Watcha Growing

[Al_Smith]

It's been a funny growing season .Although late my variety of beef steak tomatoes are huge,like softball size .
I've noticed what appears to be a short season variety of field corn is browning up and the ears have dropped .The soy beans mostly are green and huge .So unless we get an early frost it's more than likely the corn will come off before the beans .Modern farming methods and varieties used have passed me up years ago .I'm out of that loop .

[mike_belben]

Soy beans has been one of my most successful items this year.  I pick them a little early and freeze em then we steam the pods for snacks later.  What do you guys do with soybean?


Cherry tomatoes are putting out but fungal issues from the chronic daily rains this month has pretty well killed the plants.  No leaves at all.  My big tomatoes are all busting open and looking ugly.  Only good for sauce.  The lettuces and dill went to seed.  Butternut vine put out a few before the mildew took it. One yellow squash left that the borers didnt get.  Cukes are good, chard has been incredibly easy to deal with and put out all season, probably since may.  Kale came up, trying to keep the caterpillars, slugs and flea beatles off it. 

I need to ho everything up, dump in another batch of compost and fertilizer then start seeding for fall stuff.  I couldnt get cabbage or brocolli sprouts to survive the summer, hoping i can get some ripe by winter with plastic.  Maybe another round of onions too. No luck with beans at all this year for some reason. 

[Al_Smith]

Any member of the cabbage plant does better in cooler weather .Tomatoes especially large varieties if they don't have enough water later in the growing season will have a tendency to split the skin .The itty bitty little cherry and grape type are like weeds because once they get planted they never go away .I've got some that were planted by mistake 6 or 7 years ago .Unlike many people I don't like them .It would take two dozen for a cheese burger where just one of the giant beef steak hybrids would cover half a dozen burgers  all by itself .How about that,a Texas sized tomato grown in Ohio . 8) 

[mike_belben]

Its funny you say that cuz i had my first volunteer plant this year and it was a cherry mater.  Cant complain, i like em fine. 


I dont get my splitting Romas tho.   Theyve had pretty consistent water to prevent busting open when it pours. But they still do it anyway.  

I do get why folks build greenhouses now though. 

[21incher]

It sure is a busy time. Every day is another load in the back of the cart.


 

 

The sun flowers are amazing and the birds and bees are very happy


 

 

 

The freezers and root cellar are almost full


 

 


 

And the gourds are amazing this year


 

Finally cool enough to come out of the basement and start clean up.

[doc henderson]

@21incher I plan on trying your salsa, and or roasted red pepper spread.  thanks!

[Walnut Beast]

Very nice and colorful 

[21incher]

@21incher I plan on trying your salsa, and or roasted red pepper spread.  thanks!

They are both from the Ball Blue Book and are easy to water bath can. The salsa is best if you add things like black beans and corn when served. I have videos  about  both if you have any problems.  I am still  trying  to figure  out what to do with several  bushels of red peppers that are extra this year. 

[mike_belben]

Dang you are doin something right 21!

[WDH]

You have the green touch.

[Al_Smith]

The large tomatoes are coming on so fast now at last .I called the neighbor lady over yesterday and gave her so many she had a hard time just to carry them .Giants,the size of soft balls .Big old beef steak ,Ohio grown are the best .
There is something about the northern Ohio soil and tomatoes .What it is I have no idea but Campbells and others have a number of canneries in the area north of here .
I have no idea how they are harvested today but years ago I remember migrant workers by the thousands working the fields .
Where I actually grew up was about 6-8 miles from the great Scioto Marsh and a neighboring little town was also involved in the growing of both tomatoes plus onions .The difference was  the harvest mostly was done by locals .School kids ,women also in droves got involved in it  .Anybody old enough to gather were out in the hot sun . A field full of straw hats .

[thecfarm]

 Tomatoes are coming to an end. I pulled up about 6 plants that was dead. But I have about 6 more that are just starting to blossom. Remember I got some in late. Canning tomatoes today. Picked about a bushel and a half last night and the canner is on now getting hot. Just about to start coring the tomatoes and get them ready to can.
We could get a frost anytime now. I probably will cover the garden, if I think we might get one. Seem like get by that first frost, than it warms back up for almost a month some years.

[WDH]

Do you eat tomatoes?  I thought that you avoided vegetables, but then again, a tomato is a fruit after all ;D. 

[doc henderson]

ready to process some peppers.



 

[Chuck White]

I'm envious of you guys and your gardens!

You really have some nice gardens and VERY nice crops!

Mine didn't do very well this year, cucumbers were hit with some kind of blight, no bell-peppers, a few tomatoes, but nothing like in the past!
There's always next year!

[thecfarm]

Tomatoes are being canned for stock for the Instant Pot. So I guess I eat them.  ???  Flavors whatever she puts in the Instant Pot, be it pork or chicken.

[mike_belben]

Theres no leaves left at all on most of my tomatoes but probably the last round of fruit is pretty red.  We been making cucumber salad with them if not sauce.   Chunk up cherry tomatoes, cukes and a block of mozzarella cheese in a big bowl then drown it in balsamic vinagairette and wonder how you ever got by before this stuff. 


Cfarm whats your canning procedure?  Something im gonna have to learn with next years garden expansion.  

[mike_belben]

cucumbers were hit with some kind of blight, 

Mine get it every year and i still manage to get cukes, just the plants look like butt. If you grow them up a fence, wire or hogpanel it will help a bit.  Theyll race upward and the blight usually starts down low.  I just keep pruning the old shrivelled leaves and the new growth raises up.  
If you get wierd baby rattle looking curled fruit with a scrawny end and a big bulb end, its pollination.  I habd pollinate the female flowers by jamming a male in there and rolling it around. That produces nice straight fruit.   Cukes put on 10x more male flowers than female so bees often miss the females and you get wierd fruit.

[thecfarm]

Wash the tomatoes.
Core them.
Put in pot and get them soft. I put a little bit of water in a big pan, maybe an inch and put on medium heat and stir each time I put more in.
When soft, put in strainer and strain of most of the liquid. Well the stuff that will strain through. You want it to be kinda thick, but not waterer.
We have a Ball Harvest Pro sauce maker. Just about as fast as I can feed it, the finish products comes out the other end ready to be canned. Peelings stay on a cone that needs to be cleaned if doing a big batch.
That gets warmed back up to be canned. We put this in pints jars. I did 21 pints yesterday and have about 4 pints left over, that will be put into the next batch.
One tablespoon of Italian seasoning, onion power, and garlic is put in when it is simmering. This would be enough for 7 pints. Stir often, you don't want it to stick on the bottom of pan. Than a teaspoon of citric acid is put in as I fill the jars. Hot bath for 35 minutes. Than a cool down of 5 minutes, still in the hot bath water. Than when they are removed they sit for 24 hours without being touched.
I started yesterday at 5am, got done at 1 pm.

[Chuck White]

My cucumbers were on a fence, they started out and climbed to the top of the 4-foot "hog fence"!

Out of 6 plants, I don't think I got over 12 cucumbers!  :

[doc henderson]

smoked red and green chili powder done today.  started by washing, and cut in half, removing the stems, on the smoker for three hours, then the dehydrator over night, then in the cleaned out coffee grinder made into powder.  ordered some sprinkle type containers with lids, for herbs, and should be in in am.  


 


 


 


 

[mike_belben]

Something screwy going on here... I specifically ordered the heirloom right hand thread SAE cucumbers but they sent me this left handed metric.  Im pithed.

[21incher]

Saving seeds. After the shortages this spring I want to be prepared. These are the first batch of peppers and now working on others.


 



I can't use all my red peppers this year. Freezers are full, Red pepper spread in the root cellar and I just can't eat anymore roasted or raw   


 

[mike_belben]

You are next level dude. 

Guess I need to quit screwin around.  

[21incher]

You are next level dude.

Guess I need to quit screwin around.  

I would like to see you peel that one 😲. I didn't  have  much  luck with  cukes this year.  They just didn't  like all the sun we had. 34 degrees last night so it's basically  over up here.