for our 6′ high fences. Now our cows are the worst “predators” for our corn and other veggies. We’ve gone back in drought again and are having to water the gardens to keep them going.
I remember 45 years ago, going to a U pick and paying $3 for 100 ears of corn.
I just paid $2/cob for organic! I had just heard that all corn on the cob sold in grocery stores are gmo-d. What was I to do? Really, I’ve begun praying over my groceries that I do not raise myself—-there are so many toxins and chemicals. I can only raise a little of my own. The rest I trust God with.
It is so hard, buying from stores with who-knows-what sprayed onto their fruits and vegetables. Sweet corn isn’t GMO yet, but unfortunately, it IS usually contaminated with GMO via field corn pollen, blowing in the wind from farm field corn, which is nearly always GMO today. Pretty dismal, huh? God help us all!
Just passing along some information
On joints and pain. Have arthritis,
Especially in my hands and the
Shoulder that had rotator cuff repair
My niece shared info about Trim Healthy
Mama program collagen supplement
It’s a powder added to warm liquid.
Basically powdered bone broth, I
Take 2 tablespoons every morning
In my hot tea. No flavor change, and
Shoulder only aches during storms,
My hands are more flexible, even
The right hand, that didn’t work in
The morning will almost close into
A fist. My niece uses it for a Knee
Just passing along something Natural
To investigate, remember, natural is
Usually more gentle and slower, but
Effective if given time.
Enjoy your updates.
Have you ever tried Relief Factor?
It’s a dietary supplement that is supposed to help with inflammation.
I’ll give taking a cup of my own beef broth daily and see if that does the same thing. I hate tea!! Of all kinds. Just a quirk, I guess. Never did like coffee either. Weird, huh?
No, Val, I haven’t. I have tried dozens of “joint supplements”, etc. and none helped a bit. I am starting some turmeric, as that sure helped kill down the inflammation which caused diverticulitis. I haven’t had an attack in over 6 years, taking that and eating Noosa yogurt daily. I was having a in-the-bed attack about every month and was scheduled for surgery to remove a section of my colon.
Oh, about your knee. It is arthritis? I have that as well as a partially torn meniscus in my right knee and have recently started taking shots in that knee for it. Works, and Medicare pays for it if you’re old enough. About the only advantage I can think of for being an old fart.
No, I had a total knee replacement in January. I just saw the doctor and he says it’s just inflammation. Will says I just over-did it in the garden. Ice should help it get back to normal.
I smile when I see you growing broccoli and cauliflower in August! Mine bolted in late May, but then I’m in AZ. What variety of corn ore you growing. I grew Butterfruit this year and it did well, though I mostly only got one good ear per stalk. I grow De Ciccio or Calabrese broccoli in fall, winter, and spring here. I hadn’t heard of Umpqua. Do you think it could do well here?
I’m even digging my potatoes up tomorrow. And the heat here has pretty much shut down cucumber and tomato production. Even my bean don’t like it this hot–and I’m using shade cloth everywhere. I’m looking forward to September and October when it starts to cool down and I can get my Fall/Winter garden planted.
Yep, the area you garden in makes a huge difference!! We have several customers who grow Umpqua in Arizona so I think it would do well for you. It makes a bigger head than DeCicco or Calabrese, which is why we grow it.
You’re lucky to have a fall/winter garden; we’re lucky to have one! Happy potato digging!
Oops, we grow several varieties of corn. The corn in the photo is Seneca Sunrise, a sweet corn my husband bred. Not only does it often provide 2 ears per stalk, but it also tillers and you get more from that one seed.
Take care of you and give that a knee a good rest each day. The work will be there tomorrow. It’s trying to tell to wait just a bit longer!!! All of our gardens are overgrown with weeds but too muddy to get in them. I’ve got a row of beans to pick and the onions are desperate to get out of the ground. More storms coming today.
Wow, MUD! We’re so dry here; praying for rain on Sunday. Will says I did over-do it in the garden and thus, the sore knee. Everything checked out with the doctor so I will ice it like mad and give it a rest every day.
It is a good year for acorns (trust me, better half blows caps off the driveway daily). We’ve been enjoying tomato on burgers (not our own raised beef but beef from an independent butcher shop we’ve patronized for years). BATs are on the Saturday lunch menu – not sure if drool and/or tomato juice/tomato juice/mayo lol.
It has been a most excellent year for taters here, may it be the same for you. We dug more tonight (sharing with a friend) and I could not believe how large the Pontiac Red was. For years, better half resisted planting taters but now he’s hooked. I see that additional patch in the future.
Sweet corn season here – while GMO, we buy direct from farms in the small towns around us. One just can’t beat Midwest sweet corn, GMO or non-GMO.
Newbie #2 went for her first official annual check up. Had baseline blood work done (yeah, not cheap) but all her number are within range or negative (feline leukemia/feline aids). Stinker weighed WAY more than I thought but she’s all muscle. Had we had her from six weeks on, she might have been bigger than Newbie #1! Stray that has been around for almost 15 months isn’t looking good. Definitely mostly feral, not much more I or the other cat loving neighbor can do. There is a special place in Hell for those who mistreat animals.
Are you sure the sweet corn is GMO?
My understanding is that sweet corn in the US may be hybrid, but is usually not GMO.
Sweet corn is not bred as a GMO, but, unfortunately, corn pollen from farm fields, growing GMO field corn blows in the wind up to two miles, unfortunately contaminating any corn in its path. Even if a family plants un-GMO sweet corn, it can quickly become “infected” with GMO pollen from neighboring fields.
Which is why I call it GMO – most fields are surrounded by/in the vicinity of GMO corn. Dust isn’t the only thing that blows in the wind sad to say. Herbicide drift are also of concern to me. Dicamba drift as well as herbicides can end up on crops of farmers growing non-GMO crops. My state banned Dicamba, nasty stuff. And as they keep tinkering with GMO, the herbicides and pesticides seem to get more dangerous.
I get so tired of all the horrible things they do to food, these days! It’s like they want to poison all of us. I’m so blessed to be able to raise most of what we eat.
I agree; mistreating animals and people should buy people a one way ticket to Hell’s basement.
I hope your potatoes turn out great. I’m not so sure about ours; the plants just aren’t very big. But, we’ll see, come fall.
+ What a beautiful garden(s) you have, and how any more beautiful gardens you have made possible. Just have to give an update on the Seneca Sunrise: we direct-seeded mid-May and, about 60 days later started enjoying ears bursting with flavor. A few days ago, we harvested the last ears. (It wasn’t a large patch, but next year we’re going to have to figure out a way to enlarge garden space for more Seneca Sunrise!)
Absolutely incredible corn, in such a short time–God reward you for developing this variety.
Thanks for letting us know, Nancy!! We love that corn too. Ours is just setting nice ears so it’ll be another 3 weeks before we can start checking for ripeness. Can’t wait!!
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